Archive for the ‘Communication’ Category

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The Fame Game

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

Most people fall into the fame game unexpectedly. Often they have a special talent that puts them in the spotlight whether it be in sports, TV, music or film.

I don’t know many people who actively pursue a career for fame alone. If they did then they would never make it. Fame is often a by-product of success or in some cases a necessity to achieve success.

Having worked with my fair share of ‘famous’ people I can tell you that most are incredibly uncomfortable with the fame game. Sure, they enjoy some of the perks but after experiencing the dizzy heights of fame, most would take the money and leave out the fame if given the choice.

The biggest downside to the fame game is that there is no off and on button. You can’t switch it off on a bad day. When times are good and the press positive, famous people will happily stand in the spotlight and do star jumps. But come tough times and negative press, the same people want to turn the light off and curl into a ball.

This inability to turn the light off still troubles the most experienced famous people, you only have to look at the Greg Norman / Chris Evert story. Greg has never had a problem using his fame to build a successful business empire and was more than happy to tell the world about his new relationship (picture Greg under a spotlight doing star jumps) but then it broke down. Suddenly a relationship that was everyone’s business, is now no ones business according to Greg. The game doesn’t work that way.

The point I’m trying to make is this. Whether you’re already famous or you’re chasing a career with the potential to be famous, you gotta realise that the light stays on through the good, bad and the downright ugly. If you can accept this as reality and you are comfortable to wear the consequences in the tough times then go ahead and turn that light on.

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Posted in Communication, Media, Personal Development, Strategy, golf | No Comments »

Don’t Believe the Hype

Friday, September 18th, 2009

“I will not rest until I have you holding a Coke, wearing your own shoe, playing a Sega game ‘featuring you’, while singing your own song in a new commercial, ‘starring you’, broadcast during the Superbowl, in a game that you are winning, and I will not ‘sleep’ until that happens.”

Warning for athletes: Be wary of managers who promise you the world.

You know I’m talking about, pie in the sky stuff. Watch out for the words ‘million dollars’, ‘own line of products’, ‘international success’ etc etc.

The dog eat dog world of sports management thrives on managers who over promise and under deliver. Managers do this to get the signature, plain and simple. And athletes fall for it every time.

Sit an athlete down in front of six managers and 9/10 will choose the forex-trader-with-dollar-eyes1manager who blows the most smoke up their butt. That manager knows they won’t achieve anywhere near what they promise but they know a signature means some income for themselves and this is usually enough to justify them lying their asses off.

It’s not uncommon for athletes to change managers, it happens a lot. What usually drives an athlete to make the switch is a myriad of riches in the form of false promises. When those riches don’t transpire, they move and so it goes.

Athletes, look for a manager with so much confidence and self belief that they don’t need to exaggerate your earning capacity. Measure them by their track record with similar athletes of your standing (sport, gender, personality, results etc). Don’t focus on what they say about results, instead listen to the processes of how they are going to get those results. Don’t believe the hype.

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

How Not To Apologise

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Tennis star Serena Williams certainly learned a string of valuable lessons in serena_300x20055958the wake of her outburst at the 2009 US Open.

One such lesson (we hope she learnt) is that taking full responsibility for your actions and apologising is the only road to redemption.

I’ve blogged about this exact topic before.

The fact Williams and her PR agency released a statement the day after the incident with no apology is mind boggling. The backlash was so severe, that Williams was forced to release a second statement a day later, this time apologising.

When I saw the first statement, I thought William’s PR agency might be protecting her from legal action. Admitting guilt in a press release is dangerous territory in the sue me sue you world of the USA. However, if legal protection was the first priority then the statement would have read so much differently. So I know that wasn’t the case.

So the question then, is why didn’t the original statement include an apology? Did the PR agency think the issue would wash over? Did they believe Williams strong supporter base would overpower the negative criticism? Or was Williams just too stubborn to approve quotes apologising for her actions?

If Williams’ stubborn behaviour was to blame, then her PR agency should be harpooned for not having the backbone to override their star athlete. See my blog about The Yes Men.

We have seen the world over that a beloved athlete can commit blue murder but get away with it if handled correctly. To do this, the athlete must understand the process. And that is to take responsibility for their actions, genuinely apologise and demonstrate they are making themselves a better person from the experience.

There are no short cuts and no easy options but to face the mess you have created and clean it up. The media and public don’t care what you did, they care how you react, how you respond and how you’re going to fix it. Show them that and they are quick to move on.

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Posted in Client Relationship, Communication, Media, Strategy, Tennis | No Comments »

Smart Questions

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

How does a company decide whether they should be involved in social networking? Well, before you set up a Twitter or Facebook account, you need to consider a couple of things. cartoon

First you need to decide what your objective is? The objective must do one of two things. Increase revenue or decrease costs.

Next you need to decide what your role is.

Are you there just to listen and monitor what people are saying about your product or services?

Are you there to make a sale?

Are you there to promote your brand and market your message?

Are you there to provide customer support and feedback?

Or are you there to partner with other business (B2B)?

It can be a combination of these things but best to concentrate on one or two and do them extremely well.

Answering these questions will help you decide:

A) who you want to interact with (target market)
B) which social networking platform is best for you
C) and which is the best strategy to achieve your objective(s)

With today’s technology, you have a great opportunity to listen and interact with your customers, build loyalty and/or find new customers. You just need to discover the HOW part. The best way to do that is to ask yourself smart questions.

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Posted in Communication, Media, Social Networking, Strategy | 1 Comment »

Be The Eye Of The Storm

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

There are many qualities to leadership. But I want to talk about one crucial aspect and that is staying calm during a crisis.

The ability to keep your composure in a stressful situation is the benchmark for which others perceive you as a leader.

Read that line again.

Next time all hell breaks loose and everyone is running around frantically, try slowing your body movements down, breath deep and speak slowly. Changing up your body language like this will help you think logically rather than emotionally.

Doing this is a lot harder than you think. But doit well and you’ll notice something. People will naturally gravitate toward you for guidance. In their eyes you’ll be superior to those around you. Don’t believe me? Try it someday.

I’ve long admired NRL coach Wayne Bennett of having this trait. I’m sure there are times when he needs to apply the blowtorch, but watch him closely and you’ll notice he oozes a relaxed and calm presence amongst his players. Do you think this rubs off on his troops – you betcha!

It works the same for athlete managers. Most athletes get nervous before a sponsor appearance, photo shoot or press conference, let alone a crisis. It’s only natural. So it would make sense that they need someone around them who is composed and in control. That’s leadership.

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Posted in Client Relationship, Communication, Media, Personal Development, Sponsorship, Strategy | 2 Comments »

DAY IN THE LIFE

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Working in sports management, people often ask me – “What is a typical day for you”?

Well, no one day is the same. It really depends on the time of year, what events the athletes are competing in, what’s making news, what sponsors have planned, or maybe there is something that needs urgent attention and takes up all my energy for a week at a time.

So with that in mind, I’ll try and give you a broad summary without going into specifics.

I usually begin the day by watching and reading the news. I scan TV, newspapers and online. I’m focusing on a mixture of sports and business news. The athletes under management cover a wide range of sports so I need to be across a lot of information. I find this also helps me to establish rapport in meetings I have that day.

Using the big rocks principle, I always write down the major things I want to accomplish that day. The things that will yield the biggest results. If I get those done then everything else falls into place. I try and use the mornings to reply to emails and phone calls and leave the afternoons for other projects I’m working on. In saying that, I’m on call day and night and need to respond quickly to clients and the media who work on deadline.

Some days I’m out of the office with clients for sponsorship and media obligations. I’m there to facilitate the appearance, make the sure the athlete is comfortable and enforce their sponsor commitments (branding, key messaging). I’m also there to network. Develop relationships with everyone including TV producers, sponsorship managers, journalists, photographers you name it. Some interstate travel is involved which makes for long days.

The evenings are sometimes scattered with invites to parties, product launches, dinner invitations and other events that involve the athletes or their sponsors. Again, networking is a big part of the job.

That’s a good example of what I do…….but then next week might be totally different. In fact, next week I’m away consulting for a major sports event and then conducting some media with a client for a few days. I might find it hard to blog during this period so don’t be disappointed, I’ll be back. You can keep up to date on twitter twitter.com/SportDownUnder

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

Sitting On The Sidelines

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

d4788972951affe38515d027ed9f4f872In this month’s GQ Magazine, AFL footballer Ben Cousins talks about his time away from football and how that ‘time away’ only exaggerated his personal problems.

It’s not hard to understand why. Sportspeople live a regimented life. It’s not all glamour. Most of their time is extremely structured. Train, eat, sleep and repeat.

Take that structure away and the athlete feels like their life has been turned upside down. This can lead to emotional breakdown and other issues. Before you tell me athletes are overpaid and live a privileged life and should “harden the f#*ck up” let me put it this way. Anyone who ‘lives to work’ instead of ‘works to live’ can relate to this feeling.

Let’s say you work Mon-Fri. You love your job. You do valuable work. You enjoy the people you work with. And you like the structure that work brings to your life. But what happens when the weekend rolls around and you’re not doing valuable work, and you’re not around your work mates and the structure you enjoy is put on hold? Do you feel kinda lost? Well imagine having that feeling for weeks or even months, and you begin to understand what its like for an athlete suffering a season ending injury or suspension.

The lesson here for athlete managers is to be on guard when your athlete suffers a lay-off. Make sure they have other pursuits or areas of interest to work on. In a football club, this might be working with the coach more closely or working in the head office. Anything that gives the athlete a challenge or something to work towards is great. In Ben Cousins case, it was the challenge of completing a marathon that filled the void of not playing footy.

Better yet, every athlete should have life balance waaaay before they suffer a stint on the sidelines.

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Posted in AFL, Client Relationship, Communication, Personal Development, Strategy | No Comments »

Robots with Personalities

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Boxing, more so than other sports, relies on the personality of its athletes. It’s the lifeblood of the fight game. Ask any promoter.

Two guys beating each other in the ring is entertaining, but if they both have great personalities, it’s so much more interesting.

I think the same principle can be applied to other sports. And I think it’s important we preserve that trait. Let’s not forget, sport is entertainment.

I remember watching, jeering and cheering the likes of John McEnroe, Jimmy Conners, Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic. Not only were they very talented tennis players but they had personalities that brought fans through the turnstiles. Cricket had (among others) Ian Botham, Viv Richards, Doug Walters and more recently Shane Warne. Rugby League prides itself on the characters in its game and promotes them to the tilt (a big reason why rugby league enjoys free to air coverage over Super 14 rugby).

In this day and age of professionalism it’s common for sporting academies, clubs and athlete managers to suck the personality right out of an athlete. With strict behaviour guidelines, the pressure of being a role model and big sponsors to protect, it’s easy to produce robots.

But what people don’t understand is robots can be personalities too. You don’t have to break the rules, swear and be disrespectful to have a personality that attracts fanfare.

NRL player Wendell Sailor is a good example of what I’m talking about. He is a great role model but he is also a big personality. Just shows it’s possible to be both. That’s what sponsors want to see more of, robots with personalities.

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Posted in Client Relationship, Communication, Cricket, Media, Rugby League, Sponsorship, Strategy, Tennis | No Comments »

Social Media Rights & Benefits

Friday, August 7th, 2009

I recently talked about moving with the times and the importance of keeping up to speed with technology. It’s a super fast crazy world we live in and only those that embrace change will succeed, the rest will get left behind.

So what does this have to do with sponsorship and managing athletes?

Well, when a sponsor signs an athlete, they sign for a list of rights and benefits. X number of appearances, X number of photo shoots, X number of TVC’s, sign X number of memorabilia etc. For years these rights and benefits have pretty much stayed the same.

However the landscape is changing and it’s been happening for the past five years. I’m talking about social media rights and benefits.

If your sponsorship proposal does not include anything about social media rights and benefits then fuggetaboutit.

Social media is influencing the way in which brands communicate with their customers. This communication to customers is the reason why brands sponsor an athlete in the first place.

TV commercials, print ads and billboards still play a huge role, particularly on a mass level, but a lot of that stuff is now being complemented with social media and in some cases, dominated by social media.

The point I’m making is that brands and their ad and PR agencies are dialled in on social media and how it fits into a marketing plan. However, sports managers are much slower on the uptake. And this hurts their ability to sell a client.

Imagine a brand that is engaged in social media receiving a sponsorship proposal that includes no mention of online rights and benefits and leveraging ideas!

Athlete manager’s that ‘move with times’ are always going to be step ahead.

If you’re not up to speed, ask someone who is.

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Posted in Communication, Media, Social Networking, Sponsorship, Strategy, advertising | No Comments »

Advice For Athletes

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

“There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese.”
Coach Finstock, Teen Wolf Movie 1985.

Coaches love to give advice. It’s what they’re paid to do. Sometimes its great advice. Other times its poor advice.

In my experience, the best coaches are the ones that concentrate on giving advice that is related to their athlete’s performance. This also includes life advice that brings out the best in the athlete.

Where some coaches cross the line is business, marketing or sponsorship advice. This is not their area of expertise.

I’m going to put family and partners in the same basket.

It’s ok for athletes to use these people as a sounding board but they shouldn’t dictate or influence commercial decisions.

It’s easy to criticise a sports manager when you have no experience in the field of sponsorship, are not out there selling, do not understand corporate budgets, marketing plans or advertising and PR strategies.

Put it this way. I don’t tell athletes how to kick a ball, throw a pass or swim fast. That’s not my area of expertise. So why on earth would an athlete listen to a coach or family member about sports marketing and sponsorship?

Athletes, trust your family and coach for performance and life advice. But when it comes to business, trust your manager.

Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese.

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Posted in Client Relationship, Communication, Media, Personal Development, Sponsorship, Strategy, advertising | No Comments »

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