Braves’ Marketing Partners are winners
So it’s finally wrestling season. Remember wrestling? Sure you do. New Jersey scholastic wrestling just barely escaped the mounting virus cases last spring. They wrapped up their traditional state championships in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall in the nick of time. They finished by a margin thinner than the material used to make their spandex singlets. Mere hours after the completion of that tournament sports in New Jersey came to an immediate halt.
Now, at a time of year when the season would be ending, we are beginning once again. One of the things that happens each year before wrestling begins at Absegami is the renewal of membership in the Absegami Wrestling Marketing Partnership program. For many years an elite group of area businessowners have generously supported the Braves. Behind the scenes these community leaders have contributed thousands and thousands of dollars that, directly and indirectly, help the Braves’ wrestlers achieve the type of lofty goals that people expect of wrestlers who take the mat wearing those famous brown singlets.
When they join the partnership businessowners must contribute $350. Two hundred fifty dollars covers the privilege of displaying a custom made 12-square foot sign in the Absegami gym advertising their business. The other $100 covers the manufacture of those signs to the partners’ exact specifications. Each year they renew these partnerships with a $250 contribution. In addition to the custom signage, the partners receive mention on our wrestling website.
When we reached out to our partners last fall to renew memberships we didn’t know what to expect. Some of our partners had been greatly affected by state lockdown rules. Some weren’t open at all, some open at a much smaller scale. We are very proud of the commitment and dedication to supporting the program that was displayed by our partners.
Every single one of our current partners renewed their membership last fall, when we didn’t even know if there would be a wrestling season. Eddie Gaudiello of Pitney Italian Market didn’t know if, or for how long, he would be getting meat deliveries for his butcher shop/Italian market. When Shop Rite had virtually no meat Eddie did and he had long lines at his door in the morning. It got so that he had to close each Wednesday to catch his breath and keep his small, expert staff from exhaustion. But he stayed open to service his customers without knowing how long he could do it. He stopped stocking certain cuts of meat because he felt the prices weren’t fair to his customers. He didn’t want to take advantage of them. He renewed his partnership without any question.
Courtrooms were closed or barely operating. Juries were not being formed and the legal system slowed to barely a crawl. But that didn’t stop Pat D’Arcy of D’Arcy Johnson Day from renewing his membership immediately with no thought whatsoever of abandoning a group he has supported from the very beginning. D’Arcy was the very first member of the fundraising group back in 2011.
Margie and Vaughn Reale of Sport Clips were closed from the March lockdown until late July. When we contacted Margie about renewal she wasn’t even opening every day, gradually trying to work her way back to normal hours and normal customer flow. The Reales also decided to maintain their ties to the Absegami Braves. The Reales are special to us because they (their closest location is in EHT) are one of the only non-Galloway Township businesses in our partnership. Need a haircut? Go see Margie at Sport Clips.
Lily and her family at China Sea are one of our best stories this season. They have been members of our partnership for many years. This past year has been an incredible challenge for China Sea. Restaurants have it tough under state lockdown laws. China Sea has been either closed or open only for takeout for months and months and months. When we visited her to renew her partnership she asked again how much she owed us to stay in the group. When reminded it is $250. She told us she felt like other businesses might have trouble supporting us this year and said “that’s not enough money. I will give you $400.” Can you imagine? Unreal. Lily, we love you. Are you hungry Brave fans? Go see Lily at China Sea in Absecon.
Keith Cimaglia of Training Wheels Driving School is another of our veteran partners. Cimaglia’s very successful driving school educates a large percentage of Absegami student drivers, in part due to the publicity he gains through his association with Absegami wrestling. He too had lots of uncertainty. He too signed up again without a thought to the contrary. Got a kid who has a permit? Go see Keith. He’s a pro.
Perhaps most surprising of all was Chris Bell of Absecon Lawn Care choosing this year, of all years, to join the group for the first time. A better person you will not meet and Bell and his hardworking seasonal crews are getting some additional marketing exposure via custom signage in a striking green that is impossible to miss. Bell didn’t join to put up a pretty sign. He, like the rest, joined to help kids enjoy a great sport. Don’t feel like wrestling with the lawn this summer? Call Chris.
This season an outstanding wrestler will be chosen for each Absegami dual meet and will be matched with one of our partners. For instance, if Ray Weed registers a pin in ten seconds in our first meet he could be ‘The Sports Clips Most Outstanding Wrestler’. It’s a way for us to honor one of our kids each night and thank a loyal sponsor at the same time.
Want to know why we win? With people like this backing us behind the scenes how can we lose?