August 24, 2005

Volume 4, Issue 15

Yankees Versus Red Sox?

Contacts: Jodie Adolfoson, Nestlé Waters North America, Senior Sponsorship Manager, [email protected]; Steve Hartzell, Byte Interactive, Client Services Manager, [email protected]; Lisa Aulebach, Ryan Partnership, Program Director, [email protected]

Organization/Teams: Nestlé Waters North America (Poland Spring), Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees

Program Title: Poland Spring Ultimate Fan Rivalry

Objective: There were three objectives targeted by the Poland Spring Ultimate Fan Rivalry:

1) Enable Poland Spring to leverage its sponsorship of the New York Yankees and Boston

    Red Sox by creating an interactive contest between the two markets

2) Raise awareness and reinforce the relationship between Poland Spring and both teams

3) Strengthen Poland Spring’s brand equity and brand loyalty in each team’s region

Program Description: Nestlé Waters North America proved that opposites really do attract… even when it comes to the biggest rivalry in sports! That’s because Poland Spring (a Nestlé Waters North America brand) created a contest called the “Ultimate Fan Rivalry” for fans of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

Here’s how the program worked…

Fans of the Yankees and Red Sox were encouraged to enter the Ultimate Fan contest at http://www.polandsrping-rivalry.com/. They were then able to upload a photo of themselves and a 100 word essay that explained why they deserve the title of “Ultimate Fan.” People visiting the site voted on a scale of 1-5 on how much they thought the contestant supported their team and Poland Spring. Real-time scoring helped to fuel the rivalry between the two teams and supported friendly competition between fans.

The winners from each team received great prizes such as four tickets to a home game, limo transportation, team memorabilia, and dinner at the clubhouse.  Moreover, all fans that voted had the chance to win daily, weekly, and monthly prizes that included cases of Poland Spring water, team gear, and game tickets…which encouraged more voting online. Finally, the two Ultimate Fans from each respective team will go head to head in a second round of voting to determine which team has the overall Ultimate Fan.

Media: Poland Spring used promotional email blasts to its consumer database as well as the Yankees and Red Sox databases. Also, banners were placed on the Official Yankees and Red Sox fan websites. In addition, radio spots, in-stadium announcements and signage were employed.

Sponsor: Nestlé Waters North America/Poland Spring sponsored the rivalry. In addition, partners Byte Interactive and Ryan Partnership assisted with the contest by working on web components and offline promotions. Poland Spring is a sponsor of both the Yankees and Red Sox and has in-stadium signage in both ballparks.

Results: The winners from each respective team are pictured to the left. These two fans will now compete head to head to determine the overall Ultimate Fan. The website received 125 contestants and 94,576 unique votes were cast from Yankees fans; 181 contestants and 197,708 unique votes were cast from Red Sox fans. In addition to contest participation, there was a 56% opt-in rate for future communications from Nestlé Waters North America, marking a significant growth in the Poland Spring consumer database.

Looking Ahead: The overall Ultimate Fan will be determined on September 28, 2005.  Poland Spring plans to use data it gathered from the participants in order to enhance future CRM efforts.  The success of the Poland Spring Ultimate Fan Rivalry has also encouraged the teams involved to use the program again next season.

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