Royally done
It happened six days ago. The improbable became reality in the wee hours Sunday night. A called third strike over the inside corner of the plate capped a season of great expectations and performances. The Kansas City Royals are World Series Champions!
That phrase bears repeating – The Royals are World Series Champions. The joy and glow will continue for a long time. Leading up to that final out, however, was a crew of people who had been working tirelessly under the radar planning for an event that might never happen: a Royals victory celebration. Even with a commanding three games to one lead in the Series, should the worst have happened, all the plans and details could have been for naught, and that other team could have had the task of planning its own parade. But, thankfully, the Royals, in their spectacular fashion, won the championship and the parade planning continued.
Because of some obscure reason, Major League Baseball insists that any World Series victory parade must occur within 48 hours of series completion. Which means that the victory activation team (sounds cool, doesn’t it?) was blueprinting the plan well in advance of the outcome. A parade indicates that vehicles are likely to be the underpinning of the celebration. The more than 50 Chevy Silverados don’t just magically appear in the bowels of the Sprint Center. It wasn’t just happenstance that each truck was pristine in its appearance and customized with Royals graphics, player numbers and positions. Naturally, Sluggerrr had his own tricked-out truck, too.
No, this was a well-orchestrated event with many moving parts and partners. The 14 metro Chevrolet dealers, through their local marketing association and as the official vehicle of the Royals, provided the trucks that the players, coaches, their families and the Commissioner’s Trophy proudly rode in. Tip of the cap to the architects who, behind the scenes, put together a memorable event Kansas City won’t soon forget. Cynics, and perhaps the bean counters, too, might question the costs and challenge the value of sponsoring a major sports franchise. The answer was evident on Tuesday afternoon when an estimated 800,000 people lined the streets of downtown Kansas City and watched their team drive along the parade route in the coordinated Silverados. Local and national media added more exposure for the Chevy brand. Winning a championship is the ultimate benefit for a sponsor when its brand is infused into the event – the investment pays off. And another residual plus – the trucks went back to each dealership and are for sale. Grab your piece of history now, because when they’re gone, they’re gone.
This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Royally done."