The Soft Pitch

Been gone for 12 days in Chi-town…a great time. Family and friends can be enough to have a good time, but this was a perfect week…here is how it flowed.

On July 19th, my fellow board members of the Chicago 16 Inch Softball Hall of Fame unveiled our new beautiful inductee park which displays over 350 inductees at Forest Park, Il. Our opening ceremony was attended by approx. 1,000 people including a few customers (Insight)…a lot smiles and tears made the long road to do this all worth while. Thanks to March Manufacturing (pumps) for being our largest donor. Oh did I say, two State of Illinois Senator’s committed $500,000 to build our phase two museum. WOW 

The event continued with a wonderful ball game played by celebrities like Mike North and Bob Sirott and hall of fame players (Northside vs Southside) sponsored by Rich Melman from Lettuce Entertain You restuarants. Alot of laughs and good play especially by the ladies. One the da Bears’ our kicker, Robbie Gould was darn good/nice guy too.

The day garnered unprecendented coverage on all TV channels, major radio shows and online, thanks to our superb pr team lead by Kathleen Henson. The Chicago Tribune ran a full page story ! 500 Photos of the event are on 16inchsoftballhof.com.

Thanks to our Chicago brand sponsors, Vienna hot dogs, Affy Tapples, Lettuce and now Old Style beer..4 reasons I’m overweight…and March, any help from my Avnet folks,  and our national brand leader KODAK !

My family and relaxed for 3 days in New Buffalo, Michigan, on the beach,  inland we won $33 in their cool casino; Four Winds after wiping out their buffet.  Then we saw our Cubbies win and go into first place after a lousy start. Singing Go Cubs Go is awesome.

The final good thing is probably the best, our 19th annual Maag Toy Foundation golf outing in OakBrook sponsored by Avnet…our friends, family, Avnet, suppliers like Intel and Molex, customers, and vendors raised over $17,000 for toys for kids…even two competitors were there. Special thanks to Hearst and Electronic Products for donating another full page add that NDK bought.

Coming back to AZ I’m so thankful to so many folks…it was great to touch so many and know we can do so much more both with softball and toys…we are going to add memories for  a lot of people. Now back to reality with my great communication team and helping Avnet beat the bad guys.

We announce our numbers this week for the past Q and year.

It was a good summer vacation, one of my best.

We have seen in our customer and community scores that we have increased in our brand preference by 15 % due to company personality…the trust in our employees and things they do in the community top that list.  

I believe that my favorite past time has had an impact on that score.  As I reflect on the opening of the Chicago 16 Inch Softball Hall of Fame today in Forest Park, Il. Avnet has indeed been able to enjoy our brand being noticed by being involved in the sport/sponsorship.

Out 7th annual 16″ B2B Tourney for Businesses is scheduled for Nov 14th…there is a buzz about it…starting with the 28 teams from last years venue and the all the CEO’s who played in the “featured game” on TV vs the XTRA Sports 910 Radio squad (the CEO’s won). By the way the games on TV were the # 2 show on Phoenix Tv during the day both years  it was shown. ( I must admit it is is either really good TV or what are those folks doing on that day?…geez get a life).

The venue has a great impact on morale for companies here, many of which are our vendors, suppliers and customers, which is good thing ! I know people want to work us because of the vibe. We have been able to raise money for charities too. This year we will support the Phoenix Sports Commission Youth programs and AZ Sports Hall of Fame effort. Last an most important I know our employees enjoy playing it, and it’s great for morale. Men and women play and we have from senior leaders to sales to warehouse players involved.

Did you know the great game of softball started in Chicago in 1887…when bored alumni of Yale and Harvard were waiting for ticker tape scores of the big football game between the two schools? They wrapped up a boxing glove and started hitting with a broom stick. Want to know more about 16 Inch softball? 16Inchsoftballhof.com  By the way our HOF Inductee Park looks great. Special thanks to KODAK, March manufacturing and Vienna as sponsors…trust me Avnet’s name will be noticed there too.  Looking forward to the ceremony and celebrity game. By the the GOV of Illinois declared by proclimation, today is 16 Inch Softball Day in Illinois. If in the area stop by from 11-3 and say hello

Sweet home Chicago, in town at the Drake for the national Business Marketing Assoc (BMA) UNlearn conference with a crowd of approx 400 members. The theme is about how marketers must think differently…

The event started with the old famous McGraw Hill ad with the old man saying I do not know you” etc…came alive with an actor and a contemporay actor saying the samething, brillant start by Ralph Oliva.

The meeting speakers have been great…lead by one the best speakers I have seen, David Meerman Scott about a the new rules for marketing and PR …and leaders from salesforce.com, LinkedIn, and Siemens. I was impressed by the IBM Smart Planet agenda prseneted by our largest supplier’s Matt Preschen.

If you are b2b marketer you should not miss this event in future…join up.

Our past chair, and someone I truly respect Kodak’s Jeff Hayzlett was named the prestigous Crain award winner. Accenture was marketer of the year. Even the awards program comedian was good.

A few more days to go. But new chair Gary Slack is kicking off his new term in style. They only made one mistake, they voted me back as a board member.