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Archive for June, 2009

Charity Case

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Athletes are magnets for charity requests.

It’s not hard to understand why. They’re high profile individuals with big incomes. On top of that, their fame is the gateway to a golden rainbow of fundraising opportunities.

In a perfect world, athletes would fulfil every charity request they receive. But unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world….

The best charity strategy is to align your athlete with one specific organisation or cause. This enables the athlete to really get involved in something they are passionate about and it gives managers a fair and valid reason to turn down other requests.

Athletes should choose a charity they emphasise with. It should allow them plenty of opportunity to really give, but not be a burden on their schedule and other commitments.

Also consider changing charities every 2-3 years. A lot of charities don’t have the people and budget to effectively leverage an ambassador long term. If the relationship lacks creativity and becomes stale then look to a new campaign.

This one charity strategy beats a shot gun approach to the multiple requests you receive on a weekly basis. Athletes really appreciate this streamlined strategy.

cgon164l

Posted in Charity, Strategy | No Comments »

Car Ambassadors

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Car advertising is huge.

Pick up any magazine and you’ll notice full page print ads. Watch TV and you’ll see big budget commercials.

But how much of this advertising features celebrity ambassadors? If “I can’t think of any” is your response than you’re spot on.

There’s a reason why car brands don’t use celebrities in above the line advertising. Market research has shown that celebrity car ambassadors don’t resonate with consumers.

I’m not saying that ambassadors can’t add value by the way of consumer promotions, PR and other below the line activities. I’m saying when it comes to the sales pitch, Joe Blow couldn’t give a stuff about the famous face that drives the car.

Car consumers are savvy and their buying behaviour is extremely rational. They look for speed, comfort, control, size, safety, luxury, affordability etc. When a car brand is paying thousands of dollars for a TV spot, they don’t want to clutter these key messages with a celebrity – this is a distraction for the consumer.

(Seeing a well paid athlete with a free car, doesn’t exactly fill consumers with warm and fuzzy feelings either).

The fact is, car ambassadors are best used for strengthening relationships with trade partners, creating consumer brand experiences, increasing brand awareness, demonstrating corporate social responsibility, engaging staff and creating PR opportunities.

Managers should concentrate on these things when pitching for a car deal. Oh and make sure the car sponsorship makes sense!

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Tags: advertising, car, celebrity
Posted in Sponsorship, Strategy, advertising | No Comments »

Smile

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

What do Roger Federer and Tiger Woods have in common?

They both know the value of a smile.

Think of the most marketable sports stars today and picture them in your mind. What are their face expressions? Are they smiling, frowning, angry, aggressive, bored, stressed?

I don’t have to tell you the value of a smile. It makes you approachable. It’s endearing. It’s universal. It’s the single most powerful and positive self expression in the world.

Yet so many athletes don’t smile enough.

Now, I’m not talking about smiling in the heat of battle. I’m talking about when you’re in front of the media, at a sponsor appearance or with fans etc.

Have you ever heard someone say this about a celebrity? “I really like that person, that seem nice / down to earth.”

Chances are that celebrity has a genuine smile and they know when and how to use it.

If it’s true that smiling is one of the easiest ways to make friends and influence people (people also includes sponsorship managers) then athletes, who have an audience of millions, should make a genuine smile part of their personality.

CA Championship Golf

Tags: Roger Federer, Tiger Woods
Posted in Communication, Media, Personal Development, Strategy, Tennis, golf | 1 Comment »

BOB THE BUILDER

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Managing a young athlete’s career from start to finish is a bit like building a house.

First thing you need is a blue print. An end vision of what you want to achieve with the athlete.

The sad thing is, most managers don’t have a blue print. They make things up as they go along.

The next you thing you need is a solid foundation that will protect the house from all kinds of weather.

I’m talking about good morals / personal values. Not always easy to teach but important if you want to build a great house.

The next stage is to build the house in steps. E.g. you don’t build the roof without first building the walls.

The ‘walls’ can be sporting results or growing the media profile of the athlete. This comes before the big endorsements.

Next thing you need to do is surround yourself with specialised handyman. A painter is not a tiler. A landscaper can’t do the plumbing.

You need to align your athlete with specialist people such as a sports lawyer, a financial planner etc. If I’m an athlete, I’d much rather have 3-4 specialists around me then one manager wearing multiple hats. This allows my manager to solely concentrate on one thing – bringing in the money.

Lastly, you need to communicate effectively with everyone to get the house built on time and within budget.

This is much easier if you have a blue print. Show the athlete this. Explain your strategy. Keep them updated at every step along the way.

At the end you will have a magnificent house that is worth a lot of money.

bobthebuilder

Posted in Client Relationship, Media, Sponsorship, Strategy | No Comments »

Honesty Is the Best Policy

Friday, June 19th, 2009

The Australian public is extremely tough on elite athletes. Call it the tall poppy syndrome, but we love to build someone up and then tear them down as soon as we see a chink in their armour.

Usually that ‘chink’ comes when an athlete misbehaves on or off the field.

How do you control public opinion? How do you minimise the damage to an athlete’s brand?

I’ve talked about crisis management before, but I want to emphasise one point. That is honesty and taking responsibility for your actions.

Forget the cover ups and forget trying to deflect the issue. I have a phrase I use “Put your hand up, admit you were wrong, and move on.”

Even if you have a good excuse, don’t use it. People hate excuses. This looks like you’re off loading the problem.

The Australian public is brutal, but tell them the truth and take responsibility, and they WILL learn to love you again.

Posted in Communication, Media, Strategy | 5 Comments »

Media Requests

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

The reason athlete managers decline media requests vary greatly but it often boils down to three categories:

A) The athlete’s schedule / availability / workload

B) The athlete’s current media strategy

C) Benefits or lack thereof for the athlete

Requests really need to tick A B C, but even then it’s no guarantee we can make it happen.

When we say no, journalists don’t take it well. And fair enough. They are trying to do a job and we make it difficult.

But athlete managers also have a job. We’re responsible for protecting an athlete’s brand, signing sponsors, servicing those sponsors and generally making life as smooth as possible, so the athlete can focus…….on their job!

We don’t do media for the sake of doing media. There is always a strategy behind it. If media can understand that strategy, they’ll have more luck with their requests.

When you think strategy, think benefits for the athlete. Eg. Cross promotion for personal sponsors, their own charity or a key message the athlete wants to publicise.

I know the media hate celebrities promoting their own interests. And I get it. But we have a job to do and if the media can help us, we’ll help them.

Posted in Communication, Media | No Comments »

Player Payment Systems for Elite Sport

Monday, June 15th, 2009

Sport & Sponsorship News have reported that Cricket Australia have just announced a new player payment system aimed at balancing the workload of players and at the same time encouraging players to participate in sponsor projects by paying them commercial rates.

Under the new scheme, players will be offered separate playing and marketing contracts. The playing contract will be based on their on-field performance, while the marketing contract will be based on their “marketability” as assessed annually by independent consultants.

Players will be grouped into different tiers and earn points each time they participate in commercial activities such as appearances, TVC’s etc.

At the end of each year, the players will be rewarded in line with their contribution to the ‘marketing contract’.

This is a smart strategy.

It offers players flexibility and it gives them a better understanding of their value to team sponsors and rewards those who put in the work.

It also encourages players to improve their marketability – a win win for everyone.

Nice work CA.

Posted in Cricket, Sponsorship | No Comments »

Servicing Sponsorship is 2-Way

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

1) Athlete manager pitches for sponsorship.

2) Sponsor signs a contract with exclusive benefits and rights.

3) Athlete manager sits back and waits for sponsor to leverage the relationship.

4) Sponsor lacks ideas and becomes frustrated with the availability / restrictions around the sponsorship.

5) The athlete manager continues a re-active communication style with the sponsor. No to this request. Yes to this.

6) The only time the athlete manager initiates contact with the sponsor is when the athlete needs product or a payment is due.

7) Contract expires. Sponsor walks away. Athlete is dumbfounded. “But I did everything they asked of me”?

The problem with the above scenario is the lack of communication between the athlete manager and the sponsor. Or more specifically the lack of initiative by the athlete manager.

Traditionally, it’s not the job of athlete managers to come up with leveraging ideas. But that’s not an excuse to sit on your hands.

Athlete managers should be calling sponsors and giving them updates on the athlete’s diary, availability and event scheduling. They should be telling them about current promotions with other sponsors. They should notify the sponsor of any public appearances or media the athlete is doing etc.

This type of communication engages the sponsor and leaves them no excuse not to activate the sponsorship.

It will also differentiate you from the other athlete managers that sponsor deals with.

You’ve given them plenty of opportunity to find ROI. And at the end of the contract, the sponsor has little excuse to walk away.

After all, we all know that it’s much cheaper to retain sponsor’s than find new ones.

Tags: athlete manager, Sponsorship
Posted in Client Relationship, Communication, Sponsorship, Strategy | No Comments »

Deadwood

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Before the global credit crunch, you had a lot of companies with multiple sponsorships and big budgets to leverage these sponsorships.

Budgets have since tightened and that means every single sponsorship has been heavily scrutinised.

A lot of sponsors have grouped their sponsorships into two distinct categories:

1) Weather the storm – these sponsorships have long term potential and are important to the overall brand strategy. Leveraging budgets have been scaled back but there is still plenty of activity happening around the sponsorship.

2) Deadwood – these sponsorships are not being leveraged. ‘Leverage’ money is instead going to the category above. The sponsor has decided to cut their losses and wait for the contract to expire.

Have a think about your current sponsors. Are they still leveraging the relationship with you (be it on a smaller scale), or are they surprisingly quiet?

If their too quiet, be worried

Tags: Sponsorship
Posted in Sponsorship, Strategy | No Comments »

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