Dodgers host annual blogger night; Outcome of game irrelevant; Long-term relationships not

Full disclaimer on this. I am a lifelong Los Angeles Dodgers fan fanatic. Read my biography page to share in the wonder that was John Hale in 1975. Additionally, I advocated sports organizations credentialing bloggers as media (Sports Business Journal $ link) nearly four years ago. (Above photo credit to SoSG Steve Sax)

So it is with predicable bias that I share the results of last night's Annual Blogger Night at Dodger Stadium. VP of Communications Josh Rawitch designed this three years ago, and the positive PR the team receives strikes me as worth every inconvenience (real or perceived) it may cause. Josh discussed it on his highly read blog here, but the list of "bribes" (as Steve Sax of Sons of Steve Garvey describes it) included:

Media passes
A private suite (#216 for those of you familiar with Dodger Stadium) with free food, on a Monday night game against a mid-level opponent, the Florida Marlins
Access to Dodger executives Ned Colletti (who stayed for an hour), Kim Ng, and Dennis Mannion, former players Sweet Lou Johnson and Ron Cey, plus the Miller delivery guy (which I guess is cool)

Following is a sample of posts and recaps from last night's game. As you scan through these, consider a couple of things. Readership for each varies from a couple of dozen to perhaps a couple hundred. These are written by, and read by, fans, many of whom BUY Dodger tickets, bobbleheads, t-shirts, etc. (Heck, Delino of Sons of Steve Garvey even sported the team's logo to Blogger Night). Fans often congregate on these sites to share comments as the game is taking place.

And, perhaps most importantly, by creating a dialogue with its fans, the team is strengthening its relationship with its core consumers. Those who watch games, post pictures on Twitter, and generally support the team during times of prosperity and not. Sports marketers beat themselves up trying to figure out ways to create long-term relationships with their fans. Communications professionals have the opportunity to do just that, and they don't need to FedEx rubber chickens (see Jon Spoelstra's Marketing Outrageously).

Dodger Dugout Recap
Dodgerfan.net Recap
Sons of Steve Garvey Recap
True Blue LA's Recap (part of SBNation)
Vin Scully is My Homeboy Recap (plus many additional Twitpics) and his anticipatory post
Other blogs will undoubtedly post recaps as a total of 15 different sites were represented. The 2009 night elicited this post from True Blue LA's Eric Stephen. "Welcome to Heaven". How much does that type of positive imagery cost a marketer?

Oh, yeah, the Dodgers lost 6-5. But most of the above recaps don't emphasize that.

The Dodgers Get Interactive with Digital Fan Billboards

Are you looking for new ways to engage fans prior to the season? Are you looking for new ways to drive fan engagement online?

The Los Angeles Dodgers recently teamed up with Channel 1 Media to create a terrific customized online campaign to engage fans prior to the start of the 2010 MLB season. The two parties created a really cool campaign that enables fans to create their own billboard... in a matter of seconds. The initiative, designed to drive fan interest and ticket sales, is a turnkey piece that can be implemented by teams from all leagues.

The campaign is really simple, yet very interactive and fun for consumers. The best part is the fact that it ties directly back to the Dodgers' terrific "This Is My Town" billboard messaging campaign from 2009 and truly lets fans be a part of the action. Channel 1 Media and the Dodgers also did a great job building in social media functionality to help the campaign go viral (see the Facebook, Twitter, and email functionality on the last picture below).

Check it out at http://channel1media.com/dodgers/2010/