Putting Sport Into the Game of Marketing : Promotions: San Diego firm uses sports-related campaigns to bolster business for clients.

Winners of a hotel chain’s recent sweepstakes were given the chance to dothe following: Take golf lessons from superstar John Daly, receive tennis tips from former champion Tracy Austin or climb behind the wheel with Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser.

The winners can thank San Diego’s Fantastic Sports Promotions Inc. for the prizes. The company, owned by Fred Mort, 31, specializes in making the wildest sports dreams come true.

Mort and his staff of 12 recently created a marketing campaign for Embassy Suites Hotel.

“We pretty much knew what we wanted, and Fantastic Sports put together the different scenarios,” said Charlie Bradshaw, a marketing director for Memphis, Tenn.-based Embassy Suites.

With the help of Mort’s crew, Embassy Suites introduced a scratch-off game for hotel guests. The result was a 20% increase in reservations by a group that was targeted by the hotel, Bradshaw said.

“Fifteen thousand people sent in second-chance entries. The campaign went real well,” Bradshaw said.

The campaign’s success illustrates how corporate America stands to gain by tuning into a sports-enamored public that, to an increasing degree, watches all-sports television, listens to all-sports radio and plays games of all kinds. And athletes are only too willing to double as idols and pitchmen, said Mort, who began his company only seven years ago.

To pull off such a campaign, Mort, a former baseball minor league general manager, used his extensive contacts in the sports world. Seven Rolodexes are on his desk, filled with the names of players from both the corporate and sports worlds.

Some of the promotions he has conjured up include a “Super Fan” sweepstakes, which rewarded one lucky winner with tickets to the year’s ultimate in sporting events.

Final Four? Super Bowl? Kentucky Derby? All Star Game? Mort not only obtained the tickets, but also arranged air fare and lodging for the crown jewels of sports. Along the way, he also made sure that he secured tickets for himself.

If it sounds like the ultimate job, it very well might be.

With all those Rolodexes in front of him, Mort has been able to put together deals that he calls “win-win” for everyone.

In addition to devising marketing packages, Mort designs sports-oriented incentive packages for companies wanting to motivate and reward employees.

His company is putting together a trip to the Summer Olympics in Barcelona for selected Evian Water employees. It will include air fare, lodging, parties and tickets to Olympic events, Mort said.

But Mort’s mainstay is marketing. When Carlsbad-based Upper Deck sports cards began looking for a new marketing strategy, the company went to Mort, who suggested utilizing 26 Triple-A minor league baseball teams.

The package included a Brien Taylor card night for the Louisville Redbirds, the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league team, said Dale Owens, team promotions director. Taylor is one of this year’s most-watched pitchers in the minor leagues, after signing with the New York Yankees for $1.55 million just out of high school.

The Redbirds are hoping spectators will crowd the ballpark to get the Taylor card, which won’t be available in stores until October, Owens said. Upper Deck also will get exposure through the promotion, he said.

Fantastic Sports also lined up Peter Pan peanut butter as sponsor of a no-alcohol, no-smoking Family Section in the Redbirds’ stadium, Owens said.

As part of the deal, free jars of peanut butter were given away on “Peter Pan Peanut Butter Night,” and there were attendance-boosting label nights, when proofs of purchase meant free or discounted admission to the game, Owens said.

The number of product plugs for Peter Pan peanut butter during Redbird radio and television commercials and on signs and in newspaper ads were handled by Fantastic Sports, Owens said. The bargaining even went so far as to include the number of tickets given to the food maker, tickets the company used to wine and dine clients, Owens said.

After all the give and take, the Redbirds signed on the dotted line, according to Owens.

“The bottom line is, Fred is putting cash and merchandise in here that is close to $100,000,” Owens said.

To better serve his clients, Mort has started a merchandising line of premium items such as hats, key chains and wristbands.

At the San Diego Padres’ sunglass day at the beginning of the season, Mort’s company supplied the glasses, he said.

With his company, which he expects to make $6 million in sales this year, in full swing, Mort said he still has one goal left: He wants to own a major league baseball team by the time he is 35 years old.

Imagine the freebies.