Consol tests ad waters
The side of a 195-foot-long coal barge floating past a major sporting event would make a pretty good billboard.

In a bit of guerrilla-style marketing, Upper St. Clair-based Consol Energy Inc. is attaching two 100-foot lighted signs to one of the hundreds of barges it owns. The barge is supposed to travel up and down Pittsburgh's rivers with an occasional docking on the Allegheny River near the Clemente Bridge and at Consol's dock on the Ohio River.

With messages such as, "This coal creates enough energy to cook every hot dog ever served at baseball's big game," the goal is to raise awareness of the natural resource among the All-Star crowds. Downtown ad agency Blattner Brunner handled the creative message.

Bank of America charges in
Meanwhile, official Major League Baseball sponsor Bank of America yesterday unveiled plans to use the All-Star events to launch a new credit card rewards program called Extra Bases that will offer everything from tickets to baseball games to the opportunity to through out a ceremonial first pitch.

Behind the scenes
All-Star events will be shown on national television, but a local company is running much of the broadcasting operation.

Harmar-based NEP Broadcasting has built a brand-new high definition broadcasting truck that ESPN will use to broadcast the All-Star Futures Game and the Home Run Derby.

It will take three 53-foot trailers, 20 cameras and 120 monitors to beam the Home Run Derby around the world.

A big hit with advertisers
The 2006 All-Star game is a sellout among advertisers trying to find something more exciting than summer reruns, according to Fox Sports. Commercial inventory for Tuesday night's event at PNC Park was spoken for earlier than usual this year, the network said. The league's corporate sponsors, including General Motors, Pepsi and Taco Bell, account for a little more than a third of the commercial time. With between 65 and 70 thirty-second spots going for an estimated $375,000 each, according to one insider estimate, the game could bring in around $25 million in ad revenue.