Playing On The Global Stage

October 18, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Businessweek this week put out their Top 100 Power Brokers In Sports, and in that was a Top 25 worldwide (meaning outside the U.S.).  The list is a great one for anyone to have on hand as sports becomes more global, and continues to show the domination of motor sports (notably F1 despite its financial issues) and soccer as the world players.  In an Olympic year, the key Olympic players also move up the list, and the presence of Yao Ming (the only basketball element) and Lalit Modi show the continued diversity into the Far East and the power the Indian and Chinese markets will have going forward.  One interesting aspect is that there are only four names probably…David Beckham, Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer and Yao…that the casual sports fan in the United States may know.  The smart marketer or ardent fan will at least know almost all, but as brands expand (no names from the Middle East made the list, something that will change in the future) both globally and into this country (as non-American brands look to capture the sports marketplace here) this list and its offshoots will become increasingly more valuable, and the crossover from this list to the largely American 100 will become much bigger.  The entire list as well as the features can be seen here. 

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Brings Fans Into Virtual Battles With The Top Stars…

September 19, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The engagement of the fan with the athlete, whether it is onsite, online or in another area, is always the key component in activation and building in long term support for the brand, the team or the athlete.  Once a fan can connect on a personal basis with the athlete, there is more trust and support in lean times and more emotion in good times.  In team sports, where the athletes are in market for large portions of the year, that connection is much easier to do.  In individual sports, like tennis, golf, volleyball, even auto racing, that connection sometimes is more difficult to do because of the lack of potential physical personal contact.  Now NASCAR has overcome many of those issues with their huge play into retail and television…the athletes are tied to products that consumers purchase and that builds loyalty.  The weekly network TV play also leads into more athletes coming into their homes on a regular basis, and the fact that NASCAR is all North American with its schedule gives the fan a window of tuning in that matches usually with his or her viewing habits.  Golf has some of the same opportunities, and the affinity amongst the male viewer also helps take it to another level of identification.  Golfers on any level can understand the nuances of the game, even if only pros can execute.  So on to tennis…strong grassroots, marketable stars but many non-American and a schedule that plays on a world stage that many times does not match fan viewing patterns no matter where on the globe they live.  The Tour schedules, although much more consistent in years past and with the help of the USTA in the United States have a natural run to the US Open now, still have multiple events on multiple continents on multiple weeks, making identifiablity a problem.  So what to do?  The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has found a very simple, very unique way to have fans address some of these issues with an online application, where fans take clips of their favorite players, and conduct a mock tennis battle against them using clips of themselves playing tennis.  Challenge Your Hero is a fresh idea, a great new digital application, it lets the fans identify with the player style of their choice and for the top clipmaster, will have the ability to meet their foe face to face at the season-ending championships in Qatar.  It also gives the individual one-on-one sport a digital and visual edge over team sports that few have ever looked at, as this type of challenge probably can’t be equalled by a team sport or any other individual sport.  Well played and well served by the WTA.  

AFL Scores With More Hits…And Athletes Take A Drink Of The Beverage Market

May 2, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

With NFL Europa gone, the AAFL never starting, spring football done, CFL not yet on the sked and the draft now over, those who love football now have only to turn to the Arena Football League to tide themselves over until an outdoor game gets going.  Seeing that void, the AFL has done a solid job both in market and nationally (working with the teams and Dan Klores Communications) to identify and drive some nice additional coverage for the brand in the last few weeks.  Some of the latest hits included a solid score on the front page of the New York Times sports ection this week on the value the New Orleans Voodoo is affording to the community in the post-Katrina time, a Men’s Health piece with Dallas Desperados ironman Will Pettis, and a series of pieces on USS Cole survivor and Colorado Crush lineman Charrod Taylor.  All of these are examples of the brand going beyond the game to tell the personalities of their athletes to a larger audience…all the while building stars and finding ways to enhance the AFL and its partners.  Nice job by the AFL to fill the football jones void.