Good excuse

I had noticed that Benjamin Hill had not updated Ben's Biz Blog in a few days. But, he had a good excuse: He was busy working on a bunch of stories for MiLB.com.

The one that is currently on the site that caught my eye was this:

Exporting the Japanese Fan Experience

December's Baseball Trade Show marked Sharp Sangyo's first attempt to break into the American market.

"Japanese and American baseball goods have had a different path," wrote Murai. "We wondered, 'Will our special Japanese baseball goods be accepted in the U.S. baseball market, like many Japanese baseball players have been accepted in the U.S. in recent years?' We believe we can bring a new perspective and provide a breath of fresh air into the U.S. baseball market."

Obviously, the discrepancies between American and Japanese rooting styles creates a problem for Sharp Sangyo, as the appeal of many of their products could quite literally be lost in translation. That's why, for the time being, the company's primary focus is to sell its Seventh-Inning Stretch Balloons. The concept behind these balloons is simple: They are to be blown up by fans during the seventh-inning break, then released into the air simultaneously. When released, the balloons emit a piercing whistling noise as they shoot skyward. The result is a synchronized spectacle of sound and color.

In Japan, the balloons have become an established tradition, and fans often bring them to the game themselves (type "seventh inning stretch balloons" into YouTube, and one can see many examples of the balloons in action). In America, of course, the balloons would have to be given to fans as they enter the stadium, and specific instructions would be needed in order to insure that they are released simultaneously.

The San Jose Giants are the test case...kind of:

Sharp Sangyo's representatives (including Murai) made many contacts during the Winter Meetings and have hired Sportsworld Entertainment, an American marketing firm, to help with their sales efforts. While they are optimistic about their chances for success in America, they have thus far been unable to convince any teams to schedule a Seventh-Inning Stretch Balloon giveaway or take a risk on any of their other promotional products, which also includes the Fortune Teller (perhaps best described as a baseball-themed Magic 8 ball).

Currently, Sharp Sangyo finds itself stuck in a sort of Minor League Baseball catch-22: While teams are always looking to stage new and original ballpark activities, they also want to be assured that a promotion will be successful before investing the necessary time and money into it. Therefore, it can be hard to convince teams to take a risk on promotional concepts that are, quite literally, foreign.

Last season, however, the California League's San Jose Giants distributed Seventh-Inning Stretch Balloons as part of their "Japanese Heritage Night." The San Jose area has a large Japanese population and is in fact one of just three American cities that includes a "Japantown" area.

The Giants' "Japanese Heritage Night" promotion was put together by Kazumichi Sekine, who works for the club as a "international relations executive."

"The reaction to the balloons was really good for a first-time experience, and we think it went pretty well," said Sekine, who was born and raised in Japan. "We made sure we had the ushers explain what we were doing and how to do it. It took some work, but it was a great promotion."

Not surprisingly, one of the primary concerns expressed by American teams regarding the Seventh-Inning Stretch Balloons has been the issue of clean-up. Sekine said this was not a problem.

"It doesn't take much time at all, only a couple of minutes," he said. "We had some of our front-office staff on the field to pick up the balloons, but most of them just go straight up and don't go onto the field at all."

It's worth the read. And I have a feeling this story which Ben preview is going to be worth checking out.

Also, please check out the debut of our new "At Home With" team profile feature. The first subject of this weekly interview column will focus on the Lowell Spinners. Thanks to General Manager Tim Bawmann (who, you may recall, was recently on the losing end of a Super Bowl bet) for taking the time to answer our questions.

This is the same Tim Bawmann who made an appearance in the comments section a few weeks ago. UW-Platteville alums gotta stick together.