This is an especially exciting time for the Colts online business.
- We’re about to bring a href=”http://www.mycolts.net”>mycolts.net out of beta and release it to the public
I’ve been writing about this a lot lately, but it’s what we’re focused on every day so pardon me if I harp on the subject. The process of building a standalone social networking system has been very educational and quite frustrating at times, but watching the beta fill up with content from actual people has been great. I’m really beginning to see ways this thing could take off. We’ve still got a lot of work to do before our planned launch date (June 15), and even after we launch the work has only just begun. There are dozens of tweaks and improvements we have planned for the site after we get it up and running.
- Tony Dungy is pumped up to start blogging
This doesn’t happen every day, so don’t let me sound too nonchalant about it, but Tony Dungy stopped by my office yesterday to ask when he could start blogging! We sat and chatted for a few minutes and he shared with me that ever since he decided that he would blog, he’s been thinking about things he could write about.
Today, for example, he’s flying to Texas on a military plan with Bill Polian and a few Colts players to attend an armed forces event of some sort…we just had our mini camp and he got his first glimpse of our new players…some nfl players have gotten into hot water lately…Indianapolis didn’t win its bid to attract the Super Bowl…these are some the things he plans to address in his blog.
Tony really seems to be catching a vision for his blog. He seems quite enthusiastic about the idea of having his own platform from which he can comment clearly about his views on issues and events. I can’t help but think this will be one of the most popular sections of the entire social net! He’ll start blogging on Monday. Yee ha!
- Sponsors are starting to look seriously at creating custom “groups” inside the system
Social nets like Myspace, Bebo and Infield Parking have paved the way for us and shown us ways to get sponsors involved in our social net. One of the most popular strategies out there today seems to be personal profile pages for sponsor brands.
Here are some examples:
One curious thing…the Burger King page on myspace seems to have expired. Hmmm.
We’ve got similar plans in mind, plus we’re working on custom “group” pages for media partners, geographic based fan groups and not-for-profit organizations.
Best of all, I’m finally getting a seat at the table…the conference table that is. I’ve been jumping up and down inside our company for quite some time, hoping that our sponsorship sales guys would take the Web seriously and invite me to join them on their sales call.
Just recently I’ve had a chance to sit in on a handful of sponsor meetings, and it feels good to know with certainty that the value of our Web properties is at least being expressed to our sponsors. I don’t know for sure what these sponsors will DO on our Website(s), but at least I no longer wonder whether they’re even aware that we have some innovative things to offer online.
It’s especially gratifying when you hear the marketing team from a major automotive company and a major telecommunications company say “Wow. that’s really cool. I didn’t know you guys could do that!”
getting a handle on using the web is way past due for most sports sales staff. And to think , now that you get them focused on the web desktop, the whole target moves to mobile. This is going to kill most of these guys golf game. What with having to figure out how to provide ROI to the media buyers who are negotiating the instadium buys now. Unbundle the media and then the advertising unbundles itself. Everyone , including you , are becoming direct marketers. This means you have to measure the effectiveness of what you are selling. Is your front office ready for that?