Post on 12-Aug-2015
2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
One of the highlights of the annual Baseball Winter Meetings in the Baseball Trade Show, featuring vendors from several verticals, pitching their product or service to baseball club representatives.What follows is a little “tour” of the 2014 Trade Show, held in San Diego, CA December 8-11.
@njh287; www.dsmsports.net
2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade ShowThere were 23 “new products” at this year's Trade Show, ranging from ticket and POS solutions to baseball practice tools, novelty items, and more. You'll see some in the slides to follow.
The amount of promotional items and ticketing solutions stood out the most
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
All the big-name brands were there, including Under Armour, which had more apparel than equipment on-site and was trying to woo a lot of minor league clubs on their products.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
There were a few apparel vendors focusing mainly on sales and production of caps/hats. The quality of the product, speed of manufacturing, and inventory management were the main factors pitched as differentiators.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade ShowEverything in a sports venue can be branded and personalized! And this vendor featured trash receptacles, bar tables, and more to outfit a venue with such customized items, brandished with team and/or sponsor logos.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
While print is dying with the growth of digital and mobile, this company wants to help teams turn their print publications into masterpieces with these creative, custom covers for books and other team or sport publications. A very specific space, but some neat designs!
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
There were 2-3 apparel companies focused primarily on team uniforms in the minor leagues. It appears, for now, there is still good competition for these smaller clubs (as opposed to their MLB parents, where major deals reign).
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
There was certainly no shortage of novelty promotional items vendors on-site and each differed in their sales pitch, sales materials, and presentation. This display here, showcasing cups and helmets, was one of the more underwhelming at the show.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
This vendor, FanZones.com, specialized in jersey personalization, particularly inventory management and e-commerce (including using mobile on-site). Several pro clubs, many in the NHL, use them to digitize their team stores and offer in-game jersey customization, among other features.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Colorful displays were prominent throughout the show as apparel producers tried to capture the attention of the buyers at the Trade Show and engage them in conversation to outfit their merchandise offerings.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
This was actually one of two exhibitors on-site showcasing sports team promotional items, specifically for pets. Sports licensing knows no bounds and pets is the next avenue being traversed.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Another use of licenses and logos and custom merchandise for teams, here is a company that showcased bags and totes of several varieties adorned with team and/or sponsor marks.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
A lot of exhibitors tried to earn reputability by promoting themselves as “preferred vendors.” I am not sure how one attains such a billing nor how much buyers value it, but it was certainly notable at a handful of Trade Show booths.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
While the majority of exhibitors were not related to on-field health and performance, this product seeks to mimic the effect of icing one's head through their proprietary technology and head covering. I did not trial it, myself!
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Not much to say, here; just a vendor promoting branded clothes hangers. As I said, everything can have a sports team logo affixed to it for sale to fans.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
A pretty cool piece of technology to enhance practice by launching baseballs for defensive practice, controlled by software. While these kinds of products got a lot of looks, most clubs can't afford to budget for it.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Baseball players don't need to be ripped and in tip-top shape, right? Well, this exhibitor wants ballplayers to monitor their body composition with this analyzer. Not amenable to a diet of ballpark concessions; the norm for a lot of Trade Show attendees.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Fireworks displays are even more popular in MiLB than MLB and this exhibitor offered pyrotechnics solutions of many types. Clubs said these displays are a great way to draw in casual fans for entertainment and get sponsors involved.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Success Promotions, whose booth is shown here, offered visitors a look at all of their products with a couple of tablets on-hand showing their digital catalog of products. A good idea not every booth utilized.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
While Aramark, Levy, and Centerplate dominate major pro sports venues, there were a few smaller concessions and concessions supply business there. Many of these functioned more like co-ops, using the scale of clientele to gain preferred rates from vendors.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Already with a strong presence at sports and entertainment venues, dippin' dots was on-site (with free samples!) to further penetrate ballparks, especially in the hotter and more humid climates of the minor leagues, where the frozen treat is a perfect companion.
They had some competition on-side, however...(slide to come later)
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Whether it's padding for a wall, a foul pole, fence, or anything under the sun, this was the only booth pitching padding for sports venues, where pads came customized with team and/or sponsor logos. A niche, but necessary market.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
While companies like SportsDigita are growing with their sites and digital products for teams' sales departments (tickets and partnerships), this booth services the continued need (for now) for physical booklets for tickets, sales materials, coupons, and more.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Teams need nice lockers and these guys can provide it. But which sports fan wouldn't want one of these, brandished with their name and favorite team, in their room at home? Now that is a way to get ready for work every day!
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
They were the only booth dedicated to netting at the Trade Show. If nothing else, the show illustrated that there are so many products and services required in sports and businesses around to serve these niche needs.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Stadium One was one of a few software-based venue management and analysis systems. Their solution sought to allow for inventory management, sales trends, revenue analysis, and other infrastructure data points. This one did not incorporate ticket sales, just merchandise and concessions purchased at venues.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
There were a lot of big name brands with fancy metal bats, but it wouldn't be a Baseball Trade Show without some wooden bats like these from Old Hickory!
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
InGate was one of a few ticket companies, all of which made sure to note they produced “thermal tickets.” Nothing too much to differentiate, here, besides price point, presentation, and style.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade ShowWhile hibu, a digital marketing agency specializing in website development and consulting, works with several small businesses in several industries, they were looking to break into baseball at this year's Trade Show.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade ShowBurger Dog was trying to find its way into minor league ballpark concessions and make other connections. What is it?Hot dog stuffed with ground beef and cheddar cheese (a jalapeno cheese version is in the works).
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Taste? Different and pretty good
2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
XPogo was certainly eye-catching, featuring perfomers that did tricks and a show on pogosticks. Coming soon to minor league ballpark entertainment near you?
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
The only batting tee of any type at the Trade Show, this tee sought to make it easy to adjust the ball placement to make hitting practice quicker and easier.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
You have to hand it to these guys selling scorebooks for teams to sell at their venues. Good to see old-school scorekeeping isn't totally dead (yet).
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
There were a handful of seat manufacturers, pitching differentiating factors from easy logo switching to luxury/comfort. There was a lack of seating innovation, in regards to technology and connectivity and app integration, in my opinion.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Another entry in the 'every service needs a provider' category at the Trade Show – this company can outfit your venue with bathroom stalls...that go all the way to the floor, lending that little extra bit of privacy.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
The main benefit of these compression sleeves seemed to just be superior sun protection, but the styles were sure eye-catching. These ones are called “Sleefs.”
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Baseball players and teams travel quite a bit during the season...and this booth had “the most versatile pillow” around. It looked comfortable, at least.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
This community website wants to help teams and baseball enthusiasts all around the country unite online, play games, form leagues, and more. Certainly a need for this kind of do-it-yourself web service and this organization seemed to have modest success getting active users on board.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
While teams can produce their own ballpark video tours with rudimentary video and editing knowledge, this company took it to a highly premium level with a produced, enhanced “virtual tour.”
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
For ballplayers and teams in search of superior sock science; especially helpful for teams accustomed to playing in sometimes muddy terrain.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
This is not a duplicate of a previous post, just another booth offering branded furniture for your venue. They pitch their superlative craftwork and custom design capabilities.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
A second batting tee both much different from the other. Instead of a single adjustable tee, this sold more so as a set with different tee sizes, adjustable to a degree.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
And here it is, the dippin' dots competitor: Mini Melts. The distinguishing factor is it has more buttercream/fat than dippin' dots so offers a creamier, richer flavor. They are in some sports venues and theme parks with hopes to expand there, as well as to shopping malls and movie theaters.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
I was delighted to see an Oyo Sports booth after reading about this company in the past and their rising success manufacturing sports-playing toy figures, making the most of their licensing deals.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
This exhibitor, Foam Work, specialized in branded foam items, including the timeless foam fingers. A fun niche certainly seen often at sports venues and merchandise stores.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Another vendor assuring your pet can have a collar, food dish, etc. bearing your favorite team's name and logo.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Here is another seating company, this one offering an array of options, able to showcase team and/or sponsor logos, as seen in the photo.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
An apparel company that had 'retro' style applied to clothing with sports team names and logos on them. A nice selection on hand at the Trade Show.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
The branded item vendors each showcase different specialties, including cups and insulated thermoses, bearing team marks.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Micros, a system from Oracle, was one of the bigger players there for point-of-sale services. They had one of their touch pads running the software on-site for demos, as well. A solid, reputable name looking for new growth streams.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Where there's a baseball field, there's a tarp on-hand for the occasional, or frequent (in some cases), rainy days.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Another of the handful of vendors at the Trade Show specializing in print tickets, a part of the industry still surviving, and perhaps thriving in the minor leagues, even as paperless, digital, and print-at-home ticketing grows in MLB.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Branded, novelty stools. A neat addition to a bar, man cave, or sports venue patio?
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
One of the few pieces of wearable technology on-hand; this one was integrated with a mobile app and data dashboard to track performance and other statistics in real-time. Impressive displlay.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
There is certainly a growing presence of athlete assessment solutions and this exhibitor presented another option for screening and evaluating player health.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Inflatables were eye-catching and presented themselves as a novel, visible way to activate on-site with sponsors at games / sports venues.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
This product combined pitching practice with data capture and video to deliver an analytical look at one's pitching routine.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Ever handled a wet, soggy, heavy baseball? This machine turns that non-usable ball back into a dry baseball ready to go. The kids in the movie “The Sandlot” would've loved one of those.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
This vendor offered a variety of flavored peanuts, mostly with spicy seasoning.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
So many apparel companies, but so many teams in need of merchandise. The better the presentation, the more walk-up traffic these vendors attracted.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
A nice presentation for this vendor, pitching a variety of promotional items, from foam fingers to insulated coffee cups.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
While some exhibitors had solutions to help staff at team stores take care of lettering, this company provided their premium lettering service to teams.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Many of the apparel companies got bigger spaces, including some like this with tables and chairs and large display areas.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
A strong belief in social media and mobile-friendly websites fueled this company that promised virality for ticket sales efforts.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
This business did both digital and physical designs, definitely helpful to have skills and expertise in both for a company in this space (and for a team looking to hire a freelance).
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Part of the graphic design vendor's pitch was demonstrating creative uses of their capabilities – from lineup boards to cornhole!
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Particularly attractive for staff-crunched minor league clubs, solutions like this game presentation management system (specializing in video content delivery) offered software solutions for teams to streamline their game operations.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
New Era had an extensive setup at the Trade Show, demonstrating they can make some sweet caps...and other apparel, too.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
The Trade Show featured 3-4 booths with architects pitching their expertise in designing sports venues. No sign of complementary services in public financing law and political lobbying.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Rawlings had a lot of apparel on-site, but it was this glove chair and footrest that captured my attention!
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
An informational booth for the MiLB health benefits
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Another entry in the promotional items pool, showcasing their variety of offerings at this booth.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Another entry in the promotional items pool, showcasing their variety of offerings at this booth.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
So this is one of those apparel brands helping to create and produce some of those more garish minor league uniforms, eh?
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
The only vendors at the Trade Show specializing in branded and team emblems.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
This apparel booth pitched more active sportswear and certainly took care to showcase items tailored for both men and women.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Team-branded rain gear and umbrellas. A must-have for any fan in a rainy climate.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Good look at the variety, and styles, of caps offered by this apparel vendor.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
There were a couple live entertainment performance exhibitors at the Trade Show and this one catered more specifically to the young fans.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Large inflatables + team jersey = success (and potential activation or store display?)
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Intuit was on-site making sure teams were aware of their QuickBooks accounting software
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Portable heaters and coolers seem useful for any minor league sports team.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Never quite did figure out how this company was “revolutionizing seating.”
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
This interesting exhibitor wanted to assess the valuation of your baseball franchise.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Fanoculars utilizes their licensing deal with Topps player cards to deliver custom binoculars that can be a good merchandise item and/or team giveaway (with or without sponsor). They do have an impressive list of clients with whom they've worked.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Another use of licensed team logos – branded concession trays for the fan that has everything.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Ad Art could deliver physical and digital signage to take care of any team's signage needs.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Any ad showcasing women stood out from the crowd and this business with headbands was at the Trade Show fresh off a licensing deal with MLB.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Franklin continues to maintain a lot of share with batting gloves. But no doubt Nike and Under Armour are making headway there.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Keeps your drink cooler, per the ad copy. If you need that kind of thing.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
More fun uses of MLB licensing – hot wheels cars. I could've gone for a San Diego Padres toy car growing up!
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Nike had a lot of space...but not a lot of product to showcase on-hand at the Trade Show.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
National Design pitched themselves more so as a 'custom souvenirs' company, suited well to serve sports teams.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
This variable batting weight, Hitting Jack-It, wants to enhance you batting speed and skills.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
The baseball card market is alive and kicking, right? They still make good souvenirs and game giveaways.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Minor league clubs varied in how deeply they had integrated CRM systems, but there were a couple vendors at the Trade Show offering such solutions
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Along with a lot of the printed ticket providers, this company offered digital ticketing solutions for teams and venues.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
This company offered software that is kind of like Go2Meeting, allowing for interaction with team and fans, as well as staff on the team or in the organization.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Majestic produces MLB's jerseys, so they didn't need much more than this understated setup to get the attention of baseball business folks.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Another architecture and design company with expertise in the sports space. And a nice digital setup showcasing previous projects.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Uber-personalized and customized baseball bats, for any player pro to youth.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Had to include this, uh, exciting booth – American Licorice.
Tip: Make a straw from Red Vines – bite off both ends, insert in drink, enjoy!
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Two Hands Pro wants to help train your hands to operate optimally, including when they're inside your baseball mitt fielding or catching the ball.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Another family-friendly live entertainment show. There is no shortage of need for ways to get fans to the ballpark beyond just the game itself.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Booth Traffic offers not just device chargers, but interactive screens that teams can utilize in any number of ways for fans to use while juicing their mobile devices.
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2014 Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show
Booth Traffic offers not just device chargers, but interactive screens that teams can utilize in any number of ways for fans to use while juicing their mobile devices.
@njh287; www.dsmsports.net