Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but Maryland sure seems intent on making a love connection of an economic development sort.

And its courtship strategy looks like it hasn’t changed much in 10 years. (I know what you’re thinking: We’re really exploring the romance theme a lot here at the blog lately, huh?)

News of state efforts to woo Northrop Grumman Corp. trickled out last week. Gov. Martin O’Malley, General Assembly leaders and state economic development Secretary Christian Johansson have put the Free State’s best foot forward in hopes of landing the California defense contracting giant’s corporate headquarters.

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When you hear the words credit union, what other words immediately come to mind? How about private or exclusive?

If so, it seems you’re not alone.

The people over at SECU (that’s the State Employees’ Credit Union) have been doing their research, and they’ve found that the words “credit union” alone have stopped people from leaving banks to join credit unions.

“The term credit union is a barrier,” Rod Staatz, chief executive at SECU, said. “People believe it’s a club and it’s exclusive. They don’t want to be rejected.”

It turns out SECU is sort of a misnomer in that you don’t have to work for the state to join. Rather, a whole list of other people — alumni, students, staff and faculty of most Maryland colleges and universities are welcome, as are current and former employees of state, city, county or town agencies and labor union employees representing state employees.

Even spouses and family members of the above people can bank there. That opens membership up to a huge number of people.

SECU is working to get the word out that membership isn’t all that exclusive, because the team there is confident that once you go credit union, you never go back (to your bank). The main problem beyond the whole name thing is that most people don’t know what a credit union actually does.

So what’s the big difference between banks and credit unions? Banks are working to make money for their shareholders, while credit unions are nonprofits owned by their members. Any earnings the credit union makes, it filters back to its members through lower fees and loan rates.

Federally insured and state chartered credit unions are highly regulated, and held to the same or higher standards than banks.

And it’s not just SECU that’s on the scene. While it does have a large footprint in Maryland with 19 branches, a quick search of the National Credit Union Administration reveals that there are 108 credit unions in the state.

For a look at how credit unions are trying to market themselves, check out the above take on the Mac vs. PC commercial, subbing in credit unions and banks. It’s much better than this rap battle between banks and credit unions.

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While the Orioles are raising ticket prices for some games (and for all games if you wait until game day to buy tickets) the Washington Nationals are continuing their desperate attempts to attract more people to the ballpark.

The latest promotional packages (announced last week) are called the 2010 Grand Slam Flex plans. Fans can choose four games and receive a fifth game of their choice for free. Plans start at $68 per seat, and the team says this is the most affordable multiple-game option it’s ever offered. Here’s the breakdown:

• Zim’s Gold Glove Plan Fans can attend some of the biggest games and see some of the brightest stars. It even includes Opening Day vs. the Phillies.
• Hondo’s Heavy Hitters Plan Fans can watch the League’s premier power hitters take the field as the Nats look to blast their way to victory the same way that Frank “Hondo” Howard did.
• Beasts of the East Plan Fans interested in intra-division competition will love watching the Nats take on their NL East rivals and the Baltimore Orioles for some of the best marquee matchups of the season.
• Bang, Zoom Go the Fireworks Plan Fans can start their weekend off with a bang at Nationals Park each Friday while enjoying the game and family.
• The Promo Plan Fans can choose from the most popular giveaway dates the team has to offer so they can collect the three Bobbleheads or a NatsTown T-Shirt.

So … by offering the first three plans, the marketing staff is fully admitting that most people come to Nats games to see the competition. And if you buy one of those plans, chances are, you will see the Nationals lose. Except maybe against the Orioles.

Now, the Nats have made some decent moves so far in the off-season. They acquired second baseman Adam Kennedy for a one-year, $1.25 million contract, and they’re going after Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang . Rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg could also make an impact this year. But the Nats have made some good moves before (signing Christian Guzman and keeping Adam Zimmerman) and the team still hasn’t shaken its NL East basement dweller status.

The last two plans seem good to me — baseball is about the experience and family and the plans capitalize on that. But the first three seem dangerous to me. Financially, it’s smart because the team is offering what the market has shown it wants. But it seems like it’s a bad message to send to the few Nats fans out there who are standing by their guys and rooting for the team to improve. Those are your real fans — not the folks who come to see the other guys play.

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Capitals owner Ted Leonsis

The 15th annual National Sports Forum wrapped up in Baltimore yesterday, and boy did they have an all star cast this year.

Here are just a few of the speakers and panelists that have been imparting their wisdom upon the sports business world: Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, Oriole Hall-of-Famer Cal Ripken Jr., Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, Feld Entertainment CEO Kenneth Feld and Orioles President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail.

Topics covered include social media, the economy, best practices and the blend of sports and entertainment. The Baltimore Ravens, Orioles and concessionaire Aramark are hosting the event.

If you’re wondering why you haven’t read anything about what the speakers said — sorry, folks. The sessions and panels are all off the record so that the panelists can speak freely.

I attended Tuesday’s super panel, “Leadership in the Economy” featuring Plank, Feld, Leonsis, Ripken and moderated by local lawyer and sports agent Ron Shapiro. The room was packed and the audience of about 500 people were hanging on the panelists’ every word.

But here’s something else I noticed — most of the attendees were men. As were most of the speakers. Chris Plonsky, women’s athletic director at the University of Texas at Austin, was a featured panelist this week, as was sports marketing consultant Dockery Clark. But the women participants were few and far between.

I’m not knocking the sports forum organizers — they worked with what they’ve got and who’s available. But looking across the sea of attendees and seeing so many suits and ties made me think that ratio isn’t changing any time soon.

Does anyone care about this? Should this be changed…and how do you do that? What is it about sports that makes it so lopsided toward men? When I think about my girlfriends, I can only think of one or two who will genuinely talk sports with me — most of the people I talk sports with are my guy friends.

So does that mean sports business forever destined to be a man’s profession?

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It’s kind of funny that sometimes the fancier the product, the more old school effective marketing can be.

Case in point: according to a Retail Advertising and Marketing Association survey conducted by BIGresearch, 43.7 percent of shoppers say word-of-mouth is the biggest influence in their electronics purchases.

“Hearing what other people have to say about a product gives shoppers the satisfaction of knowing what they purchased is peer-reviewed and worth their money,” said Mike Gatti, executive director of RAMA. “Whether it is based on a conversation with a friend or a customer review on a website, people put a lot of weight in other shoppers’ opinions.”

Fear not, retailers — advertising inserts, articles and in-store promotions also sway buying decisions. It’s just that for you, those methods cost money and they won’t be as effective as a free endorsement from a real live human being.

When I think about my shopping — which is mostly online — I love it when an unfamiliar product has a couple reviews for me to peruse. Another case in point: I was searching for a winter coat from Overstock.com last year and found one by Coffee Shop for a steal at $80 (including shipping). I read the customer reviews before I bought it and all of them raved so I figured I was safe.

Last winter I lost track of how many times people asked me where I got the coat and I know of at least one friend that went online and bought a similar coat from Overstock.com. And by the way, 33.6 percent of shoppers according to BIGresearch said their apparel decisions are also influenced by word-of-mouth.

Seems the more shopping we do on the Internet the more important good reviews become. In fact a large part of marketing firms’ “word-of-mouth” campaigns involve recruiting real customers to write good reviews for their clients online. They are not paid to endorse the products — but it’s a fine line.

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After tallying 5,000 votes between 42 candidates, the Anne Arundel County Conference and Visitors Bureau (AACCVB) has announced 12 winners for its “More than a Pretty Face” contest.

Says the tourism bureau, “contest winners epitomize the spirit of giving and selflessness that make Annapolis and Anne Arundel County so appealing.” Here are some of your winners:

Longtime Annapolis resident and Maryland State Senator John Astle

Annapolis Chief of Police Michael Pristoop

J. Ernest Green, Music Director of Live Arts Maryland

Hands off ladies — these men are taken! Actually there were some women who made the final cut, but I couldn’t find pictures of them — sorry gals.

The More than a Pretty Face contest served as a prelude to the AAACCVB’s winter marketing campaign, which kicks off Monday with a new homepage look and feel. Visitors to www.VisitAnnapolis.org homepage can click on the “More than a Pretty Face” icon to read more about the winners, see their pictures, and view a video in which they describe what makes the destination special to them.

I’m all for promoting local figures…but it’ll be interesting to see if this campaign really makes any kind of splash with people OTHER THAN locals. When I think about destinations I’ve been to, I don’t really care what the chief of police has to say about it — I care more about what there is to do and how to get around.

But maybe I’m being cynical…thoughts?

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Last week, President Obama signed into law an extension of the $8,000 first-time homebuyers’ tax credit, and expanded it to include a $6,500 credit for relatively-new homeowners and widened the income parameters for elligible participants in the program. This morning, Maryland home sales numbers came out, and the Real Estate Wonk, over at our friendly competipaper, The Sun, has the dirt:

Home sales last month increased a dizzying 36 percent over last year in the Baltimore metro area, according to numbers released Tuesday morning.

The unusually large pickup in activity represents deals that closed in October but in most cases were agreed to in the summer, as first-time buyers were staring down a Nov. 30 deadline to get in the door if they wanted an $8,000 federal tax credit. Last week, the tax credit was extended into next year and joined by a $6,500 credit for certain repeat buyers.

The connection between the credit and the sales figures is not attributed to any statistics, but the link/headline on the Sun’s website is catchy: “Homebuyer tax credit boosts area home sales 36% in Oct.”

Not so fast, says the Wall Street Journal. On Tuesday, the same day the Maryland sales numbers came out, housing reporter Nick Timiraos wrote this, which basically says that a recent Deutsche Bank study of the impact of the credit proves that the impact of the credit is all psychological, because in markets battered by foreclosures, no amount of tax incentives can induce people to buy, and because of disparities in home prices across the country. The report even goes after language (“dizzying”) used by reporters such as The Wonk:

The report notes that while the tax credit hasn’t created the boost for home sales that “some euphoric headlines would imply,” analysts “can’t dispute that it has been meaningful in bolstering consumer psychology and general housing market sentiment.”

The report concludes: “While the actual impact on sales numbers may be relatively light, the impact on consumer psychology, and that second-order impact on the housing market, could be meaningful, and should serve to take a worst-case scenario off the table, at least over the next several months.”

The impact of the credit is also likely to have uneven results geographically: an $8,000 credit in Cleveland, for example, offers buyers around 9.8% off of the median home price, while the same credit only goes for around 1.7% of the price in Honolulu.

In other markets, a glut of bank-owned property may offset any demand stimulated by the credit, including Miami and Fort Myers, Fla., where more than one-third of homes are in some stage of foreclosure: “Because this particularly policy tool is a blunt instrument, its application will be uneven when applied to different markets that have very different home price levels and degrees of economic stress.”

I think the way to settle this point would probably be to pull numbers on how many Maryland homeowners applied for the credit in October. So I called Jim Dupree, an IRS spokesman in Baltimore who tends to know about these things, but he wasn’t immediately available.

But actually, knowing how many homebuyers applied for the credit in October wouldn’t even really provide much of a definitive answer on this question, because the credit can be applied retroactively. They have to apply before the end of the year to get it on their 2009 tax returns, obviously, but homeowners who bought in June can still apply for the credit today.

Honestly, on a month-to-month basis, I don’t really think there’s any way you can establish that it was the homebuyers’ credit stimulating home sales. Year over year, if you compare total home sales with total credit applications, that might yield something, and perhaps anecdotally one might find that Realtors are having a lot of conversations with buyers about the credit, but as far as we know, it’s still an open question, and frankly, I think it’s a tad risky to credit the lawmakers who conceived and passed the bills with a housing turnaround just yet. What do you think?

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University of Maryland men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski has signed a deal with Mondo, a sports flooring manufacturer, in a five-year sponsorship agreement.

Cirovski, who led Maryland to NCAA championships in 2005 and 2008, will endorse Mondoturf Ecofill Star, Mondo’s artificial turf, through speaking engagements, trade shows and meetings.

It’s not exactly Gatorade…but it’s nice to see Cirovski getting some recognition for his team’s success. So often, college sports that don’t end in “-ball” get overlooked by sponsors because they don’t draw nearly as many fans.

But this is a case where you have a niche sport, and Cirovski’s a known name. And you have a product that’s very specific. The same circles that know Cirovski are the people Mondo is trying to sell this product to. It’s not as glamorous as the big names like Gatorade, but then again, most Gatorade drinkers probably don’t know who Cirovski is.

So in that sense you have a good fit here that’s very targeted. The terms of the deal were not disclosed but I certainly hope they’re paying him enough money to sit through those trade shows.

Just one problem, I’m forseeing here: Ludwig Field, where Maryland plays its home games, has a Bermuda grass surface. Hmmmm….

–Liz Farmer, Business Writer

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Wow. In this 24-hour news cycle, if you don’t get in front of something right away, the rumors will fly.

Nike issued a statement this morning saying it is NOT signing Vick. From the Washington Post:

“Nike does not have a contractual relationship with Michael Vick,” the spokesman, Kejuan Wilkins, said, according to the reports. “We have agreed to supply product to Michael Vick as we do a number of athletes who are not under contract with Nike.”

Meanwhile a quick Google news search shows that about 850 news articles and opinion colums were published between 6 p.m. yesterday and this morning on the Nike “deal.”

So what the heck took Nike so long to correct this error?

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UPDATE:  Nike is now denying that it has entered into a new endorsement deal with Michael Vick. See Liz Farmer’s updated blog here.

His is the fourth-highest selling jersey in the NFL this year — I’d guess you’d have to be insane to pass up on the opportunity to cash in.

Nike, which dropped then-Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick in 2007 after he plead guilty to running an interstate dog fighting ring, has resigned the reinstated QB who now plays for the Philadelphia Eagles. After his release from prison this summer, questions abounded about Vick’s ability to repair his image, get back into the league and be a starting player once again.

Seems we’re getting closer to those answers.

After serving his league suspension, Vick played last Sunday and took a few snaps for Kevin Kolb, who was starting in place of an injured Donovan McNabb. He threw two incomplete passes and ran for 7 yards, but the fans seemed to embrace him.

Reinstatement into the NFL? Check.

I saw a Vick jersey last Sunday at Delaware Park’s sports betting book. When I asked him why he bought it, he had this “Well, why wouldn’t I buy it?” look on his face.

“It’s his first time back today,” he said.

Apparently that’s good enough for fans…which is good enough for Nike. I get that. Image rehabilitation? I wouldn’t say “check,” but we’re on our way. Wonder what other former sponsors will come crawling back? AirTran? EA Sports?

But not everyone feels Nike’s being sensible. Check out Charles Robinson’s column on Yahoo! Sports for his view on why Nike’s move is hypocritical after the company basically scorned Vick in 2007.

What’s your take on Nike climbing on board with Vick?

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