I’m finally getting back to my normal sleep schedule after two weeks of staying up late every night watching the Olympics.�
I didn’t really care about the U.S. men’s basketball team (I see NBA stars excel against overmatched competition whenever they’re in town to play the Timberwolves), but I found myself riveted to the sports we only pay attention to every [...]

[Editor's note: This is John Reinan's weekly marketing column for MinnPost.com, reprinted with permission. To see the original, go to http://tinyurl.com/5cgaah.]
The new poster boy for green marketing is standing shirtless in sub-zero temperatures, his shaved head painted in team colors as he waves a giant foam finger to the heavens.
You can have your earnest ex-hippie [...]

What’s the highest-grossing event in the history of Target Center in Minneapolis?  The T-Wolves/Lakers Western Conference Finals, U2, Prince or Hannah Montana all would be excellent guesses. But I’m hearing all of those high-profile events are expected to be knocked out tomorrow night by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Once viewed as a barbaric activity that took [...]

As a marketer, how would you feel about attaching your brand to an athlete who is almost universally hated?  That’s exactly what M&Ms did when the talented, but mercurial, Kyle Busch joined Joe Gibbs Racing this season after being let go by Hendrick Motorsports, the most successful team in NASCAR.  I’m sure there were a [...]

As the Boston Celtics inch closer to winning their first championship since 1986, one of the team’s quirkiest traditions has gained a ton of attention outside of New England.  The crowd at Celtics games routinely gets worked into a frenzy for “Dancing Gino,” a bearded disco dancer in a snug Gino Vanelli T-shirt.  He’s featured [...]

You’ve seen a lot of Yao Ming on this blog in the last week.  Certainly, Yao was a big media draw (literally) but I’d like to take a moment to mention Steven Lopez, the other Olympian who joined us for last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600.  It would’ve been easy for Lopez, a member of the U.S. [...]

It was off to Lowe’s Motor Speedway for me and Scott on Saturday as we made final arrangements for Coca-Cola’s Coke 600 PR activation set to take place on race day. You can see what those plans look like here. And when you find yourself running from place to place on a track [...]