On-The-Scene -- Record Marketing Budget for World Championships

(ATR) Promoting the largest sports event of the year in a sprawling city of 12 million people has cost Moscow 2013 organizers and the IAAF a record $5.7 million.

"This is the largest campaign promoting the world championship," IAAF general secretary Essar Gabriel tells Around the Rings. "It’s really all over [Moscow]."

Although total attendance was underwhelming for the first three days, with many using the term "sparse," the available seats were nearly full Tuesday night when star pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva won the gold in front of a vocal, jubilant home crowd.

"It is important to ensure that an event like this is embraced," Gabriel says. "We are told by the local organizing committees, and we’re seeing it with the daily ticket sales, which have jumped."

Before the event began on Saturday, organizers proudly --- and no doubt with a measure of relief -- reported that 85 percent of the available 450,000 tickets (over all sessions) had been sold and the two final nights were sold out.

When official numbers were released, the attendance was:

Saturday morning: 9,420 spectators; Saturday night (including opening ceremony): 31,895; Sunday morning: 12,861; Sunday night (men’s 100-meter final with Usain Bolt): 40,461; Monday morning: 9,350; Monday night: 23, 707; Tuesday morning 15,674.

The attendance on the night of the 100-meter final was an increase over the 30,899 in Daegu, South Korea, in 2011. It was also the largest crowd to see track and field in Russia since the 1980 Olympics were held in the former Soviet Union.

However, Olympic 400-meter hurdles champion Felix Sanchez told reporters that Luzhniki Stadium was day and night compared to the London Olympics last year. "It’s dead," he said. "There’s no atmosphere."

For Saturday and Sunday, the stadium, which usually holds 80,000 spectators, was configured to allow for 43,000 spectators and 16,000 accredited guests (VIPs, media, athletes, etc.). For Monday, more sections were blocked off by decorative covers to lower the capacity to 34,000 spectators – and the stadium was not full.

Ticket prices were as low as 100 rubles, about $3.

Because Muscovites are known for buying walk-up tickets, that also makes organizers optimistic.

IAAF vice president Sergey Bubka, who oversaw the coordination of the event, told Reuters that the weather might have discouraged attendance by those who did buy tickets.

"It was hot and very sunny and I know for Muscovites — they always go to their dachas, they go outside, and maybe someone has bought a ticket and they don’t attend," Bubka said. "We insisted very seriously and very strongly regarding a promotion campaign and a lot of money was invested."

In the three weeks before the event, organizers spent $1 million on the television campaign alone.

The message was "come to the stadium, the world’s best athletes will be here. Experience the emotions of a live event," Nick Davies, deputy secretary general of the IAAF, tells ATR.

Although there were no street banners like those seen in Daegu, the much smaller South Korean city that hosted the 2011 Worlds, or building wraps like in Berlin in 2009, advertisements have been sprinkled throughout the city.

A super-size cut out of Bolt appears in Pushkin Square, while live Olympic gold medalists, including Kirani James of Grenada and Sally Pearson of Australia, showed up in Red Square last week to promote the event.

On radio, four major stations, including AutoExpress and Europa Plus, have had 30-second ads six times a day since July 1.

On the Metro, 10,000 stickers have been on the side roofs of all carriages on all lines since July 23.

A World Championships video spot has appeared on screens in the trains running between airports and Moscow from middle of May, while World Championships stands in passport control zones in Moscow airports were installed on July 17. The airport also has flags and a welcome desk.

For the English speakers, 15 advertisements are in the top sport newspapers, the Moscow Times and Spot Express.

Promo events, with mascots and leaflets, have been held in major public places including Gorky Park.

Within the city, advertisements include:

· 15 supersites (15 x 5m)

· 200 billboards (6 x 3m) including 41 in Luzhniki Park, a popular weekend leisure destination

· 250 city formats (1.2 x 1.8 m)

· 300 telephone booths (1.2 x 1.8m)

· 100 bus stops (1.2 x 1.8m)

· 22 City giant screens

· 12 decorated trolley buses

"The interesting thing about Russia is they have a very big sport culture," Davies says. "In organized sports, they have 300,000 licensed athletes. They have 6,000 coaches in athletics. That data base through social media and direct contacts was activated as well."

He said that 450,000 tickets is "a lot of tickets to shift for one sport. It doesn’t happen in swimming or gymnastics or any of the other Olympic sports."

The mayor of Moscow, Davies says, has purchased packages for sport schools and children. A Canadian businessman has also bought packages and others have been sold to groups. Ukrainian spectators, who wear yellow and blue shirts and sit according to their color to form their nation’s flag, make up a sizable contingent.

Davies says that one usual area of activation, through national sponsorship partners such as banks and airlines, is missing in Moscow because the government is responsible for the budget.

"The point is they don’t need to go out and kill themselves selling partnerships," Davies says, "so, of course, what it means is there’s more pressure on them. They alone had to do all the marketing."

With five days of competition remaining, organizers hope even more seats will be occupied.

"In the end, you do your best with the tickets," Davies says. "You never know. Do they show up? Do they not show up? To be fair, we couldn’t have done very much more."

Written by Karen Rosen.

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