(click here for complete archive of press releases)

Athletic Business Journal

Substance Abuse - One on One: Product-Placement Expert John Meindl Sees Opportunities for Sports Teams

In the credits of this spring's hit Paramount feature "Failure to Launch," John Meindl is listed as "advisor: paintball product placement," "advisor: paintball wardrobe" and "paintball coordinator." "I'm not a paintball player," admits the former sport marketing professor (Adelphi University), retired head men's soccer coach (Catholic University) and one-time executive film producer (of last year's paintball-inspired "Court Jesters," named best drama at the 2006 Action On International Film Festival in July). Yet, Meindl left the "Launch" set last year convinced that a niche existed for the placement of sports-specific product of all kinds on screens both big and small. So last September Meindl launched Sportsbrandedmedia, a company that unites lower-profile sports properties - from paintball equipment manufacturers to minor-league baseball franchises - with film and television studios. Paul Steinbach asked Meindl, 39, to explain his newfound career focus.
read more

MILB.com

Minor Leagues, major exposure: Movies, TV help teams promote their logos, merchandise

John Meindl, the president of Sports Branded Media, believes his company represents the best way for Minor League teams to make an impact in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.
"There is a need for Minor League teams and smaller sports companies, because they can react quickly," said Meindl, who started Sports Branded Media after working as a sports production coordinator on the set of the 2006 romantic comedy Failure to Launch.
"If a production needs merch on a Thursday, we can call a team and get it there. Production companies and studios want to keep things simple. Unless a script specifically calls for the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox or Los Angeles Dodgers, or whoever, they will look to go elsewhere, and Minor League teams have cool logos and are off the beaten path. There's a definite appeal to working with organizations that represent Americana and have a grassroots approach to how they operate."
read more

Los Angeles Times

U.S. team riding a 'perfect storm' to TV ratings success at Women's World Cup

our of the top five most-viewed women's sporting events happened at the Olympics, and the other one is the 1999 Women's World Cup final at the Rose Bowl.

What this tells us, said Daniel Szew, who is president of LA Sports Management and before that worked for the Wasserman Group and AEG, is that many viewers of women's sports get invested in a big event in which they get a chance to be patriotic..
read more

Bleacher Report

Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant: Next Magic-Bird of NBA Marketing

Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant are not only establishing themselves as perennial All-Star players, they're heading into territory that the NBA and its marketing partners would love to see. They could be the next Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Larry Bird, first as head-to-head competitors on the court, and also as the marketing faces of the NBA for the next generation.
read more

BigLeadSports

Is An Aging David Beckham Still Hot On The Pitch?

At 36, he may not be scoring goals like he used to. And he likely won’t be on the pitch for Great Britain during the 2012 Summer Games in London. But you will be seeing a lot of David Beckham as a major player pitching products between now and next July.
read more

NYSportsJournalism.com

Net Gains: Can Landon Donovan Become America's Most Marketable Soccer Player?

Landon Donovan is on a marketing track to become the next Michael Phelps or Lance Armstrong. First, he has to become the next Mia Hamm.
read more

NYSportsJournalism.com

Tiger Woods Gets Eyes And Ayes (Although Not A Win) In Return At The Masters

Marketers who stood their ground and supported Tiger Woods, and those who might be considering joining his roster, received good news during The Masters: Woods still has his competitive edge and still draws major attention both on and off the golf course.
read more

News Blaze

New Indy Racing League Team Created to Support U.S. Armed Forces

Corporate Sponsorship Sought to Drive Historic Campaign: Yellow Ribbon Racing, a not for profit organization, based in Laguna Hills, California, announced its "Support the Troops" Racing Team for the 2006 Indy Racing League Series (IRL). The team concept is to feature and promote our armed services, Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard as a tribute to the men and women in harms way protecting the USA. Yellow Ribbon Racing is a support "vehicle" seeking private sponsorship from corporate America and the grassroots backing of the American people.
read more

Sports Business

The Sport Consulting Group has created a new division of the sports marketing firm, sportsbrandedmedia, dedicated to product placement via programming.

It includes placement of sports properties, goods, apparel and more in TV and motion picture productions. "The advent of TiVo, content on demand and 1,000 TV channels is eating into the traditional stronghold of TV ad spending," said John Meindl, president of the New York-based Sport Consulting Group. "Where we once tolerated only three network channels with limited content selectivity, today the well-informed and sophisticated American viewer, drawing from hundreds of networks and channels, can almost single-handedly avoid advertising in its traditional form.
read more

Billboard.com

Sports Product Placement Firm Launched.

John Meindl, president of Sport Consulting Group, created a new division of the sports marketing firm: sportsbrandedmedia. It is dedicated to the product placement of sports properties, sporting goods, sports apparel and more in TV and motion picture productions.

read more