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The Dinger’s Second Chance

March 20th, 2013

As the 2012 motorsports season started, AJ Allmendinger was in an enviable position.  He was set to drive Roger Penske’s No. 22 Pennzoil car in NASCAR’s premier division, the Sprint Cup Series. Seventeen races later, Penske had no option other than to dismiss the driver for an apparent singulaAJ Allmendinger_0-1r lapse in judgment. After five years of driving clean, Allmendinger failed a random drug test that discovered amphetamines in his system. NASCAR subsequently suspended him.

Allmendinger completed NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program and was reinstated three months later. Sponsors still fled from the controversy though. Allmendinger’s record on the track didn’t help his case either. In the 17 races prior to his suspension, Allmendinger was ranked 23rd in the point standings. Sponsors might forgive a mistake made by an established winner, but they are less likely to attach their name to a tainted athlete who has yet to prove himself.

 Things are looking up for Allmendinger now though. He’s sharing a ride in the mostly sponsor-less No. 51 Phoenix Racing car in the Sprint Cup Series and has two top-15 finishes so far in 2013. Penske has also given Allmendinger a second chance in the INDYCAR series with a three-race deal, starting at Barber Motorsports Park on April 7.

 Equally important, Allmendinger is on the right path to fan and sponsor redemption. Working to prove his worth on the track, he has turned to social media to show his appreciation for a second chance and the support of fans and teammates.

Fans can forgive an indiscretion, especially if that athlete is humble and appreciative. Everybody loves a winner, but the general public loves a comeback story even more.

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Posted in Crisis PR, Elite Athletes, Social Media, Sponsorships and Endorsements, Sports Marketing

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Tourney Time: The Butler Brand

March 13th, 2013

Butler BulldogsIt’s the moooost won-der-ful tiiime of the year! March Madness. The time when NCAA basketball fans rally around their teams, whether it be their alma mater, the No. 1 seed or underdog.

But more importantly, it’s the time when colleges and universities have the unparalleled opportunity to market their schools and essentially recruit incoming students, athletes, professors, coaches and donors alike.

Admittedly, I’m a bit biased, but speaking of underdogs, my alma mater, Butler University is one of the best in the NCAA when it comes to pushing their brand alongside their team through the tournament.

So, what is the Butler Brand on and off the court?

Smart. Coaches and media agree – Brad Stevens is one of the smartest coaches in basketball. The athletes he recruits fit the mold, too, regularly earning spots on conference and national academic honor rolls. And, Butler’s general student and student-athlete populations pull their weight as bracket-busters, having displaced the big dogs in recent mock academic NCAA brackets.

Small. Unlike the historical NCAA powerhouses of UCLA, North Carolina and IU, whose enrollment numbers range between 27,000 and 40,000, Butler’s enrollment is less than 3,900 students. While it does make recruitment more challenging, its smallness also makes for a more intimate setting, putting a focus on building relationships and experiential learning.

Unconventional. Instead of pushing stories about their academics or administration, Butler lands numerous national headlines of Blue II and Trip, the bulldog mascots of the University. These guys have reached genuine celebrity status across the country, thanks in no small part to their blogs, Twitter and Facebook pages. University marketing campaigns don’t get much less conventional than a plan revolving around a couple of dogs.

Looking back on my days at Butler in context with my surroundings here at U/S Sports Advisors, I find familiar comforts in our size and the way we think. Being a “bracket buster” of sorts allows us to be more nimble, forces us to be more disciplined and encourages out-of-the-box thinking.

So when you tune in to watch Butler take on the opponent du jour, take notice of the Butler brand, from the coach to the mascot. The Butler brand has served them well thus far, and we’ve only just begun.

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Posted in Athletes, Behavior, Branding, Intellectual Property, Licensing, and Merchandising, Social Media, Sports Business, Sports Marketing, Uncategorized

Athlete Endorsements Still Viable?

March 3rd, 2013

Tiger Woods. Lance Armstrong. Oscar Pistorius. Every time a well-known athlete brand crashes to the earth in scandal the same headlines appear: “Athlete Endorsements No Longer Viable Marketing Tool.”

Is this true? Of course not. Use of personal brands to endorse products is a marketing tradition spanning more than 100 years. It has withstood the test of time because a strong personal brand influences the promotion of a product or service. “If you like me, you’ll like this product.”honuswagner2

Are athlete brands more subject to destruction than other brands? No more than other industries. After scanning one issue of Us Weekly, you’ll come to the same conclusion as any other reader. Hollywood brands are no less prone to the ups and downs of popularity than athletes.

How about corporate brands? Auto companies have recall issues. Packaged goods companies have production or product tainting crises. Food companies have E .coli and salmonella scares. Generally, the crisis management of the issue drives whether there is serious brand damage or not.

I cannot dispute there is risk in associating an athlete with a brand. Once a clear association is made between the athlete and a company’s product, the two brands are married for better or worse. However, there are ways to mitigate that risk.

1.  Do your homework. Research the athlete’s background beforehand. Determine if any past behavior may predict the future. Before creating the endorsement relationship, seek to know the athlete on a personal, direct level.

2.  Integrate the athlete into campaigns in phases. Start with quick campaigns having a short shelf life. Then work up to longer and more expensive marketing activations. This enables you to observe the athlete over time and understand whether trouble is on the horizon.

3.  Negotiate strong “morals clause” and claw-back language. Sometimes you can’t avoid trouble no matter how carefully you vet a brand ambassador. So, you’ll want to have an easy exit and/or the ability to reclaim bonus money.

No matter the fate of athletes like Armstrong and Pistorius, personal endorsements will continue to influence consumer behavior. If risk exists, mitigate it. Otherwise, marketers will leave a powerful tool off their work table.

 

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Posted in All-Star, Athletes, Behavior, Contract Negotiations, Crisis PR, Elite Athletes, linkedin, Sports Marketing, Uncategorized

Crowd-Sourcing: Effective Sports Marketing Approach or Lazy Marketing?

January 7th, 2013

Today’s announcement that Pizza Hut is relying on fan videos for its Super Bowl ad adds another player to the increasingly crowded category of “fan-sourced” marketing.  Fueled by the increasing accessibility of YouTube, Facebook, and HD video cameras, advertisers, like Pizza Hut, find it convenient and effective to rely on loyal customers creating brand-appropriate content.  For seven years, Doritos has seen spectacular success with its fan-authored Super Bowl ads.

Football Fans watching TVSo, what’s not to the like?

It depends on your goals.  For brands looking to tap customer devotion, spark creativity, and increase audience engagement (… and which brand, isn’t?), sourcing content from fans makes sense.  This is especially true in the sports market where fan avidity runs so high.

However, crowd-sourcing also devalues talent.  Except for the winner, chances are your creative brand zealots are working for free.

Then, there are the losers.  Thousands of them.  For every winner of a crowd-sourced ad contest, you are creating many more losers. No matter how hard a brand tries, everyone is not a winner.  Creating losers among overly competitive sports fans is rarely a good idea.

Our suggestions?

1.  Rely on this tactic infrequently.  Once a year works for many brands.  Marquis sporting events work well.  Hence, the plethora of crowd-sourcing around the Super Bowl.  Anything more frequent feels like labor exploitation.

2.  Plan it carefully.  Honor every entrant.  Ensure that they are all treated like your most special customers.  Liberal use of product discounts, consolation prizes, and free promotional merchandise helps.  It may hit your budget hard.  But, if you’re using crowd-sourcing to cut your ad expense, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.

3.  Ensure that the “winners” nail your brand goals.  Funny for the sake of funny doesn’t cut it.

4. Theme it.  Many times, brands forget the audience they are trying to reach.  When fishing in sports fans markets, aim your crowd-sourcing theme around sports.  You may think that your potato chip inspires fan devotion all by itself.  However, your sports fan enjoys chips incidental to their sports passion . . . not the other way around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Branding, Sports Fans, Sports Marketing, Uncategorized

Dear Danica: Take Control of Your Brand

June 15th, 2012

Dear Danica,

It was many years ago that I met you.  A bright-eyed young driver came to my office with her race team’s manager wondering whether she could make a successful career in INDYCAR.

Remember When It All Started?

If we’re using dollars and popularity as the gauge, the answer is “YES,” you’ve become very successful.  However, your decisions concerning your personal brand have left tremendous brand potential “on the table.”

Clearly, you are a strong and beautiful woman. However, Go Daddy stole your brand, leveraging your beauty for its own gain.  You were complicit in this theft.  See multiple Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Editions.  The sexual innuendo in your Go Daddy commercials shocked some and amused others.

Sure, it sold domain registrations.  But, what did it do for YOUR brand?

Now that Go Daddy has shifted its brand positioning under new ownership and a new AOR, your brand is left behind in a provocative muddle.   Inside the sports industry, I once heard that your brand is “beautiful revolution.”  Go Daddy exploited the beautiful, but where is your revolution?

You successfully compete in a man’s sport every single day.  Yet, we’d never know it when we see you off the track.  Without question, you “broke through glass ceilings” by showing that women can compete with men . . . and win . . . on a level playing field any day of the week.  Ah!   There’s a brand that is simple, unique, and sustainable for the rest of your life.

Danica, at this point you need to cause every mother to want their daughters to be you when they grown up.  At that point, you will attain the iconic status you should have and make a meaningful difference in our industry and society.

I hope you attain it.  I’d love a good ending to the story I witnessed ten years ago.

Yours truly,

Ken

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Posted in All-Star, Athletes, Branding, Sponsorships and Endorsements, Sports Marketing, Uncategorized

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