I had an entertaining email exchange with the FT’s Roger Blitz on the debate about what is the greatest modern sports marketing innovation, which Roger has kindly allowed me to publish.

Roger began with this:    

‘I’m cheating a bit, working backwards to answer your question. I start with the biggest global sporting phenomenon of the past 50 years, who is unquestionably Muhammad Ali.

You then have to look at what was the marketing made him that phenomenon and having concluded (through Google) that no one promoter or media company turned Ali into the phenomenon, I end up concluding he did it himself, through his own narrative. So you have to look at the pivotal moment of his narrative, and you end up with:

1960 – Cassius Clay is refused service in a whites-only restaurant and throws his Olympic gold medal into the Ohio river.

Thus began the narrative of the greatest sports marketing phenomenon of all time.

It may not be an innovation, but everything in sports marketing came after that.

But I’m sure this will be disqualified on a TKO!’

I replied:

‘Thank you Roger. Whether or not that particular moment qualifies is I suspect something about which we will have a lively debate in the office! But in my view you’re right, I think we have to find a place for Ali in the debate. On which point I think simply putting your thesis out there will in itself provoke a debate about the Ali phenomenon, his role in shaping modern sports marketing – which is unquestioned – and what the innovation was that qualifies him in this context.

And I think I might have it. It’s a very slight build on your point.

To me he qualifies because he was the first superstar of the modern era to have deliberately created his own brand. He wouldn’t have called it that of course, but the fact is that’s what he did. And in this respect everyone since then has followed him. QED: to me probably the defining moment – the innovation – was changing his name to Muhammad Ali. Classic brand-building behaviour!

What do you think?’

Roger then replied:

‘I did think of that. The question for me was, did it raise his profile even higher (I just don’t know, arguably yes). Was it the moment that made him realise his own marketable value (again, don’t know). The moment of his self-politicisation was before that, the 1960 gold medal protest, though it appears to have only come to light in Ali’s 1975 autobiography.

So I’m in two minds, and just went for the earlier date, and the moment he realised his mouth had to do more than his jab!

But I agree that it certainly fits better as a sports marketing innovation.’

So there we have it. As I wrote to Roger, to my mind Clay/Ali must feature in the debate about what we vote on as the greatest modern sports marketing innovation.

Do you agree – and do you agree that he qualifies because he was the first superstar of the modern era to have deliberately created his own brand, and that the defining moment – the innovation – was changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali?

Let us know.

Roger Blitz is the Leisure Industries Correspondent of the Financial Times. Follow him on Twitter: @rogerblitz

By Tim Crow on November 10th, 2010

Tags: Default, Muhammad Ali, Sponsorship, Synergy, What's the Greatest Sports Marketing Innovation?

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