“The Western & Southern Financial Group Master’s and Women’s Open is taking an innovative approach to share information with their fans via social networks and we are honored to help them launch the initiative,” said Jackie Reau, CEO of Game Day Communications. “We look forward to creating vibrant content during the tournament to share with tennis fans around the world that are using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Ustream.”

During the tournament, Game Day Communications will share content via its “social media newsroom” concept with photos, live tweets and streaming video. Fans who are interested are encouraged to visit www.cincytennis.com to connect with the various social media platforms.

A team of three to five social media reporters will be on the grounds of the Lindner Family Tennis Center each day, during both sessions capturing and sharing content—everything from the practice court sessions, press conferences, live entertainment and the social scene of the tournament. The tournament will be covered over 216 hours, including all women’s and men’s matches.

Game Day Communications has also managed social media efforts for other sporting events and companies that include: Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon, Duramed FUTURES Tour, Lexy.com and The Ultimate Sports List.

In preparation for a strategic planning meeting with my colleagues at the Flying Pig Marathon, I reviewed the current 2010 Marathon and State of the Sport Report conducted by Running USA. The report is always presented in a comprehensive and professional manner.

Here’s the full link: http://www.runningusa.org/node/57770

Some of the statistics that caught my eye, may be of no surprise, but are still interesting:

• Marathoning participation grew nearly 10 percent over last year, the largest such growth in 25 years
• Some 467,000 runners/walkers finished a U.S. marathon last year
• In a 30-year span from 1980 to 2009, female participation in marathons has grown 30 percent
• Last year also saw the largest U.S. marathon field ever in New York with 43,660 finishers

Having conducted by first half marathon last year, I am not surprised by these numbers for the 13.1 milers:

• The half marathon distance has been the fastest growing road race distance over the past seven years
• Over the past year, participation in half marathons grew by 24 percent with more than 1.1 million finishers in U.S. races
• Women are leading the way in half-marathon participation by 57 percent over 43 percent in male participation rates
• Of the top 30 largest half marathon fields, 10 of them are within a five-hour drive from Cincinnati with the Flying Pig Half Marathon landing at #24 with 8,600 participants

Why the big jump in road race participation?

• Runners are smart: 79 percent hold a college degree compared with 27 percent of the U.S. population
• Runners have cash: 73 percent are making more than $75,000 per year, above the median U.S. household income of $52,175
• It may be a response to the bad economy: running is something that people can control unlike the economy
• And the no-brainer, it makes you feel better.

Now that you are inspired, take a look at doing the Flying Pig Marathon for May 1, 2011 at www.flyingpigmarathon.com. Registration is open for all races. I look forward to seeing you at the Finish Line.

Fountain Square event to be held from 10:00 a.m.-2 p.m., Friday, June 25

Do you know a talented youngster who’d like to sing at Cincinnati’s biggest international sporting event, the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters & Women’s Open?  Bring them to Fountain Square on Friday, June 25 for the Casting Call presented by Skyline Chili.

Talented kids 12 years of age or younger will be able to audition before celebrity judges for the chance to sing “America the Beautiful” prior to a session of the 2010 tennis tournament.  Registration will begin at 10 a.m. on the June 25 and will be open to the first 300 kids age seven to 12. Approximately two dozen of these youngsters will be selected to sing “America the Beautiful” during the tournament.

Each participant will sing a short a cappella version of the song for celebrity judges and will be given a gift after auditioning. Celebrity judges include: singer/songwriter Mia Carruthers from MTV’s Taking the Stage along with Rob Williams, FOX 19, Tara Pachmayer, Local 12, Kathrine Nero, WCPO, Tracy Walker, CityBeat & singer/songwriter, and My Mom Calls Me George, KISS 107 FM.

“Kids need to bring a parent or guardian and their best singing voices, and be prepared to sing at least the first two stanzas of ‘America the Beautiful’,” said Will Sikes, director of marketing and communications for the tournament. “The judges will make their choices based on vocal talent and personality, and we’ll notify the winners in the following weeks.”

All documentation and information is located at www.cincytennis.com/castingcall, including all the forms that contestants can complete and bring with them to the event.

The $5 million 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters & Women’s Open will be held August 7-22 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.

Cincinnati’s tennis tournament tradition started in 1899, and it is now the oldest tournament in the nation still played in its original city. The tournament is on the top level of both professional tennis tours. For tickets or information, visit www.cincytennis.com or call (513) 651-0303. Tickets are also available through TicketMaster at (800) 745-3000.

The website, which launches today, is releasing the Top 150 Sporting Events in the World through June 11 when the Top 10 List will be revealed. The List was accrued by more than 20,000 votes from sports fans.

The Ultimate Sports List, developed by Cincinnati entrepreneur Tom Walsh, provides a number of interactive, social elements for sports fans to engage with their favorite sporting events, venues and teams. 

According to the Sports Marketing 2009 Study*, the sports travel market represents a $44.5 billion industry each year in the United States, second only to the sporting goods industry at $53.7 billion. The U.S. sports market represents $185 billion spent annually. 

“As a sports fan who travels regularly to sporting events, I wanted to create an interactive website for fans to share their experiences and opinions about the events and venues in a social media environment,” said Tom Walsh, creator of The Ultimate Sports List and a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. “Think of TUSL.com as a virtual sports bar where fans gather to rank and discuss the world’s greatest sporting events.”  

The Top 150 sporting events from around the world will be featured on the website with event, travel and ticket information along with insider tips on how to enjoy the venue and activities associated with the event. Sports fans will also have the opportunity to share experiences, photos and videos from their travels.  

The Ultimate Sports List will be unveiled over a two week period beginning June 1. The first week, from June 1-4, the events ranked 51-150 will be released in increments of 25 per day. From June 7-11, the top 50 events will be released each day in increments of 10, culminating, with the release the world’s Top 10 sporting events on June 11.

TUSL.com creates interactive opportunities for sports fans by:

My Passport : Sports fans can check off the sporting events and venues that they have personally attended and receive a rating based on the number and rank of those events.

My Ultimate Sports List: Sports fans can create their own wish list of events they would like to attend or create their list of the world’s top events and eventually, local events.

Great Debate: The website will encourage sports fans to debate and share opinions on their favorite sports events, venues and/or teams in a jovial and fan-friendly manner.

Voting Booth: The website will have its Voting Booth open daily for fans to vote on their favorite events. Once each year, the Top 150 will be updated based on the fan’s voting.

 *Source: Sports Marketing 2009 Study by Richard K. Miller & Associates

Winning the Flying Pig Marathon was 26-year-old Brian List of Miamiville, Ohio, who won the Pig in a time of 2:31:56 for his first-ever marathon win. List was the runner-up in the 2008 Marathon and was the winner of the 2009 Cincinnati Heart Mini-Marathon. Second in the men’s division was 30-year-old Tilahun Abebe, in 2:34:41. Abebe was the winner of the 2006 Flying Pig Half Marathon. Third was Rob Morwood, 35, of Lebanon, Ohio, in 2:36:07. The top three runners all train as members of the local Earth Drummers running club.

List had been running among the leaders for most of the marathon before overtaking Abebe at about mile 22. “I’ve been aiming for a 2:30 time the last three years,” said List. “This year, I said, even though I fall off the 2:30 pace, I’ll just try to run a little faster than I had before. I’ve always been a good runner from behind.”

In the women’s division, 26-year-old Cynthia Arnold of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, won in 2:55:02. While this is her first traditional marathon win in her first Pig, she is the reigning USATF Trail Marathon National Champion. Back in the area visiting family in Lexington, Kentucky, Cynthia decided to run after getting a cortisone shot and a larger sized shoe for a foot injury.

“I didn’t know how fast I could run today (because of the injury), but I was in the front pretty much. When the half broke off, I was by myself and the crowd kept telling me how I was doing. In fact, that’s my favorite part of these races, the crowd support. In trail races, nobody knows where you are.”

Arnold’s husband, Louis Brenner, also ran in today’s Half Marathon, finishing his event in 1:40:49.

Second in the women’s division was Marnie Staehly, 32, from Houston, Texas, in her first Pig, and third with a time of 3:02:30 was 28-year-old Rachel Bea of Cincinnati, who, as Rachel Stoehr, was the winner of the 2008 Flying Pig Half Marathon. Bea, a running coach at Simon Kenton High School, actually was involved in her second event of Pig weekend. She coaches a Ryland Runners team that participated in the Ernst & Young Kids One Mile event on Saturday.

In the Flying Pig Half Marathon, two Cincinnati-area residents were the winners in the male and female divisions. Sycamore High graduate Ben Foley, a sophomore at Xavier University, won the event in 1:12:35, while 23-year-old Leslie Kraus, a University of Cincinnati graduate, won the women’s division in 1:24:23.

“In the beginning I thought I might have been silly going out in front,” said Foley, who was running in his second Flying Pig Half Marathon and had to battle anemia the last few months before having the strength to train. “I wondered when the other competitors were going to catch up, because I rarely run this distance. But I felt like after the 10K mark I was in good enough shape and I kept telling myself to keep holding my lead.”

Second in the men’s division was 31-year-old Jason Gantt of Loveland, OH, in a time of 1:13.25, and third was former Flying Pig Marathon and Half Marathon winner T.J. Lentz, 43, in 1:14:25.

In the women’s division, Kraus was able to get a lead early to hold on to her first victory in the Half Marathon, although she was the women’s winner in the Fleet Feet Sport 5K in 2008 and came in third in last year’s half. It was only her second event since coming back from a stress fracture in her left shin over the winter.

“I wanted to be top 10 because I haven’t been running for very long and I’m just so happy that I’m running without pain,” said Kraus, who’s been back training for about six weeks. “I started up front and there were a couple of girls with me, so I just tried to stay with them.

Second was 28-year-old Carrie Birth of Maineville, OH, the reigning winner of the Heart Mini-Marathon, who finished in a time of 1:25:13, and third was Pig veteran Tara Keller, 35, of Bexley, OH, who was competing in her 10^th Flying Pig Marathon weekend. She finished in a time of 1:26:28.

In the City Dash 4-Person Relay, the Wofford Terriers team won in a time of 2:51:08. Second was Sacred Heart of Fairfield, Ohio, in 2:55:59 and third was Led Feet in 3:09:28. In the women’s relay division, Count Pour Lick Stick won in 3:19:25. Second was Boca Beauties in 3:34:03 and third was Davidson CC Moms in 3:51:00.

The Flying Pig Marathon powered by P&G featured 18,520 in the Sunday events, including 4,879 registered for the full marathon, 10,861 in the Half Marathon and 2,780 in the 4-person relay division. In the Saturday events, 1,996 were registered for the Toyota 10K, 2,535 in the Fleet Feet Sports 5K, 2,269 for the Ernst & Young Kids One Mile and 624 in the Flying Piglet Fun Run.

Morgan Fletcher of Lockland High School and Branden Nelson of Aiken College & Career High School were named the 2010 Straight “A” winners with each receiving a $5,000 scholarship for college.

Fletcher earned five varsity letters in volleyball, track and cheerleading at Lockland High School. She as a 3.98 GPA and will attend the University of Cincinnati this fall.

Nelson earned six varsity letters in football and baseball at Aiken College and Career High School. He has a 3.0 GPA and will attend the University of Cincinnati this fall.

The Anthony Muñoz Foundation also honored the following students who each received a $2,000 scholarship. They include:

 Allison Ahlers, Oak Hills High School
 Abby Beausir, Beechwood High School
 Anthony Brock, Community Christian Academy
 Justin Carlotta, Ludlow High School
 Brad Fuller, Wilmington High School
 David Greis, Bishop Brossart High School
 Tyler Jordan, St. Henry District High School
 Kathleen Jung, St. Rita School for the Deaf
 Cory McKinney, Eaton High School
 Adam Meyer, Newport Central Catholic
 Ali Mygrants, Archbishop Alter High School
 Gerian Napier, Hughes Center
 Jameesa Rucker, Clark Montessori High School
 Louis Schaljo, Bethel-Tate High School
 Rachelle Sowers, South Dearborn High School
 Asia Underwood, Clark Montessori High School

We use the NCAA bracket as a fund-raiser for our local Fine Arts Fund, TVs in each office are turned up while we work and the first Friday of the tournament is a holiday.

This year, we have ramped it up and have created our own Madness to mix our passion for social media and the tournament. We call it Twitter Madness.

Our very own, JP Owens, created a methodology where we seeded 64 Division I coaches against each other based on their use of Twitter.

(Coaches: you have some opportunity here.) Of the 340 or so coaches, only about 80 are signed up and Kentucky’s John Calipari leads by a million, literally.

Download our bracket and follow along. Encourage your favorite coach to begin tweeting or tweet more so he can move on to the next round. Click here for the link to the Twitter Madness Bracket.

Each week, JP will update the bracket and we will actively use Twitter to share our thoughts on March Madness. Follow our Game Day Team at:

@owensjp
@gamedayjreau
@betsymross
@jcappella
@smileham
@elisegreene

Coaches won’t be the only ones on our radar. We have created a mini bracket of sports media who cover the NCAA Tournament and will share updates on their use each week of the tourney. Click here for the link to the Twitter Madness Bracket.

Check back weekly for updated brackets through the Championship game on April 5.

A Dancin’, we shall go…

Evaluate Your Efforts
So you have a Facebook Fan Page and are using Twitter on a regular basis. You might have even uploaded a couple videos to Youtube and you have completed your Linkedin profile. This is great progress, but there’s more.

Take a minute to review your current social media strategies with a scorecard approach. Have you driven new traffic to your web site? Have you successfully offered a new, trackable promotion with a code?

It’s also important to take a look at your competition and their social media efforts. Create a grid with your top five competitors and review their presence and engagement on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Share this information with your marketing/communications team to determine opportunities for your strategies.

Create a Social Media Team
When you started the social media efforts, it was probably new and maybe a little fun. Now it might be turning into…just one more thing to do each day.

Have you thought about creating a Social Media Team?
Do an internal audit to see who is using social media regularly on their own time and ask those colleagues or even volunteers if they want to help. Of course, they will need training and will need to be brought up to speed on the objectives, key messages and strategies from your plan. Once you recruit the team, provide them with assignments and deadlines just like they are reporters. Keep an eye on the posts, tags and photos but empower them to connect with your community.

Tag, You’re It! And Google Knows It.
As we all know, it’s all about Google. This is just a quick reminder to tag all social media content with your key words, i.e. company name, positioning statements, key leadership and industry key words. It’s also important to edit videos and photos posted to Youtube and Flickr, respectively.

Create Your Own Social Media Newsroom
Now that you have been creating a social media community of followers and fans, you might have the opportunity to take your social media game up a notch. Here are two new strategies we are deploying on behalf of clients.

With milestone events or special occasions, we have been using our social media platforms as newsrooms to communicate and engage our e-communities. You may consider launching the newsroom during a special annual event, a new product launch or with a seasonal approach. All this means is that you can appoint “reporters” to capture and share content with your community during this milestone opportunity. It might mean you have several reporters covering all aspects of a Marathon from the Expo to the Kid’s Races to the Pasta Party and ultimately, Race Day. You can also use the newsroom to interact with your community to answer timely questions or provide additional content based on their requests. Before you launch the newsroom, be sure to let the community know that you are so they don’t get bombarded by your stream of content.

The social media release
I encourage you to visit www.pitchengine.com and spend some time creating a social media release. This new platform is one of the best tools since the invention of the on-line media database aggregator. With this free tool, you can create your own social media release which is a standard release with photos, links to videos and social media sites, among other fun features. You can also create a tiny url with all of the content so you don’t have to clog up a reporter’s in box with photos, etc. Lastly, you can share your release to other social media sites like Facebook, Linkedin and others.

Monitor Your Platforms
Social media at its best is about genuine and transparent communication. Just as you check your email, you need to check your social media platforms to respond to “tweets,” comments and/or other blog posts.

A few quick and easy tools that help are Google Alerts for traditional media, blog posts, and a variety of social media posts, mostly Twitter. I also manage Twitter on my laptop and smart phone using Tweetdeck, a free application download.

If you need assistance in discussing strategies for your social media efforts, please feel free to contact me at Jackie Reau, jreau@gamedaypr.com or (513) 929-4263.

By 7:30 a.m., we were headed west on I-74 dissecting all the latest sports news and the Community Fund’s upcoming Redsfest this weekend – Marty seemed most excited to see “all around good guy” Glenn Braggs again. I think Reds fans will be interested to see if he can still break a bat on his back as he follows through on his swing.

The visit to The Bob & Tom Show is a thank you gesture to Bob Kevoian who annually plays in the Marty Brennaman Golf Classic each fall that benefits the Reds Community Fund. Marty and Bob became golfing buds during a golf junket to Scotland some years ago and have kept in touch ever since. In addition to being a celebrity golfer, Bob has also made a very generous donation each year. This year was no different as he donated $500 for each year Marty has been the voice of the Reds (just completed season 36 – you can do the math and carry the one). Game Day has partnered with the Community Fund to help recruit the celebrity guests and generate some of the creative elements of the two-day event.

Before Marty’s guest spot, the Bob & Tom gang hosted “Mr. Skin” of internet fame and his “role” in the movie Knocked Up. Once Marty took the airwaves, it was clear he and Bob were old friends as they quickly fell into old jokes on each other. Another old friend joined them as “Earl Pitts” called in to question Marty on the state of the Reds. Gary Burbank dropped the character long enough to update listeners on his retirement and upcoming book. After the broadcast, Marty and Charley presented Bob with a one-of-a-kind “putter bat” complete with a C.F. Payne painting of Bob near the sweet spot of the bat.

After a stop by the Bier Haus in Miamitown for lunch, our fearsome foursome arrived back at 100 Joe Nuxhall Way just in time for the Hall of Famer to prepare for a return to the airwaves that night for the Hot Stove League.

Charley Frank, Bob Kevoian and Marty Brennaman - hat tip to Michael Anderson for the photo.

High school basketball teams across Ohio will encourage their fellow students to volunteer in their communities during this time, and the team that achieves the highest percentage of school participation will be recognized at a Cleveland Cavaliers Basketball game and meet with NBA all-star Shaquille O’Neal.  

The OHSAA Foundation Service Week ties together the leadership of student-athletes and the service needed in communities across the state. Participating basketball teams not only have a chance to meet Shaq, but also have an opportunity to take part in a Foundation Gamem which allows teams to use one of their allotted scrimmages to play a regulation game under all normal game conditions, including charging admittance. Students participate in community service projects and their Foundation Game supports their efforts, while providing a platform to highlight their service activities.

Basketball teams are able to create their own school service projects or sign up for opportunities on UGIVE.ORG.  UGIVE and the OHSAA Foundation are challenging teams to become leaders in their school and in their community in order to make a difference.  It is up to them to recruit students from their school in order to win the meet and greet with Shaq. 

The Lakeview Lady Bulldogs, winners of the 2009 Volleyball Service Week, were awarded for their three-fold service event, “Rally for the Valley,” with an appearance at the AVP Tournament in Mason, Ohio and a one-on-one meet and greet with Olympic Gold Medalist Kerri Walsh.       

The first Basketball Service Week in 2008 was a great success, with over 250 schools participating in 136 events across the state, generating nearly $250,000.  Of this tremendous amount, over $177,000 went to charitable organizations and causes across the state, with the remaining amount going back to the schools in the form of scholarships and leadership conferences.  UGIVE and the OHSAA Foundation are working toward making this year an even greater success.  

UGIVE is a non-profit organization on a mission to catalyze, excite and empower the next generation of volunteers.  We make philanthropy relevant to students, guiding them to give their time and talents to build communities. Our goal is to create life-long givers. UGIVE is 100% free for students, schools and charities.  To learn more, visit www.UGIVE.org.

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