Another hit to Baseballs credibility: Won’t someone think of the children

Mark McGwire came out on Monday night stating that he took drugs during his long MLB career, one of many who has admitted to his cheating in recent times. Now, not being someone who pretends to know much about Baseball – I was however aware of McGwires magnificent achievement in breaking Baseballs season hitting record (even though in England Baseball is scarcely covered).

His status as a Baseball star Stateside was further reinforced to me when he popped up on an episode of my favourite cartoon; the Simpsons. McGwire and MLB carefully cultivated a wholesome image out of one of the games best known characters, marketing McGwire to millions of children who would dream about one day breaking his home run record. Yet he, like so many other Baseball‘stars’ before and after him only managed to reach the dizzy heights of sporting excellence by cheating.

How can baseball recover, and what of the next generation?

Baseball is clearly a sport tarnished. With its rich history; that is as much a part of American society as it is ingrained on its psyche, its carefully cultivated legends and the deep meaningful stories of rivalry and decades of epic battles. In one foul swoop a group of idolized individuals come along and shatter almost 100 years of brand building by MLB and its teams.

How can young people believe in baseball again, how can it possibly start and regain its credibility amongst the masses. If it was upto me I would start by wiping the records from history of all the known drug cheats. Then I would move to the players who are still playing but have admitted to, or been caught out taking performance enhancing drugs. I would make them wear bright pink uniforms for the rest of their careers, so when little Johnnie turns to his dad and asks why is that player in a different colour uniform his father can say, “he’s a cheat son, therefore no matter what he does he isn’t truly accepted in our sport”.

Baseball is by no means finished, but if ex heroes like McGwire keep announcing their sins to the world every few months then it has one hell of a challenge. MLB has to go back to basics and start thinking about the next generation, only then can fans start believing in the sport again and a platform from which future great stories can unfold once more.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100111&content_id=7900244&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Nike – a lesson in how to silence the sceptics

A nice post over at Wolff Olins.

It’s not just Nike’s new product focus which is more in tune with consumers environmental desires, but now their efforts are being noticed by not-for-profit organisations.

As mentioned on this blog before – it makes great business sense to meet head on the issues that consumers are raising. Creating solutions and outcomes that positions your brand positively with its stakeholders.

Step forward Nike…

http://www.wolffolinsblog.com/post/249547320/former-bad-boy-done-good

Feeding the cult

We’ve all heard of people adorning their bodies with tattoos of their favourite brands – well now you can go a step further and literally feed your passion.

Nike in association with Swiss design house +41 have produced some limited edition chocolate sneakers for the 25th anniversary of the air force 1. Coming in large version white and dark chocolate and in 3 small paired versions complete with box – these really are a collectors piece you don’t want to leave in the sun.

Is this the latest incarnation of the consumer who lives, breathes and now eats the lifestyle brands which define their existence? Only time will tell.

Get them here

http://www.plus41.ch/index.php

Are you a customer of Chelsea FC?

News announced on euFootball.Biz reports that Chelsea are conducting a major piece of market research on their fan base. The main aim of this inititatve is to improve advertising campaigns and help with new product launches.

That last sentence probably sums up the shift the world of football has made over the last 10 years. Its vast army of fans are now customers, just like in any other business and they increaingly want a world full of Chelsea. No longer are they seen as just a football club who interact with fans every Saturday afternoon – but instead they are a lifestyle brand that want there fans to interact with the brand everyday.

If this means using research to create products which extend the Chelsea brand and fit in with their fans desire for the club and what it stands for, then so be it. The emotional connection that football makes with its fans can make this proposition very compelling when done in the right manner.

The demand for proper marketing techniques within football is set to come to a club near you very soon.

Link:

http://www.eufootball.biz/Marketing/2407084-Chelsea-fan-research.html

Protecting the end-to-end experience

An interesting image broke a few weeks ago of the US mens Olympic Basketball team in their new Nike designed uniforms. The offending piece centered around mens coach Mike Krzyzewski covering Dwight Howards adidas sponsored footwear – blocking the 3 stripes from display. Further controversy surrounded the image was directed at Howard, who while holding the ball blocked the Nike swoosh with his dangling arm.

Nike have invested hundreds of millions of dollars on sponsoring the US team and it’s in their best interests to protect where possible the whole experience from head to toe. In team sports it should be expected that individual stars have their own deals that can often compromise the exclusivity and impact the teams endorser stands to gain.

Take for example Ronaldinho (Brazilian sccer star), at Barcelona he was head to toe a Nike guy, they used him in almost every campaign piece – such is his iconic status and reach. This week Ronaldinho signed for AC Milan, an adidas endorsed team. Adidas immediately announced that they had pre orders of 11,000 Ronaldinho shirts within 2 hours of his shirt number announcement. Nike, like most sports brands, would rather a situation exist where an authentic end-to-end Nike branded experience can be communicated to its audience. Until last week that was exactly what happened whenever he stepped out for FC Barcelona. In contrast Ronaldinho now dones the 3 stripes, with limited visibility given to his Nike sponsored boots.

Past rumors within sport marketing circles tell stories of certain brands paying big money to keep their major stars contracted to teams that have endorsement deals with their brand. The ability to control the whole experience is a scenario any sports manufacturer would want, as the ultimate platform to showcase their brand.

I predict the ability to control this seamless experience to become even more of a prevailing trend in the years to come.

check out full US basketball piece here:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/07/nike-vs-adidas.html

http://www.cnbc.com/id/25513177

Sports brands taking a stance

This appears to be something we are seeing more and more of in the industry.
Adidas announced Wednesday that they are boycotting Australian wool and sheep that have been mulesed.

Mulesing is viewed as an unnecessary way of taking wool from sheep and adidas communicated this in a letter to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in the United States declaring its position on the matter.

Fair play to adidas, they clearly have an agenda which appears to be addressing their production practices and appeal to consumers and their inner desire to do good. Only recently did they announce the grun collection which aims to better the environment by efficiently utilizing the natural resources of this world.

Now a worldwide consumer movement, as they (consumers) demand brands to be transparent and to offer clarity on their stance on certain issues. The sporting goods industry appear to be taking this as a real top of agenda item, reacting fast and with real purpose. Yes, consumers still and will always demand value but they also want a brand ‘with’ values – values that they can relate to in every sense of the word.

Beijing 2008 Brand Post

While I was away my friend at Truebranding Melissa posted an article on Brand Channel regarding the Olympic brand and China. A very well wrote and thought through piece.

Also a few interesting quotes from someone well known to this site.

http://brandcameo.net/start1.asp?fa_id=422

cheers

I’ve been away! But wearing my boots

Hi folks

Sorry I havent been in touch for a while

I have been traveling extensively and really struggled for computer time

Fear not – I am back and excited about a summer of sport on the horizon

One thing I will say is that I have managed to play some football in my new Nomis boots (as featured on the site). They are certainly an impress boot, I played in the wet and the outside skin on the boots were attracted to the ball in a way no other boot I have worn have managed. Quite literally the ball was sticking to my feet when I was pulling it out of the air. Also they position your stance slightly forward as the boots are raised at the heal, this gives the wearer a much better starting position for sprinting and what not. And they are very comfortable, although I did get the odd blister on first wear

Anyway check them out and keep reading the site.

The march of the green

Just got this pic in from a friend in London. Its for the new adidas grun collection which is creatively guided by the principles of, made from, recycled and reground. The collection is currently only available for their heritage line and is adidas’ attempt to produce sportswear which is good for the world and at the same time a sustainable proposition.

Now we see the 2 biggest sports brands on the planet producing sports wear which uses recycled and naturally sourced materials (Nike Considered being the other). This is a great thing for consumers who source eco-conscious products in other areas of their lives and can now do the same for sportswear.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this worked its way through the whole organisation, as elements of other lines followed a similar guiding principle. Consumers demanding ethically sourced sportswear is not a fad, its most certainly here to stay.

More news of the collection here
http://www.sneakerfreaker.com/sneaker-releases/Adidas-Grun-Collection/

Cricket, no longer playing with a straight bat

Well so far I haven’t written anything about cricket so I thought I would take this opportunity. (more to come in the next month)

Cricket is really starting to understand its role within the world. The new Indian Premier League looks more like the start of a glitzy American league or when the FA reinterpreted how a national football league should look when they launched the FA Premier League.

Sponsorship money is coming in from all angles, pink balls are being used in games, a new form of the game (20/20) is taking the world by storm and the ECB signed a big deal with adidas and have just released 3 kits. 3 kits you say!

Imagine if the FA had done that with the national soccer team, think of the uproar. A shirt for test match play, a one day kit and a 20/20 kit have all been launched for fans of the English side. Now, I think they look great but I’m not sure of the need to bring these all out at the same time. For one you wont get as much impact for individual kits and secondly I would imagine some confusion will exist with fans and customers about which shirt is which.

I think it is an opportunity missed by both the ECB and adidas. That said, if they plan on adopting a football model and changing the shirts every season, like some clubs, then its no big deal for them – it just hits the poor old fan in the pocket!`