| Seriously ESPN, WTF? |
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By: Mike Bush |
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 I know that ESPN is occasionally a bit of a four-letter word to some of the sports cognoscenti among us, sometimes glossing over the intricate details and minutiae that some diehards crave. I sometimes feel that way about their baseball coverage, but by and large, I think ESPN is great at what it does: Sports news and analysis for the every-fan (not the superfan).
This week, listening to Mike & Mike in the morning, I heard them explain their “Word of the Day” contest. They tell you a word, you text the word to a particular phone number, and you’re entered to win (a trip to Hawaii is the grand prize).
For whatever reason, this struck me in the same way “Classic Lotto” or scratch off tickets occasionally catch my eye. Sure, I know I’m unlikely to win, but now and then, it’s OK to drop a dollar and just see what happens.
So, I sent the text message with the word of the day. Come on Universe, let’s see what ya got.
The next night, I was awakened around 1:15 a.m., with my phone receiving an alert (I assume I’m not the only person who uses his phone as an alarm clock, so the ringer is turned up every night).
ESPN sent me a note thanking me for participating in the contest and reminding me to listen to Mike & Mike. At 1:15 a.m.
Seriously, ESPN, maybe it is time to rethink the way you handle contest entrants, because this was crummy.
Moral of the story for marketers/PR people…it’s OK if your brand wants to do a contest…but making sure you can execute the details is super important.
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Mike Bush is a PR and Marketing freelancer with more than a dozen years of experience in the field. Find him on and connect Twitter @mikebush or at www.mikebush.nyc.
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