New York Post

Woods Takes The Next Step, But The Biggest Brand Question For Golf Remains Unanswered…

February 20, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Friday Tiger Woods spoke…he controlled the message, he got his points out, he was serious and he addressed all the groups he needed to address in a statement. Another stage in the comeback is complete for him.  He did not have the long, drawn out presser with reporters, especially those who cover him in his sport, in the room and he avoided distractions and forced the media to cover just what he and his brand needed them to cover. he was true to what he has always done in the better of times, he controlled the message and the access.  Just as he would drive reporters to his website for comments and news, now he drove them to another ballroom in Ponte Vedra to listen while pool reporters asked a few questions to him and to his assembled group.

Sports Books Worth Reading And Giving From 2009

December 20, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

I will be the first to say I am not a strong critic, nor do I read every book out there. However I do read a great deal and try to figure out what are the books that teach me something, even of some of the most public of figures, that I didn’t know before and what can I take away from this that can apply to work, personal life or friends, colleagues or family. Also, what do I think are just really well written stories. So below I have highlighted a list of some of the books I have gotten to and enjoyed, and others may enjoy too. Some are on most people’s lists…some are a little more obscure, but all are well written and have great value. I also have to admit I have not read Bill Simmons’ book or Chris Ballard’s on the NBA, or the Agassi book or my friend Jon Wertheim’s book on tennis this year. That is my bad, but that’s what the holidays are for. These are also in no particular order, other than Marty Appel’s name started with A and thats the first one I thought of. Feel free to send along other suggestions to me at fatherknickerbocker1@yahoo.com

Squeezing Til The Sponge Is Dry…

October 14, 2009 by Joe Favorito · 2 Comments 

In the 1970’s and into the 1980’s big tobacco fueled some of the most successful sports branding opportunities in history. Whether it was Phillip Morris’ support of Virginia Slims tennis or NASCAR’s Marlboro Cup, the cigarette brands created some of the most large scale and effective activation platforms in sports history. Then came all the legislation against smoking and the tobacco brands, and for the better in terms of health and social consciousness, all the spending stopped from those brands. So sports moved on, using the lessons learned in many of those activation platforms to bring in new brands who would spend, maybe not at the large numbers of tobacco, but who would continue to grow business and fill the gap. Banks and financial institutions, insurance, and technology, filled gaps with new money and new ways to reach the consumer.

Nets Continue To Beat The Moving Drum

June 15, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The patriarch of one of America’s legendary families, Joe Kennedy, always preached to his famous sons “You Are Who You Say You Are,” and that creedo is a good example of how today’s brands can best pitch and stay on message. Remembering “who you are” and “what you do” and making sure everyone in the company is in line with that vision is the best way to effectively and consistently communicate. A great example of that consistent messaging, and the placing of a steady stream of information around that message, is being done by the New Jersey Nets as they battle every obstacle in their planned move to Brooklyn in the future. Despite the delays, the economy, and now the added pressure by New Jersey officials, Nets brass has remained steadfast and unwavering in their positioning on the Brooklyn move, and constantly find ways to keep the brand relevant and consistently messaged toward the goal of the move to Brooklyn. This week’s Sports Business Journal has a great piece on the “Brooklyn Brand” the Nets are building, which was preceded by pieces in the New York Daily News and Newsday, all without a shovel yet in the ground and the skeptical media continuing to wait to be shown that the move will actually happen. Every sponsor brought in, every community event created, is tied to that one goal of moving to Brooklyn, all well messaged and very believable for the day when that move does happen. In a skeptical time when it is not popular to always stay on message and be consistent, the Nets have been a model of straightforward, single minded focus on their goal.

Mixed Martial Arts Continues To Fight For Brand Development…

March 26, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

It still remains a niche sport, but those who have been able to carve their niche in the niche world of Mixed Martial Arts continue to find new ways to speak directly to the core audience with some traditional sports and entertainment branding opportunities, ranging from memorabilia deals to figurines and collectable cards. The MMA site sherdog.com had a good look at the MMA mainstream adaptations this week, singling out companies like Round Five and others that took the smart business approach, looking at the key traditional revenue sources and attach themselves to stars and make them a part of the brand development process. The results have been very strong for those who have picked the smart ways to grow steadily in a very fluid sport. Now obviously the UFC remains the dominant brand, and their attachments continue to do well. However there is no clear number two in the sport, and companies who can find the niche, invest smartly in their product that they understand and then use the viral and digital world to reach that core consumer, still have a chance to succeed. The lack of major brands in the space continues, but there is a slow and steady rise in targeted spends and activations, so those who could potentially partner brand with activation product in a cost efficient way can still make inroads in a relatively new business environment. Nice hit for the sport.

Controlling The Message: Jerry Jones and Tiger Woods

February 22, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Today’s media cycle is always clamoring for more access. Fans, business partners and the media are constantly craving in both sports and entertainment to get more info., more access, more angles in the never-ending search to follow the celebrity. While that is important for brands that seek the spotlight to grow, the elite brands are put into a difficult situation. When is enough enough and more importantly, how do you control the information flow, either to make sure the information is accurate or to make sure the information put forth is done so in the manner that the newsmaker wants it to be. This past week we watched as the Yankees fed the media monster daily with key team members being available for the press around the Alex Rodriguez controversy. Each day led to a different story line, with key players speaking on different days. Orchastrated and put forth in the order that the newsmaker chose. The Yankees also did a more than credible job of speaking with one voice by the administration, and a majority of the players followed suit. So along the same line, we saw two other megabrands…Tiger Woods and the Dallas Cowboys...both take measures to control their message this week. Woods announced his comeback not with press conference or conference call or personal appearance or even a call to a key media member, but on his regular way of communicating to the media away from tournaments, on his website. The website has become Woods’ regular way of communicating with the media away from the Tour, thus (in addition to driving traffic and publicity for the site) easily getting out his message as he and his management team see fit. Now Woods is accessable during required periods at events, but by using the site as a way to break news, the media is limited in response and the idea of his team speaking with one voice holds true. Great for Woods, probably not so great for golf or the media. The Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones informed the media this week that coaches were no longer to be available to the media, including head coach Wade Phillips. The team’s view is the lack of access will control news and the subsequent leaks that come out, and have the organization functioning with one voice. Although this may not be uncommon with other organizations who limit access, the issue was that Jones was not available for the media during the early days of the NFL Combine, creating a bit of a circus for those media that were there and were seeking info about America’s team. Now again is “One Voice” a smart thing to control a message? Probably. Just so long as the message is communicated to the media, and thus to fans and business partners, effectively. Can it control “leaks” or rumor? To some extent but not as well as one would think, especially with an organization the size of an NFL team. There are ways to be consistent and control the message without setting off paranoia, and effectively communicating procedure is probably the first way. Regardless of the procedure, both Woods and the Cowboys again showed their ability to convey who the messenger will be.

The UFC Experience Picks Its Spots To Build Brand

February 4, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Even with the down economy, Super Bowl weekend continues to be the biggest weekend in Las Vegas. More fans flock to the desert to bet and enjoy the atmosphere than go to the site of the game, and the group that has capitalized on that Super Bowl weekend experience more than anyone is the UFC. Say what you want about MMA, the experience remains akin in brand to what the WWE is to their fans and to what Daytona is to NASCAR, and as much as the mainstream media try to downplay it, the core audience remains strong while the casual fan will still watch. The latest convert was the LA Times Kurt Streeter, who attended not even a UFC fight, but the recent Affliction event in Anaheim, and was blown away by the crowd and the power of Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianko . Even if the Affliction/Fedor fight was not UFC, it was still good brand awareness for the sport, and as George Willis pointed out in the New York Post Friday, the UFC event in Vegas between George St. Pierre and BJ Penn was perfectly timed, well orchastrated and fed into the weekend in Vegas seemlessly. Will MMA ever replace a great boxing match or move further into the mainstream worldwide? My guess is no. But second tier sports can learn a great lesson from the UFC. They have cultivated their core audience very well and speak directly to it wherever they go. That keeps the mainstays sated and gives the casual fan enough interest to attend and drive numbers to a very solid place. The fly in the UFC’s ointment? A Bloomberg report last week that Station Casinos is near default. If true, then the UFC might have to spend less to push the fringes of its brand and not expand as quickly to questionable markets without a large cash flow. Still the times when Zuffa needed the Station money to stay afloat are past. At the end of the day it is still the UFC experience which is the only durable brand in the sport that consistently delivers a demo and revenue, and by conquering Super Bowl weekend in Vegas, the UFC brand will stay solid with their core in tough times.

Nets Make An All-Star Push To Remain Relevant…

January 31, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

How does a brand which is not necessarily always top of mind find ways to remain relevant in a very crowded marketplace? Ask the New Jersey Nets.  In a season that has been somewhat less than expected in terms of on-court performance, and has seen questions raised about the team’s long-anticipated move to Brooklyn, the Nets continue to squeeze every possible opportunity to remain brand relevent.  This week the team put out a CEO Challenge, with companies literally competing  against each other in five on five basketball with a chance to gain a free partnership with the Nets next season.  It is the latest in a series of ways which the team has tried to connect with the casual fan and business partner who might not have a daily reason to be exposed to the value of Nets basketball.  Also on the brand relevance side was the teams’ push to assist  guard Devin Harris as  an all-star.  The task to garner All-Star selection amongst the media is not easy, especially for an underachieving team that does not gain great national TV exposure.  However by creating and then pushing a fun viral campaign and working both through the media, with fan votes and behind the scenes, Harris will be part of the East team in Phoenix in a few weeks. Now does Devin Harris as an all-star help the team in brand relevance in the marketplace?  Hard to say for sure but there is certainly no downside in the effort, and it gives the Nets, having a young, new All-Star, something else to talk about with their partners and fans.  Juxtapose the position of the Knicks, which had coach Mike D’Antoni downplaying the potential of David Lee as an All-Star across the river, and you can see how much the Nets seem to be more interested in selling the sizzle and the current brand relevance in the marketplace.  With little to no push, Lee, despite having All-Star numbers, did not make the team.  The Nets push with Harris is reflective of all they try to do to make the brand fresh, and in down times that effort becomes even more important.  Both the CEO Challenge and Harris’  selection were All-Star moves for the franchise on the brand side.

Audi Steps Forward With A Super Push…

January 22, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

As we enter the two weeks leading up to a Super Bowl which will be less hype and more cautious with excess spending, it was good to see the New York Post report that Audi is making an aggressive push to seize market share and hype with a series of spots leading toward the Super Bowl, married with dealer and online activation.  Audi is a brand that defines luxury, and as so, will be one of those that will stick to its core audience and will look to cutting edge, elite plays to still grab those looking to spend, even if they are limited.  Also on the value side, the brand known for customer appreciation is able to take the spots and subliminally let their past buyers know that the brand is still strong and fresh…that reinforcement through a Super Bowl campaign is smart, becuase since Audi knows its buyers are investors in their product, they will bank on the campaign as a bridge to future poisitive times when the economy rebounds and the consumer needs to buy.  To get a smart effective buy for the game and the lead-up and leverage that against future purchases can work for brands, and hopefully Audi will be the first of many who will look to make a confidence buy and brand play as the game approaches and confidence is beginning to be restored.

Rangers’ Dad Trip Great Access and InSite Into The Team…

January 19, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

It is a program that is growing in the NHL, and if it continues to go well may be copied by other leagues more often…the New York Rangers, like a few other NHL teams, picked a road trip and had the players’ fathers accompany them for a little bonding and giveback.  Now many teams will disappear into a “team building” opportunity during the long season…an unscheduled trip to Disney, bowling, a movie…but few times are the media and the fans given insight into such private moments.  However the Rangers, took a more public step in explaining the reasons and benefits of inviting the fathers along on a recent road trip, and by doing so gave the fans a look into the private lives of many of the players, especially those who are younger and don’t get much everyday exposure in a crowded media market.  Now each sport does create those special bonds between father and son over the long period and long hours on the road through the development time of young pro players, but hockey has a pretty unique isolation…with baseball probably the only sport similar in the U.S…where young players leave home at a very early age and much of that bonding time can be lost.  This special trip is a smart one to help the players have that special time at a great point in their careers,  and by letting the media and the public in for some glimpses, builds added human interest into a very long season.  Nice access, great story lines, great break from the everyday for the NHL.

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