Regular visitors to this parish will know that previously I’ve written several posts about what I believe is one of the most important and most overlooked trends in modern sports marketing: NPD. The creation of new and re-invented events and formats has been a seismic force shaping the sports marketing business worldwide for years: the Premier League, Champions League, Tri-Nations, Super Rugby, Twenty20, IPL – the list goes on and on. And arguably, in terms of re-invention, the daddy of them all is the Ryder Cup.

Less than 40 years ago the Ryder Cup was an anachronism, unloved by all but the golfing cognoscenti and slowly dying. So what turned it into a sports marketing phenomenon: the biggest event in golf, and one of the biggest in world sport?

1. The Greatest Sports Marketing Idea of All Time?

Following years of overwhelming US victories over a hopelessly outmatched GB & Ireland team, by 1977 the Ryder Cup was on its last legs. But from 1979, at the suggestion – ironically – of US golf icon Jack Nicklaus, GB & Ireland became a European team to make the matches more competitive. The rest, as they say is history. Nicklaus’ suggestion must surely rank as one of the greatest, and most altruistic, sports marketing ideas of all time.

2. From Predictable to Unpredictable

Pre-1979, everyone knew the US was going to win the Ryder Cup. Today, no-one knows. And nothing draws fans, the media and sponsors like the drama of knife-edge sporting competition. With the addition of European players to the GB & Ireland team, the Ryder Cup went from being a predictable mismatch to one of the most unpredictable, finely-balanced competitions in world sport. That’s a rarity, and it’s one of the key ingredients in the Ryder Cup’s global appeal.

3. Seve

Sport needs heroes to market itself successfully. Nicklaus was particularly mindful of this, and of one European player in particular, back in 1977: Seve Ballesteros. Seve became the talisman of the new European team and inspired its first game-changing victories over the US in the 80s. Brilliant, charismatic and fiercely competitive – especially against the US players and galleries who he perceived as having slighted him early in his career – Ballesteros was, above all, the catalyst for the Ryder Cup phenomenon. Virtually single-handedly, he transformed the image and appeal of European golf in general and the Ryder Cup in particular.

4. Defining Moments

If we’re honest, sport often disappoints. We all regularly tuned into marquee events expecting hoping to see something special, only to be disappointed. But since its re-invention, the Ryder Cup has never disappointed. Every event since 1979 has produced unforgettable, defining moments that have entered the pantheon of sporting (not just golfing) legend. And to me, this isn’t about serendipity: it’s the inevitable result of the contest being re-invented to become even and unpredictable, blending perfectly with a format which is guaranteed to produce moments that win – or lose – the match. The Ryder Cup is a perfect sports marketing template.

5. Controversy

Sport thrives on controversy. Controversy creates today’s stories, history’s legends, and tomorrow’s fans. Controversy sells. And since the Ryder Cup was re-invented in 1979, and the contest became as close and as fierce as anything that sport can offer, controversy has never been far away: indeed, it’s become part of the event’s DNA (Kiawah, Brookline) and its global appeal, part of why we look forward to it, part of what we expect from it. Golf’s rulers and traditionalists might not like it, but controversy is another element that sets the Ryder Cup apart, and gives it an appeal way beyond golf’s normal fanbase and media footprint.

6. Otherness

The Ryder Cup is entirely unlike the golf that we see week-in, week-out, all year. Tournament golf is selfish: the Ryder Cup is selfless. It’s not about individuals playing for a title and million-dollar purses. It’s about teams, playing to win for their team, for pride and honour only (Ryder Cup players aren’t paid). And this works and appeals in a way that tournament golf simply doesn’t. It gives the fans a team to support: that makes it bigger and easier to buy into that tournament golf (remember, worldwide, it’s team sport that rules). It makes heroes and villains out of players who, ordinarily, we don’t passionately support or oppose in their tournament identities. And most importantly, it works because it demands of the players something different, something other, something somehow better. Take Jack Nicklaus conceding a putt to Tony Jacklin in 1969 to spare Jacklin the possibility of losing the match. And conversely, take Tiger Woods: well before his disgrace, his reputation suffered because he was widely perceived not to be a team player because of his Ryder Cup performances and attitude.

7. Less is More

One of modern sport’s biggest problems is that there’s too much of it. Football, tennis, rugby and especially cricket, for example, have all over-supplied the marketplace in different ways, leading to numerous negative on- and off-field effects. This has increasingly worked to the Ryder Cup’s advantage. It doesn’t come around very often, but when it does, we can’t wait. Less is more.

8. A Year-Long Narrative

The organisers of many major events would do well to study and emulate the way in which the Ryder Cup creates a compelling long-range narrative that extends way beyond the event’s three-day playing window. The qualification story always generates regular coverage and steadily-building momentum throughout the year leading up to the event. And as we saw again this year, the final week of qualifying and the announcement of the captains’ picks are announced initiates a massive spike of hype which – ironically – completely overshadows that week’s tournaments. It’s a PR case study par excellence.

9. Uniqueness

One could argue with justification that there is much in the above that makes the Ryder Cup unique. But I’d suggest that there’s one element of its re-invention in particular that has turned it into a sports marketing phenomenon: the creation of the European team. Nowhere else in major sport does Europe compete under one banner. At a stroke, it added hundreds of millions of fans and transformed the event as a sports marketing vehicle.

10. US Involvement

It’s easy to forget that sport in the USA is a primarily a domestic affair. At top level, the four dominant team sports – American football, baseball, basketball, and ice hockey – are contested internally. As a result, as a sporting nation, the USA rarely ventures outside its borders onto the world stage, or hosts other nations for a major sporting prize. So when it does, it’s rare, and it’s a big deal. And they don’t come any bigger than the Ryder Cup.

By Tim Crow on September 30th, 2010

Tags: Default, Golf, New Product Development, Ryder Cup, Tiger Woods

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With emerging markets vying to host sports events, the field has been thrown wide open and Synergy’s Karen Earl suggests, in an article in the Financial Times, sponsors imperatives play an important part in deciding where events are held.

Click here to read the article in full.

By David Gerty on September 30th, 2010

Tags: Press Clipping

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There is a saying: “If you’re £1m in debt, you’re in trouble.  If you’re £100m in debt, your bank is in trouble.”  In which case, both Arsenal and their Bond Holders, to whom Arsenal owe a total of £266m*, are in double trouble.

But can debt in a football club ever be a good thing?  What about all these high profile fan revolts, Premier League clubs going into administration and UEFA deeming it necessary to introduce Financial Fair Play regulations to safeguard the future of the game?

Well, in Arsenal’s case, the answer is “Yes”. Of course, having ‘good debt’ hasn’t brought them a trophy in the last five years – and it didn’t help in the game at home to West Brom, but it is worth contrasting Arsenal’s situation with the other high-profile debt stories in football.

Firstly, debt is not a bad thing, per se.  In fact, it is a very good thing.  How many people could own a house if they had to pay for it all in cash?  Similarly, very few businesses have the cash they need to build a new factory, buy equipment, finance international expansion or conduct vital R&D.  They rely on debt to finance these activities – debt is the engine of growth. In Arsenal’s case, they needed the debt to finance the new stadium.  No debt, no new stadium.

Of course, there are two very important conditions that need to be met.  Firstly, the debt must be used to finance an activity which generates returns over and above the total cost of that debt.  Secondly, the cash flow from the new activity needs to be secure, predictable and able to service the interest payments.

Arsenal. In Arsenal’s case both conditions are met.  They have used the debt to build a new stadium which has significantly increased their revenues and profits.  To put it into context, the 9,000 premium seats at the Emirates generate more revenue per match than all 38,000 seats at Highbury did.  The remaining 51,000 seats at the Emirates are all upside.

Matchday revenue (the gate receipts taken by the stadium) was £93m and the operating costs of the stadium were £55m – meaning that the stadium generated a profit of £38m.  Total interest payments were £20.2m, providing interest coverage of nearly two times.

These ‘Stadium Profits’ are secure and predictable.  As long as Arsenal play roughly the same number of games per year and have roughly the same attendance, then there will never be a problem paying the interest.  The Stadium pays for itself and doesn’t rely on subsidies from broadcast revenue, commercial revenue or player trading surpluses.  It is the very definition of a good investment.

Good debt: Arsenal borrowed money to build a stadium which has increased the clubs value. The increased cash flow generated by the asset can comfortably finance the debt

Manchester United. The debt was not taken out in order to finance an activity that would increase the club’s value – it was taken out to buy the club itself.  So there is no reason to think that United’s financial performance is any better as a result of taking out the debt (in other words, the debt and the interest payments are pointless).  Secondly, the level of their debt (over £700m) is such that it cannot be financed by matchday profits alone – they have to tap into broadcast revenues, commercial income and player trading surpluses.  Last year, without the profits from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo for £80m, they would have made a loss.  And that is a problem.

Pointless Debt: Debt was not used to build or acquire an asset that increases Manchester United’s value. Debt re-payments cannot be met by a sustainable and predictable source of cash flow

Liverpool: This is a very similar situation to Manchester United.  Again, the £350m of debt wasn’t used to finance growth but simply to buy the club (another case of pointless debt and interest payments).  Last year they didn’t generate enough profit from all their activities to cover their interest payments and recorded losses of £55m.  Big problem.

Leeds United and Portsmouth: Both of these clubs used debt to finance the purchase of players in the form of transfer fees and wages.  It is pretty easy to see why this was a disastrous policy.  Players don’t directly generate increased cash flow and their value is unpredictable and variable.  If the new players had caused a significant improvement in the team’s performance which had led to increased revenue and the value of the players themselves had increased, then the gamble might have paid off.  But it took very little for the house of cards to come tumbling down.

Chelsea and Manchester City: These two clubs also borrowed money to finance the purchase of players.  Of course, this money was borrowed from a Sugar Daddy rather than a bank and it is unlikely that any interest will be paid, let alone the principal.  Who knows what the long term consequences of this ‘Financial Doping’ model will be, but it is far from certain that it will end well.

In summary, Arsenal’s finances since they moved to the Emirates aren’t the problem.  The problem is that they haven’t added to their trophy cabinet.

* Arsenal also have £127.6m in cash, making their Net Debt the widely reported £138.4m.  Incidentally, a further benefit of debt is that interest payments are tax deductible – so 28% (the corporation tax rate) of any interest payment is re-captured in the form of tax savings.  This is one of the reasons why Arsenal are in no hurry to use their surplus cash to pay down their debt.

By Carsten Thode on September 28th, 2010

Tags: Barclays Premier League, Default, Football, Football Sponsorship, Manchester United, Naming Rights

2 comments

This has been the question for many athletes and officials across the Commonwealth over the last few days. As is often the case with any major sporting championship, media scepticism tends to reach a peak just before the event begins, with huge attention focused on security, drugs scandals, infrastructure and much else.

For most, the turning point for this pre-event trepidation is the first moment of the Opening Ceremony with feelings of cynicism and concern being immediately replaced with excitement and enthusiasm. However, with under a week to go until the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games, I’m not so sure this is going to be the case.

Concerns surrounding the efficient delivery of the Games have been widely voiced since Delhi was awarded the event in 2003, however, they reached new heights last week when a footbridge outside the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium collapsed. Whilst the Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, couldn’t understand the alarm (Quote: “The footbridge was not meant for athletes and delegates. It was for the use of the common man”. Well, that’s OK then), the incident has triggered outrage with many more serious problems now being exposed.

As with any major event, potential terrorist attacks and security are always a concern. Attention on Delhi, though, has now focused on the images of the athletes’ accommodation released last week. Not only are many areas still unfinished (it was announced today that everything will be completed by Wednesday – four days before the Opening Ceremony), but they showed horrendous levels of hygiene.

(c) BBC Sport - Images of the athletes' accommodation

As I write this, the England team are due to enter the athletes’ village, but they will be without high profile athletes such as Phillips Idowu, Christine Ohuruogu and Lisa Dobriskey. Whilst the two latter athletes pulled out because of ‘injury’, Phillips pulled out because of concerns over his safety . “Sorry people, but I have children to think about,” he said via Twitter. “My safety is more important to them than a medal.”

Whilst he is said to be disappointed not to be competing, his absence and that of many other high-profile British athletes raises other questions about the stature of the event. Putting aside all the concerns over security, safety and uncompleted venues, even if these were all in hand and the Games were fully supported and expected to take place without any further hitches, it needs to be asked as to whether the event still holds its place as a major placeholder in the sporting calendar?

English hurdler Natasha Danvers appeared on BBC Breakfast last week and voiced her thoughts on whether the event has had its day and is still as appealing as before. She quite rightly summed up that for a GB Track and Field athlete, there are many other competitions that are simply more important. 2010 has already witnessed the European Championships, and with the Commonwealth Games being pushed back to October many athletes had already decided not to compete as they are now entering into their winter training schedule in order to be on track for the IAAF World Championships next year, and even more importantly the Olympic Games in London in 2012.

So, when the news of the collapsed bridge and appalling athletes’ accommodation came to the fore, it perhaps wasn’t that hard a decision for some more athletes to withdraw. On the other hand, however, for other competitors the decision hasn’t been as easy, as this event is still of the utmost importance to them.

With GB athletes competing in the vest of their home countries, the Commonwealth Games often offer the opportunity for other athletes to represent their country who might not otherwise get the chance to wear a national vest. It certainly isn’t an easy decision for them to forsake years of preparation and training for what may be for some their only chance of national pride.

The media attention is continuing with further controversy and outrage unfolding on a daily basis, and the jury is out on whether Delhi can recover from its current problems and somehow deliver a successful event. But, albeit that Glasgow is already committed to stage the Games in 2014, are we witnessing the beginning of the end for the Commonwealths?

Personally, having experienced a Commonwealth Games first-hand when I spent two amazing weeks working with one of the top-tier sponsors in Manchester in 2002, Guardian Media Group, I hope not. However, as always, only time will tell.

By Sara Wilson on September 27th, 2010

Tags: Athletics, Commonwealth Games, Glasgow 2014, London 2012, London 2012 sponsorship, London 2012 sponsorship consultants, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Olympics, Sport, Team GB

2 comments

Huge congratulations are in order for Synergy’s Lucie Bartlett, who has graduated from the inaugural Marketing Academy, a programme designed to nurture the best young marketers and find the industry leaders of the future.

Click here to read Marketing Week’s feature.

By David Gerty on September 22nd, 2010

Tags: Press Clipping

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It was rather counter-intuitive of Nike yesterday to use Twitter to stage a fan Q&A with Tiger Woods. Given his recent travails and – I would imagine – a resultant antipathy to social media, Twitter is perhaps the last place you’d expect Tiger to take the latest of his tentative steps back onto the public stage beyond a golf course. But Twitter he did, and I was an interested observer. Here’s what I learned.

1. The whole event was deliberately low-key and under-the-radar. It was previewed with single postings on the Nike Golf Twitter feed, and on the Tiger and Nike Golf Facebook pages. That was it. This was Stealth PR. Big headlines, of the type we saw adidas attempting – not entirely successfully – to generate with the Messi stunt in London yesterday, were not the objective here. This was, instead, about quietly re-introducing Tiger to the world, with golf fans the target.

2. Anything outside of golf and – this being a Nike event – equipment, was strictly off the agenda, as the preview posts made it clear: ‘Nike Athlete Tiger Woods will be answering your equipment and golf questions live on Twitter today…’ (my italics). This was about Tiger the Nike Golfer, not Tabloid Tiger.

3. As to the content of the Q&A itself, unless you were the most avid Tiger fan, it wasn’t what you’d call a scintillating half-hour. If you’re interested, the full transcript is here, courtesy of NG Nation.

4. Twitter, with its currently functionality, is absolutely not the place to do a fan Q&A. Even if Tiger had wanted to answer in more detail (and I can hear golf writers the world over darkly laughing at this thought), there’s only so much you can say in 140 characters – especially when you include a re-tweet of the question in your answer. As such, the experience for fans was distinctly limited – frustrating even – and only served to reinforce the impression that Tiger hates doing this stuff. (Incidentally, if you followed Stephen Fry’s Twitter Q&A the other day, you’ll already know that Twitter is not the place for a Q&A: Fry tried it without re-tweeting the questions, and admitted that it made the whole process ‘incomprehensible’).

It will be interesting to see how Tiger’s journey back develops, and what role – if any – social media plays in helping him to rehabilitate his image and re-engage with the wider world.

One thing’s for sure: based on yesterday’s small, faltering step, there’s a long way to go.

By Tim Crow on September 16th, 2010

Tags: Golf, Social Media, Sponsorship, Tiger Woods

1 comment

‘Digital IS the future’. I’ve lost count of the amount of times that I’ve heard these words spoken in the last few years. So much so that it’s almost become a meaningless comment on something that is self-evident – largely because we can conclude digital is the future, if only inasmuch as digital is also the present.

Clearly, there is an enormous amount of knowledge to be had out there about working in the digital space, and harnessing the power of digital assets to work better in other, more traditional avenues. No longer can we sweep a generalising brush-stroke to divide between Murdoch’s ‘digital natives’ and ‘digital immigrants’. It is everyone’s responsibility to get digitally savvy. Fast.

But when digital courses, seminars and qualifications are ten-a-penny for businesses who can afford to train their people in the relevant disciplines, it becomes easy to overlook those for whom acquiring such skills is remarkably more difficult. It may be because the base level of knowledge is not enough to reach the next level. Or the funding isn’t available to implement the training. Or they just don’t know what skill development is required to take their business further.

Enter Media Trust (one of the charity partners on The Marketing Academy, which is how I came across them). The UK’s leading communications charity is launching a national campaign to encourage more media professionals with digital skills to volunteer and share their expertise with the charities, communities and young people who need them.

Great plan. And to get people engaged, they’ve developed a funky little Facebook application to gauge your ‘Digital IQ’. I tried it out last week, and lo, the results:

My Digital IQ results (not quite as impressive as I'd hoped)

A techie with a creative flair. Fair enough.

So try it out, and if you feel that the world would be a better place if we could share our digital knowledge then get involved and find out how to volunteer.

And if you’re feeling brave, post your results in our comments below.

By Lucie Bartlett on September 16th, 2010

Tags: Charity, Digital marketing, Social Media

3 comments

Forget every theory you’ve read about why the England football team’s performance in the World Cup was so dismal. I now have conclusive proof that a bad PR idea turned the hand of God against Fabio and the boys. Writing in the Sunday Times Culture supplement at the weekend, Richard Brooks recounted the following:

Just before the World Cup, Freeview’s new HDTV service was due to unveil a picture of England’s football team. It was commissioned through a marketing firm, House PR, but the 8ft x 7ft canvas, which was to be shown at St Pancras station before a tour of Britain, was dropped only a few days before kickoff. Painted by Michael Browne, who had previously done a portrait of Eric Cantona, it featured players such as Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch and Frank Lampard, with Fabio Capello, suitably, on a throne, in the style of Michelangelo’s The Last Judgement. And yes, it was sort of “judging” the players, some of whom also had their wives and girlfriends portrayed, while Rooney was shown carrying a cross. But some of Freeview’s shareholders, such as the BBC, got cold feet and the painting’s unveiling was abruptly cancelled.

Quite apart from this being the worst PR idea since, well, forever, and with due respect to Stephen Hawking, it now seems quite clear to me that this affront to the Last Judgement incurred the wrath of the Almighty, who reached down to the playing fields of South Africa with consequences that are now plain to see: Green’s fumble, Lampard’s disallowed goal, Fabio’s obsession with 4-4-2 – need I go on?

But fear not, there is a remedy at hand. Freeview, Fabio and the FA must take the opportunity of the Pope’s visit to these shores later this week to right the wrong, by ceremonially burning the offending canvas in front of his Eminence and kissing the ring. Then, and only then, will the team have a chance of making it past the quarter-final stage at Euro 2012, and the FA have a chance of finally finding an England team sponsor.

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt when it comes to the chances of the England 2018 World Cup bid either, come to that.

By Tim Crow on September 14th, 2010

Tags: Default, Football, Football Sponsorship, PR, World Cup

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I received an email from the drinks brand Alibi last week inviting me to enter a competition to win a pair of tickets to this weekend’s Bestival.

Alibi (in case, like a lot of people, you haven’t heard of them) make ‘pretox’ drinks containing lots of healthy stuff which, according to their website, ‘help offset all the bad things in life’.  I came across them first at the Taste of London food festival a few years ago and then again at Glastonbury this year (where I’m convinced they helped my fragile condition each morning).  I’ve never actually bought a can but have enjoyed lots of freebies.

I entered the competition and received a second email a couple of days later:

How curious.  Conveniently, I commute from Waterloo and was meeting a friend there for a drink, so we thought it was worth a shot.

About 20 people turned up and we were given cans of Alibi to drink whilst being given our task, by which time we were already getting strange looks.  We were told that there was a man in his 20s in a suit somewhere in Waterloo who had the tickets on him. We were also told there would be some clue on him linked to the drinks brand.  The way to win the tickets was to approach the man and ask the obscure question:

“When’s the next train to New York?”

We set off across the busy station, Alibi in hand, to find this mystery man.  I have to admit, we felt like idiots at first but eventually plucked up the courage to approach complete strangers. All we received were blank expressions and comments like ‘think you’ve got the wrong city luv’ and therefore unfortunately we are not off to Bestival this weekend.

It was a very entertaining way to spend 15 minutes on a Wednesday evening, a really original idea, and although they probably only had 20 entries, so much more interesting than the standard prize draws you usually see.  They used Twitter and Facebook pages to promote the competition and even though we didn’t spot a camera on the day their website suggests a film of us embarrassing ourselves will be going live shortly – then I really will need an alibi!

By Erica Hodges on September 10th, 2010

Tags: Digital marketing, Experiential marketing, Facebook, Social Media

1 comment

I love a new kit launch – a staple diet of sports PR. The usual sign of success is a spread of moody-looking photos of players in their new kit across the next day’s sports media. Every once in a while a kit launch comes along that’s big enough to become a story in it’s own right – think England FIFA World Cup launch using Kassabian.

And then there’s yesterday’s Welsh Rugby team kit launch.

The launch fell firmly into the latter category – it became a story in it’s own right and claimed a greater share of coverage then you would ever expect on front and back pages. So far so good, until you look at why.

The launch featured a 100ft poster of Gavin Henson wearing the new kit outside the Millennium Stadium – the same Mr Henson who hasn’t featured for Wales for 18 months but has just announced his inclusion in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing line-up.

The current Welsh players at the launch were not exactly brimming with joy at the use of the Henson image as the centre piece. “Is this an insult to current Welsh players?” tweeted centre Jamie Roberts (although it was quickly re-tracted) while past players kept the ball rolling – “totally laughable” said former skipper Mervyn Davies, “a misjudgement” said Gareth Edwards.

The question we’ve been debating in the office this afternoon is whether the reaction is good or bad news. We often to talk about the importance of brands establishing credibility within a sport - an initial look through Welsh rugby message boards would suggest that credbility is not something associated with Henson and rugby at the moment.

On the other hand there’s no denying that it’s big news - the exact intention when Henson was used - and more than fulfilling the objective of the launch. Everyone in Wales and beyond is now well aware of the new shirt (and their new jersey sponsor Admiral) and although the reactions among the players and fans may question the credibility of Henson, the fact they are even debating it means it’s likely to help long term sales.

By Dominic Curran on September 9th, 2010

Tags: Default, PR, Public relations, Rugby, Sponsorship, Sport

2 comments