Loving The Comeback…Phelps, Watson, Armstrong…Even LeBron…

July 29, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

One thing the American sports public loves, especially in challenged times, is the art of the comeback. Even the biggest star, once shown with feet of clay, somehow moves up the popularity and sympathy list, when he or she starts the road back or finally gets toppled. Like the evil Mafia dons turned benevolent dictators, we seem to soften images, and often times brands are there to take advantage of the return to popularity as the once iconic become iconic again. Now does it “just happen?” No. Obviously the commitment from the athlete has to be there, and there has to be a solid marketing plan behind the brand reinvention, but with the commitment from both the athletic side and the business side, the re-image can sometimes be more popular than the original. Three cases in point from recent weeks. First Tom Watson. His unlikely run at the British Open, one where Tiger Woods again slumped, helped re-engage fans in the possibilities of what-if, even when he fell off the lead on the final day. Watson’s partners, which included Adams Golf, had a nice bump, and eventhough TV numbers were not record, his unlikely run gave the event some sustainability and probably re-energized his brand for a slightly older demo, as well as connecting him to many newer golfers for the first time. Second, Lance Armstrong. Eventhough there was the public falling out over the final days with teammate and eventual winner Alberto Contador over the timing of the team Radio Shack announcement , Armstrong again went through an amazing brand re-invention during his amazing Tour de France run. He twitters, embraced fans, softened a once hard image, avoided the pratfalls of the doping world and connected with the fickle French fans like never before, giving the sport and his brand going forward another huge boost. Third Michael Phelps. With his marijuana episode in the rear view mirror, the folks at Octagon have repositioned Phelps as the athlete America loves while most of us are jumping again into summer swimming pools. Even better for the future of swimming, Phelps actually lost a race this week, to German Paul Biedermann,a swimmer using a soon-to-be-banned swimsuit, which sets him up for even more watercooler talk going forward. Last is LeBron James...although with little damage really, James NBA playoff antics, and the mystery of the dunk film from this summer, showed some chinks in the LeBron armor, just small ones, which probably made him just that more interesting at this stage of his career to draw in even the small group of casual fans who may not have been that interested in all his positive work over the last few years. Now where can these brand re-inventions go in the future? A lot of it is up to the athlete, but with Phelps already looking ahead to 2012 and Armstrong back on the top of his racing game, the different demos that they speak to and the brands they engage should have some nice pop. For Watson, it may be more quiet endorsements and speaking around his golf, but all will be positive in the slightly older demo he speaks to, and for LeBron…how high can one go? After all, the elusive NBA title still awaits, after his upcoming Nike-sponsored world tour. We do love the comeback.

Tennis Continues To Have An Empty Cup…While WTT Scores Locally.

July 14, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Coming off of an epic Wimbledon for the second year in a row, it would seem that tennis, with all its global promotional arms, the power of the USTA and the other three Grand Slams, and some strong personalities would be poised to make a strong followup showing leading into the US Open Series. After all, this past week had the best team-based tennis event in the world…one that showed that the sport could be played not just as individuals or even as doubles partners, but in an event that fans could understand and experience and that each match would count for toward a season long finale, just like other sports. Yes that team format did deliver with some fun matches, a great digital play, a good experience on site for all and even some amazing press coverage. The only problem for the sport is the team format that got the exposure last week was Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss long-running World Team Tennis entry, as opposed to the often-maligned and much forgotten Davis Cup brand. Here’s a look at both in the week that was. Once again Davis Cup, arguably one of the best on site experiences in sport, got lost again in the scheduling shuffle. The week fell after Wimbledon and at the same time as the women’s US Open, the NASCAR Chicagoland Sprint Cup Series, the run-up to the baseball All-Star game, UFC 100 and even the World Series of Poker. Add in that top American Andy Roddick couldn’t play because of injury and the limitations on travel budgets for most mainstream media, and the Davis Cup as a brand was lost in the shuffle on almost all points. Making things worse is the continued confusing schedule and the lack of any major brand activation in the early rounds and one of the best events in all of sport virtually disappeared. Now juxtapose that with WTT, which grabbed some great coverage in USA Today and the Washington Post (their Washington franchise was home last weekend), tied in charity events with some name players, and found enough squeaky wheels (Murphy Jensen) to effectively use social media to also drive some interest. Given a brands’ ROI, those aligned with WTT easily got more short term and lower cost exposure than those associated with the higher profile Davis Cup event for the week. Can Davis Cup ever go through a brand restoration? Tough to do unless the oft-talked about format change happens. If not, one of the legendary team sports could continue to fall behind a slightly slicker and more efficient cousin run by a legend who know how to make the game fun for new generations.

Lance “Lives Strong” With A Great Social Media Test

July 2, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

We all know that Shaq is the king of twitter, and that Tiger usually breaks news on his web page, and that other athletes have been using various pieces of social media to communicate in lockerooms, to fans and to assist various brand and team partners in growing market size and creating more access to fans. However this week with the start of the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong, through his LIVE STRONG website, will use almost all aspects of social media, live updates, real time chats, twitter and other applications, to communicate with fans while integrating all of his sponsors into the program. Brandweek had a very detailed look at the plan Wednesday, which spelled out the sponsor strategy, and other details which will include the ability to track Armstrong’s progress live online. With a mega-event and a mega-star in Armstrong firmly embracing the social media platforms all at once and in real time while going through the race, the brand value of his site, as well as the access to fans, should go up exponentially. A great experiment for an elite athlete who has embraced the technology available to provide the latest info.

LeBron, State Farm Lead The Weight Loss Charge.

June 19, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

PR Move of the Day:  To hit on timing, use a star to address a big social problem and incorporate a prominent sponsor with a solid online activation program is not an easy thing to do, especially in an offseason.  However the Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James and State Farm achieved all of that, while riding a solid wave of NBA popularity, and going into the Olympic season, by launching “The 50 Million Pound Challenge” on Wednesday in Cleveland.  The program uses a marketable star in James (actually two when you add in VH 1’s Dr. Ian Smith) as the lead motivator for people, especially kids, to address obesity in a community that is known for weight issues and taps an  online platform to monitor and track the issue, with a key insurance provider as the  sponsor.  Even the timing (which would have been between games six and seven of the NBA Finals, but still ended up being a great placement riding Tuesday’s Celtics win) could not have been that much better, and with an Olympian in James leading the way the program is sure to be a hit.  Well planned, well delivered, with obvious tangible results and success stories to follow.