The Marketization of the Milwaukee Brewers.

[twobrewers]

The Brewers play at Miller Park.

 

You can sit in the Gehl Club. The Dew Deck. Maybe get a seat in the Toyota Tundra area. Or get a seat at Fridays.

 

You can always check the home run count with the C-IT-GO gas pump in center field. Maybe you will get lucky and see a ball hit into the Mercedes Benz Fieldhouse. When a US Cellular call to the pen is made - you get to see the latest Chevy car round the warning track. Of course, the Klement's Sausages race for taste in the 6th inning.

 

If you happen to be watching on TV - you will be updated on the Powerball HR totals. You will see McDonald's "at the plate" stats - as well as KFC "who's hot".

 

I can't even listen on the radio anymore. Every inning has a promotion such as "if so and so hits a home run this inning." You already know that you are listening to "baseball brought to you by Kohl's". I think they spend more time pimping products than talking baseball.

 

Sometimes...I miss baseball.

 

I know these are the sacrifices we have to pay in order to have a competitive team in Milwaukee. But at some point - we are going overboard.

 

Does anyone else know any promotions that I am missing?

[PeaveyFury]

You forgot the 7th inning stretch, brought to you by Pick and Save, where you're always able to stretch your food dollar.

[kramnoj]

What baseball are you missing because of corporate relationsips, and how are they sacrifices?

 

Other corporate deals: Metavante, Briggs and Stratton, BP Cmon Back club, promotiions this season included Summerfest, State Fair, Pizza Hut, Applebees, one of the oil change places (Valvoline?), Time Warner. Those are just off the top of my head.

 

I think they spend more time pimping products than talking baseball.

 

There isn't enough action in baseball to talk about baseball for 3 hours for 162 games a year, and Uecker only has so many stories to tell.

[logan82]

I say get more sponsors until we can spend like the Yankees.

[bucks2281]

How about Uecker's daily diatribe about the wonders of Usinger's sausage? That's my favorite.

 

I think the Brewers player introduction presented by US Cellular is the worst.

[Fike85]

The teams in the highest level of Japanese baseball are named after the corportations that own the teams.

[kramnoj]

The teams in the highest level of Japanese baseball are named after the corportations that own the teams.

 

Do they have advertisements on the uniforms? I remember when the Yankees went a few years ago, there were ads on the unis.

[DSFastball55]

How about the AFLAC trivia question on FSN? I kinda like that one, although it's usually a pretty easy question.

[pitchleague]

advertisements and sponsorships help pay the bills. I'm all for it. At least our outfield wall doesn't look completely covered with ads like I've seen in some stadiums.

[1992casey]

I dunno. I think I can ignore most of the above items, but I'm still concerned about the Ricoh defense.

[valpocrewsader]

I might have missed it, but I didn't see mention of Menard's Big Inning, Badger Mutual insurance runs, George Webb burger runs, and the Potowatomie 21 runs impossibility.

[Buckhunts]

O.k. lets get rid of all those promotions and advertising. However, if they do that, they would have to give back the millions of dollars that those companies bring in. And if the Brewers want to have any hope signing C.C. or Sheets, or evening paying Suppan or Braun's salaries next year, the tickets price may have to be increased. How does $40 bleacher seats sound? Or what about $200 Field Infield seats? There are a lot of things to complain about, this should not be one of them.

[Jay Zahn]

O.k. lets get rid of all those promotions and advertising. However, if they do that, they would have to give back the millions of dollars that those companies bring in. And if the Brewers want to have any hope signing C.C. or Sheets, or evening paying Suppan or Braun's salaries next year, the tickets price may have to be increased. How does $40 bleacher seats sound? Or what about $200 Field Infield seats? There are a lot of things to complain about, this should not be one of them.

 

But can't everyone else do this stuff too? Then we're back at square one. We do it, the Cubs do it, the Yankees do it and they still have more revenue. If some teams are doing it we can't NOT do it, but it's not really a competitive advantage.

[WisconsinSportsRule]

How about the Luxaire Home Run inning?

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

I think the Brewers player introduction presented by US Cellular is the worst.

OH MAN. THANK YOU. I loathe that video. Loathe it. Not only is it blatant, it is really, really poorly done. I didn't think it was possible to be worse than the animated Bernie Brewer hitting exploding dingers video, but man oh man did they top it.

[dadofandrew]

I don't even notice it. It's a part of the game you'd have to be a fool not to partake in, but if you focus on the action, it's all just background noise.

[hawing]

I think the Brewers player introduction presented by US Cellular is the worst.

OH MAN. THANK YOU. I loathe that video. Loathe it. Not only is it blatant, it is really, really poorly done. I didn't think it was possible to be worse than the animated Bernie Brewer hitting exploding dingers video, but man oh man did they top it.

Loathe, indeed. Let's gyrate around on the screen talking into a cell phone!

 

I admit, at the last CC start we attended, it occurred to me that **if** enough advertising could be plastered in the park to allow for his re-signing, I'd be about ready for it.

But I'm equally relieved that we have a bunch of Sunday games, when the starting lineup video is live footage of players running out and meeting their Culver's Major League Moment kids.

 

U.S. Cellular and Motorola had better be kicking in for the Brewers' best players going forward.

 

 

[PKBadger]

When I think back to my childhood, spending time during the summer at my family's Northwoods lake cottage (where we listened to a ton of games on the radio), one of the vivid memories is Bob Uecker's "roll call" at the end of the game:

 

"....by Hardware Hank - you've got a lot more going for you with Hank...Hardware Hank!"

 

I must have heard that particular voice say that particular line about 1,000 times in my life. It's odd that I will always associate Uecker with Hardware Hank as much as the Brewers.

[ccbrew]

When I think back to my childhood, spending time during the summer at my family's Northwoods lake cottage (where we listened to a ton of games on the radio), one of the vivid memories is Bob Uecker's "roll call" at the end of the game:

 

"....by Hardware Hank - you've got a lot more going for you with Hank...Hardware Hank!"

 

I must have heard that particular voice say that particular line about 1,000 times in my life. It's odd that I will always associate Uecker with Hardware Hank as much as the Brewers.

Those nights when I couldn't tune in, I would have a pretty good idea of how the game went simply by paying attention to Uecker's voice inflection when he did his "Hank, Hardware Hank" line. Always seemed to have more pep in his voice for that line after a good win.

 

[twobrewers]

I am really surprised that the excessive marketing doesn't bother more people.

 

I completely understand the need for some/lots of it - but this year certainly seems to have taken it to a new level.

 

For goodness sakes, we have an enormous gas pump in center field!

[hawing]

Jim Powell's "Cranberries - they make it eeeeeeeasy to be good!" is much better than Daron Sutton's "AFLAC..AaaaASK about it at work!" ever was.

 

About a month into this season, we were at the grocery store and walking past the mustard made me think of Bob's now-daily promo for Usinger's sausage, crispy kraut (which he's taken to calling "crisp kraut", to my mild dismay) and Silver Spring mustard (either Beer & Brat or Chipotle).

Sure enough, the only Silver Spring mustards sold out that day at that store were Beer & Brat and Chipotle. Coincidence? I think not.

[Invader3K]

The extra advertisements don't really bother me at all. I just tune them out and focus on the game.

[kramnoj]

I completely understand the need for some/lots of it - but this year certainly seems to have taken it to a new level.

 

I think this represents the interest the business community has in associating themselves with the Brewers. With sold out games and huge ratings on TV, companies want to ride the wave of Brewer fever.

[owbc]

I am really surprised that the excessive marketing doesn't bother more people

It's 2008, I guess people are used to it by now. I'm just glad that pop-up ads on the internet have been largely eliminated. I couldn't stand those!

 

The Brewers have actually done a great job of not letting advertising bother people. It's not just a random display of ads on the outfield wall, all of the new promotions are somehow related to baseball--The "C-IT-GO" home runs, the Motorola phones describing great Brewers plays, the "Powerball" home run counts, etc. The sponsorships are making the Brewers millions of dollars and it's simply unavoidable.

 

I'm just glad MLB has enough integrity to keep the advertisements off the field. The Brewers' uniforms could easily have a big "Miller Lite" logo, while the players run around a field covered in painted advertisements like the ones under the ice on hockey rinks.

[tosabrewfan]

I just hope to see the Brewers score a bunch of West Bend Mutual Insurance runs.