Experiencing The Event vs. Experiencing The Brand…

In the spring of 2002, the New York Knicks held their annual Knicks Bowl event for charity. The team joined with celebrities, fans, and sponsors for what continues to be a great event, one that has been copied by dozens of treams and athletes and celebrities around the country since. However what was different about that night was the presence of a young man fresh off the powder of the Winter Olympics, where he nabbed several gold medals and had now come to New York to start telling his story. He hung out with fans, took pictures with the players and blended in with the crowd as other bolder names and models grabbed much of the paparazzi lens that night.

That inconspicuous young man was Shaun White, who recently was named number two, between Peyton Manning and Tiger Woods, on Bloomberg Businessweek's Top 100 Most Powerful Athletes in the United States. Seeing “The Flying Tomato” so high on the list, on the week leading up to the Super Bowl, presents an interesting mix that brands and media have to deal with today. In an era where fans and brands are looking for more ROI, more access, nore conenctions, is it better to play in the big arena of team sports, or try and carve a niche amongst the growing action sports field, or maybe somewhere in betwee.

There is no doubt that the four major team sports in North America, along with NASCAR, still draw the most consistent eyeballs, media attention and brand awareness. However sports that have been properly seeded and cultivated amongst a younger demo over the last ten years…MMA (especially the UFC brand), action sports, even MLS…have started to slice more into the pie and present interesting choices as to where to spend time and money. Had there not been a recession, brands probably would have experimented even more in those areas, but the cutbacks in big spending drove brands back to the “safe” bets of traditional sports over the last few years. However now with money moving back into brand building more, new foreign brands looking to access the American market, and accessibility a key to building brands and getting traffic in the consumer marketplace, the choice is rising again. For example in the past few weeks, if you are an emerging brand, would you gamble on the big shot of millions for an NFL activation and ad campaign, or would you take a shot at the recently completed Winter X Games, where you may find more young people willing to try and enjoy your produc.? Would you find a digital activation platform or an on-site opportunity around the NHL or NBA All-Star games, or try and find a way to tie in to snowboardin.? Can you get more bang out of Lindsay Vonn or Blake Griffin, and where on the priority list would you fall if you choose to work with an athlete in an established arena or would on the ris. Do you want the safe bet of traditional sports, where even on the worst day your are getting millions of impressions, or do you take a chance in going for a little more edgy campaign with an athlete or an event you can own and risk only an initial trial of several hundred thousand pop.

There has been this debate over what becomes more experiential in sports…being at an event and witnessing a one time moment in person, or actually being involved in the sport as a participant and then appreciating more what the best in class can do. The mega events are still king for in-person or viewing experience, but action and outdoor sports like hunting and fishing are getting a bit more of a hold in some of the key demos, both for men and women. Those sports you just don’t watch, you literally live the lifestyle, buy the clothes, use the equipment and participate with the brands in a way that even NASCAR, with all its brand affiliation success, can’t really duplicate. It is much more the experience of the sport on a daily basis, than just wanting to be associated with the brands who are around the major athletes and the events, and the choice on where to spend money is a tough one.

The one major advantage the biggest sports will always have is the large scale, one time event. No matter what action sports do, they can hardly pull off the millions of eyeballs and ticket dollars consistently like established team sports, and that probably won’t change. However what action sports do better than most is understand exactly what their current consumer wants, how and where to access them, and how to deliver that core audience. Whether that core is big enough to have 1,000 Shaun Whites or Chuck Lidells is the great debate and what is still to be seen. The market can only bear so much in terms of dollars and attention, so where those dollars go and who accesses them is still in question.

There is no doubt that action sports is in the mix for their drawing power amongst young people these days. The explosion of Shaun White since the Knicks Bowl is the biggest and best example but certainly in no way the only one. Whether thats where major brands put all their eggs going forward will be interesting to see, as marketers try to keep the status quo and effectively test new waters to hold onto consumers and access the next wave at the same time, all against the backdrop of instant action, access, results and gratification.