Sometimes a partnership is all it takes to jumpstart a tourist attraction based on a seasonal sport. Earlier this year, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (BHOF) in Springfield, Mass., partnered with four minor league baseball teams from Massachusetts and Connecticut to promote and celebrate two of America's favorite sports. The BHOF launched a marketing/PR effort to include baseball teams in its promotion and find sponsors to provide sports-rel ated paraphernalia for the free giveaways at the "Basketball Hall of Fame nights."
The attraction's peak season is summer travel time, so the BHOF wanted to liven up visitors' interests during down times, which are usually the colder months. The promotion also laid the groundwork for strong future marketing relationships with other companies.
Building a Partnership
The four minor league baseball teams that participated in the series of 12 promotional games, held June 15 to Sept. 11, 1996, were, from Connecticut: the Double A Eastern league, New Britain-based Hardware City Rock Cats (Minnesota Twins affiliate), the New Haven Ravens (Colorado Rockies affiliate), and the Norwich Navigators (New York Yankees affiliate)--and, from Massachusetts, the New York Penn League Single A Lowell Spinners (Boston Red Sox affiliate).
Robin Jonathan Deutsch, director of marketing and public relations for the BHOF, and one other employee worked for about a month on the promotion.
He said that the idea for the partnership came about because, "when you're an attraction like we are, you've got some difficult months...we thought about what attracts the people that come visit us, the family-driven people, so we chose partners that mirrored us and had the same kinds of fans."
The BHOF handled all the promotions for the games, while the baseball teams advertised in local papers, on their stadium scoreboards and on local TV and radio stations. The BHOF worked with and funded the promotional giveaways, that ran during each baseball game, of Spalding three-ring binders and Milton Bradley Travel Hot Shots Baseball Games.
"We made it very easy for the teams, because all they had to do were the game day operations, hand out our coupons and read our public address announcements," said Deutsch. The teams did relatively little work in exchange for above-average attendee numbers at the Hall of Fame games.
At each of the games, the teams issued free BHOF admission passes to attendees and distributed T-shirts, posters and the product giveaways for children 12-and-under. At a New Haven game, a 1996 Hall of Fame electee, Gail Goodrich, threw out the first pitch and signed autographs afterward.
Imaging and awareness were the keys to the partnership's success, Deutsch said, "because even if everyone didn't use the free passes to come visit us, at least we got exposure in front of people that were right in our backyard, an hour car ride away, at most."
Gerry Berthiaume, general manager of the Hardware City Rock Cats, said, "It was wonderful news when we found out that they (BHOF) thought that minor league baseball was a nice, inexpensive way to utilize their objectives."
Results
Attendance at all four of the teams' games were randomly measured, and all exceeded the average for that night. For example, on an ordinary Monday night at a Norwich game, attendance was 4,180 compared to the season average of 3,345 on Monday nights. Over a three-night period at the Spinners games, the average attendance was 3,250 compared to an average of 2,850.
Since the end of the promotion in mid-September, more than 1,000 fans have used their free admission tickets to visit the BHOF, which has undoubtedly boosted merchandise sales. The promotion cost the BHOF barely $1,000, so it was worth the time and money it cost the organization.
It's too soon to tell if it will have a major impact on the BHOF, which features state-of-the art exhibits, memorabilia, video monitors, interactive displays and a Virtual Reality game. The BHOF has been in existence since 1949, but its facilities weren't built until 1968.
The two organizations already have plans to team up again next summer, when the BHOF plans to expand and elevate the program by adding a few more teams and more games.
Deutsch said that including baseball teams like the Trenton (N.J.) Thunder next year could draw visitors to the BHOF from near and far. Even though Trenton is a road trip away from Springfield, "just getting free tickets to the BHOF in Thunder fans' hands will give them an opportunity to visit us, when they may not have otherwise," said Deutsch.
(BHOF, 413/791-6500; Hardware City Rock Cats, 860/224-8383.)
Basketball Hall of Fame Nights included:
- Free passes to the Basketball Hall of Fame for every attendee at all 12 games, good until the end of the year;
- Free promotional giveaways of three-ring binders,travel baseball games, T-shirts and posters for kids 12 and under; and
- Special appearance at one baseball game by Gail Goodrich, who threw out the first pitch and signed autographs.