In-Your-Face Ads Will Play a Bigger Role

There goes Michael Jordan--twisting and turning his way up the court. But wait. Something is missing. If you watch the National Basketball Assn. championships on TV Wednesday night, you may notice that something that usually shadows Jordan from rim to rim isn’t there.

It’s those darned courtside ads. You know, the ones that players sometimes trip over.

Not wanting to anger its advertisers--who are paying $250,000 for 30-second spots--NBC is covering up the courtside ads with its own logo during national broadcasts, which include championships. But Turner Network Television shows the signs during all NBA broadcasts.

And fans had better get used to them. Plans are under way to introduce the in-your-face ad signage to TV broadcasts of pro hockey, tennis and even golf.

Who hasn’t watched an NBA game without seeing the familiar Budweiser logo--emblazoned across the courtside signs--suddenly flip over to the next advertiser, say, Midas muffler? It’s the ultimate in synchronized sponsorship.

The paper signs, controlled by computers, are attached to rollers that can stretch the length of the court. TV cameras can’t avoid showing them. About half of the NBA teams use them--including the Lakers and Clippers.

Marketers are clamoring for unconventional ad vehicles to reach target consumers. At the Sports Arena, home to the Clippers, Gatorade’s name is on the padding that’s wrapped around the poles for the baskets, and L.A. Gear’s name is on the clothes worn by ball boys.

Nothing, however, is more visible to the TV camera than the giant sideline signs that make the advertisers appear to own the court. Marketers are spending millions of dollars on these newfangled ad systems.

But not everyone likes them.

“I call it Intrusive Advertising Inc.,” said Stan Freberg, the Los Angeles adman and radio commentator. “I hate 90% of most TV commercials--and now we have to endure these long, linear commercials like some endless fortune cookie message.”

Executives from the ballclubs explain that, with player salaries continuing to escalate, ad gimmicks like this help keep ticket prices down. They say static ad signage has been on the sidelines for years, and these systems keep courtside ads more uniform.

But skeptics say that the rotating signs--which guarantee each advertiser three minutes of TV exposure--only further commercialize professional sports.

“It would be nice to go to an athletic event one day and see ads in the program--and nowhere else,” said Kim Rotzoll, head of the ad department at the University of Illinois.

Are the signs more effective than TV spots? Hard to say. Joyce Julius, a Chicago sports marketing consultant, monitored one sign company’s television exposure at eight NBA venues during two months last season. For a fraction of the cost, Julius said, the advertisers who used the courtside signage received the equivalent of about $27 million in television commercial time.

While the courtside advertising has spread throughout the league, NBA officials have mostly watched from the sidelines.

“I’ve been surprised how quickly fans have accepted it,” said Rick Welts, president of NBA Properties. He said his office has received no complaints.

In 1989, the Clippers became the first NBA team to roll in the rotating signs.

“A lot of people were skeptical,” said Mitch Huberman, vice president of marketing for the Clippers. “But I’ve never heard a fan say, ‘I’m not going to a ballgame because I don’t like the signs.’ ”

The first season, however, some fans complained that they were distracted by ads being rotated while games were in progress. The NBA now prohibits ads from being flipped during play.

The Lakers use them too.

“As long as the players keep asking for more money,” said Mark Scoggins, a Laker marketing executive, “the owners will have to develop more concepts to exploit advertising.” But some NBA teams object to the rotating signs. Len Komoroski, vice president of sales for the Minnesota Timberwolves, said the rotating sings “can detract from the broadcast.”

That is precisely the point the companies that sell the ad space make to advertisers: Viewers cannot miss them.

“Signage has become a part of sports,” said Richard H. Evans, president of Dorna USA, a New York sports marketing firm. Dorna’s subsidiary, Adtime, has place rotating signs at 11 NBA arenas. “We’re not doing anything that hasn’t been done before. We’re just doing it more effectively.”

Evans is also talking with the National Hockey League about placing the signs in NHL rinks.

The concept for these rotating signs began in Europe nearly a decade ago. Dorna’s parent company, Madrid-based Promocion del Deporte, sells stadium sign space for 16 World Cup soccer teams.

Three years ago, Adtime first entered American professional sports venues when it placed the signs at the Sports Arena for Clippers games. Since then, the company has wooed 11 NBA clients--including the Chicago Bulls.

Adtime won’t divulge its rate schedule, but advertisers pay tens of thousand of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars to have their ads displayed over an entire season. Adtime then pays the teams a percentage of the revenues.

At the Forum, the Lakers use a similar sign system developed by the New York firm Dynadx. The sign company is marketed by Century City-based MultiVision Marketing, which is owned by Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall. The Kings have already tested the signs in preseason games and--pending league approval--may have them in place next season.

If teams could get monster pay-per-view income, they’d be happy to get rid of all advertising, said Rob Moor, president of MultiVision. “But the cost of the sport cannot be borne by ticket sales.”

Briefly

The Santa Monica agency Suissa Miller has won the ad business for the Southern California Pontiac Dealers Assn. . . . North Hollywood-based Davidson Gelb Advertising has won the ad business for the Universal City Hilton. . . . Casablanca Fan Co. of the City of Industry is reviewing its ad account and expects to name a new agency later this month. . . . Triad Healthcare of Encino has assigned its ad business to the Beverly Hills agency Baxter, Gurian & Mazzei. . . . A workshop on “Breaking Into Television Commercials” will be offered by UCLA Extension beginning June 25.