YUM! Posts A Derby Branding Win Too…

May 7, 2013 by

Saturday night millions watched on NBC as Orb overcame a very muddy track to win the Run For the Roses for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaghey.   The horse came from deep in the pack over the final quarter mile for the legendary win, and set himself and his owners up for two weeks of hype before the second leg of the Triple Crown, The Preakness Stakes comes along.

The Kentucky Derby remains the horse racing industry’s shining moment for the casual fan, and the kickoff to what the National Thoroughbred Racing Association hopes is a landmark summer that could lead through the Belmont stakes, into a long summer at parks across the country, and then to the Breeder’s Cup in California. Lots of ups and downs, millions gambled legally, and another attempt to continue to revive a business which has seen better days but us fighting to rebound with a new legion of fans.

One of those ways is to leverage its biggest windows with brands that may not have activated in the space for very long, and we saw that on Saturday, when Louisville based YUM! Brands took the presenting sponsor and lots of exposure to Churchill Downs. Now the YUM! brands…KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and others, spend millions in brand activation against sports over the course of the year, and at first glance, the Derby may have been seen as another engagement point, albeit with a slightly different audience that may tune in for the NBA or NFL or college football.  However this was not really what the YUM! partnership for the Derby appeared to be about.

The signage in some places mentioned the company’s consumer brands, but the primary placement, including on each horse, was for YUM! itself. The commercial spots during the race were about the company and its global franchises, not chalupas or slices of pizza. It was a call to action for corporate, not consumer. Why?

First, the support of the Derby, like the money spent on other projects involving sport and consumers around Louisville, helps solidify the company as good public citizens. Big time sports come to Louisville, YUM! supports and helps grow the tradition. Second, the Derby audience is different than most other events one of the YUM! companies would support. It is a little older, a little more global, and one which the dollar figures spent on the activity in gambling, are right up front. Maybe this audience is one that looks more to business buys than a traditional sports audience. So tell then your story. There was no direct pitch to come buy a franchise, but the message time and again became pretty clear. Here is what we are, here is who we are, here are out global faces that run our business, we are growing and maybe…you want to find out more.

Chances are most tuning in knew Stella Artois at least a little, and know what Longines is. But YUM? Maybe not. So the parent company used the opportunity not to sell tacos, but to sell itself.  It was an interesting play in corporate identity rarely seen on a big stage.  Not overt but clearly targeted to raise awareness not as much for thick crust or wings, but for selling a franchise or two.  Will it pay off? Hard to tell as there was not a collection point of data, at least publicly, and there was no place to drive interest either in signage or in broadcast.  Regardless YUM! showed they are good corporate citizens for Louisville with a desire to grow even bigger than they are, and they found an interesting audience to try and tell their story to.

 

Filed Under: College Football, Gaming, Horse Racing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Brand NHL Bounces Back…Again

May 4, 2013 by

So the NHL rocketed into the playoffs this week, the third straight winter that a league leveraged a lockout to more excitement, social media buzz, and brand equity for fans of short memory. First it was the NFL, which lost offseason and preseason before settling, then the NBA ramped up at Christmas, and now hickey moved into 2013 before it got things in order. For those who have said that shorter seasons breed excitement without pushing fans too far, they once again may be right.

Now for better or worse the NHL had lots of data and experience, both empirical and anecdotal, to know what and how to get things rolling and how to communicate with fans. In lockouts past, silence was golden, and that led to a lot of hurt feelings and backlash against the sport that was in court and boardrooms instead of playing. This time out the NHL and the NHLPA, as soon as the LA Kings lifted last year’s Stanley Cup, were already prepping fans and brands for the rainy day which came.

As training camps did not open and the season was delayed, teams used all their social channels, as well as alumni and other assets to try and jeep fans as engaged as possible. Broadcasts of minor league games, free skating sessions in arena, and loads of community work trued to soften the blows, and there was always a flow of social media to discuss what was or wasn’t going on in negotiations. The NHL also had the unique situation of having gone through extended lockouts before, and even casual fans seem to have come to expect labor strife to enter into the daily doings of their favorite sports now. It is less shock, and probably more acceptance.

The league and teams also pulled no pinches with brand partners…they communicated effectively and clearly and made sure that “make goods” were to be in order once play did resume. Although the league’s hallmark event, the Winter Classic, was lost, as was the All-Star Game, fans expectations of a return to the ice probably wavered less than at any point during any other labor stoppage.

So what was the result when the game came back? Attendance rose, digital engagement improved, TV ratings held firm, the intensity of a short season took over, rivalries heated up *since there was no play out of conference), and the interest in Brand NHL held strong going into the playoffs.

The league also got a nice bump with a playoff return for some key markets, most notably Toronto after nine years out of the playoffs, and a stronger team in Montreal (facing rival Ottawa in round one), so that Canada’s national sport seemed to be returning with even bigger ad stringer interest than before. In the States, the New York islanders surprising push to the playoffs, bolstered by their impending move from Long island to the promotion-crazy Brooklyn and the record start of perhaps the most cohesive hockey business in the game, the Chicago Blackhawks, was also a very big plus in generating buzz and interest.  Drop in hickey towns like St, Louis, New York, and Boston, and even with a city like Philly on the outside looking in, many of the essentials for major market success seem to have found their way into an exciting NHL run.

Of course there is always a downside to any lockout and its unpredictable end. Brands that have done extensive planning with creative programs in past years were thwarted in their execution this season, and the lack of interdivisional play certainly hurt the national marketing of some of the game’s greatest stars as much as it helped enhance rivalries. The continued uncertainty of the Sochi Olympics still remains, but an unveiling of multiple outdoor games, including one to cross promote with the Super Bowl in New York, will ramp up some long term enhancements for brand NHL next fall.

In the end, fans and brands and broadcast partners want the content and the excitement of top level play.  The NHL pushed the envelope probably to the brink this time but in the end the game survived and seems to thrive again. End of the day, that’s what will bring the casual spend back. Fans may have short tempers these days, but in the case of work stoppages, they seem to have even sorter memories, and for the big business of North American sport, that is probably a good thing.

Filed Under: NHL, Olympics Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

MLS Casts A New York Net To Capture The Media…

February 12, 2013 by

It has been tried before, bringing the bringing the mountain to Muhammad idea, sports business version. NASCAR, LPGA, INDY CAR, USOC have all done it, finding a strategic time in the calendar to bring their elite athletes, the stories, their personalities to New York as a group, sometimes tied to a mega-sponsored promotion, to drum up casual interest, especially TV and brand awareness, in advance of a big event or the start of a season or even a season-ending championship race or event. Sometimes it works really well; sometimes it becomes a cash drain and a law of diminishing returns that goes away after a time. After all, most of the sports that take the caravan idea to New York do it because they never play or engage fans in the area…lack of courses, lack of tracks, lack of opportunities…so coming to New York as the one off event gives them, it is thought, ample face time to remind people they are viable media sources worthy of coverage. Another reason is the massive tours come and go with the medium we live in today…hyper local, highly digital engagement, where that “personal” touch can be offset in the minds of many by Skype, video streaming, and any other way to have a virtual tour or relationship with decision makers. Many groups also have massive pressure from promoters and media who need to access to hype their events locally and regionally as well, so the governing body needs to decide…worth bringing everyone to Gotham or is it better to do one off events where an almost immediate ROI can be felt in ticket sales and promotion for the next tour stop?

One thing is for sure, when decisions on budgets and time are being made on the business at hand today vs. the long term, taking the local road is safer than the less traveled national one which runs own Madison Avenue.

However now you have Major League Soccer, and the sport itself. There is little question that the sport from the grassroots to the highest levels of play, has taken hold with fans in the States. MLS has had its own steady growth as well, and with a World Cup now on the horizon should get an even bigger halo effect than it ever as before in terms of visibility and market viability. Still for all the growth of the sport, the greatest global names, even some of the most visible American stars, play elsewhere for most of the year, coming to the States for “friendlies” or for USA National matches. They are not here every day. That does not mean MLS does not have its share of vibrant personalities and good stories, they just sometimes get lost in the shuffle on the elite team sport mix in the States. That has changed in recent years, with more TV coverage, greater sponsor involvement and a stronger marketing push by clubs, but it still has a ways to go. Part of the answer for this year? Bring the guys here now.

This week MLS brought a trove of its talent from its teams, from young faces to veterans, to New York for two days of diverse media coverage, brand building and storytelling. They will engage with fans from New Jersey to Long Island, they will spend time playing video games and chatting up interested parties, some may cross paths in Fashion Week, however they can be, visibility to what they seek.  It will be the first of a series of loud statements MLS is going to make far and wide in the next few weeks, from player appearances to new jersey rollouts, to try and up the ante for a season less than a month away…a start which usually gets lost amongst the start of baseball,  March Madness, the climax of the NBA and NHL seasons and even the roar of Daytona. There is never an easy place to break through, but MLS sometimes has the hardest start because of the loud voices of others during March.

So why is this massive blitz of New York different or better than other leagues? Well better is hard to say, as it doesn’t have the roar of engines travelling around Times Square, or the frolicking of bulls or even beach volleyball players for people to stop and take notice of. It’s cold in New York this week, and even with the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue unveiling (maybe there will be an MLS face or two there as well!) getting any sports fan to stop and take notice will have its issues amidst the slush.

This is different for the reason that MLS plays in the area…just across the river in New Jersey at Red Bull Arena, as easy a place to reach by public transportation or to watch an event as there is in the area. Media won’t have to travel to far outposts on busy weekends to follow up on the players they meet during the tour…they just need to check the schedules an head over…the MLS schedule is also not the daunting game every night of say, baseball…there is some down time for follow-up interaction. While other sports come here for their tour because they don’t  play here, MLS has a distinct advantage, and it’s one that should bring the athletes back top of mind once the season starts.

Is it a game changer overnight? No way. It will take time still to keep growing the affinity with the players, the teams and the markets. It is a great and a smart next step for the league and for the sport, and is hopefully one which those around today will see value in, and those marketing the game as we move closer to another world stage in 2014 and beyond will get to see as a must have, even when the league grows beyond the audience of loyal followers and casual fans it has today.

 

Filed Under: ESPN, FIFA, MLS, NASCAR Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

An Alternative Pro Bowl Idea With A Great Impact…

January 27, 2013 by

Sunday night as Super Bowl week began the NFL brought everyone the Pro Bowl, which for any number of reasons seems to have become the least interesting and most controversial of any professional all-star event. Instead of championing the great players of the season past, the Pro Bowl continues to become more of an afterthought, even lodged into the week before the Super Bowl. Other than the obvious difference…all other All-Star games fit into a break in the regular season…the game has become one to avoid as many players look to heal, relax and avoid injury for the future.

Now the game has some great benefits for the NFL…it is a big sponsor perk for companies who invest heavily in the game throughout the year. It provides a nice financial bump for the state of Hawaii and for those fans who would never get a chance to see the NFL live…especially those in the military stationed in and around the Islands. The trip is a very nice reward for the players and their families not moving on to the Super Bowl, and in recent years the game has served as a mice way for the league to test some fun and innovative digital and sponsor initiatives in a real-time setting that usually can’t even happen during the preseason. The give and take for the game will probably go on for a while longer, as the league weighs the cost benefit of putting on the event, which will still draw OK ratings on NBC despite its perceived lack of interest…it still does have many, albeit not most, of the league’s biggest faces, many of whom are its rising stars.

So if the game is scrapped, is there something the NFL could do that would benefit a wide audience, maybe not millions on TV, that would showcase these stars in another setting? How about a league-wide day of service. Now this is not to say in any way the NFL and the NFLPA do not give back to their communities. They do, in the form of millions each year. But instead of playing the game, have each of those selected for the game…either in the city they play in or their home town, use the Sunday between the Championship Games and the Super Bowl to give back. It is somewhat along the lines of the Yankees Hope Week, but here, as a homage to the season, every top star takes one more day to work in the community of his choice. There is no risk of injury, it could combine teammates, and benefit the charities of their choice. The publicity received, as well as the opportunity to lift brand partners with a CR initiative, could not be beat in market and would make for a very interesting one day compilation of best practices to send off into the craziness of Super Bowl week. Heck, you could even send a contingent to Hawaii to work on a charity initiative if that is needed.

It certainly doesn’t have the flash and buzz of an All-Star Game, and yes it would be complicated and probably more work market by market than staging the game in Hawaii, but if the game is going away and the stars want to align, why not do it for the greater good that would put a nice cap on am amazing season for top stars of the NFL, not to mention a very nice give-back to the communities that have supported the team and its stars throughout the year and into the future.

Filed Under: College Football, NFL Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Can Brand NHL Score On The Rebound?

January 18, 2013 by

This weekend we get a welcome respite from the games off the field…more games ON the field, and more importantly to the business overall, games back on the ice. The NHL returns after its extended lockout to a breakneck pace highlighted by conference-only schedules, little player movement and the equity that survived in major markets following the Los Angeles Kings taking the Stanley Cup from the New Jersey Devils  last June.

So did the NHL benefit at all from the lockout? Well there is labor piece that came without losing a season. NBC, their major US broadcast partner, saw ratings drops with alternative programming that should give the league some props as to their value in the marketplace as a partner. Teams also spent the lockout doing the best they could engaging with fans through advanced alumni events, special skating parties, and providing more added value than ever before. The teams also got to spend even more time in refining a social strategy that will be implemented now in the shorter season, as well as making sure customer service, which remains an issue with some franchises in sport, is top notch.

The league will also benefit in the fact that most of the major American franchises…New York, Philly, Boston, LA, Chicago, Detroit…will have exciting and robust squads to hit the ground. The rebuilding seems to be in secondary markets, which will help add to the night in, night out excitement of the world’s fastest game. The league is also coming back with a schedule and at a time when hockey is really more top of mind than ever before. They will get a surprising bit of help from a quiet second weekend, the bye week before the Super Bowl, which again can provide a little more casual exposure for the sport to those looking to tune in for an event to replace football. Then in two weeks, the NFL goes and the stage is set for hockey and hoops for a clean six week stretch in the US and Canada before baseball comes into play. Just long enough to enjoy, not long enough to get bored.

Now was there lockout downside? Sure. No Bridgestone Winter Classic was a big blow, but one that can be revived in years to come. The loss of income to those whose business was around the games is something that can never be replaced either. However if the lockout did make the game more healthy, and put the sport in for a very exciting run to the playoffs, all negativity will be a memory before long. Each team has set up very strong promotional planes for the games return, and those matched with strong play from a global cast can mean that maybe, just maybe “Brand NHL” can recapture its momentum as fast as the game itself, and get right back to engaging without missing much of a beat.

 

Filed Under: NHL, Olympics Tagged With: , , ,

Can Brand NHL Recover And Will Anyone Care?

December 22, 2012 by

As we fast approach the holidays it’s amazing the difference…or rather…the indifference is in the sport and business world with brand NHL. At this time last year the sport was buzzing with hot franchises in key markets like New York, Philly, Boston, and Los Angeles. The league and its partners were gearing up for a landmark festival of hockey around the Winter Classic, and NBC was enjoying helping a rebirth of the sport. The NBA was not yet back from its own lockout, the hockey had the fall to itself in many markets. They may not have grabbed fans from hoops, but they had a nice opportunity to sample casual fans and grow some equity as a strong winter gave rise to a renewed and growing interest in the sport. The LA Kings and the New Jersey Devils, two clubs that had not just embraced but showed great innovation in the social and digital space, met in a Stanley Cup Final  that brought the Cup to Southern California and a new legion of celebrities who found the game fun and exciting.

And that was that.

The lockout, and the stalemate between the league and the NHLPA has brought not just silence to rinks but really indifference to the casual fan. They have moved on to other things to spend their casual dollar on, and the league and the PA are hopeful that the tribal nature of the game will bring their core fans back when the lockout ends. After all, even with games now canceled until at least mid-January and the Winter Classic and All-Star games, the two biggest draws for casual eyeballs, now evaporated, sponsors have not yet bolted for other sports for the most part, and those with a jones for the game have watched a smattering of KHL contests and college hockey on regional networks and NBC Sports Network to see there is a game still out there.

Now if the lockout is settled and the season is played, there is probably cause for hope. This lockout is somewhat different from the previous season-cancelling one, since it was much clearer that the game itself was at stake if the balance of dollars did not shift. The result was not just a better financial model at the time, it brought about fan-friendly innovation and a renewed interest in a sport which had slowly lost its way even from many of its core fans outside of Canada. The new NHL was faster, more fun and more embracing of change. It was worth the season lost to invoke that change. This time? The battle is among large sums of money to be split by owners and players. It is the bane of the casual fans existence…wealthy parties struggling to split up large pools of cash. It’s less about the fans, much more about the dollars.

This time there are also differences in the media landscape [e and in fan engagement that are going to give the NHL trouble when returning to the ice, even if it is this year. While the NBA or the other two large team sports in North Americas, the NFL and MLB, really wont syphon off casual fans, soccer is much stronger than it was the last time the lockout occurred. There is very much a commonality between casual fans of soccer, and even lacrosse (another growing sport) and those of hockey. MLS has probably pulled some dollars from NHL spending and now with the major European clubs as a fixture on broadcast TV, it will be harder for hockey to fight its way into their customary spot in the big four team sports.

On the sponsor side there have yet to be any mass defections from a game that really has built more brand loyalty the last few years than it ever had before. There is a wait and see, and even a cost savings for brands without the NHL to this point, but should the full season go, those brands are going to need to find ways to engage the young male demo that hockey has. They can’t wait to do so until next fall. So where do those dollars go? Soccer, maybe MMA, maybe lacrosse or maybe even back to baseball for a look-see. That is a place where the NHL runs a great risk. If those brands find success in other sports, maybe they won’t return to hockey, as it is the result they need, not the sport they crave.  The other big risk is in the economy itself. The financial world as we know it today is different from when the previous lockout occurred. Even the strongest of franchises of sport have had issues moving all tickets and growing their brands, so can NHL franchises with a year away find a path back to stability and relevance? It is new and unchartered waters even if some say that the brand came back stronger the last time. There is a bigger difference in the passage of time.

Now in Canada the story is probably different. Hockey is the national game, and when the clubs return to the ice the feeling is the dollars and the fans will follow, whenever it is. The same probably holds true with a smaller core group in the States. They love the ruggedness and the speed of the game, and the franchises have done a strong job in recent years to build loyalty. However loyalty is a two way street even for the strongest of brands, and with a full year off, even some of those core fans may have been able to find events to spend some of their discretionary dollar on when the sport they loved was pulled away. Come back, probably…but will it be less often or at full price?

Even at this stage there are many losers no matter what happens when the game returns. Scores of workers who needed events to balance their budgets have lost dollars that will never return. Businesses around arenas will never recoup the cash that flowed on game nights, and arenas left in flux have lost valuable dates where they could have booked other events. While TV has filled the void thus far, the make good on local advertising salespeople also hurts.

Who wins? Well if the game is more financially viable the theory is everyone does in the long run. A healthier game for those at the top financially means brand NHL rebounds. However a rebellious climate today may not make that work as easily as it has in the past. There have not been mass protests or talk of another league starting up to sate the needs of the hockey fan this time as there have been in the past or with other sports. It is much more quiet indifference, and that quiet indifference, coupled with frustration, can be a very bad message for those who will look to revive the dormant NHL.

In the end, a January settlement and a short and exciting season will be a salve for wounds reopened for brand NHL. If the season slips away, the silence of arenas, of departing brands and of casual fans will be deafening for a brand that was on the rise again and came to a screeching labor halt.

Here’s to finding a big Christmas gift for the sport, a labor solution as we enter 2013. The huge risk may not be worth the overall reward.

Filed Under: Crisis Management, MLS, NHL Tagged With: , , , , ,

Atlantis, Women’s Soccer and the Golden Ticket…

November 24, 2012 by

Atlantis The New Maui?  The fall has brought college basketball to foreign military bases, to campus streets and to some degree of success back to aircraft carriers. However one of the better branding and business opportunities is in a hotel ballroom in the Bahamas, where the Atlantis Hotel and Casino is trying to make their mega-hoops tournament the must-stop for every elite and rising college Division 1 program.

For years Hawaii has been the draw for programs, from Honolulu to Maui. The Great Alaska Shootout is also amazing always intriguing, but not the mega-draw it once was, and the south, from Puerto Rico and Cancun to Orlando, has been pulling off elite events with varying degrees of success over the years. Some like Maui (EA Sports) and Orlando (Old Spice) have also pulled in top notch brands to match their ESPN coverage of elite programs, but Atlantis and its aggressive scheduling may have something of a unique mix that could really make it work.

First, it’s not that far. Most of the US is less than three hours via air, making it not as taxing as flights to far away Pacific or southerner resorts like those in Mexico. That means packages can be created for reasonable dollars for alumni and booster groups who can make not just an initial but a return trip to the area after their first experience. Second it has the support of government and tourism. The Bahamas has long been a destination, but it is one that may not be as sexy for the 20 to 30 something crowd who are single and looking for a new kick. Bringing elite hoops events to the islands re-installs the value to a new group. Third, the proximity makes it very coach friendly. Want to have league meetings or a special event, the Bahamas are not that far away. Fourth, the weather is nice but not stifling. Teams in Hawaii and Mexico and even the Caribbean are there to play hoops for sure, but even with one off day there have been epic stories of sunburn and too much partying.  Atlantis is big but not too big, so keeping an eye on athletes and not having them wander off is an added plus. Fifth, the site wants sports. The ownership group is convinced that bringing hoops may lead to football and soccer which can bring even more tourists in slow times.  The TV and good will offset the compromising of ballroom and even the lack of huge revenue because of small seating capacity. Therefore bringing the best of the best year in and year out makes great sense.

Will it work? There are still sponsors to be sold, more alumni groups to be cultivated and a window with as big a broadcaster as possible to be cleared. The event also has to continue to bring its footprint to campuses and major media centers to convey its value. There is also a still struggling economy to deal with, even for an elite resort. But because of its aggressive stance and its proximity to the mainland, the Battle for Atlantis has a real chance at being not one of but the must go venue for college hoops going forward.

Women’s Soccer Tries Again: This week USA Soccer announced yet another attempt at a professional women’s league for 2013 as a way to grow the game and most importantly keep its stars playing in anticipation of the 2015 World Cup.  The clubs will be located in Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, New Jersey, Portland, Seattle, western New York and Washington some of the areas where both WPS and the WUSA have tried before.

This business model as federations, USA, Canada and Mexico, bankrolling some front office and the salaries of many elite players, but the teams will be privately owned. USA Soccer will also help lining up a key sponsor or two and will put in place a TV deal that makes viewing and financial sense. The teams will still be privately owned and will be responsible for their own P and L, including stadia and front office duties, as well as signing non-elite players.

Will it work? Hard to say. The involvement of USA Soccer to absorb cost makes sense, and playing on the right dates in key cities will also be worthwhile (could you play doubleheaders with MLS for example?) but is there an ultimate model that could turn a profit or is the goal to have a subsidized “league”  that helps keep elite players in shape and in country around World Cup, Olympics and other key times? Even the best marketed women’s teams like Sky Blue FC in New Jersey couldn’t crack the code with fans, sponsors and media to be viable in the New York region, so why should this work?

If it is the goal to have a subsidized league to develop elite players great. If it can provide jobs, ancillary sponsorship and creative promotions ala minor league baseball (but with Major League talent), terrific. If it serves as good content for TV and digital properties, even better.  However to do the league because “it’s needed” is a dangerous idea. Developing a healthy sport that is valuable at the grassroots is important. If that’s what the new league does, great.  Soccer with any gender is an amazing sport, especially at the highest level.  Maybe with this new financial structure women’s soccer on the pro level, can somehow be viable for a lifespan that will supersede its two previous tries, both of which started with great fanfare and very quickly flamed out in a sea of financial losses. ill will and damage to the game.

Goin For Gophers: ESPN.com’s Darren Rovell had a great piece Friday on the Golden Ticket that the University of Minnesota is offering fans, anew challenging look at drawing fans willing to take a well, gamble.

The Golden Ticket costs $75 and is preloaded with all nine Big Ten Conference men’s basketball games. The purchaser has to carefully pick his or her games though because if UM loses one of the games that the holder goes to, the package is void.  The program created by  AudienceView,  is really a smart way to expose a middle of the road team with a favorable sequence of games to a casual audience looking for some fun nights out. For bad schools, it wouldn’t work and elite schools wouldn’t need it because they would go short on revenue as they run their schedule. So the program will have a limited life, one that the U of M coaching staff hopes goes away very quickly.

However for an innovative attention drawer designed to generate some buzz and pull in some casual fans, especially if they are all sitting together, the Golden Ticket, as Rovell pointed out, is worth the effort Minnesota is putting into it. It would be interesting for some professional sports with large swaths of distressed inventory to try as well. Could you play this out on a certain level for MLB or the NBA or the NHL when they come back? It could be a challenge but certainly could make some sense if fans were willing to pick their dates and make a little gamble. It would also have more year to year shelf life than NCAA sports as well.

Hopefully for the Minnesota program for this year, they lose less, bring fans back more, and turn those fans into full season ticketholders for years to come. That would be the ultimate goal for the school, and for Audience View it becomes a litmus test that other schools and teams see value in for years to come.

Filed Under: College Basketball, Darren Rovell, ESPN, FIFA, Minor League Baseball, MLS, NCAA, Olympics, WNBA Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Value In Frozen Lolo? There Sure Is.

November 8, 2012 by

Whether you were with her or against her this summer, Lolo Jones success and then failure made her one of the memorable faces of the London Games. Sponsors certainly adored her style, while her wide-ranging coverage and her polarizing comments, not to mention the backlash from teammates who though she was getting too much coverage for actions in front of the camera vs. on the track, kept her in the headlines.

Like her or not, there was never a doubt that Jones had star appeal, was an outstanding athletes and had a backstory that made her stand out in a crowd.

Now she goes to try her hand at a much colder Olympic sport, the bobsled. She spent three weeks at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center enduring all the testing and was selected along with  another Olympian, 4×100-meter relay gold medalist Tianna Madison, to the U.S. World Cup team as pushers. Where it goes from here and would she make it to the U.S. team for Sochi remains to be seen.

Other male track stars..Willie Gault, Hershel Walker, Renaldo Nehemiah, Edwin Moses…all took to the bobsled to various levels of success (three also spent quality time in the NFL) but only Walker actually advanced to an Olympics.

If Jones continues on it will do wonders for Women’s Bobsled, which is not an A list winter sport for NBC or the American audience.

Why does it make sense for Lolo? First, it puts her in a position to yet again how the world she is a dynamic athlete, not just an intriguing pretty face. Second it keeps her very relevant in the brand marketplace for a cycle heading towards another Olympics in two years, this one in the winter. Third, it is an amazing add-on to brands who have been on the Lolo team over the years, an unexpected boost at a time when they may be re-evaluating their time and work with her. Fourth, It gives her a leg up on sustaining her brand vs. many of the most elite track competitors who will not be front and center in the minds of Americans for the most part of the next three years.

Most importantly it puts her in a position to help a sport gain exposure…a sport which probably should and would welcome the help. Women’s Bobsled with Lolo Jones on board makes the sport a factor in popular culture and that exposure can spill over a bit to athletes on the team who had little shot at breaking through without the Lolo halo. It also helps the USOC in many ways, bringing more casual interest to the Winter Games, which usually lag behind the Summer Games in overall awareness. While there may be some negativity, extra buzz, especially for an Olympics that may lack NHL star power if the league decides to not let its players participate, is a good thing for the USOC, for the bobsled federation, for the sport and for NBC.

If Jones makes the team and gets to Sochi, critics would be hard-pressed to challenge her credibility as an athlete. Few ever make the cross over from summer to winter, especially in a sport which was learned on the fly and is quite dangerous.

Will the Lolo experiment work? We shall see the next step this weekend, but if it does, the marketing machine for a slightly far off Winter Olympics will be starting to dial up just as the first snows of 2012 start to fall.

Filed Under: Olympics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

What Pocono Means To Indy Car And Indy Car Can Mean To Pocono

October 7, 2012 by

While most of the causal sports world focused on the MLB playoffs, college football, the NFL and the return of referees and the opening of NBA training camps, IZOD IndyCar made an announcement that could be a real boon to the circuit in the coming years as it continues to try and find its rightful place…the return to racing at Pocono Raceway after a 23 year absence.

Why is that a big deal for the circuit? Few reasons. The track has been a NASCAR hub with two races for several years, making it the place where ANY racing fan from the metropolitan areas of New York and Philadelphia could come to watch their favorite sport. The hills of Pennsylvania have been a long-established hub for open wheel racing in the United States (Andretti anyone?) with not one but two tracks (Nazareth is now long gone) when the sport was in its heyday. With Formula One in New Jersey now apparently revived for 2013, open wheel racing could take hold for fans with a one-two punch in the area.

More specifically for Indy Car, the circuit seems to have plateaued again this year. The loss of Danica Patrick from a marketing angle slowed casual interest in the circuit, and the move to Pocono, along with the relaunch of a “Triple Crown” challenge, which will award $1 million to a driver that wins the Indianapolis 500, the 400-miler at Pocono and the season finale at Fontana, Calif., gives the sport new tent poles from which to grow next year.  Returning to Pocono also gives Indy Car a leg to market directly to Madison Avenue as the trip to the race in July is more than manageable for those wanting to experience the power of the sport. Yes it is true that drivers will always make the trek into New York to do promotions, but what racing has missed is the opportunity to have an event close enough to get marketers out to feel the race as it happens. NASCAR and Pocono have still never properly marketed the two races that exist directly to New York, but IndyCar will now have that opportunity should they choose to take it…a consistent, year round presence to remind fans that this is their race, both in the Apple and the City of Brotherly Love.

Now the success of the race won’t happen by just hanging out a shingle. The past success of open wheel racing in the Poconos came because the sport spent dollars to market directly to New York. Promotions with local and regional brands need to be struck, a strong presence in the market needs to be had, the digital strategy needs to be in place. Casual fans know when to go see NASCAR at Pocono already, that does not mean they will just go back a third time for IndyCar, a sport which is racing of course but is of a different brand and style than NASCAR.

Will it be easy to succeed in year one? No. is it great to see the return for a sport with great power and personality. For sure. Start those marketing engines for the Apple and Philly, IZOD Indy Car.

Filed Under: Indy Car, NASCAR Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Could the UFL Have Sprung To Success?

September 29, 2012 by

They quietly started another season this past week with four teams…Sacramento, Virginia, Omaha and Las Vegas...limping along on financial fumes, albeit with some solid local following, good coaches and some potential great stories of their players. The United Football League is still trying, even if few realize or even care.  What happened and could it have worked?

The league started four years ago hoping that they could ride the coattails of a potential NFL lockout and building in some secondary markets to reach success. They brought in name coaches, looked to find ways to engage fans, tried to find brands who were passionate about football but couldn’t crack the NFL roster, and hoped a match would light. maybe the NFL would see some seeds of an idea and use the league to develop talent, maybe a franchise or two would catch fire and force some kind of merger. No dice. There is enough football in the fall, and the idea of throwing good money after bad for a start-up wasn’t appealing at all to the NFL. Arena League, WLAF…been there, done that. Thanks but no thanks.

So here the UFL sits, still trying to do something as a business. As of this weekend, their website is “under design” still, not a good thing for a league looking for an identity in a crowded marketplace. The franchises have found somewhat of a following, at least in Omaha and Sacramento, cities with no professional football to call their own. Las Vegas has the solid Jim Fassel at the helm and the lure of dollars in the gambling capital of the world, but not much more. So why continue?

Maybe one of the reasons is still the allure of the spring, where professional football in a football crazy society still has a void. It is where the UFL should have started, finding a way to be a litmus test for young talent, coaches and innovative ideas away from the NFL window. It was where the XFL had its shot at success, before the WWE turned it into a circus and ran it out of business. It is a time after the Super Bowl where quality competitive football could find a niche. Now there is talk of the USFL returning, but right now it appears to be lots of hype with an advisory council of elite former players and some passionate “founders” but not much else.  Talk of a 2013 season has come and pretty much gone, without dates, stadiums, coaches, players or most importantly…owners with deep pockets…having arisen. For sure there is plenty of TV time to be had amongst the cable networks now out there, and in theory there is enough talent to fill rosters with a smattering of bold face former college and NFL stars to be a draw as well. The NFL will probably watch from a distance and won’t support at first, but could become parties somewhere way down the line if a league in the spring found its way on its own to financial viability and innovation. testing concussion-free equipment, using technology to innovate, taking chances the NFL never could, would all be in the offing.

So could there be a reason why the UFL is still trolling, showing it can have some viable and semi-mature markets to be swept up in a spring move down the line? Maybe. Then again maybe it is just a last-go round before the coffers run dry, which would be a shame. The saying is that hope springs eternal, and maybe that’s where the UFL, or another property could end up…bringing spring football to viability on some outdoor professional level. The fall after all, is just too crowded.

Filed Under: CBS, College Football, NFL Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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