Can the Pac 10 Make An Eastern Impact?

July 29, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

This spring and summer, perhaps more than any other offseason, the Pac 10 Conference and its schools have made headlines that have transcended game coverage across the nation.  Whether it was the continued controversies surround USC, the expansion and shift of schools, television contracts, Bowl alliances, coaching shifts, the Pac 10 has grabbed its share of headlines.  The latest came this week, when Commissioner Larry Scott announced the latest national plans to grow the face of the conference, completed with a rebranding plan and vision and plans for a larger east coast presence for the conference (designed by Ed O’Hara and his team at SME), which because of its geography, continually lags behind overall exposure in the winter to conferences like the Big East, Big 10 and ACC in the mind not just of sports fans but of marketers and sales folks on Madison Avenue.

The Interesting Approach of Brand Ty Lawson…

June 24, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

As the NBA Draft approaches Thursday, it will be interesting to see the branding winners and missteps taken, and how quickly in this digital age teams will look to immediately activate with their picks…will guys be twittering new fans from the podium, who will be the first to stream and text messages back home and will any team look to Twitter their pick before it is announced, as happened in the NFL Draft? Speed and immediacy, whether they can be monetized or not at this point, will be interesting, as well as how well athletes today understand perceived brand value vs. real brand value. Tuesday’s Washington Post gave a great glimpse inside the workings of North Carolina’s Ty Lawson as he prepped both on and off the court for this Thursday’s coming out. The piece had great access into Lawson and the team around him that is prepped to strike once his name is called, and how they can roll out the new branded Lawson to the Carolina faithful, and to the faithful of his new team. It is a very smart message to try and show potential fans, the media, teams and brands that Lawson is ready for the marketing and playing tasks ahead. however one thing that misses from the article, and is critical to be factored in…are the plans of the team he is selected by. Are they ready to work with Team Lawson on his brand roll out…does it conflict with anything they are planning for their elite customers or partners? Are both sides ready to work together to maximize the opportunity each has created? It sounds simple, but often times it is not. The best partnerships are when teams and athletes start from day one to pull for a common goal…brandwise, community wise, activation wise, access wise and most importantly playing wise. For every LeBron James brand, there are countless others that tried to build upon failed on court or on field focus, and although some athletes can succeed as marketing brands based on just performance, the opposite, brand success with limited on field success, is the rarest of the rare. The Lawson prep story shows smarts by his team…hopefully he lands with the right team that can take advantage of his smarts both on and off the court.

College Athletic Branding…Crisis or Opportunity?

June 1, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Recently there has been a great deal written on issues with regard to college athletics…a recent USA Today piece pointed to the cutbacks athletic departments, especially mid-major schools, have to make to try and get things in line, while this past week the New York Times had an extensive piece on how college graduates looking for job opportunities face very dire odds and another on how students are now balking at fees for athletics as part of actvities, and Friday the Wall Street Journal had a piece on how the Ivies could, and maybe should, retool their athletics and give rewards along the lines of what they do for successful applicants in academia or the arts. All of this seems to be adding up to a crisis in an area…academia…where many times the mainstream looks for answers and innovation in any area of business. Even more troubling is the fact that athletics could and should be generating income and potential new media revenue streams for schools at every level, if the investment is made in finding those streams. After all, aren’t many of today’s growth areas…green technology, new media, social networking…platforms created by those in or just out of school who are able to seize opportunity? So is it a case of college athletics being too unwieldy, or is it the old adage of “the cobblers feed are the worst shod” coming true? It is probably a little of both, but there remains a great untapped opportunity in college athletics for brand building and grassroots growth. Two recent examples of untapped growth are the NCAA lacrosse championships and the ongoing NCAA baseball and softball championships. In the case of lacrosse, Memorial Day weekend saw huge crowds and excitement generated by Syracuse’s overtime win over Cornell, and similar excitement at the women’s and lower level championships. Yet as the season ends, so do the stories, and any brands looking to attach themselves year round to the sport through on-campus and fan activation. Similar, this past weekend saw the longest game in NCAA baseball history between Boston College and Texas, and will lead to more excitement as the College World Series moves on to Omaha, with the next level of stars of the sport coming out. Yet college baseball remains undermarketed as a spring brand, along with softball. Is it because schools only see the money train in football and hoops? Or is it because schools fail to make the investment in athletic sales and marketing due to a rift between the academic and athletic sides of most institutions? It was interesting that some of the best college branding consultants, including award-winning IMG, were singled out at this week’s Sports Business Journal awards for their work. IMG’s biggest growth opportunity this year is creating and implementing their college consulting division, which shows the biggest schools where the branding value…and cash…is. So what are the next steps toward opportunity? First, colleges of all sizes must learn from the best practices of minor league sports, which are able to translate every opportunity into year-round community branding and brand building. Second, colleges should invest wisely in staff, especially in the communications and marketing areas. Effectively spending money on staff to make money back will go a long way, as opposed to the usual turnover that occurs in many places with inexperienced and underpaid staff. Third, having a university’s athletic group in lock step with the overall school communications and maketing group is important. In many places the two groups have no contact, and the lack of open communication makes it an us vs. them workplace which makes small problems huge. Fourth, encourage networking within the industry. Many times colleges do not consult with local professional brands or teams on best practices and resources, and by staying a part of a professional network both sides may learn and benefit from the other. Five, prove and merchandise value to the school. The cyclical nature of college athletics leads little time for effective communication and marketing reports that show true value and return on ROI. take the time to compile and show value added, and most importantly, make sure that those academic decision-makers are aware of the efforts invested in growing the school image. The individual college as a brand to be marketed remains valuable. Schools have loyal followings, a young, core audience looking for diverse interests, a deep data base of successful alumni, brands that have value, deep history and tremendous stories of current past and future success to be told. Mining all that and putting together effective packages, if not to make money then to defer some costs as opposed to cutting, can make college athletics the trend-setters in the future like many of their academic counterparts are trend-setters in the present.

Getting The Right Spokesperson…Johnny Mac and Prostate Awareness

April 3, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The celebrity endorsement world is always a tricky one, especially in times where every move and every dollar is being scrutinized as it is today. David Schwab’s First Call blog this week had a good look at the marketability of some athletes like LeBron James and Shawn Johnson, and why they can be successful as brands while other’s can’t, but another great example of a successful spokesperson was put forward this week by the folks at Taylor for their client GlaxoSmithKline and their “50 Over 50″ challenge promoting prostate cancer awareness. The group selected the still youthful and always outspoken John McEnroe as spokesperson, a great choice who can not only deliver messages, but someone who continues to have an amazing presence across generations, enabling the program to not just speak to those over 50, but to the younger males (and females) who can encourage those in the demo to make sure that prostate health is a priority. McEnroe’s ability to make light of, and deliver the messages of an awkard subject makes the program very impactful, and the surrounding media coverage, digital components and viral video delivered around a time of the year when the over 50 demo is tuning into major events like baseball opening day (MLB also has prostate awareness high on its list with Ed Randall’s Bat For The Cure a great charity), The Masters and of course The Final Four, really gives the program and the spend associated with it the broadest exposure possible. Many times “star value” for a spokesperson outweighs the value of finding the right person to deliver credible messaging, but in this case the two go hand in hand and will get the brand bigger, and perhaps more long-lasting, exposure than they had thought possible. Well picked, well orchestrated, well placed.

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time…Leafs Freebies Help In Grassroots But Hurt In Media Perception

September 23, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The Toronto Maple Leafs remain one of the crown jewels in North American sports.  Even without a recent Stanley Cup, the franchise, with the Hockey Hall of Fame situated in the same area, in one of the most cosmopolitan cities on earth, still draws a loyal following and with that loyal following comes a premium ticket price.  So the Leafs brand tried a very unique and ricky give-back to its fans on a very large scale.  In exchange for online registration the team gave away all of its tickets to fans who normally could not attend a game, effectively filling the arena with grassroots fans for no cost against the rival Buffalo Sabres.  The problem as with anything free is that redemption value is perceived as low because of the lack of hard dollar spent against the ticket by the consumer.  Now with most freebie ticket giveaways, the team will give out more than capacity with the anticipation of no-shows.  Open practices in the NBA for example, will always over comp to get a building filled.  So when only 14,000 showed last night, the initial media outpouring which leads to public perception is disappointment.  So a good deed, the ability to have fans see the team for free got a very mixed message.  Now did the Leafs make money on concessions and merchandise and possibly pull in fans who will come back to buy and watch games on TV?  Absolutely.  Did they capture 18,000 plus email addresses for future use?  Yes.  Were those facts communicated clearly to the media by team executives?  Probably not.  Therefore the ability to properly message and take the sting out of the 14,000 was immediately lost, and much of the good was spent in spinning today.  Interesting idea with great intentions but a mixed message can be a killer.