February 19, 2003
Volume 2, Issue 2

Former Atlanta Stars Shine on Wednesdays

Braves use Alumni Promotion to Drive Ticket Sales

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Contacts:  Joe Clemente, Director of Advertising and Publicity; Brian Lapidus, Publicity Coordinator

Organization:  Atlanta Braves

Program Title:  Welcome Back Wednesdays

Objective:  To increase ticket sales on a traditionally slow day of the week and to reconnect Braves' fans with the historic legacy of the organization.

Program Description: T-G-I-W??? To combat low attendance on a traditionally slow day of the week, the Atlanta Braves have come up with an outstanding promotion to drive fans to the ballpark. Every Wednesday home game the team brings Braves alumni out to Turner Field to honor the players and allow the fans to interact with them on a personal level.  Participating alumni are involved in both pre-game and in-game activities including on-field presentations, meet-&-greets with fans in the plaza area, and TV & radio on-air interviews.  Since its inception on June 19, 2002, the Braves have welcomed back such baseball names as Phil Niekro, Mark Lemke (pictured below), Greg McMichael, Jeff Treadway, Roy Hartsfield, Marty Perez, Pete Smith, Charlie Leibrandt and many others.  In 2002, the Braves typically honored 3-5 alumni at each Welcome Back Wednesday.

"Our goal is to embrace the history behind this great organization, while teaching today's Braves fan about past Braves players, ranging from Hall of Famers to men who have only worn the uniform for a short time," said Braves' President, Stan Kasten.  Additionally, the Braves used the promotion to create an added incentive for fans to attend Braves games on Wednesdays.

Media Campaign: Welcome Back Wednesdays garnered both national and local media exposure.  There were radio spots on WSB-Radio, in-game drop-ins on local radio stations and TBS, Turner South, and Fox Sports Net, Braves announcers did mentions for Welcome Back Wednesdays during their broadcasts, and Street & Smith's published an article highlighting the success of Welcome Back Wednesdays.

Results: Even though Welcome Back Wednesdays did not begin until mid-season - and thus, not in any pre-season marketing materials - the popularity of Welcome Back Wednesdays increased with each event.  Through this promotion the Braves were able to successfully utilize the drawing power of its former greats. As fans began to associate Wednesdays with the alumni promotion, Braves fans were calling to find out who was scheduled for the next event!

Looking Ahead: The momentum behind Welcome Back Wednesdays will continue to grow throughout the 2003 season as the Braves have twelve Welcome Back Wednesday promotions scheduled. The first of which will be held during the opening home stand of the season on April 2nd vs. Montreal. 

Contact Info:  For further details, contact Joe Clemente, Director of Advertising and Publicity at (404) 614-1502, [email protected]; or Brian Lapidus, Publicity Coordinator at (404) 614-1382, [email protected].