Marketplace Roundup

In Chicago, Toomey & Green reported White Sox CF Ken Griffey Jr.'s 600th home run ball sold for $42,000 at the ESPN Zone in Chicago Friday night as part of a "high-end auction of items linked to some of the biggest names in American sports history." A 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card sold for a record-setting $1.62M and was the highest-selling item. Barry Bonds' 760th home run ball sold for $32,400. The auction was conducted by Illinois-based Mastro Auctions and was billed as "the world's most concentrated auction of high-end sports memorabilia" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 8/2). Meanwhile, in N.Y., Cynthia Fagen reported a "one-of-a-kind card valued at $20,000 will be randomly packaged" inside one of Topps' new $300 four-card box sets of Babe Ruth cards hitting shelves in November. The card will feature "real swatches of [Ruth's] uniforms, a sliver from his bat and an autograph" (N.Y. POST, 8/3).

AD-AWARE: Sources indicated that Anheuser-Busch's marketing department has "suddenly begun receiving unsolicited, fully produced (and expensive) commercials for some of its beer brands from non-roster agencies looking to get a piece of the business from A-B, which spends hundreds of millions annually on its high-profile advertising." There has also been indications that A-B Exec VP/Global Industry Development & Chief Creative Officer Bob Lachky "has been turning to some of the brewery's roster ad agencies and asking them if they can top what he has been seeing" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 8/4).

Georgia Tech Players Pleased With New White Jerseys With Gold Accents

NEW JACKETS: In Atlanta, Jenna Marina reported Georgia Tech "unveiled its new [football] uniforms Saturday at the Great Jacket Encounter fan day, and the players were happy about their new white jerseys with their gold accents." Georgia Tech "got rid of its metallic gold jersey/white pants combination from the past several years." The players have "already started brainstorming about mixing up the color scheme" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 8/3).

NO BULL: More than 80,000 people Saturday attended Red Bull's Flugtag in downtown Portland, where competitors attempted to fly homemade contraptions. In Portland, Nicole Santa Cruz wrote the event is a marketing effort for Red Bull, and an example of how the company takes product placement to a "whole new level." Though most spectators "weren't drinking Red Bull or may not have even known the sponsor before arriving, they knew when they got there, as Red Bull logos filled the scene." Participant Robby Marshall said of the event, "It's an experience rather than a sense" (OREGONLIVE.com, 8/2).