Thursday, October 9, 2008

Guerillas at the sports marketing gates

On October 1 The Vancouver Sun reported that VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games) will spend $40 million “buying up every major supply of major advertising space throughout” greater Vancouver, reflecting VANOC’s commitment to the IOC to “sew up all advertising locations for Games sponsors and prevent so-called “ambush marketing” by non-sponsors” during the 2010 Games.

Makes sense. Those official sponsors spent enormous amounts of money to be able to merchandise the Games to their full extent. Over the years, the stories of non-Officials, especially Nike, maneuvering to appear connected to the Olympics, are many and memorable, and it’s not unreasonable for the Officials to get massively pissed off.

But I say, hail the Guerillas.

In sports or in marketing, being on top of your game takes clever thinking and originality, and more than anything else, adaptability. If you can’t run the ball, go to the play action. If you can’t win with homers, go small ball. And if you lose the bidding war (or choose not to bid) to be an Olympic sponsor, find another way in.
Nike famously did just that in Atlanta in 1996, buying up spots on Olympic themed programming, as well blanketing outdoor advertising all over the city. Reebok paid the big bucks, but Nike got the credit. And plenty of press, to boot.

The other very memorable example of Olympic sponsorship and corporate skullduggery took place in 1992, when members of the Dream Team, including Michael Jordan, used American flags to cover up the Reebok logos on their warm-ups. There’s a lot to the story, of course, from millions of dollars in retail purchases at stake, to the fact that consent forms weren’t presented to the players until they were on the plane bound for the Games.

Did MJ and his Nike brothers use the stars and bars as pashminas because they felt loyal to their corporate parent, or because they were trying to protect their own financial interests? Probably some of both. They’re smart guys and very good businessmen, especially MJ.

There’s no easy answer. But these days, when money’s tight all over, if there’s a way to be smarter than the next guy, spend less money, and get more credit and exposure, I say, Go for it. Go guerilla.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Try as they may, the Cubs still haven’t made me an atheist

A friend told me that after the Cubs went down meekly in Game 2 of the NLDS, he peeked into the bedroom of his 11 year old son and his kid’s eyes were red from crying. I can only imagine how that child feels right now. After this season of promise. After so much expectation. After investing so much emotional capital.

This one really hurts.

That’s the thing about sports. People care so damn deeply. And that’s why it’s such an effective tool to use in marketing.

There’s politics and there’s religion, each of which engenders some pretty strong beliefs and adherence. But I’d bet you that other than folks who work day to day to get their guy elected, there are very few people who suffer through sleepless nights after their candidate loses. And that’s when the decision affect four years! We get another chance next year to try to win again. Then again, us Cubs fans have been saying that for…well, 100 years now.

And religion? Many would tell you that the Cubs/Celtics/Red Wings/Redskins/Arsenal IS their religion.

The emotions involved in sports are wonderful and magical and horrible. So when you can harness those emotions and leverage an insight into them, you can create something powerful.

If I were a marketer right now, I’d think about using Manny Ramirez. I know he has his shtick. But he’s on top of the world, for now.

The Cubs sure could have used him.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Major League baseball took away my sleep

But I was not alone.

Along with dozens of Major League Baseball executives, hundreds of network and cable tv programmers, and of course, millions of Cubs (and Red Sox) fans around the world, I barely slept last night.

I know, one night does not a post season make. But that’s the optimistic view. Maybe my brethren in Beantown, who saw their team make the most amazing comeback in playoff history, slept a little easier.

But when you’re a lifelong, diehard Cubs fan, last night felt like certain death. It makes winning on the road necessary, which the Cubs didn’t do all that well this season. It makes today’s outing from the twitchy, bothered, horribly unpredictable Carlos Zambrano the most important game of his career.

It makes for a very long Thursday.

And of course, there’s Bud Selig, being congratulated by hordes of Yankee-haters and Brewer-lovers about the newfound parity in the Big Leagues. Eight playoff teams, four from big markets, four from smaller markets (Hey New York: How many teams do you have in the playoffs? Love, Chicago and LA).

And while he trumpets the wonderful equalizing of the Major Leagues, Bud Selig is spending extra time in Synagogue praying that the Brewers, Phillies, and Rays get summarily dismissed faster than you can see plummeting ratings. Trust me, he has visions of the Cubs and some version of the Sox dancing in his head come October 22.

I foresee many more sleepless nights.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

What makes a good endorser?

Is it important for an athlete to use and believe in the product he or she endorses? Does that make the endorsement more authentic, and therefore, more convincing?

Years ago, I might’ve said yes, but every day the endorsement world becomes more of a Show Me The Money kind of culture, and a real connection between athlete and product matters less.

As true as that might be, athletes (and their agents) still try to put the right spin on it. When Michael Beasley signed with Adidas last week, Steve Reed, his business manager, said "Mike has agreed enthusiastically to endorse Adidas and wear the shoe as he has done his whole playing life."

Thing is, as reported by Darren Rovell in his SportsBiz blog, photographic evidence of Beasley shows him playing in Nikes more than any other shoe, including a pair of Jordan Aqua VIII's for games against Wisconsin and USC in last year’s NCAA tournament.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/26874362

So they’re saying the right thing, even though it may not be true, and they’ll get no flack for it. Because it’s understood that endorsers are paid to endorse. When we would talk to 13-24 year old athletes about this stuff, they automatically assumed that the sports stars they saw shaving with Schick or wearing a Tag Heuer were doing it because they were getting paid to do it. The trickier and more important question was around sports-related products like Gatorade, which can affect performance on the field.

Gatorade chose their endorsers very carefully. For ten years, the only celebrity endorser they had was Michael Jordan. And after that, they associated themselves with only the most elite, and more important, most championship-winning athletes. Jeter, Hamm, Manning.

For Beasley and Adidas, it’s a little different. It’s more about exposure than anything else. No skepticism there. Just wanting get in with the cool kids.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Mark Cuban is authentic

Before we talk more about insights and sports ads, let’s go back to the subject of authenticity in sports. Which brings me to Mark Cuban.

Sure, he’s way out there. And he’s crazy controversial. But he has enough money to not care what anyone thinks about him, and let’s hear it for someone who stands up for what he cares about, right or wrong, good or bad.

He has fire and passion and cares about doing sports right, and to me, that’s authentic. You probably don’t like AJ Pierzynski unless you’re a White Sox fan, and I can guarantee you don’t like Bill Laimbeer unless you’re a Pistons fan, but you can’t deny that they bring/brought something valuable to their teams. A no-BS, do what it takes attitude. Often annoying, and easy to hate. But always entertaining, and most important, a crucial spark to an inspired performance.

I’m not saying this from a sports marketer’s pov, more from a sports fan’s perspective from afar. I don’t know enough about Cuban to talk about him like an expert. What I’ve seen is this: he’s a rabid sports fan, he’s insanely competitive (and sometimes just insane), and he speaks his mind. Not a real good combination for corporate America, which probably explains why he’s ranting on sidelines and not pitching toothpaste.

You may know that Cuban was in the news again recently with the whole Josh Howard/National anthem incident:

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2008/09/16/josh-howard-isnt-about-celebrating-the-star-spangled-banner/

As he always does, Cuban steadfastly stood behind his player on his blog (“Try being in a position of always having to be “on” and checking for cameras, because if you let down your guard, any soundbite, even one as short as 11 seconds, can turn into headline news across the country, no matter what the context. “) But interestingly, he removed the posting on the subject, then added a new posting accompanied by hundreds of vitriolic emails he received during the controversy.

http://blogmaverick.com/2008/09/19/i-made-my-point/

Did he back down? Quite the contrary. He was making a point about free speech.

I’m not a fan of, or a hater of, Mark Cuban. The fact that he means well may mean nothing to you because you just may think he’s an ass. And that may be true. But sometimes his kind pops up in sports (Hello, Ty Cobb?). It doesn’t make him any less authentic. Perhaps it makes him even more authentic.

Does that mean he would be the right guy to buy my beloved Cubbies? That’s another story. He’d certainly give it his all. Would that be such a bad thing

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Great Sports Ads Come From Insights, Not Facts

Facts are not insights.

Facts are democratic; insights are autocratic. Facts are out there for anyone to possess; insights, when used right, belong to only one owner. And even more important, they can define a brand.

Great insights start with the simplest of truths and clearest of facts.

Creating an insight is taking a fact and making it relevant to the person to whom you’re speaking. Insights are facts made a whole lot more interesting.

Let’s illustrate this discussion using Michael Jordan, the greatest spokesperson any brand has ever had (except for Hanes. Not authentic. MJ with Kevin Bacon? Cuba Gooding? Who’s next, David Hasselhoff? We’ll talk about that another time).

Watching MJ perform was always awesome. Riveting. Made you want to stop whatever you were doing and watch. That’s a fact.

The insight that Nike derived from that fact was that when Michael drove the lane and put up a shot, since you never knew what ridiculously original and creative thing he would do on the way, the world pretty much came to a halt. From this insight, Nike created Frozen Moments, a beautiful dramatization of that thought.



A powerfully insightful ad and a compelling visual articulation of why MJ was so damn great. More on this topic to come.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

The best sports ads aren't necessarily on your TV (Part 1)

Think you’re seeing the best sports advertising in the world as you lay on the couch flipping between the Maryland-Cal and Michigan State-Florida Atlantic games? Uh…no.

Check these out. Nike/Europe ads done by Weiden and Kennedy in Amsterdam, aimed at university aged women.

http://www.paranoidus.com/projects.php?p=250

If you live in the advertising world, you know Weiden and Kennedy. If you’re a brain surgeon or some other useless profession, Weiden is the agency that’s done just about all of the Nike advertising for just about ever, from the ground breaking Heritage spot to Bo Knows to Mars Blackmon to Frozen Moments. They don’t nail it every time, but over time, they’ve done it best.

Empowerment is the theme here. Not an earth shattering positioning, but the way they bring it to life is very cool. Please refrain from ingesting hallucinogens before you watch. Otherwise, crank the volume.