Bravo, WPS

It’s almost as if WPS staffers intentionally timed their controversial twitter idea just to ride the publicity wave started by Charlie Villanueva and Shaquille O’Neal. This ESPN article does a nice job of recapping the story so I’ll just go ahead and quote them:

Suns center Shaquille O’Neal posted a note on his Twitter feed before a home game against Washington on Saturday night, suggesting he planned to post to the popular social networking Web site during halftime.

And sure enough, a brief message was posted on Shaq’s feed before the third quarter.

“Shhhhhhh,” it read.

It was the same message O’Neal delivered when asked about his Twitter plans before the game. When told Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry already knew about it, O’Neal bent over, leaned against the locker-room wall and groaned loudly, saying his plans were blown.

“I was going to do it and not get in trouble, then brag about not getting in trouble,” O’Neal said.

Gentry, when asked about O’Neal’s plans before the game, said he didn’t care.

“As long as he gets 25 [points] and 11 [rebounds], he can do whatever he wants. He can Twitter, Facebook, MySpace,” said Gentry, who also has a Twitter account set up by his daughter.

Last Sunday, Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva became an overnight Web celebrity after he posted a note, called a “tweet”, to his Twitter feed during halftime of his game against Boston.

“I stirred something up,” Villanueva said after Milwaukee’s 96-84 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night. “I’m a trend setter, I guess.”

Villanueva wrote that he had to step it up in the second half. He did, and the Bucks won. But coach Scott Skiles was annoyed, saying it gave the impression that Villanueva wasn’t focused. Skiles said Villanueva would not be fined for the incident but said it was a “no-brainer” that players shouldn’t be doing such things from the locker room any more.

O’Neal referenced Villanueva when he announced his plan on his Twitter feed.

“Attention all twitterers I’m a tweet at halftime and not get fined like vill a new wave a whteva his name is,” Shaq wrote.

Great. We all up to speed now? With professional basketball suddenly thrusting the concept into the minds of mainstream sports in this country, eyes are turning to teeny tiny WPS who already sanctioned the idea for their inaugural game. I must say, this is a BRILLIANT marketing strategy. And, so far, MLS has done nothing to steal the spotlight.

And on top of all this extra publicity, the twittery idea is sparking debate over the internets which is everything WPS needs to remain in the minds of many-o-sports fans.

But is it the right thing to do? Will players tweeting from the sidelines be a distraction to what’s happening on the field? Well, I have a few thoughts on this…

* Twitter is PERFECT for live reporting at the game. Call it a match tracker that’s available on the internet as well as to a significant number of fans’ cell phones. Real time updates of that game you’re missing because you are stuck at work, your grandma’s house, Costco, etc etc etc. Every single WPS team AT THE VERY LEAST should have someone at the game live-tweeting what in the hell is happening out there.

* Twitter is PERFECT for marketing the teams. In fact, I’m pretty sure this is how twitter plans to make money; by selling what we write to marketing companies. And if you think about it, suddenly the whole twitter search and twitter hash marks top trends phenomenon makes so much more sense. To think that companies aren’t using what we write and aren’t immediately shifting how they market their products, is crazy talk. And because twitter keeps this info open and available to everyone with an internet connection, we can all benefit from the information we all tweet out – even teeny tiny WPS.

* During-game tweeting is a brand new phenomenon and no-one really knows if it is truly distracting. And no-one really knows if it’s about to become that new & personal way for fans to feel right in that moment and right there on the sidelines which is basically where we all want to be when we’re watching this stuff anyways. This is basically a “wait and see” type scenario. And WPS is willing to take the plunge and experiment with the idea. If they succeed, other leagues will take note and adopt and WPS will get the credit.

But is it the right thing to do? Honestly, I don’t care. I say experiment away because the fans WILL let the league know if the result sucks. In fact, the fans will probably tweet their frustration… maybe even by using a hash tag so WPS can easily search twitter for the comments.

Category: Marketing Foo, WPS News

Tags: Marketing Foo, twitteronia, WPS News

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