SportsNet N.Y. calls out ESPN in a new brand campaign designed to draw attention to "Geico SportsNite," the RSN's local answer to "SportsCenter." The campaign, from Spork, N.Y., breaks next week. It includes four animated TV ads tweaking the "paltry local coverage of the worldwide leader." Past ads have noted the minimal amount of N.Y. sports coverage on local news shows, but SNY President Steve Raab said, "We found that differentiating ourselves from local news was just not important." Past brand campaigns also had centered on SNY's flagship property, the Mets. "Our position has always been New York sports-centric, so we decided to hang our campaign on 'SportsNite,'" Raab said. "Once you understand it is not 'SportsCenter,' we can communicate how it's unique." The campaign continues the RSN's original "Get Your New York Sports Here" tag line. "Our message is about more and deeper New York sports news than anywhere else," said SNY VP/Marketing & Business Development Marie DeParis. Along with buys across N.Y. broadcast outlets and cable networks, including Spike and TNT, SNY is taking a "domination" position at Penn Station that includes 262 ad pieces at the transportation hub. The campaign also will play across local print as well as social and digital media. Without revealing the exact size of the campaign, Raab said the paid portion was in the mid-six figures, with considerably more asset media from SNY partners, adding that SNY liked the campaign enough that it put more money behind it than originally was budgeted.
