A year ago the UFC continued to build its brand pretty much as it had before…by appealing to traditional MMA and fight fans with a smattering of the mainstream...a good part of the mainstream pitches were left to two principal competitors at the time, the IFL and ProElite, which forged mainstream TV deals and some pretty strong branding ties. Now that those two brands have faded into bankruptcy and with no traditional strong contender in site in the MMA world, the UFC is growing its marketshare even more, and the latest examples ar. a deal with Topps for trading cards and a mall/book tour with athletes pushing new UFC product. Although for mainstream sports, both deals are pretty much old hat, for the UFC they are strong statements to show that the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, although still limited in mainstream audience, is gathering up key followers at a time when most sports are slacking off. Now there will always be a stigma with the sport, but from a branding standpoint the UFC has taken what little market they didn’t have and has now grown their share…a smart move in a down economy and one that shows that they are more savvy than sometimes media and competitors give them credit for.
Some other good reads…with the AFL now on hiatus for 2009, a look back to the final announcements the last few days again show how the league tried its best to get all to pull in one direction and look forward as best possible, and they were able to achieve that with a few exceptions… si.com's Tom Verducci has a good look at where baseball is one year after the Mitchell Report…the China Daily has a good look at how the NBA's pitch there can help in a down economy…
