Sox advertising returns with new rules

[greasywheels121]

I'm loving that new grinder rule!

 

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-nws-sox05.html

 

Sox advertising returns with new rules

BY MARK J. KONKOL Staff Reporter

 

Chicago's other baseball team can keep their eternal hope for next year.

 

But on the South Side, there's rules about that kind of thing -- Grinder Ball Rules. Take No. 69: "There is always this year. (Well, and last year)."

 

This week, the White Sox are rolling out new rules on billboards, in newspapers, on TV and radio, and on the sides of CTA buses.

 

With the rules comes a simple message no other ballclub can copy. One word -- "Again."

 

"It's like Ozzie keeps saying. We were world champions last year. . . . We have to play like we never were champions. Let's do it again," said David Stevenson, president of Two-by-Four, the Sox advertising agency.

 

Last year, most of the ads revolved around Sox players, with the slogan "Win or die trying." This year, starting in May, actual Sox fans will share a starring role.

 

"There are no actors. Everybody in photographs are real Sox fans, shots we picked up at games," Stevenson said.

 

Which explains grinder rule No. 14: "It's a mother's right to scream at her boys."

 

It's accompanied by a picture of a mother decked out in full White Sox regalia screaming for Paul Konerko to hit a homer.

 

Season tickets are sold out for this season, but the marketing goal remains to build fan support and sell remaining seats.

 

"The point is to tell people [sox games] are an awesome entertainment option," Stevenson said. "Yeah, they won the World Series, but at the same time the experience of going to a game is a real fun day, especially with the kids."

 

Which gets us to rule No. 99: Intimidation can come in the form of a screaming 99 mph fastball or a screaming 9-year-old. The radio ad will include an actual screaming 9-year-old, Nicole Mullins.

 

And boy, can she heckle. "Hey batter, do you know what 99 mph smells like? Smoke. Yeah, that's right batter," she yells in the radio spot. "I smell a burn coming. This is going to be nasty."

 

The first TV spot will show spring training footage and the World Series celebration.

 

Then one word appears: "Again."

[mreye]

Very cool!

[bmags]

i wish i could see them sooner.