By the way, I just came across this on Mark Cuban's web log (
www.blogmaverick.com). Say what you will about Cuban, but he knows how marketing works:
Just some top of the heads on topics media and others have been asking me about.
First, could MLB and Sony Pictures have been any more brilliant with their Spiderman promotion? Both absolutely knew when they announced that they were putting a Spiderman 2 logo on the bases that it would create a firestorm of commentary from the media. Every single sports talk station and just about every newspaper sports section would talk and write about it. Over and over and over again. Sony accomplished exactly what it wanted to for the movie. Get everyone talking about it.
MLB accomplished exactly what it wanted. It got paid, according to reports in the paper (who knows how true it is), $3.6mm dollars.
Whether or not the ads actually appeared on the bases was irrelevant. In fact, I never thought they would ever appear on the bases. What was the point? If they put the ads on the bases, they would lose the opportunity to go through all this again. If they pull the ads, citing fan rebellion, they create the opportunity to play this game at least 1 more time.
Brilliant. Congrats again to MLB and Sony. Why didn’t I think of putting the Spiderman ads on the corner of the backboards in the playoffs…