SOCHI 2014
Today marked the last day of the winter Olympics. Olympics in Sochi, Russia that will for multiple reasons never be forgotten. At least not by the Russians.
Before this year's winter games even started, experts were suspicious whether or not the whole project could be successful. "Winter" Olympics in Sochi?! Right by the black sea! An area not necessarily known for it's skiing resorts. In fact with barely any winter sports tourism at all. However the committee picked the Russian applicant and it's strongest supporter Vladimir Putin, the Russian President himself, to host the Olympics.
From this point on it was clear. These Olympics had to be a success. Putin, one of the most powerful man in the world is not willing to embarrass himself. This year's olympic games were the perfect example of how nations use sports events to market themselves on world stage. Still, the Russian's way seemed very rocky.
Now that the games are over, the question is: Were the games a success for Russia from a Marketing perspective?
Putin wanted to demonstrate power throughout the whole process. And unquestionably he did so. The Sochi games were the most expensive games in olympic history. Not only that! They exceeded the cost of all previous olympic winter games combined! One might argue that that is no indicator of a successful sports event. But what Putin intended to do was to show the power of his great nation. And so he did by creating a winter sports park out of nowhere. From ice skating arenas to ski trails and hotels. The great Putin had a vision and his dream was to be fulfilled.
Obviously the people in charge tried to make this great event happen. But starting with the arrival of the first athletes and the opening ceremony, it seemed like the games and Putin were set up for failure.
The first reporters made it to Sochi and pictures of hotels, that were still in construction just days before the games, made it around the world. From toilets for "couples" , to cables hanging out of the walls, the world saw it all and it was assumed the games were going to be a catastrophe.
After the reporters came the opening ceremony. And it kept going downhill. During the show one of the Olympic rings would not open. The ceremony was incomplete. And even though the opening ceremony was appealing, all that made it in the press and to the audiences around the world was the picture of the 4 and a half olympic rings.
But from here on the games seemed to take a positive turn. Maybe also because Putin seemed to change his approach to impress the world. From dominance, i.e. by nominating more athletes to make sure the Russian team was bigger than the US team before the games started, to showing that Russia was no longer a "cold" communist country unable to socialize with the rest of the world.
Except for some delayed events due to bad weather the games were organized professionally. The Russians proved to be a fair and enthusiastic audience and most interestingly, that they are interested in more than figure skating or bob sleighing. Excited and happy faces were to be found at the freestyle courses as well. And even the loss of Russia's ice hockey team in the earlier stages of the tournament could not seem to frustrate the local crowds. The Russians accepted the games as they were and enjoyed the world's attention. And so did their leader. Well aware of the public attention Putin would even take a visit to the US olympic house to have coffee and tea there to show the world the nation's new sociable face.
But the biggest surprise was still to come. The closing ceremony.
Just like the opening ceremony a very tasteful show with a well thought out highlight integrated in it. The organizers picked up on the "incomplete" olympic rings of the opening ceremony and reacted the scene with dancers. This time the fifth olympic ring intentionally did not open up. Once again Russia seemed to accept it's imperfection in a humble and sympathetic way. (watch the video here)
In conclusion I think the winter olympics were a success for the Russian people and their most powerful man, Vladimir Putin.
Not because they were expensive. Not because they had so much media attention. But because it seemed like the Russians accepted imperfection in a way that was very likable. Of course the games were still impressive. The huge task to create a winter sport resort out of nothing almost succeeded and not to forget that the Russians took first place in the medal table demonstrating at least their sportive strength.
But all these accomplishments, for once, were not presented in a superior, arrogant, excessively cool way; But in a humble and cheerful way, showing the nation in a different light.
EDIT:
Here a picture of the ceremony coordinator during a press conference. The Russian's know how to market themselves!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/olympics/sochi-scene-those-rings-redux/2014/02/23/86b3ef32-9c6d-11e3-8112-52fdf646027b_story.html
This is a blog about the use of branding in sports marketing and how teams, athletes and businesses benefit in the process.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Superbowl 2014
As I announced, here my Superbowl XLVIII recap!
Most of us have seen it about two weeks ago, some of us for the commercials and the halftime show, the rest of us for the sport of football and the two teams in the game, the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos. And I gotta say none of the comments about this year's Superbowl I've heard were really positive! "The commercials were boring", "Beyonce's performance last year was much better", and the obvious "this game was a blowout". At least the later of those comments was not necessarily expected. The number 1 offense in the NFL, the Denver Broncos surrounding their record setting quaterback faced the number 1 defense in the league, the Seahawks surrounding...!?
Who did they really surround? Russell Wilson, the outstanding quaterback? Marshawn Lynch? Oh, wait there was the whole story about the "best corner in the league", Richard Sherman. I am sure everyone interested in the sport and who watched the Superbowl is aware of the stories about Richard Sherman, his ego, the "thug" accusations and so on. But he did not have a great game, just like Payton Manning didn't. Of course Russell Wilson had a good game, but nothing extraordinary. So if the game was boring, the commercials were too, there was no big stories surrounding the football stars on the field, who really gained anything out of this years game?!
In my opinion there was only one winner. "Beats by Dre"!
Lets's go back a couple weeks, during the playoffs, maybe even before that. The headphone manufacturer started an advertising campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick and, (that's right), Richard Sherman of Seattle. One might ask what's the big deal... The Kaepernick spot was nice and all. But Beats by Dre most likely didn't gain more fame than they had already established. The Sherman spot on the other hand is a different story.
For those of you who haven't seen it hear is the clip. For those of you who haven't seen it here is the clip
What a great idea to pick the one athlete in the NFL on a team with superbowl ambitions that is trying to silence his critics, who tries to prove that he is an outstanding athlete and no thug at all. To have him put on his noise canceling headphones, turn around and do his thing to focus on what is important.
Now the thing is. If you did not really follow the NFL, you probably did not even know of all these accusations and the story around it. Here comes the best thing that could ever happen to any advertiser. Richard Sherman intercepts the final pass in the last playoff game against the SF 49ers, and steps in front of the cameras right afterwards for an Interview that some of us might never forget:
There it was. The whole nation now knew about the Sherman story, and now everyone was able to identify with the commercial when the "best corner in the league" puts on his headphones, to focus on what is important. Being good at what you do.
The fact that all of the Superbowl participants apparently received special $25000 headphones from Dr. Dre seems to be just a side note. But it somehow shows how much the headphone manufacturer really benefited from this sports event.
sources:
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/01/richard-sherman-beats-by-dre-commercial/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/ebay-alert-beats-hands-25000-headphones-superbowl-players/
Most of us have seen it about two weeks ago, some of us for the commercials and the halftime show, the rest of us for the sport of football and the two teams in the game, the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos. And I gotta say none of the comments about this year's Superbowl I've heard were really positive! "The commercials were boring", "Beyonce's performance last year was much better", and the obvious "this game was a blowout". At least the later of those comments was not necessarily expected. The number 1 offense in the NFL, the Denver Broncos surrounding their record setting quaterback faced the number 1 defense in the league, the Seahawks surrounding...!?
Who did they really surround? Russell Wilson, the outstanding quaterback? Marshawn Lynch? Oh, wait there was the whole story about the "best corner in the league", Richard Sherman. I am sure everyone interested in the sport and who watched the Superbowl is aware of the stories about Richard Sherman, his ego, the "thug" accusations and so on. But he did not have a great game, just like Payton Manning didn't. Of course Russell Wilson had a good game, but nothing extraordinary. So if the game was boring, the commercials were too, there was no big stories surrounding the football stars on the field, who really gained anything out of this years game?!
In my opinion there was only one winner. "Beats by Dre"!
Lets's go back a couple weeks, during the playoffs, maybe even before that. The headphone manufacturer started an advertising campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick and, (that's right), Richard Sherman of Seattle. One might ask what's the big deal... The Kaepernick spot was nice and all. But Beats by Dre most likely didn't gain more fame than they had already established. The Sherman spot on the other hand is a different story.
For those of you who haven't seen it hear is the clip. For those of you who haven't seen it here is the clip
What a great idea to pick the one athlete in the NFL on a team with superbowl ambitions that is trying to silence his critics, who tries to prove that he is an outstanding athlete and no thug at all. To have him put on his noise canceling headphones, turn around and do his thing to focus on what is important.
Now the thing is. If you did not really follow the NFL, you probably did not even know of all these accusations and the story around it. Here comes the best thing that could ever happen to any advertiser. Richard Sherman intercepts the final pass in the last playoff game against the SF 49ers, and steps in front of the cameras right afterwards for an Interview that some of us might never forget:
There it was. The whole nation now knew about the Sherman story, and now everyone was able to identify with the commercial when the "best corner in the league" puts on his headphones, to focus on what is important. Being good at what you do.
The fact that all of the Superbowl participants apparently received special $25000 headphones from Dr. Dre seems to be just a side note. But it somehow shows how much the headphone manufacturer really benefited from this sports event.
sources:
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/01/richard-sherman-beats-by-dre-commercial/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/ebay-alert-beats-hands-25000-headphones-superbowl-players/
Sunday, February 9, 2014
My first blog! Challenge and Opportunity.
My first blog post!
Pretty exiting but terrifying at the same time. I have never been the kind of person to share a lot of stuff on social media sites, should it be Twitter, Facebook or any other platform.
Still, I created my first blog and I will be writing about sports marketing and especially the branding aspect of it.
But I want to expand the idea of branding as a business utensil. It is not just businesses, corporations or sports teams that make use of each others fame and popularity. Whole nations rely on the image their athletes and teams create, and make use of it.
- Olympics Sochi 2014, Putin vs. the world
- KIA and the Blake Griffin affair
- Novak Djokovic and Boris Becker
and many more to come... stay tuned!
Pretty exiting but terrifying at the same time. I have never been the kind of person to share a lot of stuff on social media sites, should it be Twitter, Facebook or any other platform.
Still, I created my first blog and I will be writing about sports marketing and especially the branding aspect of it.
But I want to expand the idea of branding as a business utensil. It is not just businesses, corporations or sports teams that make use of each others fame and popularity. Whole nations rely on the image their athletes and teams create, and make use of it.
First some Info about me:
My name is Sebastian Barth and I am a marketing student in my junior year at the University of Northern Iowa. I recently turned 21 years old and am also part of the University's Track and Field team. While I compete in the 110m Hurdles myself, I am very interested in sports in general. My favorite sports team is the soccer club Bayern Munich from Germany which is close to my hometown but I also like Basketball, Tennis, and yes to some extend even "Foot"Ball.
As an athlete myself and whenever I follow a sports event on TV, on the web or just see an athlete in a commercial, I catch myself making a cost benefit analysis for the parties cooperating in the branding process. In my blog I will share my thoughts on the pros and cons of some of these cooperations and how they could or should have been improved.
My name is Sebastian Barth and I am a marketing student in my junior year at the University of Northern Iowa. I recently turned 21 years old and am also part of the University's Track and Field team. While I compete in the 110m Hurdles myself, I am very interested in sports in general. My favorite sports team is the soccer club Bayern Munich from Germany which is close to my hometown but I also like Basketball, Tennis, and yes to some extend even "Foot"Ball.
As an athlete myself and whenever I follow a sports event on TV, on the web or just see an athlete in a commercial, I catch myself making a cost benefit analysis for the parties cooperating in the branding process. In my blog I will share my thoughts on the pros and cons of some of these cooperations and how they could or should have been improved.
To give you some insight on whats to come, here are some of the topics I am about to address in my next posts!
- The real winner of this years Superbowl
- The real winner of this years Superbowl
- Olympics Sochi 2014, Putin vs. the world
- KIA and the Blake Griffin affair
- Novak Djokovic and Boris Becker
and many more to come... stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)