VAR Takes Customers Out To The Old Ballgame

Solution providers are always looking for new ways to market themselves and keep customers loyal. One solution provider, Sam Ruggeri, president of Advanced Vision Technology Group, a Hauppauge, N.Y.-based solution provider, found that he can combine marketing with one of his favorite pastimes: baseball. For the last three years, Ruggeri has held a customer appreciation event at a New York Mets game. This year, the event attracted 45 customers, employees and vendors.

Ruggeri, pictured right, with his son Sammy, is a big Mets fan and found that a weekday afternoon at the ballpark is a good way to get to know customers. He tries not to make the event a sales pitch, but more as a reward for being a good customer in the past.

This year was also a special draw because it's the last season for the Mets in Shea Stadium, left. In 2009, they'll move into CitiField, under construction on the right.

Shea Stadium is only 44 years old, but it lacks the modern conveniences that newer ballparks can offer for business outings. For example, the Left Field Terrace Suite, where Advanced Vision seats had for the afternoon, offers a narrow view of the field unless you're sitting in one of the stadium seats.

We're guessing CitiField will eventually offer better amenities for businesses looking to entertain clients. For now, Shea visitors have to be satisfied with a look of things to come.

But an afternoon at the ballpark is often as much about the people you're with anyway. At a game on June 11, Ruggeri, center, chats with Tom Goldrick, retired chairman and CEO of Bank of Long Island, and Julio Carbonell, CIO of the ASPCA.

For solution providers that can't afford a suite, or need to accommodate a large crowd, group sales tickets in an upper-deck section are another option.

And what's a ballgame without a hot dog? Or hamburger, salad, or sandwich?

The solution provider received some sponsorship help from several vendors, including Targus, IBM, Lenovo, Enterasys and Hewlett-Packard.

And, oh, yeah, there was a game going on too. The Mets jumped out to a 4-0 lead after 7 innings behind stellar pitching from Johan Santana, but the Arizona Diamondbacks clawed back to tie the game in the ninth inning and win it in the 10th. Mets fans went home disappointed, but to paraphrase an old saying: A bad day at the ballpark is better than a good day in the office.