PlayBall! Minnesota Kicks Off

After arriving back from All-Star on Wednesday the guys were hard at work in the warehouse unloading trucks and preparing for the kick off of our 2nd PlayBall! Minnesota Tour. The PlayBall! Minnesota Tour is a Minnesota Twins non-profit that tours around to different cities in Minnesota growing awareness of softball and baseball leagues in their areas. This year’s kickoff event took place at the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato, Minnesota for the Baby & Kids Expo. It was a great start to the Tour as we had the MoonDogs mascot and Viktor the Vikings mascot. Along with their appearances many families stopped by to check out PlayBall! Minnesota and take some swings at the inflatable. The PlayBall! Minnesota Tour will visit Target Field on April 1st for the Minnesota Twins home opener against the Detroit Tigers!

FILO Launches New Relationship with the Budweiser Experience

Across the street during this year’s NBA All-Star Jam Session, FILO launched an important new relationship with Anheuser-Busch and Fusion Marketing, helping them and Silver Eagle Distributors produce The Budweiser Experience at NBA All-Star. We worked with Fusion Marketing to create an outdoor hoops haven on Discovery Green, which is in the shadow of the George R. Brown Convention Center and one block north of the Toyota Center.

Together we built and executed a three-day basketball-themed event featuring appearances by and autograph sessions with hoops legends, Houston Rockets Power Dancers and mascot Clutch; an outdoor basketball court for fans to play and watch Street Ball Legends Exhibition Games; and a portable Budweiser sports bar.
Budweiser brand ambassadors were also out in full force at nearby bars and restaurants located along Washington Avenue, Midtown and downtown Houston. From Feb. 15 – 17, thousands of avid NBA fans joined the experience for free, participating in dance contests and showing off their basketball skills for a chance to win prizes.

The world famous Budweiser Clydesdales and the red, white and gold beer wagon even made their way to the park. FILO was there for it all: preparing for the Event with a site visit, through the first piece of stage going down, through the end of tear down, until the last sign was removed.
FILO representatives Joe Garvey, the Buron Brothers and Matt Lehmann did everything from construct the full court SportCourt to activating the VIP tent, to even refereeing games. It was an absolute slam dunk for Budweiser, NBA fans and FILO!

NBA All-Star Jam Session: That's a wrap!

As the doors on the last trailer closed at 8:23pm on Monday February 18^th, it marked the 11^th year that FILO successfully loaded in, managed and loaded out All-Star Jam Session for the National Basketball Association (NBA). A new additions this year, however,  was the blimp!  It was a hit, and it really added an extra element to the event.

As with every year, work on Jam Session started months prior to the event with site visits, conference calls, pack list builds, truck loading, layouts and equipment testing in preparation for ASJS 2013. It culminated in another superior event with tens of thousands of fans enjoying basketball bliss. All 16 of our trucks arrived on time in Houston and the equipment was unloaded by noon on the first day. We completed all of our setup duties by the 4:00pm show opening on Wednesday. Some of our responsibilities during setup were: rigging and placement of signage, fencing, bleachers, hoop systems, Pop-A-Shots, kiosks, furniture, coolers, lockers, race timers/shot clocks and netting. This year we had our shortest window of time ever to build the show. We passed with flying colors though, quickly flipping the switch to event management mode to begin running distribution, meeting needs and solving problems on the floor during show hours. With our experienced veterans and eager to impress rookies, we managed the NBA’s equipment on the show floor by conducting safety checks, receiving and answering calls from zone managers, placing signage according to the NBA’s direction, managing court props for all courts including Center Court and Sprint Arena, and assisting with janitorial duties.
During the show, our veteran distribution crew received and inventoried all packages, delivered them to all applicable personnel and sponsors, stocked all beverage coolers and made all furniture and locker moves in green rooms, meeting rooms and offices.

Our preparation and experience made for a great NBA All-Star Jam Session setup and show. At 8:23pm on February 18^th, the door of the last trailer was closed and the trucks headed back to our warehouse in St. Paul.
Although Jam Session was over, there were still 17 trailers awaiting the FILO crew in Minnesota. The trailers were unloaded into the warehouse, equipment was scanned back into inventory and all elements were returned to their proper home in the warehouse. Finally, a week and a half after the doors closed at the George R. Brown Convention Center, the 2013 Jam Session was complete.

 

FILO Sponsors The Sanneh Foundation Gala 4 Goals

FILO is proud to be a sponsor of The Sanneh Foundation and its 3^rd Annual Gala 4 Goals held earlier this month. The Foundation, started by St. Paul native and international soccer star Tony Sanneh, is a youth development organization that provides life skills programs for at-risk children using soccer as the catalyst to empower kids, improve lives and unite communities (www.thesannehfoundation.org). The event drew about 1,000 supporters and raised over $100,000.

“Giving back to our community is a priority for FILO. Tony and his organization are doing wonderful work,” said CEO Kevin Weinhandl.  “Like them, we too are passionate about sports and helping kids so it’s a perfect fit for us.”

2013 Launch Party

On January 25^th, FILO celebrated our new leadership, new location and new website (www.filoproductions.com) with a launch party on the top floor of the Crowne Plaza Riverfront in downtown St. Paul. Family, friends, clients, vendors and partners all gathered to talk with new owner, but forever FILO, Kevin Weinhandl. We also unveiled our refreshed logo and the First In Last Out brand ambassadors were all there to make a lasting impression.

Meet Our Newest FILO

Lou Bavaro joined the FILO team this month as Director of New Business, bringing over a decade of experience in sports marketing and a proven history building successful businesses.

Most recently, Lou managed the grocery and foodservice line of Michelbob's Championship Ribs of Naples, FL and Hickory House Ribs of Aspen, CO., developing their retail products from scratch, while negotiating national distribution as well as local partnerships with Lunds, Byerly’s, Kowalski’s, the Minnesota Twins and Gabes by the Park.

BBQ is in Lou’s blood (literally…he married MichelBob’s daughter), but his true passion is sports.  From 2001-2005 he was President of the Opposite Field, Inc., a company he co-founded to produce creative marketing campaigns for clients like: the Minnesota Timberwolves, Minnesota Twins, Fox Sports, and United Airlines. He also produced an original sports television program called The Show to be Named Later… and recently helped develop a free mobile sports APP for 3M Racing and NASCAR.

Born and raised in New York, Lou's first job in sports was taking dictation for the Associated Press on the overnight baseball desk in NYC from 1997-1998. In 1999, he moved to Minnesota to report on professional and amateur sports, fell in love with his wife’s hometown St. Paul and has lived here ever since. He covered everything from high school hockey to the NBA Western Conference Finals before earning his MBA at Carlson School of Management in 2003.

As Director of New Business, Lou is responsible for promoting FILO's best-in-class services in event management, experiential marketing and mobile touring, while increasing  sales and developing new strategic partnerships.

Ramping up for the 2013 NBA All-Star Jam Session

The clock is ticking for the FILO crew to begin packing 20 trucks that will make the trek down to Houston, Texas for the nation’s largest basketball fan fest: NBA All-Star Jam Session. This year’s festivities are returning to the George R. Brown Convention Center.

This will be FILO’s 11^th year assisting the production of the NBA All-Star Jam Session and we’re looking forward to it!

FILO will spend many hours in the warehouse prepping items that will head to Jam Session. Brian Buron, FILO Director & 10 year veteran said, “Each year the prepping in the warehouse seems to get better and better. This year having the warehouse under the same roof as the office will make things more efficient for the crew.”
Along with the warehouse duties, FILO is also working in tandem with the NBA and other vendors to establish layouts, production schedules, access, parking, trucking, shipping, scheduling and other key projects to create a successful Jam Session.

We look forward to another successful event.