THE CHALLENGE: It’s just a hunch, but we bet if you were to ask either of the PGE Park teams if they’d like to repeat 2006, the answer would be something like, “Hell no.” For the third consecutive year, the Portland Beavers saw declining ticket sales. And the Portland Timbers’ sub-par 2006 showing equaled more empty seats. It was up to Coates Kokes advertising and PR to turn things around for 2007.

THE APPROACH: PGE Park set the goals for single-game tickets sales for the season: Beavers up from 98,200 to 118,800 and Timbers up from 25,000 to 27,500. To meet these goals, PGE Park needed a new game plan. So we benched their past efforts: filling seats by selling on-field action. Instead, we focused on the park as a destination (like the zoo or OMSI). So we put our efforts into promoting PGE Park’s promotions.

THE WORK: With sports fans being a secondary audience now and everyday folks being primary, we wanted to get our message into less sporty places—to the neighborhoods. We found an old step van, painted it, added graphics, speakers and more. Loaded with interns and a beaver, the retro van hit the streets on behalf of Portland’s retro park, plugging upcoming games and promotions. Additionally, windshield coupons helped fill seats and posters went up in the bathrooms of family-friendly eateries. Our PR team, in addition to landing stories outside the sports page, created nation-wide buzz for other promotions like Bob L. Head Night that included a national search and custom bobbleheads of the flesh-and-blood version. On the more traditional side, newspaper, TV and radio advertising filled any gaps.

THE RESULTS: As of mid-season, we’re on track to reach our goals. Father’s Day attendance increased about 25% compared to 2006. And the third-largest crowd since 2001 was there for the Fourth of July. So move over, Barry Bonds. There’s a new homerun hitter.