PNC Reaping Reward Of All-Star Game Exposure

PNC Bank Could Get $1M In Exposure From MLB All-Star Events

The MLB All-Star Game tomorrow night at PNC Park, which will be broadcast by Fox, and ESPN’s coverage of tonight’s Century 21 Home Run Derby, “could mean [$750,000-1M] in free exposure for PNC, based on a prediction of 1 billion ‘impressions,’” according to Dan Fitzpatrick of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. PNC Bank marketing execs “are providing talking points to Fox and ESPN” about bank-related facts, with the hope they “could be used during the broadcasts.” PNC will not air “any televised ads during the game ... because the bank believes such an expense is not needed.” Fox will “block out PNC’s home plate turf with a series of ‘virtual’ ads paid for by national advertisers,” but the bank will have “a sign on the big, right-field scoreboard and the name ‘PNC Park’ is still visible atop the electronic scoreboard that sits behind the left-field bleachers.” Front Row Marketing Services calculated the ’05 All-Star Game at Comerica Park generated an estimated $6.8M for Comerica Bank.

BUTTER WORTH: PNC, when it signed the 20-year, $30M ballpark naming-rights deal in ’98, estimated it would provide “at least 1.5 billion impressions annually.” PNC Financial Services Group spokesperson Brian Goerke said that the company’s “initial investment of $1.5[M] a year is working out nicely, with the bank receiving more than $1.25 in marketing exposure for every dollar spent.” Goerke: “We are getting a better return on our investment than we initially estimated” (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 7/9).