Service for sports fans aims to rub in the team rivalry

For the die-hard sports fan, half the fun of supporting a favourite team is explaining to unenlightened friends and relations why the teams they’ve chosen aren’t the right ones. Toward that end, RivalGrams offer a new way to remind such ill-informed acquaintances of the fundamental superiority of one’s own pick. Using a predetermined combination of live or automated phone calls and emails, RivalGrams will make it plainly clear to stubbornly unaccepting friends why their team is not the right one. Recipients of RivalGram’s USD 1.25 package No. 1, for instance, must endure one automated call with the sender’s team’s fight song or chant; a dollar extra will buy an additional live call. USD 2.99 buys two live calls plus an automated call, while for USD 9.99, fans can inflict upon their acquaintances the RivalGram-inator, including a live call and an e-mail each day for up to 20 days before the big game. Packages can be purchased in support of any team — including college, NFL, NBA, MLB even NASCAR — while calls can be customized or kept anonymous. What’s another name for consumers’ collective itches? Opportunities to scratch, of course. What could *your* brand do to further a little good-hearted rivalry among friends…? (Related: Santa calls friends and family for gift ideas — Nagging service for dieters.) Spotted by: Eric