Creative Marketing Needed for Olympic Sports

(ATR) Sponsorship of the U.S. Speedskating team by "The Colbert Report," a cable comedy show, is the type of creative marketing other companies need to emulate, says Harvey Schiller, president of the International Baseball Federation.

Appearing on the panel, "Winning the Corporate Branding Game: The New Rules of Sports Marketing," hosted by the Atlanta office of Ketchum Sports & Entertainment, Schiller said the top tiers of sponsorship are almost locked in by corporations like Coca-Cola. To capture marketing dollars at a lower level, he said, "You've got to think about other groups that have not been in this business before. There's somebody willing to spend half a million or more on something because they're convinced it's going to make a difference."

Schiller, who is also chairman of the board and CEO of Global Options Group, has seen sponsorship from various perspectives. He is a former executive director/secretary general of the USOC and former President of Turner Sports.

Gary Stokan, President of the Atlanta Sports Council, which has brought in events including the Super Bowl and NBA All-Star Game that have generated $1.7 billion in economic impact in the past 10 years, and Ann Wool, managing director of Ketchum Sports & Entertainment, were also on the panel.

Schiller said three factors are having the most effect on how U.S. consumers are influenced by sponsorships: demographics, immigration patterns and how to pique the public's interest.

Schiller said there were 11 percent fewer births within the age group that is now about 40 years old, which means fewer candidates to buy houses and cars. Although many Europeans immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1900s, now immigrants come more from Southeast Asia, Latin America and Russia and they "are not as easily assimilated as previous groups," he said. "Those people hold onto their ethnicity; 65 percent of the population of Queens is not from New York."

And finally, Schiller said, "How do you fit in as a sport to what the public expects?"

He said the sports at the top - in the U.S., that means football, basketball and baseball - are still popular, but at the expense of emerging sports like lacrosse and even established sports like golf. "The ones at the top seem to be draining most of the attention," he said.

Schiller said sponsors must forget about appealing to older generations that have money, but less incentive to spend, and cater to people born since 1980. "They're the ones who are going to tell you what they're going to buy," he said.

Wool, who doubled as the panel moderator, said companies are pulling away from the sponsorship activities of the past 10-15 years. They're focusing more on their core business and casting off properties that are producing less return on investment.

Schiller said the emphasis going forward is still going to be tied to the economic changes brought about by the global crisis, but that there would be fewer major brands.

"There will be a more concentrated effort on a particular brand vs. money being spent across many brands," he said.

USOC and the World

Stokan, who hosted visitors from Beijing's Olympic organizing committee, and made recommendations to the Chicago 2016 bid, said the USOC is in "some trouble" and the hiring of its next CEO is crucial.

"I don't think the IOC needs us as much as they needed us in the past," he said. "Look at the sponsor base: the IOC is going worldwide now. It used to be mainly U.S. companies. Now they don't need to come to the U.S. and do a big deal, because of higher TV rights from Europeans and South Americans. The dependence on the USOC is going to wane a little bit, and that's detrimental to the USOC."

Stokan noted that the USOC has struggled with international relations, but Schiller said that globetrotting role should be filled by the chairman, Larry Probst, not the new CEO.

"They still look at the highest person," Schiller said. "There's a tremendous amount of anti-Americanism among the European community, starting with the war in Iraq and the growth of American military."

He said American attitudes rub some Europeans the wrong way. "A lot of people left Europe to become Americans," Schiller said. "The ones that didn't (leave) didn't want to become Americans.

"They like to watch our movies, but will do thing against our business interests."

U.S. Television Rights

Stokan believes that ESPN, which paid $100 million more than network rival Fox offered for college football's premier Bowl Championship Series, could win the rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympics. He said advertising is the only way networks can make the rights fee back, but ESPN also receives money from cable subscriptions.

Schiller said that if the expected deal for Comcast to buy a controlling 51 percent stake in NBC Universal goes through, it could work against NBC retaining the rights. "NBC understands the branding more than Comcast does to have the peacock with the rings," he said.

He also said he would not eliminate some other possible players, including CBS, which could partner with Turner. "It's always down to who's going to write the biggest check," Schiller said.

Challenge of Soccer in U.S.

Schiller said that the way soccer is produced and broadcast - "You see a lot of people running around, but you don't see a camera on their face like in baseball," has hurt the sport's growth in the U.S.

Being a non-contact sport hasn't helped, either. "In America, once you're in our culture, you like to hit somebody," he said. "We love to see a play at home plate, and see two people knocking into each other."

Schiller joked that when fencing officials asked how to grow their sport, he would reply, "take the tips off."

He also said the limitations on betting in the U.S. have worked against soccer. Europe has national lotteries, but most betting in the U.S. on college and pro football has had to be underground.

"We are a very conservative nation," Schiller said, noting that 22 of the 50 states allow telephone betting on pari-mutuel racing, but it's not nationwide as it is in Europe.

"If we can't do it in the U.S.," he said, "I'm not sure we can grow the sport."

Stokan, who is part of the U.S. bid for the World Cup in 2018/2022, said Atlanta has never been a soccer city.

But with the Hispanic following that now exists in Atlanta, two matches in the Georgia Dome over the summer drew more than 50,000 spectators apiece.

"We're going to start bringing friendlies on an annual base to grow interest," he said.

Written by Karen Rosen.