SociableSport

Here's a really interested thought-piece on the relationship between Twitter and Sport. Enjoy. 

"The use of Twitter by sports stars has closed the gap between fans & athletes. But where do endorsements and marketing fit into this new 1-1 relationship?" 

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There's nothing like a contemporary advertising campaign. Do you think this example from Gatorade - recently divorced from Woods - has the flexibility to still good a good job for the brand despite Tiger's recent 'image change'? Probably not. Unfortunately, thinking about whether Tiger has "it" has taken on a whole new meaning: mental toughness not being one of them.

Celebrity news site TMZ (cited in the Indian Times) are adamant Woods' transgressions will "harm" his image - most notably as the face of Nike Golf - and suggest Woods' number could be up on other sponsorship deals in addition to the loss of Gatorade. His associative properties have certainly shifted and the Indian Times goes on to reference the Davie Brown Index, which measures celebrities' standing with consumers, where Woods has gone from 6th highest ranking celebrity endorser to 24th. Apparently the database comprises of 2,800 respondents but how often this survey goes out and how much it changes according to who's in the press and why, I'm not sure. 

But cast your minds back to 2004 and the David Beckham scandal. An Evening Standard poll asked London readers, 'Who is to blame for David Beckham's affair?' A staggering 41% blamed Victoria Beckham, 37% blamed David Beckham and only 22% blamed Rebecca Loos herself. Even David Beckham's own mother suggested Victoria was "partly to blame".

The situations are different: while Loos hogged most of the limelight as the 'mistress of choice', Tiger has multiple skeletons to remove from his closet. Yet, after a while, Beckham's image was restored as he and his family went about 'business as usual' and sponsors were un-phased.

When Kate Moss was photographed taking Class A drug Cocaine, associations with Calvin Klein, Rimmel, Chanel and Christian Dior were swiftly put under scrutiny by the press, but store chain H&M were the only brand to take immediate action to separate themselves from the troubled model but after no more than 3 months, Moss actually gained a new $1m+ deal with Virgin Mobile.

Far from being destroyed, these two personalities had their image shaken up - and soon all was forgotten as "in the past". 

According to US-based market research unit Nielsen, advertising featuring Woods hasn't appeared in US prime-time TV since November 29th, but perhaps Woods will go through a similar transformation to Beckham and Moss? Perhaps what he needs is a bit of calm: a period of time signifying the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. Next, a new appearance, a new deal or a new campaign to differentiate the old personality from the reformed. So long as his performance on the golf course is unaffected he will always be a beacon for advertisers because that's the constant - the unchanging champion.

At least the PGA Tour sponsors are benefiting from even more attention to their number 1 star - imagine how many people will tune in to watch his next tournament... . Even now he is delivering more awareness than ever (although not for the best of reasons - but that's not my point!).

For more on Tiger Woods and Gatorade check out the announcement on BBC News.

Edit after live: Today (Thursday December 10th), bookmakers Paddy Power have offered Tiger Woods $1m to get behind their new betting property, 'Tiger's Birdies'. The 12month deal would include an undisclosed profit share arrangement. The bet offers 500-1 odds for anyone who can correctly predict the number of Birdies Woods scores across the first four days of a tournament.

Yes - Tiger isn't going to accept the offer but at least Paddy Power have got some free exposure in the press on the back of a clever piece of product development!

"With the renaming it was always going to be whatever brand it was, at St James' Park. For the remainder of this season, we already have sportsdirect.com on the Gallowgate so we'd like to take that branding through the rest of the stadium."
Derek Llambias, Manging Director

Tampering with brand equity is risky business, particularly when the equity is built by generations of sports fanatics.

How do you think it's going to be received by the Newcastle United faithful? In changing the Official Name of Newcastle United's home ground, are they changing the very essence of the club itself?

Post your comments below and read more on the debate on BBC Sport's 606 debate

"We are able to show that bringing the game to Australia and having the Asian continent with us at the same time-zone will benefit not only Australia, not only Asia, but the whole football world"
Frank Lowy, Chief of Australia's FIFA World Cup Bid and Australia's Richest Man

Asia comprises the world's fastest growing economies, the fastest growing television and media audiences and the fastest growing consumer markets. Intuitively, Lowy's claim seems to be sensible. But how valid is this regional bias? The three points below try to open this up a bit.

1. The combined audiences for West and East are broadly similar

By looking at FIFA's published TV and Out Of Home (which includes pubs and other public viewing areas) cumulative viewing figures by region we can compare the 2002 World Cup held in Asia with the 2006 World Cup held in Europe.

In terms of the number of viewers, comparing Europe with Asia is hard to swing in Europe's favour. In 2002 there were 2.7 Asian viewers to every European viewer. In 2006 this figure was cut to 1.6 but still, this is a huge difference. However, this only takes into account numbers for Asia and Europe. 'East' and 'West' is much broader.

By grouping together figures for Europe with North America, South America and Central America (EurAm) we get a better idea of what Western audiences actually add up to. We can then compare this with an Eastern group comprised of the Asia and Oceana (APAC). When we look at East vs. West in this hollistic way we get a slightly more even result. In the 2002 World Cup, held in Asia, there were only 1.3 Eastern (APAC) viewers to Western (EurAm) viewers but in the 2006 World Cup there were 1.2 Western viewers to Eastern viewers - despite the fact that the Germany World Cup was broadcast in 11 fewer EurAm territories than the 2002 World Cup.

So there wasn't that big a difference after all.

The audiences are pretty much similar from East to West. The drop off in audience attributable to changes in time-zones is nearly identical with both regions losing roughly 7% of their audience when the games were shown at more unsociable hours. Let's not forget, though, that with China's population alone being double that of the whole of Europe, Asia's 7% certainly represents more people. This brings us on to our next point - although the audiences are roughly the same, and the drop off is the same, advertisers will look for efficiency over reach and this may present the West with another argument against the Lowry.

2.  Rights fees are based on efficiency, not just reach 

Lowry also spoke about the revenue that an Australasian World Cup would bring in. He didn't go into specifics in the article I read but someone told me he'd quoted a difference of +$1bn. That's a lot of money and I'm not sure where he gets it from. Despite offering huge reach, there's going to be an awful lot of wastage in a market where the audiences are almost inconceivably large. In EurAm, penetration is much higher with a greater proportion of the total populations watching or experiencing the tournament. I don't want to waste any money speaking to people who aren't in the mood to listen, especially if there's millions of them.

Also, because there aren't many national broadcasters in the regions, the scope for competition among those looking to secure broadcast rights is smaller. Coupled with the lack of efficiency, this makes for risky - and tricky - business for those formulating broadcast revenue prediction models. Although, broadcast revenue isn't the only source of income from the tournament.

3.  A successful event needs the stadia to be full

Although we hate to admit it, everyone secretly loves the English. English football fans, like many of our counterparts, bring with them a fantastic enthusiasm for the game that heralds from decades of disappointment and ecstasy from following the nation's team. World Cup tournaments need these fans. They need them to fill up the stadiums and prevent what happened at some of Beijing's Olympic events where organisers had to give tickets away to locals for free (retail price was very high - around £90 per ticket) in order to fill the seats. In Sydney's Olympic games, kids were actually transported to the venues by buses to fill the venues with the right kind of audience.

What's the lesson here? Big TV audiences don't necessarily equate to a success on a national level.

We have a little time to go before the decisions for 2018 and 2022 will be made (December 2010) but at the moment, it seems as though the argument isn't as black and white as we may have originally thought. Let's see what FIFA say.

You can read more about Lowry's argument here
Picture found here

Calgon 2-in-1
"Half Protection Is Like No Protection!"

It's been a late night - I'm recovering from the dreaded 'Swine Flu' (also known as the H1N1 virus) and so I feel I can be forgiven for watching some pretty average television. Pretty average television hosts some pretty average advertising, few more so than the Calgon 2-in-1 commercials.

Unfortunately I can't actually show you the clip itself because it isn't on youtube, but please bear with me while I outline the plot.

The ad opens with a woman struggling with her washing machine. A man appears - wearing overalls - and offers to help. She explains the situation and, conveniently for the viewer, he is able to diagnose the problem instantaneously. It is a build-up of limescale caused by, frankly, some downright heinous washing machine protector that's only offering 'half protection'.

Half protection! Can you believe that? I nearly vomited I found it so disgusting.

The woman looks quizical. She's obviously mortally embarrassed about not protecting her washing machine properly and her wild eyes tell us that she will stop at nothing to find a solution but the man is intent, to the point of sadism, on hammering the point home. Just in front of the woman he notices a small child putting on a bike helmet.

"You wouldn't let him go out with half a helmet on would you?"
"No!" she replies. To be honest, the jury is out on whether she even recognises the child given she hasn't acknowledged his presence in the room so far, nor has she comforted him on the fact there is a very strange man in the kitchen. If the child were to spontaneously combust, there is no indication that she will be wise to his plight. Her entire focus is on this plumber-come-salesman.
"Well, half protection is like no protection! That's why you need Calgon 2-in-1!"
"Oh!"

She is sold. The pieces of the jigsaw have fallen nicely into place. Her looking after her washing machine with 'full protection' (what does that even mean? Does Calgon come with a small army of soldiers to protect her washing machine from gunfire? What about a fire brigade to protect it from flames? Or a moat to protect it from Tudors? Now that's full protection!) is the emotional equivalent to ensuring her son wears a helmet when he rides his bike. Because millions of washing machines die every year from limescale damage and... and damn it the unnecessary pain just has to stop!

So there we have it - advertising doing what it does best:

Stereotyping
Well, it wouldn't be a man in the kitchen would it? A man would never listen to another man anyway... he'd just ask 'is it cheaper?' then depending on the answer either opt for 'ok cool - you can leave now' or 'seriously, get the hell out of my kitchen'. Haha, men are so predictable aren't they? And women! Always looking after the house like good women should! 1950s Chevrolet anyone?

Blackmail
We owe it to ourselves and to our children to buy products because the people selling them to us say we need them and who am I to disagree? It's not like my opinion on what I need counts for anything

Insulting Intelligence - "Half protection is like no protection!"
Hold on a minute...  is half protection not the same as 50% protection? Is that not a great deal more than no protection at all?
Now, half a helmet is a different matter. Wearing half a helmet would probably be just as useless as wearing no helmet at all. That's because half a helmet isn't a helmet, it's just a bit of useless fiberglass cushion. In the context of protecting a washing machine, just as in the context of cleaning socks, half is better than nothing and realistically these machines should count themselves lucky that they get even that

If a social network doesn't carry ad space, will this stop it from making money?

Sorrell sees mixed prospects for social nets LONDON: Social networks like Facebook and Twitter have less potential to generate ad revenues than sites such as YouTube and MySpace, which will benefit from their focus on online video, says Sir Martin Sorrell, ceo of WPP Group. According to Sorrell, one of WPP's main short-to-medium term objectives is to boost the share of its revenues derived from digital media to 33%, compared with the current level of 25%. He also argued that the various forms of web-based video currently being established are "probably the most revolutionary and most significant of the new media developments." Indeed, he predicted that the influence of this form of content could come to "dwarf what we saw from the personal computer and what we saw from mobile in terms of its impact on the media." Given this, it appears that "video-driven sites" like YouTube and MySpace will have a "greater opportunity for developing advertising revenues" than many of their online counterparts. By contrast, "sites like Facebook and Twitter are more social networking sites, where the advertising revenue potential is more limited and more restricted" due to their differing models. Indeed, Sorrell added, "we've seen cases, even in the case of Facebook, where Mark Zuckerberg – who must be the person on the planet who knows most about social networking – has made one or two mistakes by trying to commercialise too much." When discussing Twitter, the rapidly-growing microblogging service, the chief executive of WPP credited the site with producing "a lot of noise", but also wondered "where is the cashflow?" Overall, the websites at the heart of Web 2.0 are "all very sexy stuff, but there is a lot of sorting out to be done and a lot of volatility and a lot will not be here in the future," he added. With regard to newspapers, Sorrell said the "online media model will only be successful if it's a mixture of advertising revenues and subscription revenues." As such, "looking for content that consumers are willing to pay for" will be essential if news titles are ultimately going to succeed on the web. Sorrell also said that WPP will be looking to target the "third sector" of "Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East and central and eastern European regions" as it seeks to bolster its revenues. He added that the rise of nations like Brazil, Russia, India and China should be seen as "an unstoppable, irreversible trend in political, economic and social power." Moreover, Sorrell predicted that "the initial signs of recovery will not come from the West, they will come from the East; they will come from China." The Chinese ad market "did flip up quite considerably in April", meaning WPP saw a 25% increase in its "media business" in the country in the fourth month of this year, its ceo added. Data sourced from The Australian; additional content by WARC staff, 23 June 2009

Recession...

It's a big, dark, gloomy word.

'Current economic climate' is a much happier phrase, and one everyone seems to prefer. Here's why -

'Current' invokes a sense of immediacy. It also implies that the future is yet unknown - that it is likely to change. Imagine 'economic climate' without the word current. The duration of the description would seem much longer.

'Economic' (instead of, say, recessionary) is a very vague word. When we talk about 'economic forces' or 'economic factors' we invariably talk about things beyond our control. When they are under our control they become policy - monetary policy, fiscal stimulus etc. This sense of vagueness is coupled with disownership. The word 'economic' is itself an adjective relating to the word 'economy' (a noun). And what it is here we're describing as economic?

'Climate' - also likely to change, also beyond our control (unless you're in a really nice car). To be exposed to a certain climate is to be subject to certain external circumstances - such as heat or cold, or rain and snow. But these are all things you can make the most of - some people don't like too heat but some do and vice versa - it's a matter of opinion. As humans, we can adapt to different climates to suit our own preferences. In this sense, then, an economic climate is whatever you want it to be. If you're the type that won't go outside unless it's precisely 24degrees with zero chance of precipitation, then perhaps you'll be agitated when the temperature rises or falls, or if clouds start to form in the sky. Even so, in this case 'climate' is only a 'current' situation, by definition it is not consistent. The current temperature may be 22degrees - or even 12degrees - but it's not going to stay like that forever. So, even if you're a die-hard cynic refusing to leave the comfort of your climate-controlled home unless there's a clear, blue sky and a warm 24degrees showing on the baraometer, you can sit by the window and wait for things to get better because - eventually - they will.

'Recession', on the other hand, is like a hurricane. Hurricanes can be very dangerous and very unpredictable. Everyone is adviced to stay indoors and even the emergency services struggle to cope in the stormy conditions. No one feels safe and no one really knows how bad it's going to be, how long it will last or where it's going to cause the most damage. What we do know is that it won't last forever, but when one comes along our main concern should be protecting ourselves from the associated dangers. This is no time for sitting by the window wondering when the sun is going to have his hat on - you may get a face full of glass!

Can you see the difference? By describing a recession using the phrase 'current economic climate' we avoid the need to 'weather the storm'. Instead, we describe something that's out of reach (economic), as being short-lived (current) and something perfectly natural (climate).

It's a climate of expectancy (let's look forward to when it gets better!) rather than a climate of fear (how bad is it going to get?).

I don't know about you, but it's back to work for me!

Lyndon

The new Terminator film is out imminently. Randomly, it reminded me of a fascinating TED video from physicist Garrett Lisi (worth a look, even if you think you hate physics!).

It's about dimensions, layers and imagination.

In his astounding, baffling and eye-opening talk, Lisi walks through one dimension, then another, and another, until he's eventually purporting an 8-dimensional model of the universe. Wow. It's truly mind-blowing and not something I'm going to pretend I fully understand. Instead, let's look at Terminator.

In 1984, visionary director James Cameron conceived of a monster. An indestructible man-made machine sent from the future to destroy the lineage of John Connor. We don't learn much about the machine in the first film, only that it carries a huge muscular stature mirroring what appears to be a metal endoskeleton. The machine "will not sleep, he will not stop" until he's terminated his targets.

In 1991 we start to learn more about the machine from the first film, mainly from the Terminator himself. We learn he is a T100 model run by a cybernetic computer, that he does indeed not sleep, nor feel the anxieties of fear and regret that most humans feel when they're instructed to kill. But in this film, the Terminator's main characteristics are outlined principally to compare him with a superior machine, the T1000. Where in 1984 the Terminator was seen as an uber-human compared to the weaknesses of humanity, in 1991 it has usurped the role of the human and has become the inferior in place of a machine that throws all his technologies into antiquity.

The T1000 has an extra 0 at the end of its name, for one. A small, but important, reference to how advanced it is. It carries all the best bits of the T100 - the strength and resilience, for instance - but adds to it the ability to morph into whatever (superficial) form it comes into contact with, including metal objects - "stabbing weapons". It is, again, the ultimate human / machine hybrid as conceived at the time.

By now we can see a pattern emerging. The machines in these films are representative of the imagination of the moment. In 1984, the T100 was conceived of as the ultimate. In 1991 it was the T1000. In 2003, the 3rd instalment calls its main machine protagonist, simply, T-X. The comparison between the T-100 of 1984 and the T-X of 2003 is so vast that the film sacrifices some of its credibility (could something like this really happen?) by illustrating it within the plot. Likewise, the special effects in Terminator 2, hailed at the time, are nothing in comparison to those of 2003, which itself is likely to look archaic next to the 2009 film.

The rise and rise of the machines in the Terminator films echoes the imagination of the time. As we become more and more focused on what's possible (rather than what's impossible), so too our technology will follow our imaginations. The realms of possibility are as vast as the energy we dedicate to exploring it. Garrett Lisi is testament to this. His intelligence, passion and drive are coupled with an open-mindedness that has literally opened up new dimensions even the brainiest particle physicists couldn't have imagined.

In an earlier blog I've enthused about utilities, the tools with which we navigate the cyber world. Taking the Terminator analogy further, I can see a world of programming where code does not exist in any linear sense, but flows and ebs, moves and lives: a liquid platform. While the science of robotics replicate the T-100 in mimicking human qualities within the human-occupied world, perhaps I am thinking of a T-1000 model that can digitally evolve according to its environment - the cyber environment.

Where will our imagination take cyber intelligence? How many dimensions are there left to uncover?

Lyndon

We've heard of World of Warcraft...
We've heard of Second Life...

They don't have that much in common, but there is a middle ground:

Where the desire for hyper-reality meets the desire to compete... to beat an opponent and win.

Here, the sporting brands will be the real winners.

Empire of Sports proclaims to be the net's most life-like virtual-reality massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG)... Bit of a mouthful but in a nut-shell it gives everyone the opportunity to achieve the sporting heroism the real world has cruelly denied them. Speaking of heroism, it comes as no surprise that the game has teamed up with newly-crowned European Champions, FC Barcelona, to add a touch of true-life gloss to its fledgling format. The relationship is, for the moment, expected. In other words, it doesn't offer many surprises. But this is good reason - above all - to watch this space as it unfolds... (for keen beans I've included some details further down).

The potential reach of a MMORPG is, by definition, huge. Although details of the financial elements of the deal have not been disclosed, it's to be expected that some sort of value-in-kind arrangement has been reached. While EoS's users have an enhanced experience with the added realism and opportunity that a 'partner' like Barça can bring, the club will benefit from being the first such brand woven into the architecture (with the exception of Roland Garros, who are hosting a virtual French Open tournament). Let us not forget that users of games like EoS are much more likely to communicate online than non, much more likely to be receptive to messages from brands within games than non and much more likely to be early adopters, influencers and social media moguls than non (just a hunch). This is a highly targeted, trackable, and ultimately valuable audience - not just to the teams or tournaments, but to the brands associated with those teams and tournaments like Nike or adidas.

Will the game - or world - be successful? The signs are there that it will. Numbers aside, the ingredients are there for triumph. Being specifically designed for sport, EoS comes with no pretense, just pure expectancy. In a few month's time, when the first virtual Ronaldo or Nadal start to emerge from the training programmes, when the users start to reap the real-world rewards from their hours of training and practise (big budget prizes for winning the virtual French Open, or a virtual contract with a virtual version of FC Barcelona competing in the virtual La Liga on course to win the virtual UEFA Champion's League under the stuardship of one of the youngest virtual managers on the virtual circuit at a real age of 10), we will see not just the birth of a new breed of Superstar, but another worthy victory for the sporting brands themselves. Virtual fans require virtual merchandise, and no one likes to buy fakes. It'll be the virtual shop for the virtual flag, to wave in the virtual stadium at the virtual game your friend (who you're chatting to at the same time) is virtually playing in - and all of this is big money. Potentially it's bigger than real world, because logistics go out of the window - no need to worry about how or why or where. It's one location, one platform.

Ladies and gentleman, this is the birth of a behemoth. It may take a while to grow, but mark my words... it's going to be huge.

Further information:
What do Barça offer the game?
The creation of a VIP section within the game interface where users, upon showing the Barça Opening Contest (see below) to a guy called 'Sergi' who'll be hanging around the Central Plaza, you can enter competitions to win exclusive merchandise and certain in-game privileges. So what?

What are people saying about it?
FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta. "The idea of having a FC Barça virtual club house in an online world dedicated to sport is mind blowing. It takes our motto ‘more than a club’ to a whole new level –  and we hope that our presence in Empire of Sports will continue to increase the level of support for both FC Barcelona and football."

Alexis Galley, chief executive of Empire of Sports, said: "We couldn’t ask for a more prestigious partner than FC Barcelona. We are really proud to welcome them into our virtual world of sport and give them the space to work closely with their fans and supporters. Empire of Sports has limitless potential and offers amazing opportunities to our ever-growing list of partners– the fact that worldwide brands such as FC Barcelona see this opportunity, only serves to strengthen our confidence in making the first worldwide sports-based gaming platform."

Quote from EoS
The site reads:
"From Wednesday, May 27th you will be able to visit the FC Barcelona Clubhouse to get special items and information about this prestigious club!

And to celebrate this occasion a special event will take place! You will have until Sunday, June 14th to surpass yourself in official competitions and gain as much football ranking points as you can. Each day your progression will be saved and at the end of those three weeks a day will be randomly chosen. The player who made the best ranking progression this day will win a genuine FC Barcelona jersey signed by the star player Lionel Messi!"

For more information, visit Empire of Sports here

I can't believe I didn't include these in the earlier editions! The following illustrates quite brilliantly how a little touch of graffiti can have your advertising remembered for all the wrong reasons.

Murphy's Law - remember? 

If you can imagine it, someone somewhere will do it. All you can do is sit back and smile...

                     

Click here to download:

Dangers_of_Outdoor_Advertising.zip (264 KB)