Drafting New Customers

NFL draft day has come and gone but it was more than just a drafting of athletes. While you may have been too busy watching the draft and celebrating or mourning your team’s pick to consciously notice, a certain jeweler was busy trying to draft us to their team. Pandora jewelers played several commercials during the draft showing top draft picks like Geno Smith and Eric Fisher, presenting their mothers with Pandora bracelets on draft day accompanied by a heart felt message. Last year was a difficult year for Pandora, experiencing a 30% drop in profits. They hope that this marketing tactic will ramp up their mother’s day sales by associating their brand with rising success and stardom. 

Employee Problems

 

The majority of business owners understand the importance of having positive press. Many people may think that bad news is better than no news, but the small business owner knows that a little bad press can easily break their company. Employees often don’t realize that their actions have so much wait on the press that the company gets. The executives put out press releases and try to share a positive story, but that can easily be overshadowed by an employees wrong-doing. A great example of this has surfaced this month in the form of Rutgers University’s athletic program.

Planning a Business

Starting a new business is a scary concept. There are so many factors that can make or break a business that many dare not try to enter into the field of entrepreneurship. But for those few that do try, it can be an amazingly rewarding experience, especially if you’re going in with a good business plan. Creating a proper business plan, in a way, helps the new business owner predict the future. It identifies the variables and helps you prepare for the worst but also for the best. When creating your plan, it is important to look at industry experts for ideas and advice. While there are many sports business experts, lets take a look at the advice that two would give: Mark Cuban and George Bodenheimer.

Digitizing Sportswear

In this new age, digital marketing has become key for companies to stay afloat. Unfortunately, for many traditional companies, making the move to digital has been a slow crawl. One of the many markets that has seen digital marketing significantly impact sales is the sportswear market. Upon a review in 2012 by L2, a digital marketing company in NYC, with the assistance of the NYU Stern School of Business, the digital IQ rankings of 42 sportswear companies were released. 

According to D’Amico, “the report analyzed each company’s moves in mobile, social media, on their websites and within the digital marketing space (appearances in search rankings for example).” Six (6) companies were given the rank feeble, ten (10) were considered challenged, thirteen (13) were seen as average, eleven (11) were honored as gifted, while two (2) stood high above the rest as geniuses. Those two companies were Nike and Adidas. Let’s take a look at those companies to see what they have done to earn such high marks.

Super Bowl Spending

The Super Bowl is here again, which means its Money Time… ummm… errrr… Game Time! If the NFL were a pimp, the Super Bowl would be its prostitute, and its top one at that. The Super Bowl makes millions for the NFL and many of the losses from smaller turnouts through out the year, can be recouped in one game. But the Super Bowl is not only working for the NFL, it’s working for everybody. It is estimated that the Super Bowl is worth about 500 MILLION dollars to its host city. This is thanks to huge boost in tourism that the big game creates. This means business for hotels, food and beverage, tourism, casinos, souvenir shops, and anything else that town has to offer. It also boosts a cities earning potential for years to come because it creates hype around that city. Moreover, it’s not just the host city that sees an economic boom that day; bars, restaurants, casinos, grocery stores, liquor stores, cable providers, businesses all over the country see a boost in sales.

Making a Move

It is standard for athletes, once they reach a certain threshold, to look for products to endorse, but in this day and age it takes a little more to really reach super stardom. Athletes are realizing that they do not need to just represent a brand; they need to become a brand. So how is this done? Athletes are creating signature moves, phrases, anything to create brand association and get the people talking. Case and point, Tim Tebow. Tebow is not a starter. In fact, he rarely plays, but he has become a household name. People, who know nothing about football, know Tim Tebow. How did he receive such widespread popularity? He created a signature move, Tebowing. Whether deliberate or accidental, Tebow’s “the thinker” pose became a huge trend, which is still talked about and mimicked today.

The Perils of Procrastination and other stories

As seen from the last post, there are many liabilities to look for in the event planning/management industry. Upon review of some Entertainment Law Update podcasts, I was able to identify a few additional hidden liabilities that may not be as prevalent but are every bit as important.

In episode 35, Gordon Firemark, the host of the podcasts, and a guest discuss an issue brought to us by the Golden Nugget Casino in Atlantic City. On April 30, 2012, several casino patrons were playing mini-baccarat when they, after a few hands, began to notice a pattern in the cards and upped their bets. The gamblers were racking up the chips but the casino let the game continue, assuming that there was a large cheating scam going on and that they could catch the person red-handed.