Trevor Young | PR Warrior blog | Where PR meets social media meets content marketing

Australian Open Connects Tennis Fans Around the World {PR Warrior Hat-Tip}

I've always been of the (ahem, strong) opinion that if you're involved in marketing a sport or major sporting event, then whatever you're currently doing in terms of social media and the web - DOUBLE IT!

Sport - being in smack-bang in a high-interest category when it comes to consumers - involves emotion and committed (nutty?) fans; buzz abounds, everyone has an opinion, conversations are aplenty.

The goal is to facilitate, harness and get involved authentically in those conversations. You can't do that with advertising or naff promotions. 

Tremendous Potential

What a fabulous opportunity to encourage people to get involved with your sport or event and help build invaluable word-of-mouth rather than spend too much of your budget on crappy outdated advertising techniques.

Thus it gladdens my heart to see the organisers of the 2012 Australian Tennis Open - which kicks off tomorrow - harnessing the tremendous potential available to them in terms of fan engagement and the social web. 

Centrepiece of their digital efforts is the event's online 'Fan Centre' featuring its soon-to-be-launched 'Fan Centre Social Leaderboard'.

The Social Leaderboard is breathtaking in its simplicity. 

When you tweet about a player or 'like' them, you increase their social ranking helping them rise up the Fan Centre Social Leaderboard. Every mention and 'like' counts.

Organisers urge fans to "get behind your favourite player and help them reach the top". I bet the fans will engage in droves!

Other digital initiatives include:

• Twitter account @PopcornTennis - "daily bite-sized rundown of all that's fun and frivolous at the Australian Open 2012" - cool sideline tactic.
• Australian Open Vault - people can check out their fave classic matches and share with friends via social networks - repurposing old content and reinforcing the event's heritage, awesome.
• Australian Open official program 2012 free iPad app - a must-have these days, will prove popular.
• Australian Open TV - all the latest video and radio clips covering the event - real-time on-demand content perfect for today's time-poor digital consumer.

 According to this report on Mashable:

“We’re concentrating more than ever on engaging socially with our fans,” Daniel Lattimer, who works on the digital team for the event, told Mashable. “We were the first Grand Slam on Twitter, and engagement has been going up there and on Facebook, so it’s important to provide people with that complement to the actual watching of the tennis during the tournament.”

Could the organisers of the Australian Open 'double' their social efforts as I so often encourage sports marketers to do?

Well, you can always do more of course - i.e. media-friendly interactive and socialised online newsroom, aggregated tweet stream from the players' accounts, engagement with bloggers rather than just mainstream journos (not sure if this was done) - but from where I sit the Oz Open people have done a mighty fine job in coming up with creative ideas for engaging consumers, integrating the digital elements and making it all about the fans rather than simply pumping out stuff willy-nilly via Twitter and Facebook. 

Hopefully the marketing and PR folk of Australia's other big ticket sporting events are taking notice!

Follow the Australian Open on Twitter - @AustralianOpen, and on Facebook.

Rafael Nadal Press Conference ~ PIC: Ben Solomon/Tennis Australia

 

The Future of Newspapers: Depth and Personality

Producing unique content that adds depth and personality to its brand is something Melbourne's biggest-selling newspaper the Herald Sun is experimenting with as it makes the transition from 'old media' to 'new media'.

The Herald Sun's owner News Corporation signalled some 12 months ago it intended to start charging for access to its global network of news sites, with News Corp head honcho Rupert Murdoch pledging to shake up the newspaper industry by charging for editorial content.

In an article on The Guardian's website, Murdoch was quoted as saying that change was inevitable.

"We're certainly satisfied that we can produce significant revenues from the sale of digital delivery of newspaper content," the Guardian reported.

Interview with Finn Bradshaw, Herald Sun

According to the newspaper's online sports editor Finn Bradshaw, the Herald Sun brand "is still strong here" compared to many daily newspapers around the world, especially in the US.

"We've got a good base," he says.

24-Hour News Operation

Chatting to the PR Warrior ahead of his appearance at the forthcoming Digital Sport Summit in Melbourne, Bradshaw says the newspaper continues to make the transition from daily newspaper to a 24-hour news operation.

Adding value and creating unique content is all part of the plan, he says. 

According to Bradshaw, a good example of content that "adds depth and personality to the brand" is the newspaper's daily video program Footy at 4 which, he says, has a solid base of viewers.

The video, anchored by Herald Sun sports journalists Jon Ralph and Sam Edmund, is an irreverent look at AFL footy news of the day.

"It's been a surprising success story," he says of Footy at 4.

When Bradshaw first started with the Herald Sun three years ago, creating content for online was considered "a bit of an afterthought".

However, he says now journalists are happy to submit "hard and breaking news" via the web.

They see the value of being first with the news and if that means going with it online versus waiting until the newspaper comes out the next day, then so be it. 

Great Promotion

The Herald Sun boasts a core group of experienced sports journalists who provide the brand with "great promotion" across multiple media channels.

Chief football writer Mike Sheahan, for example, is a regular on radio 3AW and Fox Sports. Mark Robinson is another - he appears regularly on SEN radio as well as Channel Seven.

"They're comfortable with multimedia and they're recognised names in their own right. People feel they have a relationship with the journos."

A number of the sports reporters are also active on Twitter, including @RalphyHeraldSun, @SamEdmund and StevoHeraldSun.

According to Bradshaw, they're "loving it".

He says Twitter allows the journalists to "communicate stuff, give extra that might not be (strong enough for) a story."

In his 'How Technology is Changing the Media Landscape' presentation to the Digital Sport Summit, Bradshaw will be touching on the issue of newspapers generating new streams of revenue via digital applications such as the iPad.

The summit will feature a strong line-up of speakers, including:

Jeramie McPeek (VP Digital Operations, Phoenix Suns)

Darren Rowse (Problogger)

Harry O'Brien (Collingwood footballer)

The event will be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 7.

Click here for booking details.

DISCLOSURE: I will be attending the summit courtesy of the organiser Anthony Alsop.

Tiger Promotion Worth Every Cent to Victoria

Governments are not noted for their wise use of the public purse, but in the case of the Victorian State Government, its decision to spend $3 million bringing Tiger Woods to Melbourne for the 2009 JBWere Australian Masters golf tournament has been a terrific promotional investment.

Check out the photo below - that's Tiger in the green shirt and white cap, besieged by fans and the media as he hits the fairway at Kingston Heath for a pre-tournament hit-up.

The buzz in Melbourne has been absolutely crazy. The media, as one would expect, is salivating at a the slightest glimpse of the Tiger; the public - even those not remotely interested in golf - have also been gripped by Tigermania.

The PR lesson? Celebrity marketing can be an incredibly effective strategy when the right person is engaged, and then leveraged properly.

Tiger Woods ticks every box. Three million dollars might seem like a lot of cash but for the Melbourne 'brand', it's money well spent as his appearance at the Masters strongly reinforces the city's reputation as a host of world-class major sports events.

 

SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald

PHOTO: Getting Images

Nike Connects With Your Life

Have just stumbled on to this article in the New York Times (The New Advertising Outlet: Your Life) - it crams in a lot of good stuff on the trend towards big brands spending money on marketing activities that better connect with consumers.

In the article, Nike executives say that much of the company’s future advertising spending will take the form of services for consumers, like workout advice, online communities and local sports competitions.

Here are some interesting points, as mentioned in the article:

• Last year, Nike spent just 33 percent of its $678 million United States advertising budget on ads with television networks and other traditional media companies. That’s down from 55 percent 10 years ago (SOURCE: Advertising Age).
• Companies like Nike have been experimenting with alternative forms of marketing since the 1990s. But now, even the most conventional marketers are making these alternatives a permanent — and ever bigger — part of their advertising budgets.
• The amount of money flowing out of the traditional media is huge — even at a time when ad budgets in general are growing, advertising research shows.
• Behind the shift is a fundamental change in Nike’s view of the role of advertising. No longer are ads primarily meant to grab a person’s attention while they’re trying to do something else.
• “We want to find a way to enhance the experience and services, rather than looking for a way to interrupt people from getting to where they want to go,” said Stefan Olander, global director for brand connections at Nike. “How can we provide a service that the consumer goes, ‘Wow, you really made this easier for me’?”

Now there's a title I like: 'Global Director of Brand Connections'!

According to the article, a number of well-known brands are also trying new approaches, hoping to generate buzz both online and off.

• Procter & Gamble opened a temporary Charmin-brand public bathroom in Manhattan.
• Microsoft dropped thousands of parachutes holding software onto a town in Illinois last year.
• Target suspended the magician David Blaine in a gyroscope above Times Square for two days.

Commonsense Prevails in Battle of the Car Brands

The world of sports marketing can sometimes get pretty fired up when it comes it comes to sponsors (and therefore the athletes they sponsor) - the bigger the event and attendant media publicity involved, the harder the big brands go at it. 

Clashes tend to come about when a property has a particular major sponsor that is at odds (i.e. a director competitor) to an individual club or athlete sponsor.

You only have to look at the marquee events such as the Olympics -- the US athletes were at one stage sponsored by adidas, whereas many of the big stars i.e. basketballer Michael Jordan were fair and square in the Nike camp. Needless to say, plenty of bickering, some of it quite petty, ensued.

In the Australian Football League (AFL), Toyota sponsors the league overall, but virtually every club has its own car brand sponsor.

Geelong Football Club, which plays off in the grand final tomorrow (Sept 29), boasts Ford as its major sponsor. This is reportedly the longest continuous sports sponsorship in the world, stretching back some 80+ years. A marvellous achievement for both parties.

In the widely-publicised AFL Grand Final Parade through Melbourne CBD today, Geelong players are required to sit in Toyotas. You would expect this to be like a 'red rag to a bull' for Ford and the Cats. How many brands would tempt fate (and risk potential public condemnation) by refusing to participate under those circumstances?

To their credit, both Ford and Geelong have played it cool - the Geelong players will ride in the Toyotas. But you would think that Ford will win overall, as the players will be strongly branded with their sponsor's logo.

Sometimes you've got to be pragmatic in cauldron-like marketing environments such as these, and if Geelong wins, Ford is going to get more than its fair share of kudos (if it hasn't already).

P.S. Go Catters!!!