Tony George and his staff at Indianapolis Motor Speedway should be very proud this Memorial Day after one of the most successful Indy 500's that I can remember in years. Stands were full, merchandise stands were humming and there was a great race. This race featured eight cautions, a win by the pole sitter and drama with Danica...who can ask for anything better.

If I can offer just a few suggestions...the IMS staff needs to add some technology to the action. I want to hear from the Pit Crews on my radio like NASCAR and I would like to see more video components at the race, not the same old video boards. ESPN and ABC do a great job of covering the race but there are more opportunities to personalize the race experience with technology.

Tradition needs to meet high tech and it can be done to keep the momentum going from yesterday's race.

Betsy and I just finished a whirlwind two-day media training session in Kansas City working with the professional golfers of the Duramed FUTURES Tour. We talked about working with traditional media and tips for presenting yourself in interviews, etc.

The title sponsor of the Tour--Duramed--brought us in speakers on their Foundation for Success professional development program...A very nice touch from a sponsor perspective.

The excitment and opportunity came today--DAY TWO. I think those using the world wide web should get ready for the creative barrage of new media uses from these pros. Many of the players already have web sites, facebook pages and blogs. But we talked about taking it to the next level.

I am sure you will soon see a weekly internet radio show featuring player Mo Martin or "Mondays with Mo" as we tagged it today. You might also see the Swedes--Sofie and Caroline posting tweets on Twitter so you can follow them on their US journey. Those working in the sponsorship and endorsement world should watch for new invitations to connect in Linkedin as we let the cat out of the bag.

Most impressive was their interest and excitment in helping the Duramed FUTURES Tour become the "most connected professional tour in the U.S" to connect with fans, sponsors and volunteers on a personal and virtual level.

These ladies get it and soon you will be getting it too--in your inbox.

Check out www.duramedfuturestour.com to learn more about the Tour.

Since the question has been posed, let me answer it. Visiting every MLB stadium is on my life to-do list. So far, I have visited the following (ranked in no particular order):

Cincinnati Reds (Do the Diamond Club seats just once in your life!)
New York Yankees (There's nothing like taking the subway to a game!)
Detroit Tigers (Love the new joint, it rocks)
Chicago Cubs (I LOVE WRIGLEY!)
Boston Red Sox (Yawkey Way is a great fan experience but the seats harken back to the 1800s, for real)
Chicago White Sox (Is this the new place? Hard to tell)
Colorado Rockies (Beautiful place, love the people of Denver)
Baltimore Orioles (Cool stadium, a great destination)
Tampa Bay (Why don't more people go to games there?)
Cleveland Indians (Well, this one is in the right order, I can't root for anything in Cleveland!)

Tonight, I am visiting the Kansas City Royals stadium and have summer plans for Pittsburgh and Washington, DC. After this summer, I will have 18 more to go...give me a couple of years!

How many stadiums are you up to?

Woe is me.

On this Mother's Day, here's a shout out to Pat Reau for taking me to men's and women's basketball games at the University of Toledo, for buying me a green satin Toledo Goaldiggers "Eruzione" jacket and for taking me to see the San Diego Chicken at a Mud Hens game.

Early on, she gave up on her only child and let me be the Tom Boy that I am. I now know the sacrifices she made to send me to basketball camps all over the midwest, sitting in the gym parking lot to chauffeur me and buying me my first and only Rawlings mitt (telling me the "R" was for Reau). Thanks, mom!

The key to rearing sports fan is simple: make mom happy. If mom likes to go, the whole family will go. Why don't more teams market directly to moms in a strategic way and not just on Mother's Day or Ladies Day. Ask mom what she needs to make the decision to buy the tickets. Is it cost-related, events take too much time, parking is hard? Find out the answers by asking. I recommend an online community such as cincymoms.com as a great resource to pose questions to moms in a comfortable place--their place.

For one client, we created a mom's advisory board using cincymoms.com. We asked for feedback on a new waterpark. Believe me, they aren't shy! We also use them as ambassadors to forward promotions and perks to their social circles.

So, make Mother's Day, every day!

I love being on a college campus. Yesterday, I presented to 30 bright graduate students at the University of Cincinnati at a sports marketing symposium.

The professor, Dr. Andrea Dixon, even called me a "closet academian." It was the highest compliment coming from her.

After my presentation on sports media, I challenged the students to craft new media programs to reach the elusive teenage boy on behalf of an MLB team. (Money was no object, players were accessible and there were no stifling MLB restrictions.)

There were some great ideas. The popular ones were to create Facebook pages for each player using interns to keep them fresh and creating fan communities. Myspace is getting a bad rap these days, so they stayed away from using this tool.

My two favorites were an XBOX Live tournament with players and teen fans who register to play at the stadium. Another one was to have the players create podcasts on their hobbies, i.e. music. The best was to email the player suggestions on the song in which they come up to bat and they would be accepted and announced.

All in all, it was a good discussion on how to integrate new media into traditional media campaigns. It is a must-do to reach certain targets, especially teen boys.

What is your new media idea?

The Pig goes High Tech on its 10th Birthday
Powered by Game Day Communications and its partners

The largest field of participants for the Flying Pig Marathon (22,149) crossed finish lines in various events this weekend celebrating the 10th running of the Marathon. As the “Pig” looks to its teen-age years, various technology solutions, managed by Game Day Communications and their partners, were added to communicate to runners and their families.

E-mail Communications
For 26 days leading up to the Marathon, daily email alerts were sent to the e-database of 30,000+ providing race tips, updates, sponsor recognition and spectator information. We also used the email database to encourage use of the technology options created for the weekend.

Real-Time Results & Text Messages
Working with Cincinnati.com, runners and their families members could view real-time results on Cincinnati.com on Sunday for the full marathon, half marathon and 4-person relay. Also, some 3,000 cell phone were buzzing yesterday with text updates with runner’s split times courtesy of Cincinnati.com and Zebra Mobile.

Twitter.com
From Friday through Sunday, the staff at Game Day Communications provided behind-the-scenes updates from race events starting with the Health & Fitness Expo through the end of Sunday’s race. Twitter is a social media networking tool that allows people to register to receive posted updates from Twitter.com. Some 70 people signed up to “follow” our alerts and we made 130 postings over the three days. (Next year, we will use Twitpic to add photos with postings.) While this is a small number of the total field, Twitter is a good tool to engage participants and to share timely or emergency information. For instance, I used Twitter to announce the 15-minute delay for the race due to the fire on the course at the same time it was being broadcast on WLWT-NBC and at the Starting Line. Check it out at: http://twitter.com/gamedayjreau

Facebook.com
Each day during the race weekend, we took about 20-30 photos from various events and posted them on facebook.com for participants to enjoy. Visit: http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=1162386072

Youtube.com
Working with Silver Sun Studio, a two-minute overview video was produced for distribution on youtube.com featuring the start and finish as well as course shots of runners and spectators. View the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2qEAU10kzQ&feature=email

It's the first weekend in May so it must be Flying Pig Marathon weekend. Cincinnati or Porkopolis as the city was called back in the late 1800s gives this race a big bear bug each year, now for the 10th year: 22,000+ participants (all 50 states, 15 countries), 3,000 volunteers, 150,000 spectators! This race also rocks with 60 live entertainment acts along the course.

Runner's World, the bible of the running community, calls it one of the most fun runs in the world and Fast Company compares the branding with Apple and Southwest Airlines. Iris Bush, the director, makes the rounds on the race management circuit talking about the race's success.

How has this race come so far, so fast in just 10 years? It's all about the Pig. The Pig rules in this race with its creative logo; volunteers are called "grunts," spectators are called "street squealers," the finish line is dubbed the "Swine Line."

This race is a seriously fun race with a terrific race staff, medical team and staff that cater to runners at every turn. The Pig's registration is up 30 percent this year, due to its strong branding and runner loyalty program.