Maryland Business

I once worked with an editor who bristled every year at this time. The reason? Stories about “Cyber Monday.”

It was all marketing hokum, he said. How are the supposed online shopping numbers even verifiable, he’d ask. He questioned running Cyber Monday stories even as every business news competitor with a homepage ran multiple versions throughout the day.

Today, it’s a hot trending topic on Twitter, and a promoted one no less, as well as ubiquitous hashtag (#CyberMonday). The U.S. Attorney General’s Office used the occasion to unveil a sting netting 82 Web domain names for allegedly peddling counterfeit goods. And various reports out Monday are predicting a record 106.9 million Americans shopping online.

Shoppers are taking advantage of one-day deals and free shipping and in the process boosting Cyber Monday sales almost 11 percent over last year.

That prediction comes from Shop.org, part of the National Retail Federation, in tandem with BIGresearch — which conducted the shopper poll — and that’s only fitting.

Read the rest of this entry »

Powered by Bookmarkify™

From horse racing to the NFL’s Tom Brady to the Baltimore Orioles, sports dominated the most popular stories generated by The Daily Record’s business reporters last week. And the latest twist in the city’s quest for a new sports arena cracked the top five after only day on our website.

1. Penn National backs plan to close Laurel, cut racing in Maryland

“From a business perspective, again, these are losing operations that will continue to be in decline without some alternative revenue stream or these types of steep cuts,” said D. Eric Schippers, a Penn National spokesman. The company’s position made public rifts that have developed in the corporate family that runs thoroughbred racing in Maryland.

2. Under Armour signs Tom Brady

For its first NFL quarterback endorser Under Armour aimed high, and the Baltimore-based company didn’t miss, signing three-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady of the New England Patriots to help it wrest market share from rivals like Nike Inc.

Read the rest of this entry »

Powered by Bookmarkify™

You may have already seen the well-produced ads by the coalition trying to halt developer David Cordish’s casino project at the Arundel Mills mall.

The first ad (watch it below this post) describes the mall as “a family friendly environment — and a slots parlor just doesn’t belong there.”

In his interview with The Daily Record last week, Cordish said he was definitely getting ready to strike back at his opponents — the Maryland Jockey Club, Stop Slots at the Mall and other citizens groups that are against his casino. The jockey club in particular wants to see slots built at its race track, Laurel Park, which is just down the road from the mall.

Read the rest of this entry »

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Bethesda-based Discovery Channel’s Mike Rowe is a man after my own heart. Here’s why:

“Frankly, I’ve never understood the whole notion of jamming yourself into a dressing room with an armful of new styles to find the ‘perfect look,’” said Rowe. “And from what I’ve seen, I’m not alone. The guys I know aren’t going to spend a hundred dollars on a pair of pants with rhinestones and fake stains and zippers to nowhere. And don’t even get me started on jeans with rips and holes already in them. Madness.”

Actually, he’s a man after my archaeologist husband’s heart … I think I’ve literally heard him say the same thing.

Rowe’s quote is from a news release I received today titled “Saving Men From $250 Embellished Jeans.” It’s announcing Lee Jeans’ new advertising campaign featuring the star of Dirty Jobs, a show in which durable jeans are a must-have. Rowe’s idea of the perfect pair of jeans is simple:

“They should last. They should fit. They should fade. They should never cost more than fifty bucks. And they should be blue.”

Rowe is your typical “man’s man” (although I can think of some women, myself included, who also subscribe to the simple shopping school of thought.) Rowe is no frills, straightforward and he abides by the policy that clothes should be durable and worn literally into the ground before they are chucked.

The tactic Lee Jeans is taking is unusual but it’s a smart diversion from other clothing companies that urge you to fill up your closets each season with the latest styles for fear of mass ridicule. The partnership and new ad campaign will include Rowe sharing his perspective on jeans shopping and will feature him in Lee’s new Premium Select, which retail for $42 at Lee.com, Kohl’s, JCPenney and Sears. Ads debut in print, broadcast and online today.

And just to stick it to the fashionistas, Rowe and Lee will be launching a new website, shopphobia.com, where Rowe says “enough is enough – he has Shop Phobia and isn’t going to take it anymore,” the release says.

As much as I love this idea, the business reporter in me is wondering — if Lee Jeans are as durable as they say, how do you get people to come back each season and buy more? Even if you’re appealing to people who have dirty jobs, my husband’s field jeans last him more than one season before he’s forced to buy another pair. Where’s the impetus to keep your customers coming back on a regular basis?

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Five billboards created by students at Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts for the “Create, Don’t Hate” project will be on display throughout Baltimore from now through the end of the month.

The project is part of the national Design Ignites Change campaign. Last fall a group of 31 students at Patapsco High worked with members of the Baltimore Chapter of AIGA, an association of graphic designers and artists, to create slogans and logos to encourage citizens to stop crime, prevent violence, care for the community, and develop tolerance.

Here are the five designs and students selected as finalists:

Read the rest of this entry »

Powered by Bookmarkify™

It was a sweltering June day in 2008 when I graduated from Walt Whitman High School, and mostly we were just thankful for the free drinks. We were at Constitution Hall for our commencement ceremony and Seth Goldman, co-founder and president of the Bethesda, Md.-based Honest Tea, had carted in boxes full of bottled tea for about 500 high school seniors and their grandmas.

As our commencement speaker, Goldman told us inspirational tales of his rocky start building a client base for his drinks — filling empty bottles with the product and labeling them by hand, begging grocers to try them, that kind of thing.  Lots of talk about being natural and eco-friendly.

What he definitely didn’t mention was that just four months prior, Coca-Cola had taken a 40 percent interest for $43 million in what he’d described to a bunch of 18-year-olds as a grassroots, organic company that involved epic trips to exotic tea fields.

In large part due to Coke’s global distribution reach, Honest Tea brought in $47 million revenue last year.  But the success hasn’t been without its fair share of clashes, according to a recent New York Times article that ran as part of its regular “Case Study” series.

Read the rest of this entry »

Powered by Bookmarkify™

So maybe the ACC didn’t top the 15-year, roughly $3 billion SEC television rights deal of a couple years ago. But as I said in today’s story, both nearly double the member schools’ television revenue. The deal cable sports network ESPN and the ACC struck last week is worth about $1.86 billion over 12 years and as media consultant Steve Dresner put it, “It’s now time to play ‘who’s going to top this?’ ”

Conference television deals used to hover around the eight-year mark, but Dresner points out the trend is turning toward longer and for more money per year. He predicts that the major conferences (like the Pac-10 or Big 10) will now settle for no less than a billion-dollar deal.

Let’s take a look:

• The Pac-10’s current deal expires in 2012 and is roughly worth an average of $53 million per year to the conference. The conference recently expanded to 12 teams (after trying for 16). But it also has to deal with the fact that its most popular football team, the University of Southern California, is facing severe NCAA sanctions. However, according to the Sports Business Journal, networks are still stumbling over each other to make a bid.
• The Big Ten’s deal expires in 2016 and is valued at an average of $100 million per year to the conference. The deal also created the Big Ten Network, which News Corp. projects could pay $2.8 billion to the conference over the 25-year life of the deal.

Considering the ACC and SEC deals doubled conference television revenue, both conferences stand to score monster deals for double-digit years this decade. But at what point does the madness stop? I’m not saying these conferences aren’t worth $200 million per year — if the ad revenue is there (and so far it is), then by all means sign on the dotted line.

But given the recent rash of schools switching conferences, including now-fizzled rumors about the University of Maryland going to the Big Ten, it seems these contract lengths are a bit audacious.

As Randy Eaton, Maryland’s interim athletic director, said to me last week, “If two or three schools left the ACC and the conference added five more, we’re all back at the table. Either way it’s the conference wanting to renegotiate or television wanting to renegotiate.”

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Let the mud (or oil?) slinging begin. If you haven’t heard it by now, click here to listen to a Gov. Martin O’Malley campaign ad bashing his Republican competitor, former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, for being pro oil.

Seizing upon the emotion surrounding the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the ad repeatedly uses clips of Ehrlich saying “drill baby, drill” and intersperses those with factoids about the spill.

The commercial also asks why Ehrlich, an attorney with firm Womble Carlyle, supports oil companies. The quote inserted is Ehrlich’s voice saying, “Life’s good. We made money — a lot of money.”

According to WBAL, the quote in the ad is taken from an interview Ehrlich did earlier this year in which he talks only about his work since leaving office in January 2007. To see Ehrlich’s video response to the ad, in which he calls the commercial irresponsible and ludicrous, click here.

It would seem that O’Malley might be nervous about keeping his job this fall. He’s striking out with a negative campaign ad — and not just any ad. A pretty out-there one (when I first heard it on the radio, I started laughing).

What do you think?

Powered by Bookmarkify™

In this never-ending quest by phone companies to alleviate the pressures of thinking for ourselves, the Ocean City Department of Tourism is jumping on board and has announced the launch of its free iPhone application.

Ocean City Mobile is now available through the iTunes Application Store and provides information on restaurants, accommodations, entertainment, services, promotions, weather forecasts and more.

Ocean City is one of the first beach destinations to launch an official iPhone app, according to the news release, which also notes a version of Ocean City Mobile for Blackberry and Android will be available “in the near future.”

I am doing my best to avoid the iPhone/Blackberry/Android revolution so can’t comment on the potential awesomeness of the new app. But I can comment on the marketing benefits to Ocean City. With its biggest summer marketing budget ever, the beach town is staying relevant to its audience AND making itself more accessible.

Now the trick is once people get to Ocean City, how to pry the phone out of their hands so they actually enjoy the sights and sounds of the tourist town. Is there an app for that?

Powered by Bookmarkify™

I attended a Memorial Day parade with my family Saturday morning. My high school’s marching band made an appearance, which brought back a flood of memories. So I documented it the way I often do with these sorts of things, by uploading a picture and caption to my Facebook page.

Within minutes I was reminded of candy sales held 25 years ago to raise money to buy new uniforms, as well as a long-forgotten crack in a Sousaphone bell and how it got there. Old friends in other states were reminiscing with me, practically in real time, about things my memory had misplaced. It was another testament to the power of Facebook, the way the social networking platform bridges vast distances of time and place and powerfully connects people.

Coming as it did within days of Facebook announcing changes to its privacy policies, however, my warm remembrance also had a healthy streak of cynicism running through it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Powered by Bookmarkify™