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Super StarNorcalfella wrote "Great American 49'ers," a light-hearted and thus far fictional look at what might happen if sponsorship was taken to the logical next level - a combination stadium and theme park. CarolynT, on the other hand, gave her take on the United States Tennis Association's decision to forsake millions of dollars in corporate sponsorship money and name the USTA National Tennis Center after Billie Jean King.
Those two articles (sorry, I don't have the technical savvy to master the art of inserting links, but you've probably read them already anyway) got me thinking, which in my case is almost always a bad thing. I believe corporate America is missing out on what could become the next great wave in advertising: corporate blog sponsorship!
Think about it. With the popularity explosion of computers and Al Gore's internet in the last fifteen years, nearly everyone is now online. This has resulted in the mushrooming popularity of blogging, where any damn fool with a thought and too much time on his hands can beam that idea out to thousands, millions, or in my case tens, of people.
Thus, for a relatively small outlay of advertising dollars, businesses can imprint their brands even more firmly into the consciousness of the American consumer.
Blogger.com, which is where I compose these pearls of wisdom, could become, for example, "Bank One Blogspot." An individual post on anyone's blog could become the "PNC Post." Minute Maid and Tropicana, already involved in sports sponsorship with Minute Maid Park in Houston and Tampa's Tropicana Field, would be naturals for sponsoring any of the many posts on Barry Bonds' alledged juicing.
How about Floyd Landis? What drug company wouldn't want its name associated with any of the dozens of posts on his situation?
Each blogger could negotiate deals with companies anxious to get their names associated with a writer they like. This could lead to, for example, B+M HalfBaked Ravings. Or maybe, U.S. Border Patrol's Socal Sportsfan.
Burger21 stands to become unreasonably wealthy when McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's finish their bidding war for the sponsorship of his blog. Benjamin MooreSports makes a lot of sense, not to mention cents.
Dudski needs to get on the ball and wrap up negotiations for Bread and Circus Bread and Circuses, or perhaps Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Bread and Circuses. Nooch could have the financial backing of an entire television network with ABC's What in the Wide World of Sports is Going On Here?
And who wouldn't want to read Oscar Mayer's FlyingPig's Blog? Or Norcalfella's Mopar Unfiltered? Or Colt Firearms ShooterB's Blog?
You get the idea. Feel free to add any companies you feel would be perfect for your blog or someone else's. In the meantime, let me take one final opportunity to thank you for reading Rhodes Bake-N-Serve HalfBaked Ravings! (Thanks to CarolynT for the abovementioned sponsor)