Murray walks in Fred Perry’s footsteps again.

GB into the World Group Quarters after Querrey suffers double defeat from Ward and Murray

It was 79 years ago in 1935 that Perry led GB to their last victory over the USA at The All England Club, Wimbledon. Having ended 77 years of hurt for Great Britain when Murray followed him as Wimbledon champion last year, Murray followed in Fred’s footsteps again by giving his team an unassailable 3-1 victory over the USA.

Back in 1935 the match took place at Wimbledon, this time it was on a clay court laid on the left outfield of the San Diego Padres baseball stadium with a Budweiser logo prominently in shot for the TV cameras and on Superbowl weekend too – (well done Seahawks and anyone in the UK who stayed up until 3am to watch!)

Murray’s extraordinary Davis Cup achievements aside; 18 straight singles wins stretching all the way back to his very first appearance in 2005; it was

James Ward, ranked at 175 in the world, who produced the result of his career beating Sam Querrey in 5 sets and from 2 sets to 1 down. With Querry ranked 130 places above him it wasn’t exactly a dream result for Team USA led by the strangely suited and booted Jim Courier.

And is it just me, but just like Courier’s suit, does the Davis Cup need a serious re-brand and image update? How about an Olympic legacy along the lines of some great kit for starters? Then some thumping music and a little pzazz and excitement?! Come on ITF! Olympics aside, this is one of your great properties and great visibility for British Tennis and the LTA at a time when it is much needed. www.itftennis.com

Changes are needed in tennis given that fact that with Murray’s success both at the Olympics in 2012 and winning Wimbledon in 2013, the fact is that British tennis participation has fallen from 423,400 in April to 406,000 in October 2013. Tennis had a funding cut imposed in 2013 by Sport England of £530,000 and could lose up to 20% of its £17.4m 4 year award this year unless changes are made.

Conversely cycling has increased by 137,000 participants in the same period fuelled by Bradley Wiggins in the Tour de France and London 2012 and Chris Froome in the 2013 Tour.

If Murray continues to make himself available, (the vote for Scottish independence aside), there is no reason why Great Britain cannot go even further; starting with their quarter-final against Italy from 4-6 April, then a possible match against Kazakhstan or Switzerland in September.

The Italians are sure to want to play on clay and they will be formidable opposition with established top 40 players Fognini and Andreas Seppi to call upon.

Given that the LTA now has a new CEO – well done Michael Downey on your first victory – surely it is time for a fresh new dialogue with tennis fans and a new image for British Tennis. http://www.lta.org.uk/

With all this Davis Cup success, and new leadership with a new CEO and a highly experienced CCO, I am sure the future of British Tennis will be exciting. Roll on April, September and hopefully November.

The IOC - Wrestling with the appeal of Wrestling

The IOC & FILA - Wrestling with the appeal of Wrestling & The 10 Rules of Re-launch

The International Olympic Committee left wrestling out of the 2020 Olympic Games event programme following a meeting of the organisation’s executive board earlier this year in February in which all 26 sports were reviewed. Due to a cost cutting exercise to reduce the number of events and numbers of athletes competing at Summer Games the number of core sports were reduced to 25 and wrestling, a sport that has been in the Olympic Games since 708 BC...was dropped.

Apart from cost cutting reasons, the main reason wrestling was dropped has to be popularity. The IOC assessed each sport by looking at such factors as TV ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping and global popularity coupled with 39 other criteria including youth appeal, universality, popularity, good governance, respect for athletes and respect for the Olympic values. I believe wrestling was failing several of these criteria.

The International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) were shocked at the decision, stated a vote of no confidence in its President, Mr. Raphaël Martinetti, and subsequently appointed Nenad Lalovic to overhaul the sport.

What happened next was a cracking relaunch effort, published publicly and swiftly - 2 major plus points already; and he kicked off with lessons 1 & 2 - "be open, act swiftly". Also for the first time ever he invited the media to cover the conference.

Lesson 3 was empowerment - During his acceptance speech, Lalovic gave all of those at the FILA Congress a small gift. He said that the person in that envelope would be responsible for putting the changes in wrestling into effect. The gift was a small mirror.

He delivered the message with passion and commitment to make a difference (4) and, with immediate effect he changed the rules (5) to increase appeal because no-one understood them.

Lessons 6 & 7 were inclusion & equality  - he set in place a constitution to include more women and more current and former athletes to have a say on the future of the sport.

He also placed a very clear emphasis on the consumer (8) with marketing, sponsorship, PR and broadcast - especially the latter in terms of televising the sport and broadening its appeal to younger people. There will also be greater focus on the hero's and heroines of the sport to create global ambassadors (9).

Lesson 10 is very simple - he just got on with it. No messing, no fussing, just very clear action.

In summary, he set a very clear direction, defined the objective and sold the vision with a time-bound agenda; he included the key stakeholders and informed everyone they had a part to play. He acted with passion and commitment and set clear leadership standards for others to follow; and he executed with excellence. Bravo!!

Wrestling was competing with seven other sports for one single space, but following a vote in Russia the three remaining sports are now squash, roller sports and baseball/softball.

With Roger Federer supporting squash we will wait and see who wins the final spot but personally I believe the sport will be re-included when the IOC meets in Buenos Aries in September. 

For a sport that has been in Olympic existence since 708 BC I think it would be a crying shame not to include it. 

"Time to Lance The Boil of Doping?". The Livestrong Legend of Lance Armstrong will be tested

"Time to Lance The Boil of Doping?"

The Livestrong Legend of Lance Armstrong will be tested

"The most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen." This is how Travis Tygart, USADA chief executive, labelled the doping regimen allegedly carried out by the US Postal Service/Discovery team that Armstrong once led.

Given the years of denial the interview will be incredible. Have a look at The Telegraph montage.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/lancearmstrong/article9601294.ece#ooid=t5a2g1NjrZl_3gU52zvKkYi7z6DQbrd5

By now Lance Armstrong has given his exclusive, “no holds barred” “no questions off-limits” 90 minute interview to Oprah Winfrey, due to be broadcast on Winfrey's OWN network and live-streamed online from 21:00 EST on Thursday 17 January (02:00 GMT on Friday in the UK) Jan 18.

“No holds barred” Really?!!!!

In a text to the AP on Saturday, Armstrong said: "I told her (Winfrey) to go wherever she wants and I'll answer the questions directly, honestly and candidly. That's all I can say."

After recording the interview on Monday, Winfrey tweeted: "Just wrapped with @lancearmstrong. More than 2 1/2 hours . He came READY!"

Surely not?! Rehearsed?! Shocked! I don’t think that his lawyer, Tim Herman, would have allowed his client to have a comfy sofa chat with Oprah in his home in Austin, Texas given that Armstrong has a decade of libel cases and is currently being sued by The Sunday Times, SCA Promotions, and potentially the US Department of Justice, donors to Livestrong Foundation, and the Tour de France. Given that he has lost his sponsors Nike, Trek and Budweiser he is down to date by about £13m.

He could also face perjury charges if he openly confesses to using performance-enhancing drugs, because he made sworn testimony in a 2005 court case that he had never done so. Someone turn the fan on and get the tissues out. This will be a weepy, heartfelt confession of pain and anguish, of “everyone else was doing it, we were just better”.

So why give the interview? Rumours of him wanting to run for governor of Texas to him just wanting to compete again in marathons and triathlons abound.

What is certain is that his commercial and brand worth is zero and this is an opportunity to be selective with the truth, tell a fantastic story, and re-build brand Armstrong. Typically called a “re-launch”.

Everyone else does it nowadays so why not?

However it is tough to do when you start with a level of arrogance seen in his tweet of 10 Nov 2012: “Back in Austin and just layin' around...” with this picture.

When you examine the litany of accusations in the USADA report below, what is evident is that Armstrong is hugely mentally and physically driven, a fighter, a cunning manipulator, strategic and a maverick. There is no doubt he has been well rehearsed and that his questions will have been agreed and prepped in advance…we live in a PR driven, rehearsed, social media and celebrity brand age.

Armstrong USADA report key claims

Achievements of USPS/Discovery Channel pro cycling accomplished through the most sophisticated, professional and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen

Armstrong's career at the team was fuelled from start to finish by doping

More than a dozen former team-mates, friends and former team employees confirm a fraudulent course of conduct

Armstrong acted with the help of a small army of enablers, including doping doctors, drug smugglers and others within and outside the sport and his team

He had ultimate control over not only his own personal drug use but over the doping culture of the team

Team staff were good at predicting when testers would turn up and seemed to have inside information
Evidence is beyond strong and as strong as any case ever brought by Usada

USADA's key claims accompany allegations of bribery by Armstrong offering the USADA a donation “In excess of £150,000.” for new doping testing equipment, also confirmed by Armstrong’s lawyer, Tim Herman; along with another £62,000 donated to the International Cycling Union - now the subject of an internal bribery investigation.

In the words of another former cycling drug cheat Matt de Canio "He (Armstrong) is basically going to do and say anything that will mean that you can still buy a candy bar with his face on it or a bicycle that he endorses."

Armstrong can and will turn his brand around….Look at Bill Clinton. Americans have a wonderful sense of forgiveness that if someone is contrite enough then let them re-build their American dream.

Personally I cannot wait for Friday 2am UK time.....it will be epic.

Look out for Lance Armstrong in 5 years time as governor of Texas and winning triathlons.

At least he gets to keep the Tour de France yellow maillot in his home museum.

"if you can't measure it you can't manage it - why it all starts with insight"

I have always been a huge advocate of knowing the consumer: who are they, which of them are your brand champions, what content to deliver to them and in what format?.... why dialogues get started, and why some stories "tip" and start a wildfire?


So why am I such an insight advocate? 

 - Well insight actually tells a brand / sponsor / rights holder who your fan actually is, what they look like, what brands they buy and why your sponsorship actually works....or doesn't. It will actually enable rights holders to keep sponsors and find new ones. Sounds dumb and like teaching grandma to suck eggs? Well read on Macduff.....

 - Another reason is that the MD's whims / "Chairman's choices" don't actually stand up to scrutiny when challenged by a few focus groups; or actually 50,000 followers on twitter, 500,000 likes on facebook or 6 million unique website visitors....and of course the research and analytics that go with it.

- Yet another reason, if you needed another, is to get one over on the budding marketers who work in finance and accounting who decimate budgets around September just because the company isn't hitting profit targets. Or why the Chairman likes Tennis, cricket, golf, fill the blank in. Whatevs!!


I actually stumbled across insight a couple of times in my career on some cracking brands like Tropicana (£292m), Copella (£60m) and Wall's sausages (~£70m), where I had the luxury of spending £150k on insight, and have used it fruitfully on World Rally Championship when some qualitative video footage of real fans from Wales Rally GB scared the bejesus out of my colleagues!! I can't repeat the terms used but they couldn't believe how old, beardy and weirdy they were!

Now I get that spending £150k isn't realistic for every agency or sport, but no insight isn't the answer either and insight doesn't have to be expensive, just be creative.


One of the definitions of insight for those who don't know is "a penetrating discovery about needs and motivations that unlocks opportunities to create shareholder value".

Read another way, insight helps drive commercial growth through customer centric marketing strategies...a statement to please even the most hardened CFO!

So insight = who is your fan, what do they buy, where do they shop, why do they love your sports and will they part with their hard earned cash for your over-inflated merchandise made in China?.....plus given the fact that most sports fans eat and drink, what brands do they buy - Pepsi? Maximuscle? Gatorade? Red Bull?....and therefore where can the sponsorship teams look for great partnerships.

For instance the current Dove partnership with rugby.....a great idea that has delivered results, obviously through measuring response, sales and insight. 
The brand has taken major strides into rugby union with the announcement of partnerships for its Dove Men+Care brand with both the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU).

These deals complement the brand's existing partnership with Europe's club tournaments the Heineken Cup, the Amlin Challenge Cup, as well as its title sponsor of Wales' Autumn Internationals, the Dove Men’s Series.

Another is from the insight & sports agency two circles, (http://www.insidetwocircles.com), and their work with the ECB....clever, clever, clever.  In their own words: "The programme ensured every cricket ticket buyer at every international and domestic Friends Life t20 fixture during 2012 was asked for feedback through an online survey, within 1 hour of play ending."

They go on to say: "Cricket is one of the most popular sports on television in this country and the insight is essential to help the sport attract more people to the grounds through assessing the needs of its customers and improving their match day experience."

http://www.insidetwocircles.com/projects/cricket-fans-shaping-the-matchday-experience/

In summary an Einstein equation is needed - In the great man's own words "A well defined problem is 90% solved". 

No insight = no brand; no property that can be monetised efficiently and effectively for the long term. 

Long term partners =long term success, and insight is the route to success.

Good luck with the insight!

The power of the personal brand - Lewis Hamilton

Further to Lewis Hamilton's negotiations about the 2013 season we now know that he will be driving for Mercedes AMG F1. Hamilton was a 13 year old go karter when he signed for McLaren and although the 27-year-old has plenty of time on his side, it seems he could not wait any longer. He is leaving...but why?

Given the fact that McLaren initially proposed a cut in salary, with Martin Whitmarsh replacing his mentor Ron Dennis as team principal, and McLaren not being able to give him a car to win a title since 2008, the time was right to make a decision.


I am sure that with this history of frustration Mercedes looked like a better move on several fronts. This could be his riskiest career move but it could also be wonderfully astute.


XIX Entertainment will take a large cut of the contract and of any future fees but in the legal world of sports marketing and contracts Hamilton is now free to pursue the power of the personal brand - Brand Hamilton.

With XIX Entertainment and Mercedes, Lewis will have greater freedom to pursue personal sponsors to match his on track earnings, boost his global personality and his mainstream celebrity.


Also on XIX's client roster are US Open Grand Slam winner and 2012 Olympics double medal winner Andy Murray as well as David Beckham. Beckham's move to LA Galaxy mirrors Hamilton's move, and has actually meant that Beckham has been able to spend more time building his personal brand. However would Beckham have traded in some of those millions to be able to actually play in the Olympics in 2012? Who knows!

So what are the key steps to personal branding in sports?


Aaker’s (1997) conceptualisation of Brand Personality features five dimensions: Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication and Ruggedness, each comprised of a 
number of individual personality traits that are appliucable here.
Sincerity represents warmth and acceptance; Excitement represents sociability, energy and activity; Competence represents responsibility, dependability and security; Sophistication represents class and charm; and Ruggedness 
represents masculinity and strength.

Looking at some enduring icons in sport we can learns some lessons about creating a unique and vibrant brand that include these elements:

GOOD, PERSONAL ICONIC BRANDING
Ian Poulter in golf; Ian has 1.4m followers on twitter, and his own clothing range with his IJP logo. Others include Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg in tennis, Michael "Air" Jordan, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Luol Deng, basketball 

BE AUTHENTIC AND CONSISTENT
The most memorable ads for me were the curse of the Gillette Three ads that one minute had Tiger Woods, Thierry Henry and Roger Federer and then 2 scandals later just Roger Federer!



BUILD YOUR PERSONAL REPUTATION
Your reputation = your brand. Please note Mr Woods above who lost a raft of sponsorship deals after an incident involving a 9 iron, a car, a fire hydrant and his wife.

David Beckham and his Olympic involvement created a wonderful brand personality that was James Bond like.

Social media profiles and interaction with fans is crucial, as is fan acquisition is this ever present digital age.



BUILD YOUR STRATEGIC BRAND ASSOCIATIONS
Build partnerships that are symbiotic - take the recent O2 and Nike brand partnership - sheer genius!

Rolex partnerships with golf, sailing, tennis and with brand personalities like Roger Federer, Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzanegger et al.



BE MEMORABLE - LEVERAGE WHO YOU ARE
Mike Tyson, always memorable, never forgotten, but he is an icon for boxing and could leverage himself further with product endorsements.



The future is bright for Lewis as one of the most marketable athletes in F1. His biggest current deal is with Reebok, which pays him $3 million annually and he earned an estimated $28 million in salary and endorsements between June 2011 and June 2012.

So not only has he signed a 3 year deal with Mercedes that is estimated to be worth at least $24 million a year in salary, but he will massively boost his personal brand and future earnings by a similar amount.


The power of personal branding.

The Horse Racing industry - "Racing for Change"

If you want to see sheer brilliance in sports commercial marketing and PR as a beacon for other sports then take a look at the racing for change website www.lovetheraces.com

The website and inititative is there to simplify and create a structure for Horse racing in the UK. Why? Because 90% of the UK population don't go to the races, and because quite frankly horse racing is very confusing. So confusing that consumers tend to stay away because of the horse racing language, betting, personal opinions, animal welfare, racing not seen as a family day out and the stomping ground of ageing men in tweed jackets etc. etc.

Personally I find horse racing extremely confusing which actually stops me from going to the races, (along with a young baby!) : Different age horses, flat, jump, hurdle, meeting, festival, series, etc; let alone the betting quagmire, odds and trying to understand the Racing Post! Racing seems like an unfriendly and closed sport because of the language, rites and rituals, and the complexity.

So in the words of the website: 
"Lovetheraces.com was created by Racing Enterprises Limited as part of the "Racing for Change" initiative. The site aims to appeal to new and infrequent racegoers by offering a wealth of engaging and interactive content"


Racing for Change is an initiative created by Racing Enterprises Ltd, the commercial arm of British horse racing. Racing Enterprises is a joint venture company whose shareholders are the racecourses and the Horsemen’s Group (owners, trainers, jockeys, breeders and stable staff). Our aim is to broaden the appeal of the sport with the objective of increasing participation and revenues and protecting the thousands of jobs that exist within British Horse racing."





However horse racing is the UK's second largest, spectator sport, employer in sport and contributor to GDP and has an economic impact of £2.4bn to the UK.

One major issue that the horse racing industry is facing is that it has a loyal fan base, but an ageing demographic, with seven out of ten customers aged 46 years or over. 
So what has Racing for Change, lovetheraces.com, (and the whole industry), achieved on less than £1m spend? 

• The Lovetheraces.com website, designed as an entry point for new racegoers, with a particular focus on a younger demographic, has attracted over 200,000 unique visitors in 2011, up from 60,000 in 2010.
• 28 student racing clubs have been set up with their own CEO and a project with St Martins School of Art produced some cool designs for silks.
• Racecourses offer family racing days as well as "kids go free" racing
• Racecourse attendance for 2011 is up by 6% to 6.1m
• and racecourse sponsorship, and terrestrial & broadcast revenue is at £16m with a new deal signed with Channel 4 of between £15 and £20 million. This is against a background of racing actually paying broadcasters for coverage, so a huge achievement.
• QIPCO, sponsors of the newly created Champions Series have renewed their deal for 5 years and Investec, sponsors of the Epsom Derby have renewed for 10 years.
• Frankie Dettori won yet another race at York, AP McCoy was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2010 and Frankel The Wonder Horse has won 13 out of 13 races!

Racing is truly holding its own in the currently tough commercial environment, has admitted to he world that innovation and change is the way forward and has shown that y working together that they are  racing ahead with impressive change.
Well done to Rod Street and the whole team at REL and Racing for Change.

British Airways "Don't Fly" Olympic/Paralympic Campaign."Tongue in cheek" or "foot in mouth" ?!

BA and its advertising agency BBH seemed to have created a fantastic "sales avoidance" Olympics ad campaign, which coming from a set of creative marketers seems a bit foolish! The TV and poster campaign had an objective of stopping everyone from flying out of the country for the Olympics to support the British Olympic teams and have now launched a similar ParalympicsGB ad.

It uses the slogan: "Don't fly support Team GB". BA professed to the campaign being "very tongue in cheek", but it seems more "foot in mouth".

The interactive element is on facebook & YouTube where you can input your postcode and see a neighbour's house using Google Streetview, tag yourself in photos at the Olympic park etc. However BA's facebook site has less than 500k likes and the YouTube ad just shy of 1 million views.

However brand activation within the Olympic site with "Park Live presented by BA" is a great idea since it became the Henman Hill of the Olympic site and gave the brand visibility. BA also teamed up with Metro to offer competition winners tickets to watch the Olympics on the big screens at Park Live.

British Airways spent £40 million in 2008 to become a tier one sponsor and be the official airline of London 2012, and their Olympic campaign launched more than a year ago. It began in May 2011 with a predominantly print-based campaign entitled “They Will Fly” featuring British athletes sponsored by BA. Initially BA stated they would not use TV but then created a clever CGI TV ad of a BA Boeing 777 taxiing passengers through the streets of London to ‘London Calling’ by The Clash. The plane comes to a halt at Stratford’s Olympic Stadium with the tagline: “Don’t fly. Support Team GB.”
According to Abigail Comber BA's head of brands the Team GB and ParalympicsGB sponsorship is its largest ever sponsorship campaign: "This campaign is stand out in terms of its longevity, most campaigns are a lot more tactical, selling products over just a two- or three-month period. This is our largest-ever sustained campaign stretching over 12 months."

In summary the ideas are good but the sponsorship execution is weak. BA seem to be spending £60+ million telling customers not to fly. I am also unclear as to what the sponsorship is adding to the BA brand or even to the Olympics itself.

• What are they selling? The brand or flights, or are they just supporting Team GB / ParalympicsGB? 
• It seems like a generic message with low brand attribution to the Olympics and poor advertising branding for BA.
• Facebook activation is low - less than 500k likes for a 12 month campaign, but at least YouTube is at 1m views.

All in all a poor level of activation, a lack of synergy between a brand and a sponsorship property, and poor creative execution. Shame