Major League Baseball – Models Major Brand “Experience”

Went to the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game this weekend. Oddly, I couldn’t stop thinking about the genius brand marketing I was witnessing. Obviously small business marketers don’t have major league budgets, but we do have major league creativity and passion. Let’s take a page out of the big leaguer’s playbook and apply it to our unique scenarios, shall we?

First major observation – VALUE-ADDED. Let’s talk for a minute about how I got my tickets. The softball team at the University I work for had a fundraiser selling Cardinal tix at a discounted price. The tickets went for $13 (U.S.) and along with the ticket came a FREE hotdog and a soda. That’s a hell of a bargain! Did it really cost the Cardinal organization much more to offer the FREE stuff? Doubt it.

(Sidebar…the STL Cards just opened a beautiful new ballpark, with all the modern day amenities one can imagine. Along with the new bells and whistles comes plenty of new costs). What the Cards need this season is bodies in seats. With the inflated tickets prices starting at $20 and reaching as high as $100 a ticket – (up from $10 – $40 a ticket), discounting tickets is a great marketing ploy to get bodies in seats. And the FREE stuff -the “value-added” – equals maximum impact with minimum cost.

But the real magic begins as one enters the stadium. Because let’s face it, MLB isn’t just selling baseball, they are selling (major observation #2) an EXPERIENCE. Marketing 101 tells us that consumers don’t make rational purchases, they make emotional ones. What better way to evoke emotion than to create an EXPERIENCE?

Here’s what baseball Cardinal style looks like: We entered the stadium and were immediately handed a fluffy teddy bear (VALUE-ADDED) thanks to co-op marketing with Build-A-Bear, and noticed the smell of hot dogs, beer (all Anheuser-Busch products) and brats. The crack of the bat echoed off the walls as the announcers voice was pumped through speakers from every corner. T-shirt and hat vendors waved people over and credit card companies attempted to lure people into filling out credit applications with the enticement of a free T-shirt. Beer and brats not your bag? OK, how about gourmet nachos and shaved ice?

Perhaps you didn’t want to sit in the 100+ degree heat with the rest of us, so you upped the ante and purchased box tickets. Well you were served chocolate covered strawberries and cheese and veggie platters. Back on the big screens strategically placed around the stadium, you could send text messages to the Cards and your friends via cell phone. Coupled up? Well then, be sure to keep watching the video screen, as the camera man spotted cute couples to place a digital heart around as the crowd clapped and cheered for a kiss. Aww, sweet right?

The entire place was awash in a sea of red. Maybe only 10% of the people didn’t have on a hat, a T-shirt or shorts emblazoned with the Cardinals logo. Everywhere I turned, I observed someone having their own unique experience of the game – even as we shared the stadium as a collective group of consumers. Literally, there was stuff for the kids, the elderly and everyone in between.

Why share my Sunday at the ballpark with you? So that you may consider the EXPERIENCE you want to create for your clients/customers/fans. What emotion do you want to evoke? Which buttons are you trying to push? What emotional experience can you create that’ll send people reaching into their pocketbooks and whipping out their credit cards? Do you want to make them laugh? Or Cry? Do you want to entice them? Or have them nostalgic for days gone by? Stir their excitement for the future, because your product or service is the ONLY one that will get them where they want to be? Do you want to instill hope? Inspire creativity? Nourish their spirit?

I challenge you to really consider the experience you are creating for your “fans”. What can visitors of your virtual storefront expect to FEEL as they drop by your website? What feelings will emerge as they read your marketing materials? What emotional connection will they attach to your products or service? What will keep them coming back time and again, like we do for the Cards – despite the 100 degree temps? Does your EXPERIENCE make them sizzle or leave them in the cold?

In the words of Harry Caray – Sports Broadcasting legend, “My whole philosophy is to broadcast the way a fan would broadcast.” Are you broadcasting the way your fans would? Or whispering into a paper cup?

Brand boldly,
Kammie K.