John S. Wolfe

Participating in the Aug. 17 panel discussion of sports marketing were, from left, Steve Ryan of the Cardinals, Cullen Maxey of the Diamondbacks, David Burke of the Coyotes and Lynn Agnello of the Suns.

In marketing to the masses, much of traditional media’s reach has been carved up – cable and DVRs vs. the networks; iPods and satellite radio vs. over-the-air stations; blogs and social websites vs. newspapers.

What’s left? Billboards and sports marketing.

The latter is also evolving, as teams and leagues realize they need to innovate and compete off the field just as their teams do on the field.

Their efforts to work with businesses on new game and stadium promotions were the focus of the Aug. 17 meeting of the Phoenix chapter of the Business Marketing Association. The two-hour event was held in a locker room at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

About 40 members listened to comments from Cullen Maxey, executive vice president of business operations for the Diamondbacks; Steve Ryan, vice president of business development for the Arizona Cardinals; Lynn Agnello, senior vice president of marketing partnerships for the Phoenix Suns and Mercury; and David Burke, vice president of ticket sales and service for the Phoenix Coyotes.

Each noted that their organizations have gone from simply selling packages to needing to employ consultative approaches to boost business.

Burke, who worked for the New Orleans Hornets and Dallas Stars before coming to the Valley last year, commented that sports teams have needed to become better marketers.

“In 2001 to 2003, teams could pretty much say something would cost $150,000 and shove it down throats,” he said. “Now it’s about ‘What does the customer need?’ and here’s how we’ll over-deliver.”

Fans of sports teams now see specific times or scores or activities regularly brought to them by a corporate sponsor. The scramble is to do a needs analysis and then customize a sales package, Agnello said.

“You have to ask, ‘What’s the return on the objective?’” she said. “How can we create a personalized branding message with ‘stickiness’ (to be memorable).”

The Diamondbacks used this approach to develop a promotion this season with Henkel Consumer Goods, a Scottsdale subsidiary of Henkel International.

Laundry detergents, shampoos and sealants aren’t exactly compelling or memorable, so Henkel now gets out its message at D-Backs games during the “Racing Legends” competition.

Modeled after the Milwaukee Brewers’ sausage race, the local version features 10-foot-tall “legend” mascots Luis Gonzalez, Matt Williams, Randy Johnson and Mark Grace sprinting to the dugout between halves of the fifth inning.

“We started with a blank canvas,” Maxey said. “Now they can promote a brand each night.”

Ryan said the arrangement between the Cardinals and a business partner is now more relationship-based, not transactional.

“You really have to be creative with packaging,” he said. “You need to customize programs for each company.”

He noted that sponsors have hopped on board for new events like a kickoff luncheon and an off-season bowling competition.

With the state of the economy and consolidations, Burke explained that teams are now getting creative with smaller companies.

“We want to make sure they’re not priced out,” he said.

The new approach also means a change in how teams handle sales.

Most have replaced “sales” people with “service” people, staff members who will massage sponsors and trouble-shoot problems. Value propositions have changed.

“We’ve gone from ‘hunters’ getting a sale to ‘farmers’ cultivating a relationship,” Burke said. “You have to invest in sales training.”

Added Agnello, “It’s almost like we’re becoming brand managers, acting as extensions to the partner’s marketing team.”

There is a surprising amount of communication and cooperation between the teams. They realize they are promoting sports marketing instead of other marketing, and if successful, all teams will succeed, regardless of record or place in the standings.

It’s a competitive market in Phoenix, with additional participants like Arizona State sports, PGA golf, NASCAR and spring training baseball fighting for ad dollars.

“Brand affinity will be what separates us,” Maxey said.

While the teams generate revenues through advertising and ticket sales, they are also building the brand through social media. Each organization is dedicating a team of employees to maintaining websites, overseeing Facebook and Twitter feeds, and listening to fans.

“We monitor it a ton,” Maxey said. “We’ll call on negative ones and try to build the relationship with information.”