By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Tip of the sports marketing cap to Bud Light for creating a TV commercial spotlighting Bud Light drinker/Washington Nationals fan Jeff Adams who used his chest to acquire a home run baseball while keeping his cans of Bud Light firmly in both hands at Sunday’s World Series Game 5 in Washington, D.C.
During games 6 and 7 of the 2019 World Series Tuesday and Wednesday nights, FOX aired a Bud Light TV spot showing Adams using his chest to block the flight of the home run ball while holding on to his Bud Light cans before the fan grabbed the souvenir baseball.
Bud Light explained the reasoning and history behind the TV commercial: “This is the first time we’ve featured a Bud Light fan in a nationally-televised commercial, and he’s the perfect guy to represent baseball and Bud Light fans across the country.”
This is brilliant sports marketing — using a real-life, attention-grabbing moment to peddle a product that was featured in that snapshot of life. There was a certain silliness to the moment that gave it a memorable and fun quality that was parlayed into a water-cooler chat ad for Bud Light.
Bud Light went to Twitter to figure out who the guy was. They found their beer man and Adams became another instant “hero” for beer drinkers.
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On the other hand, it was annoying to watch TV commercials during innings of World Series games. FOX has played several ad spots during innings like Alex Rodriguez pitching Mastercard. The commercial was an inset in the screen while the game was going on.
There’s enough commercialization around the ballpark that is evident on TV during the action like the product mentions behind home plate. Let’s keep the TV commercials for the two minutes plus between half innings.
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Switching gears to Las Vegas-based UFC, Dana White — the prez of the MMA promotion and production outfit — used his Twitter account Wednesday to help find the 19-year-old stepdaughter of UFC heavyweight fighter Walt Harris, 36, who was last seen Oct. 23 in Alabama. The missing girl is Aniah Blanchard. Harris is also pleading with the public to help find his stepdaughter.
“If anyone has any information on Aniah Blanchard, please call *HP or 911 immediately. Friends and fans please pass this video around. Thank you,” White wrote in his Tweet.
Here is an ABC News report on the missing woman.
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Speaking of UFC, the Las Vegas-based fight show organizer is launching the first-ever Asia edition of Dana White’s Contender Series, the MMA fight series that showcases up-and-coming talent and athletes striving to revive their professional careers. The inaugural season of Dana White’s Contender Series Asia will launch in 2020 and be hosted from the new UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai. The 93,000-square-foot building is the world’s largest MMA training and development facility and nearly three times as large as the original UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas at the UFC headquarters. The structure was built with advanced production capabilities with spectator seating that allows UFC to produce and distribute events, such as Dana White’s Contender Series, and other original programming.
One of my favorite parts of my job is looking for up-and-coming talent,” UFC President Dana White said in a press release. “There’s no area in the world right now with more potential MMA talent than Asia. We’re going to use Dana White’s Contender Series to find these fighters, develop them, and give them the opportunity to perform on the biggest stage in combat sports.”
Like its U.S. counterpart, Dana White’s Contender Series Asia will feature both male and female athletes. All 11 UFC weight classes will be considered for the show and bout results will count towards athletes’ professional records. In the United States, the series has launched UFC careers for notable athletes, including bantamweight Sean O’Malley (10-0); heavyweight Greg Hardy (5-1); and flyweight Maycee Barber (8-0). Additional details concerning fight schedules, format, and participants will be announced at a later date.
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