As we put the finishing touches on the third edition of our book, worth sharing a great best practice from agent/marketing exec and former Columbia student Jesse Lichtenberg. Jessie has worked with athletes big and small in her career, and some of her best work has been done on the Olympics side. Here is a case study she did for us on her work with Olympian Erin Hamlin over her career…worth a read coming off SBJ Gamechangers ths past week… Here is also the podcast we did with Jesse in 2017.
Marketing athletes is so much more than simply putting a sticker on a forehead these days. In the ADD era, people see right through it. They’re looking for authenticity in elements that grab their attention, emotion and interest. There has to be a link; you’re not just selling a product, you’re selling a story with a genuine human being connection that you can relate to in some way.
There is no cookie-cutter way to market athletes of any sort. Each is different in their own way, with different qualities, backgrounds, stories and interests to bring to the table. It’s a lot like putting together pieces of a giant puzzle- you have to take tons of tiny pieces and figure out how to make them fit together to make something whole. Sometimes you didn’t even know those pieces could come together; sometimes it’s like the pieces didn’t even come from the same package. Regardless of who you’re working with or what type of engagement you’re trying to pursue, it’s rarely easy. But when it comes to marketing athletes in the Olympic world, especially when you’re targeting deals with the small group of exclusive Olympic sponsors, which are pre-set marketing campaigns, it can be a different ballgame altogether.
Marketing an Olympic athlete can be harder than a marketing a professional athlete because they generally have fewer opportunities for exposure, media and ultimately, money. Olympians work extraordinarily hard to achieve greatness, often with limited resources and support especially in sports that are not always high profile, but they deserve those same opportunities, maybe even more so, than professional athletes. U.S. Olympians don’t have multi-million dollar league salaries or unlimited exposure and finances to help them succeed. When marketing Olympians you have to think extra creatively… not just “outside the box,” but think like there is no “box.” That’s part of what makes marketing Olympic athletes so unique and exciting, but also a lot harder than doing the same for traditional athletes (it’s worth it!).
In February 2009 a girl named Erin Hamlin, then a 2006 Olympian in the sport of luge, became my first “all by yourself” client. She had just made history as the first American woman to win a World Championship title- breaking a 99-race German winning streak. At the time, luge was a sport I had barely heard of, but when I spoke to Erin and her family on the phone a few weeks later, I knew it would be something special and I was excited to help her grow. I was 23 years old and became a full-fledged “sports agent” as soon as the paperwork was signed. Erin, now a four-time Olympian, Olympic Bronze Medalist, and two-time World Champion (along with a host of other titles, records and accolades to her name), has now been my client for over ten years and I’ve done more with her than anyone (myself included) ever thought was possible.
Branding an Olympic athlete is not easy, especially before digital and social media came into play, and even more so for an athlete in a “small” sport, like luge, with little visibility and media coverage, and a National Governing Body with limited resources. Today, everything you could ever want to see or learn about someone is at your fingertips and readily available- even live luge races. Things were very different in 2009 when no one had the same accessibility; some of it didn’t even exist. I needed to build a brand around Erin and package her to help her “awesomeness” shine; to get everyone else to see, feel and connect with what I already knew. Erin deserved the same opportunities as the “big” names, but in a smaller sport with less visibility (certainly at the time!), opportunities for an athlete like Erin were few and far between. I was determined to change that.
I’ve always said “people can’t fall in love with something that they don’t know exists, that they don’t know how to watch, or how to get to know the people involved, or be a part of or connect with it in some way.” And that’s very true. Once people got to see how cool the sport of luge is, how amazing Erin is- not only as an athlete, but as a human being- and the unique journey and story behind her, people started to fall in love with all of it.
When trying to secure a deal for an athlete with one of the Olympic sponsors, the research, preparation, positioning, getting to the right person, pitching and convincing those people of why, amongst the hundreds of other Team USA athletes, yours is the one they want to use as an ambassador for one of their largest and most important campaigns, to represent their brand and their Olympic partnership platform (and pay them to be a part of it), begins early. It all starts during the year prior to an upcoming Games and you need to have the right timing- not so early that the brand or agency is annoyed or forgets about your athlete before the brand is focused on putting their Olympic campaign and team together, but not too late that you miss the boat. It’s tricky because every sponsor brand does it differently and most of them don’t give you any hints as to what they’re looking for, what their campaign is going to be or the timing in which they’re looking for someone, so you can’t always angle your pitch properly and tailor it to each brand as appropriate. It definitely gives those brands and their agencies the upper hand.
Securing a deal with one of the few Team USA Olympic sponsors is a big opportunity for an athlete. There are only a handful of highly-coveted spots and every agent is competing to secure them for their clients. In the thirteen years I’ve been representing and marketing Olympic and Paralympic athletes, the one that I’m most proud of is having Erin Hamlin- who at the time was a two-time Olympian and luge World Champion- be featured in Citibank’s 2014 Olympic campaign for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. It was the first major endorsement deal and international-scale marketing campaign that Erin was a part of. Citi, being a prominent Team USA Olympic sponsor, held a lot of weight behind it and I knew it would have a lot of visibility. They say “it just takes one…” and this first major sponsorship deal and the massive, widespread exposure it carried really helped to get the ball rolling. To this day it’s still one of my absolute favorite deals I’ve ever done and campaigns I’ve had come together for a client.
Citi certainly didn’t come looking for Erin- I initially reached out with a cold call to their agency (a company called GlideSlope at the time) intending to discuss Erin along with two other clients, but as they explained the goals of the program and a bit about how they are looking to build their upcoming Sochi Olympic platform, I immediately knew that the 2014 “Citi Every Step of the Way” campaign fit Erin to a “tee” and that it would be the absolutely perfect partnership… and after telling them who Erin was and what she was about, they knew it, too.
The theme of the 2014 Citi Every Step Olympic campaign was centered around sharing athletes’ personal journeys, how they got there and most significantly, the people and organizations who were with them “every step of the way.” The Citi Every Step campaign tied Citibank’s core mission of “enabling progress supporting their clients on their journey from ambition to achievement,” with building that in as a sponsor platform to support Team USA Olympic and Paralympic athletes and sport programs “to nurture the next generation of hopefuls and athletes of all ages in communities across the country.” It was also about “giving back,” which was one of the most unique and attractive elements.
No one achieves such a high level of success on their own; they all need a strong support system to inspire them on their Olympic journey without whom these athletes would not have made it to where they are today. Erin credits her incredible support system as an enormous component of her success. One of Erin’s biggest storylines is her background; the amazing community and people that have been behind her with unwavering support, dedication and enthusiasm, every step of the way, on her athletic journey- from the spaghetti dinner fundraisers when her community found out that she was going the elite route in a sport and needed some extra financial support starting at 12 years old- to the biggest stage in the world at the Olympic Games and everything in between. Erin is a girl from a tiny but huge-hearted town in upstate New York where opportunities to become involved in something as unique as luge and become a world-class athlete are often quite limited. The way all of Central New York, not just her hometown, whole-heartedly rallies around Erin and her family to help make that happen and how they celebrate absolutely everything she does (win, lose or draw) is truly unique and is one of the most unbelievable things I’ve ever seen and had the opportunity to be a part of. That, along with Erin’s long-term goal to use story and her journey as a vehicle to inspire and empower others and make a positive impact, and to do that while being able to strengthen and expand the growth and visibility of her sport, was a dream come true opportunity for Erin.
From that first conversation with GlideSlope and Citi, we all knew it was a go. The pieces came together perfectly and we moved forward with it relatively quickly. Citi ultimately chose a total of 9 members- five competing Olympians, two competing Paralympians and two retired athletes- representing a wide variety of sports for “Team Citi” as part of the Every Step program to support the values and ideals of the Olympic Movement. It was a mass-scale, international campaign, utilizing television, digital, social, out-of-home, etc. it was everywhere- even in NYC taxis.
As part of the campaign each Team Citi athlete got to identify and select a sport program that meant something to them to which funds, raised by fans voting for the athlete and campaign that they felt was best through the Citi Every Step website, would be donated to. In total, Citi donated $500,000 across the nine different programs selected by each member of Team Citi to benefit the next generation of athletes. Erin chose to direct her portion of the funds to the USA Slider Search– USA Luge’s official recruitment program that tours across the country in an effort to ensure its continued success, broaden its reach and increase the strength of the program. The USA Luge Slider Search seeks to expose kids of all ages to the sport and further awareness and participation, and to find young talent that could potentially be the “next” Erin Hamlin. It’s expensive to run but necessary and most importantly, it’s how Erin got her start in the sport that took her to the top of the world.
To bring the Every Step of the Way campaign to life, “Signature Steps to Greatness” (which were actual cast imprints of each athlete’s foot) were created to signify and represent each Team Citi members’ journey from ambition to achievement and the lasting impact the Every Step of the Way program would have in communities across the country. These “Signature Steps,” featured the steps that each took to reach their level of success: “The Spark” (how they got started), “The Rise” (how they progressed from that initial spark to the world-class level), “The Drive” (what keeps them going in their relentless pursuit to be the best- through the good times and bad, overcoming challenges and the countless sacrifices they make), the “Games” (what it means to be an Olympian/Paralympian and represent your country at the Games; what your goals and dreams are and how you prepare to get there and achieve them), and “The Impact” (how your journey, your achievements, and the cause you’ve identified impacts others and future generations). Those footprints, which had been turned into individual commemorative plaques each with different pieces their “steps to greatness,” were prominently displayed at various events and at the Sochi Olympic Games.
Everything came full circle at the 2014 Olympics when Erin won the Bronze Medal, making history as the first American- male or female- to ever win a medal in singles luge and the first woman to win an Olympic medal in any luge discipline for Team USA. Needless to say, Erin’s giant family and entire community that has stood behind her and supported every step of the way (both in attendance and at home)- from the spaghetti dinners when she was 12 years old through traveling across the world to freeze in the elements to watch in awe as she competed for Team USA winning an Olympic medal at 27 years old- went absolutely wild and celebrated Erin as if she had won every gold medal in the world (and that hasn’t stopped since). Erin was already their hero, but this was the cherry on top. As it says on a park bench in her hometown that was dedicated to her after she won the World Championships in 2009, “This bench is in honor of Erin Hamlin, World Champion in Luge. Thank you, Erin, for showing Remsen that small town girls can climb to the top of the world.” And she certainly did.
The reception to both the Citibank campaign and the significance of Erin’s accomplishment was enormous. Even though I tried to explain to Erin how big what she had accomplished was all over the country, she kind of thought it was just her agent being like an extra proud parent… but I was really serious. When Erin came home from the Olympics, everyone knew who she was, what she had done, and she and her sport were more popular than ever; her face was all over the place- in various advertisements to media ranging from the news to talk shows. The impression she left and impact she made on so many- proving that regardless of who you are or where you come from, you can accomplish anything if you dream big and never give up- really shone through, now more than ever.
I had Erin come home from Sochi prior to Closing Ceremony so I could secure all kinds of public engagements, media and appearances in order to capitalize on the excitement and maximize exposure, publicity, promotional, marketing and financial opportunities for her. She flew straight from Sochi to NYC before even going home to see her family, friends and community who anxiously awaited her return, and started by doing everything from news to sporting events and publicity engagements before continuing out to Los Angeles to attend entertainment industry award shows and other talk show appearances. It was very clear that Erin’s impact went way beyond her sport and her community; suddenly people around the country knew who she was and stopped her on the streets to say congratulations, offer gifts, send bottles of wine at restaurants, share stories of how she inspired them or someone they knew, ask for a photo, autograph or simply a proud handshake everywhere she went.
One of my favorite memories when Erin first came home from Sochi was when I took her to be interviewed on NBC’s Today Show the next morning. There is a Citibank adjacent to Rockefeller Center plaza and I knew that Erin was prominently featured in their giant window signage. She had seen a few “proof” images for some of the promotional content in low-quality screen shots months earlier, but she had never seen any of it in person. I pointed it out to her as we walked past and she casually said “Oh, cool” and kept walking to the car, knowing we had a long day ahead. Then it hit her, she stopped in her tracks, turned back around to look at it and said “Whoa. Wait, that’s really cool!” and took a minute to soak it in. Watching her face as she saw it in person for the first time will forever be one of my favorite memories. Amid complete exhaustion and a tightly-packed schedule, I’m glad we stopped to take a photo of her beaming in front of it. I think it was then that she realized that I, as her agent, wasn’t just acting like a proud parent, but that she really was known and seen all over the place!
I think the moment that Erin finally realized how big what she had done actually was, was when Kaley Cuoco, who is one of TV’s biggest stars (and someone who Erin is a huge fan of), stopped her in the bathroom at Madison Square Garden to say “Congratulations! I watched you at the Olympics and you were awesome!” Erin looked back at me and knew I hadn’t said anything to tell her who Erin was. I’m pretty sure Erin was more excited about that reversed fan moment in a chance bathroom encounter with Cuoco than she was when the entire crowd at MSG stood and cheered for her as she was shown on the jumbotron at the Knicks game we attended that night.
Fast forward through another World Championship title, a few more medals and record-breaking feats (and a number of other sponsor and endorsement relationships) later, Erin competed in her fourth and final Olympic Games, the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, where she was given one of the biggest honors as she was named the flag bearer for Team USA and she marched into Opening Ceremony proudly waiving the American flag, leading her entire country of teammates into the stadium. That truly was the perfect capstone to wrap up her storied career before retiring as the most decorated female American luge athlete in the history of the sport.
Erin Hamlin is an even better person than she is an athlete. Now retired, Erin is using her influence to make a positive impact and inspire others. Currently she is focused on giving back to her community, opening opportunities for kids to try anything and everything they can, to expose kids, especially girls, to sports and encouraging them to pursue their own dreams. As she moves on from being a competitive athlete to a working professional, Erin’s marketing “brand” will always evolve with her, continually changing, refining and adjusting accordingly as she steps through the next chapters of her life.
It’s been over 10 years since I reached out to “that girl who just won the luge World Championships,” a complete stranger from a town smaller than my high school in a sport I had barely heard of, and there’s no question that doing so was one of the best decisions I have ever made and also one of the biggest professional challenges I’ve ever faced (in a good way). I never knew I could be so proud- not just because of her athletic accomplishments, but for who she is as a person! Through the years Erin has undoubtedly made me a better agent and a better person. She took a risk on me just as I took a risk on her and being Erin Hamlin’s agent, and plunging knee-deep in the world of sliding sports, has been (and continues to be) an unbelievable ride that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
