Thoughts on Sports Branding

• by jakeaull

When I was a kid I was ball boy for a high school football team. I enjoyed it. Part of why I enjoyed it was because my mother, who forbade sugar, wasn’t around, and halftimes I could get a candy bar and soda. Because candy bars were rare in my life, my first time at a game I deliberated long and hard about which candy bar to spend my money on – I wanted the most chocolate per penny. Baby Ruth looked the longest, so I went with that and never looked back.

Baby Ruth wasn’t my favorite at Halloween, it wasn’t my favorite chocolate. It convinced me on size. To this day when I see football games I think nostalgically of Baby Ruth (even thought others might think baseball, regardless of disassociation from the historic batter).

Today, the internet allows for data mining in social media forums, social media, blogs, etc. for similar potential mentions of Baby Ruth with football. What if I’m not the only one? There is potential here for the candy bar to research for a fan brand connection; for a brand association that it could capitalize upon for brand fans to promote further. In other words, people like me might share and carry the flag further for Baby Ruth in football promotions across social media, something that captures our nostalgia.

Social media and the internet can reveal such data and opportunities today. When I was a child, such data would have been impossible to know. Why not use such an edge for marketing and promotional advancement?

Thanks for reading,
J. Aull