Sun Sports Takes Over Downtown Miami

FOX Sports Florida / Sun Sports turned the temperature up in South Florida by “taking over” Downtown Miami last Wednesday, December 21.  As part of HEAT Week, a week-long celebration in anticipation of the HEAT’s season debut, Sun Sports wrapped five Miami-Dade Transit MetroMover cars in co-branded artwork throughout January and unveiled the vehicles with a massive morning activation at the Stephen P. Clark Government Center that reached thousands of fans.

• Early morning on-site HEAT Week event reaches thousands of commuters

• Millions of impressions for Sun Sports via MetroMover cars throughout January

• PR, Marketing, Social Media, Promotions and FOX Sports Florida Girls elements all combined for successful activation.

Highlights:

Marketing

• Reach & Ridership: MetroMover ridership exceeds 7 million passengers per year and viewership extends to the millions of pedestrians. The cars run seven days a week around the busy downtown, Brickell and Biscayne Boulevard area (across from the AmericanAirlines Arena) for an estimated 7,760,000 impressions.

• Where HEAT Fans Live: Commuters and onlookers were given free HEAT t-shirts and posters, as well as Sun Sports lanyards, office supplies and broadcast schedules that highlighted Sun Sports as the home of the HEAT all season long with an emphasis on side-by-side games. Pairs of tickets were also given away via on-site trivia. Finally, to highlight the vehicles, a ride along was conducted throughout downtown in a branded car surprising commuters and handing out prizes at random.

• Leveraging Relationships: Local radio station Power 96 sent popular DJ Zog and their promotions team to alert listeners before the event. The radio station aired the DJ call-ins morning of and broadcasted shout outs post-event thanking the Fox Sports Florida Girls and recognizing Sun Sports as the home for all things HEAT.

Team Support

• The Miami HEAT joined in on the fun sending their Xtreme Team, mascot Burnie, HEAT Dancers and Banana Man for on-site activation. The HEAT also promoted the event with press releases and media advisories advising fans to make the most of their early morning.

Social Media

• Facebook posts and tweets from @SunSportsFOXFL, @SunSportsHEAT and @FSFlorida_Girls the day before the event got everyone excited and let people know they wouldn't want to miss this party. Morning of and mid-event tweets by the aforementioned accounts, as well as @Power965, @DJZog and @HEATBananaMan, generated buzz throughout South Florida reaching a span of more than 26,000 combined twitter followers. The highlight: a retweet from HEAT owner and Carnival Cruise CEO Micky Arison.

FOX Sports Florida Girls

• With their first on-air hit fresh on the minds of HEAT fans, the FOX Sports Florida Girls posed for pictures with fans, partied with commuters, held a mock-interview session with Burnie and participated in the MetroMover ride along. They were interviewed by HEAT TV and received multiple on-air shout outs, tweets and Facebook tags from the radio station DJ at the event.

Jordana and Annilie give Burnie a chance to flex his muscles

Publicity

• Miami-Dade County, Miami-Dade Transit and Miami-Dade Film Office officials were on hand and extremely pleased with the event turnout and execution. The Chairman of the Miami-Dade County Sports Commission, Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz, personally thanked Sun Sports and expressed interest in collaborating on future events.

Sun Sports, Miami HEAT and Power 96 pose for a final group shot