Dominion East Ohio Teams Up with Tribe to Promote Call 811 Safe Digging Message

CLEVELAND, April 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion East Ohio and the Cleveland Indians are going to bat to promote the Call 811 before digging safety message on the air and on the field, for the 2017 Major League Baseball season.

Company and team officials expect the effort to deliver a public awareness home run as the Indians generate increased stadium attendance and broadcast ratings, following their 2016 American League championship.

This season, the company is reminding Tribe fans, customers and the general public, to comply with Ohio law by telephoning 811 two business days before beginning any digging projects. The Ohio Utilities Protection Service will notify affected utilities, which then will have their lines marked. The Call 811 effort helps prevent third-party dig-ins, the leading cause of underground utility line damages.

A centerpiece of the campaign is a wall advertisement, featuring both the Call 811 and Dominion logos, posted in Progressive Field's left field corner, near the stadium's famous Home Run Porch, says Brian Witte, consulting engineer, Ohio Pipeline Safety. Witte serves as the company's liaison with the Indians. Witte adds that this is the first time the Indians have made this particular piece of stadium wall real estate available to advertisers.

"We are excited about the outstanding partnership we have struck with the Cleveland Indians to promote 811 all season long," Witte says. "The cost per impression is less than previous promotional methods, such as print and direct mail, and delivers to a much larger and more diverse audience."

Besides the millions of fans expected to attend the team's 81 home games at Progressive Field, the ad will also generate millions of additional local and national television and web impressions during game broadcasts and repeated broadcast highlights of left-field home runs and outstanding defensive plays, Witte notes.

Another element of the Indians promotional package is a display of the Dominion/Call 811 message on Progressive Field's mid-deck LED sign boards for a half-inning each game.

Dominion East Ohio has expanded its sports stadium/arena, web and broadcast public awareness campaign, based on the success of its earlier partnership with the National Basketball Association champion Cleveland Cavaliers, and their fellow Quicken Loans Arena tenants, the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League and the Cleveland Gladiators of the Arena Football League, Witte says.

The company is entering the third year of its Cavaliers/Monsters/Gladiators Call 811 promotional partnership, Witte says.

Dominion (NYSE: D) is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 26,400 megawatts of generation, 15,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, and 6,600 miles of electric transmission lines. Dominion operates one of the nation's largest natural gas storage systems with 1 trillion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves more than 6 million utility and retail energy customers. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's website at www.dom.com.

SOURCE Dominion East Ohio