I received a MyLAC text message on Wednesday morning instructing me to show it at the box office, and get $160 seats for $25. The pair of tickets I got ended up being for section 112, row 1. There were PLENTY of available seats in that (and other) sections.

I’m honestly shocked that there haven’t been more of these types of fire sale type notifications until now. I live downtown and was planning to go to the game anyway, so the timing was fortuitous, but for someone not close by, this type of notification could persuade them to attend.

I’m not entirely sure how this would tie into your marketing campaign, but SMS notification seemed to work for Obama, so why not the Clippers?

~D

“Clippers, Changing the Tides”

Focus on poor communities. Target families. Since laker games are too expensive for a regular family

Where do I sign up for these texts on ticket sales?

Have Kaman play naked. The stand’s will be full. The Clippers…where Chris Kaman’s exposed genitalia happens. They could even run those commercials and it could say where (picture of Kaman’s privates) happens.

Sell Baron Davis. All day long, every day.

Billboards. Spots. “My Town”:

—Baron goes around LA, we see the courts where he grew up playing, humble roots. South LA.
—Westside, Santa Monica: Crossroads. A school on an alley with no gym: state champions. “They call it the gym that Baron built.”
—LA basketball, the home of history, the dream: UCLA point guards: Walt Hazzard, two NCAA championships; Mike Warren, three NCAA championships—Baron shooting around with Mike Warren, Cash Warren. It’s a family, best friends. Baron at Janss Steps, looking down at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA: BD Bruin highlights.
—Dreams are fragile. Baron injured, limping off.
—Bill Walton in Clipper gear. We hear Walton: “Every opportunity is precious.”
—California: BD in GSW gear, stunning Dallas. “You have to have the will to win.”
—BD putting on the Clipper jersey: Every game counts, every time you put on the uniform it’s another opportunity, it’s a privilege.
—BD walking down the tunnel. “There are home games, and then there’s playing at home.” BD running out onto the court. “My court.” BD Clipper highlights. Dunks, passes, firing up the crowd.
—My town.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REYssyYD5RQ&feature=related

I’m pretty into this too.
http://zhiv.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/fired-up-ready-to-go/

Simmons is on it:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/simmons/index

Would love to get it going at Clipper games:
“So I just have one question for you, Clippers Nation…”

“We’re the blue collar team for a blue collar town. Forget the snobby Lakers and their wanna-be-seen-with-celebrities fans. This is the new hard times. Come watch the NBA basketball with your fellow proletariats. Clippers basketball. NBA games for the common folks!”

“You think it costs $2000 to go to an NBA game with Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, and Victoria Beckham? Well you can get Clippers tickets for under $100 if you call today and be seen with Ernest Borgnine!”

“Come to a Clippers game and get a free month stay at a Sterling Luxury Apartment*”
(*Sterling Luxury Apartments in 21 Psalms Barracks only)

“Yeah we suck, but at least we’re cheap!”

On the serious side, good luck with the journalism degree, ClipperSteve. The decline of American newspaper is more depressing than the imminent death of the American automotive industry. You don’t find too many great foreign correspondents like Halberstam, Neil Sheehan, or Michael Herr anymore. Though I would say that Jon Lee Anderson, Mark Bowden, David Remnick, and George Packer are at the top of their game right now. But they’re probably the last of the breed.

Playing on the idea that everyone from L.A. across the United States and around the world finds it so easy to root for the Lakers, I have an idea for a slogan that gives the Clippers more personal meaning to us as fans.

The L.A. Clippers — Your Own Team

An obvious dig would be, “Sure, because nobody else wants them.”
The bright side is that you can buy into this team (because tickets and merchandise are cheap) and you can claim ownership of this team because not many others do. It sort of makes you feel like you’re a part of something rather than just an observer.

Blogging – like the blogger idea, but the Clips should take advantage of the fact that perhaps the world’s most popular sports blogger has a vested interest in the team… sorry, not referring to CS, but season ticket holder Sports Guy Bill Simmons. He was blogging on games for awhile, but it may have just gotten too depressing to write about, plus it sounded like the Clips weren’t really treating him very well. I’m not saying he could be the Clips personal blogger, I’m sure ESPN wouldn’t like that, but if the Clips could give him more access to the team, them maybe he can write/film some more pieces on them, like the E60 piece.

Or, to get everybody into the action, how about live blogging via text message during the game? Everybody could text their blogs in and some of the better entries get posted on the jumbotron real time and they all get compiled for viewing on the Clips website.

Banking on Baron – we have a legitimate star and viral video personality in Boomdizzle, but it doesn’t seem like we’re really taking advantage… I haven’t really seen a lot of Baron ads and billboards. How about a video series exclusively on the Clips website and shown at intermissions, maybe an odd couple thing with him and Kaman (kinda like the one he did with Nash). And what happened to all of his buddies that were coming out when the Dubs were winning? How about getting Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson out to some games… I don’t know if the Clips dole out celebrity hookups, ie. free games & gear (I heard Clipper Darrel even pays for his seats), but they’re not the Lakers and need to go the extra step to try and get exposure for the team. Even better, how about a promo with Alba in a Baron jersey..“Nothing comes between me and my Clippers”. ok, now I’m dreaming.

Cross promotions – this is Hollywood and the Lakers seem pretty good at coming up with cross promotional efforts with movies (Mission Impossible 3 and Lord of the Rings are a couple that come to mind). The Clips don’t seem to do too much of this, even though I do remember seeing a cutout for All Star balloting that looked like something out of the Transformers. Or for something the Lakers haven’t done, how doing some promotional events with the other sports teams in town, like the Dodgers. You could have Dodgers night at the Clippers and vice versa. That might be a little extreme, maybe the players can just support each other and attend each others games like the Boston teams do (of course, they’re all winners). I was at the Dodgers game where Baron threw out the first pitch and it was kinda cool and created a bit of buzz for the season.

No matter what, the Clips, or Donald in particular, should get rid of the cheesy, self aggrandizing ads in the LA Times. I can’t go through a paper without seeing 5-6 of them, which aren’t really ads, just nonsensical self promotion about his buildings, how he donates for luekemia or something, or some random mention of the new Clips practice facility. Anyhow, I’m sure those promo dollars could be put to better use.