Team McNabb: Building a Personal Brand

This sent to me by Josiah Castro about a WaPo article a few weeks ago.  McNabb is always relevant in DC but particularly relevant to our conversation last night.  Great insights on McNabb: The Brand and how he is positioning himself in a business to business strategy as McNabb: The Tactic.  Enjoy...

When we think of a “brand,” companies such as Nike, Gatorade, BMW come to mind. We really don’t think about our personal brand. I have been told for the past year that I should be developing my personal brand and be conscious of it, but have never really thought of my brand as a business until now. 

In a recent article in the Washington Post, new Redskins QB Donavan McNabb was discussed, not in the sports section, but in the business section. The article talked about “Team McNabb” and how as soon as McNabb was signed by the Redskins his team off the field started working on aligning him with predominate businesses inside the beltway. 

No stranger to endorsements, McNabb is looking to expand his reach and be a visible member of his new city. "Playing in the nation's capital gives Donovan access to a vibrant business community, a very committed philanthropic community, as well as the opportunity to work with the White House," Chicago-based attorney Andrew Stroth said in the article. Stroth serves as a business adviser on Team McNabb. 

Reading the article made me think more about my brand and how I hope to someday be able to leverage it in my career. If you have not read the article I highly recommend it (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/10/AR2010091003667.html) it is a great example of a brand that we don’t typically think of.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Time for Talk is Over

This piece was sent to me by Ryan Smeets.  Its a good find and Ryan poses some interesting questions.  Enjoy... 

Timberwolves President David Kahn has been criticized over the past few years for a variety of moves. The criticism has been warranted as the team continues to struggle since the departure of former franchise superstar Kevin Garnett.  In the 2010 season The Wolves won just 15 games and missed the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.

Expectations continue to be low for the coming 2010-11 season for a team

Last Monday, the Minnesota Timberwolves  purchased a full page ad in the Star Tribune. Below is the text:

“The time for talk is over

Okay, not quite. Right after this long-winded letter. Because we do have a lot of good things to talk about.

Fourteen months ago we laid out a plan: First, we would become a running team that plays an exciting up-tempo style of basketball. Second, we would get younger in order to build a team that could improve together and compete for a number of years. Third, we would instill a culture of hard work throughout our organization. Fourth, transparency. We’ll always let you know exactly what’s going on, occasionally via long-winded letters.

That was our plan over a year ago and it hasn’t changed one iota. In the off-season we added young, athletic wing players Wesley Johnson, Martell Webster and Lazar Hayward. They join Jonny Flynn, Corey Brewer and Wayne Ellington as guys who can get up and down the floor quickly and shoot the ball from the perimeter. We re-signed Darko Milicic and added Nikola Pekovic, giving us two more up-tempo big men to run with one of the best outlet passers in the game, Kevin Love. We took advantage of our cap room to acquire a potential star in Michael Beasley, who was the number one prospect in his high school class of 2007 and averaged 26 points and 12 rebounds in his one college season. And finally, we added Luke Ridnour, a push-the-pace player who becomes the team’s elder statesman at the age of 29.

We now have more shooting, athleticism and depth at every position, which will make us a better team this season. So will we challenge for the NBA championship this year?

Not likely.

Ouch. This honesty thing is a bit painful. But the reality is, we still need that one dominant player.

It’s possible that that player could already be on our roster. We have eight guys who were selected in the top seven picks of their respective drafts, and the average age of those players is 22. So the potential is there for someone to emerge. But in case that doesn’t happen, we’ll continue to manage our salary cap so that we have the flexibility to make that one move that can change a franchise.

We are confident, however, that this team will be exciting to watch. For the first time in years Wolves fans are going to feel like they’re missing out if they aren’t in the arena. So in addition to player development we’re working hard on fan development, starting with variable pricing and Flex Pack ticket packages that let you pick the games and seats that you want. The bottom line for fans is: We’re making it easier than ever for you to be part of our turnaround.

There’s been a lot of talk this off-season. The naysayers certainly have been vocal. And while we can understand a certain amount of skepticism, we know we’ve turned the corner. And we’re anxious to get after that first tipped ball so we can start to prove it.

Enough talk. It’s time to play.

Oh, wait. We forgot to talk about Rubio.

Next time. “

What do folks think of this action by the Wolves organization?

As a fan how would you react if your favorite team publicly admitted that they were not as good as other teams in the league?

What type of message does this send to the athletes on the team?

From a marketing strategy, is this a tactic that you would utilize for a losing team?

Old Spice: This Is Not Your Grandfather's Shaving Lotion

Old Spice has become an internet and advertising darling over the last 9 months and they are buzzing again with the new Old Spice NFL campaign featuring Ray Lewis.   The brand had become irrelevant until the Old Spice Man campaign launched during last year's Super Bowl which was very well received.  However,  the brand catapulted to internet legend with the Old Spice Man Replies campaign which still holds the record for the most viral video views in a 24 hour period.  President Obama's victory speech from Grant Park in Chicago is second, with over 1.2M views LESS than Old Spice Man Replies.

The latest installment in this campaign is the NFL version of Old Spice Man except this time it features Ray Lewis from the Baltimore Ravens.  This is a classic reverse engineering opportunity to break down the brand, the tactics involved, the target audience, the primary distribution vehicle and a ton of available research to inform the process.  Consider the following questions:

How has Old Spice adopted the "publisher" mentality in creating engagement opportunities for fans of the brand? 

Why Ray Lewis?

The Ray Lewis brand has risen dramatically since his legal problems in 2000.  Can you think of anyone else who has emerged from a murder trial to national brand spokesperson in such a short time?

Who is the target here?  Be careful, its not as obvious as you might think.

Engagement is optimal when brands actually become the conversation.  Some great examples here and here.

Interested to hear your thoughts. Enjoy...

Nike Pro Combat Uniforms: Reverse Engineer This...

There is a lot to dive in to here and I don't have time to do it in this post.  Nike Pro Combat was on full display during Monday night's Boise State-Virginia Tech game and it has sparked a lot of conversation across the web. 

Don't fool yourself into thinking this is about fashion.  Nike has spent years investing in college programs and owns about 80% of the D1 market.  Responding aggressively to Under Armour's claim on the performance apparel space, Nike is flexing its sponsorship muscle by basically just using uniforms as blatant advertising, much to the ire of hard core fans.  There are a lot of articles on this topic - here (thanks Meghan @megflan2), here and here.  Expect more on this later...

US Soccer: What's Up Next?

During personal introductions last night, it struck me that the number one sports memory from the summer was the World Cup.  There were some interesting versions of the same memory.  Alicia, from Brazil, gave the Americans in the room some simple context: "What if the Super Bowl was held once every four years?"

Megan described a social setting in which she remembered the Landon Donovan goal to become Group C champs but she couldn't remember who the US beat in that match.  Others shared similar sentiments acknowledging how special that moment was. 

Andrew Sharp (SBNation.com), one of the hottest young sports writers on the web,  distilled it this way: "USA-Algeria:  And Now A Whole Lot Of Americans Are Soccer Fans".  The entire piece can be found here but this quote captures the feeling we all felt that day:

On the brink of elimination, with American sports fans all across the country watching, we got a moment that we'll remember forever. As a sports fan, that's the holy grail—when something happens, and you know right then, for the rest of your life, you'll remember where you were for that moment. And isn't that true of the Landon Donovan's goal at 90:46?

The U.S. gave us one of those moments today. And now, instead of "What the heck was that?" we can say, in between catching our breath, "That was... Everything we could ever want from sports."

And of all things, soccer is what gave it to us.

...And just like that, it's a good bet that a whole lot of Americans just became soccer fans.

So now what does US Soccer do?  It's four years until the next World Cup and there are no guarantees for US success in those matches.  Football starts tomorrow - NFL football that is - and with the start of that season, Landon Donavan's gift to US Soccer will be placed on the shelf of nice memories, far, far away from the momentum it had just a few months ago.

If you were in charge of US Soccer, what would you do?  Big challenges but smart people are working on it...stay tuned.

And just for fun...

Welcome to My Sandbox

Welcome to Field of Play - my pet project designed to start conversations on the marketing of sports.  It is my contention that as a rule, the sports industry is by and large full of lazy marketers.  Lazy, not in the sense that they don't work hard.  They do.  Any one who has worked in sports for any length of time has certainly logged their share of hours.  The lazy aspect comes in the form of an overall failure to think outside of ticket programs (how many ways can you bundle games, seats and concessions), advertising campaigns (what picture and slogan will be used for the billboard this year) and in venue promotions.

There are some amazing things being done in marketing these days.  With the explosion of technology and social media, the opportunities to reach people in new and interesting ways are endless.  So why, generally speaking, do we as sports marketers always find ourselves following instead of leading?  Lack of resources has been the typical response to this question and while this may be true in many instances, shouldn't that fact alone drive more innovation?  Hierarchy and stringent rules, especially in the college ranks, is also an easy excuse but that doesn't reconcile with the fact that some of the most explosive marketing ideas around today have come out of these environments.

Which brings me back to my premise that we are lazy.  It is the intent of this site to ask some questions, raise some issues and have a whole lot of dialogue about how we who are in the business of marketing sports, can become better sports marketers.  It is my hope that the few who drop by and engage will be interested in challenging and not defending the status quo.  We may end up in the exact same place but I don't think so.

So here we go.  First question.  Why on earth would you start a new sports blog?  There are hundreds of thousands already and many of them focus on the sports marketing angle.  That is an easy one - you guessed it - I am lazy.  It is much easier to ask a question than answer it....let the conversation begin.