Activ8Social

Activ8Social is stoked to launch our first action sports promotional campaign! Dubbed “Guess My Run”, this activation features former WXG gold medalists and Red Bull athletes Bobby Brown (Ski Slopestyle), Louie Vito (Snowboard SuperPipe), and Simon Dumont (Ski SuperPipe).

The most clicked stories from this week’s #Sports e-newsletter included sports stadium sponsorships in a digital age, how Google+ is redefining the press conference, and Man City’s innovative use of Twitter on the jumbotron. For these stories and more see below and if you have not already subscribed to #Sports, here’s your chance.

The November issue of the Red Bulletin, Red Bull’s aptly titled magazine, hit newsstands last week and features NBA All-Star Rajon Rondo. For all the fans unable to secure a personally signed copy from Rajon in downtown Boston over the weekend, we’ve got some good news. You still have two more weeks to win one on Twitter thanks to @RedBullBOS, @RajonRondo, and Activ8Social!

Although NFL players might not have the same Klout as Justin Bieber (he’s only 100 out of 100), they are pretty influencial. The end of the lockout brought happiness to households all around America and proof that Sunday might not really be the day of rest. No one questions that the NFL dominates Sunday and most of Monday night, but just how much do NFL players influence us online on a daily basis? Well… Klout has recently released a blog post highlighting the top 10 Klout scores in the NFL.

Our hearts go out to the US Women’s National Team who fought so valiantly in the World Cup only to come up a little short. Soccer is a funny game and sometimes the team that controls the play and has the most chances doesn’t come out on top. Congrats to the Japanese, they played a wonderful tournament and truly play a gorgeous brand of soccer. This week’s Social Mashup brings you the new Pandora, the MLB’s usage of Twitter during the Home Run Derby, Golden Tate versus NASCAR, and Facebook’s successful sponsored stories advertising units.

This week’s Social Mashup features Under Armour’s new NFL Draft live Facebook chat with super star Tom Brady, the UFL’s announcement of all 2011 draft picks via Twitter, YouTube’s move toward distribution of major Hollywood films, and Facebook’s roll out of Local Deals. It’s a good one so fasten your seatbelt and hang on for the ride.

Last Friday on Facebook, Under Armour teamed up with the New England Patriots’ three time Super Bowl champion quarterback for the first-ever Tom Brady Draft Chat. The chat featured a Q&A session with a group of lucky fans who were hand picked by Under Armour Founder and CEO himself, Kevin Plank. The twelve winners were chosen from the lot of folks who submitted photos of themselves “Getting Charged Up” on UA’s Facebook Page.

In honor of the kickoff of the 2010 NFL season, Activ8Social is launching #RedZones – a social media challenge in downtown New Orleans featuring Saints running back Reggie Bush. Eight lucky fans will have an opportunity to win a football personally autographed by Reggie Bush.

The first #RedZones drop begins today at 12pm CST. How can you win one of these footballs? Prior to the drop, a hint such as this on TwitPic will inform participants of the general Red Zone location. At a specified time (see drop schedule) a foursquare check-in will be feed to the @RedZones Twitter account.

So the King has entered the Twitter building! I’m sure somewhere in San Francisco there was a company toast at Twitter HQ, but is the decision by LeBron James and his LRMR marketing team (headed up by Maverick Carter) to hop on the social media tool the right timing? More importantly, is LeBron’s marketing team really prepared to handle all of his online PR during “The Decision” tonight on ESPN?

The details behind this digital move are fuzzy.  Will LeBron answer questions in real-time via Twitter during the 1 hour long ESPN special? Probably not. Will he simply answer a few carefully vetted questions post TV announcement? If the LRMR team really wanted to push the social media envelope, they could integrate Twitter live on the TV screen during the announcement. Of course, that’s way too risky considering the polarizing nature of “The Decision” (and not my recommendation).

“LOOSE BALL!!!”…

Activ8Social is proud to announce the launch of “#LooseBall” – an experiential social media scavenger hunt featuring Boston Celtics All-Star point guard, Rajon Rondo. Red Bull, one of Rondo’s sponsors, will be providing contest prizes, which include 18 basketballs and t-shirts autographed by Rondo (in honor of the Celtic’s run for a record 18th NBA Title) as well as a pair of tickets to Game 4 of the 2010 NBA Finals for one lucky winner.

Let’s get one thing straight upfront—social media is not as easy as “if you build it, they will come” for any athlete, team, league, or sponsor looking to establish or enhance brand equity.  Social media marketing is no different than traditional off-line marketing in that it requires a well thought out strategy, devoted resources, and a budget targeted at a reaching a measurable goal for the individual or organization.

With that said, social media’s major advantages—the cost-to-creativity ratio and the ability to expand reach via an engaged audience (key word here is “engaged” but I’ll explain more)—make this form of marketing so powerful that most athletes looking to enhance their salaries with fat endorsement checks should be asking their agency, management team, or friends and family why social media isn’t a part of their overall marketing strategy.