Cashing in on the Olympics

[Mo]

What is happening?
What is good?
What more could be done?

The Momster

[noodle]

What is happening?
What is good?
What more could be done?

The Momster

we could've had a website that made the sport look professional and inviting.

/beating a dead horse

[UlrikeDG]

My kids' club has more than double the "normal" number of newbies. They've maxed out the fall class and have at least a dozen names on the wait list for January.

[Jason]

we could've had a website that made the sport look professional and inviting.

/beating a dead horse

I think it's pretty obvious that the USFA has researched this issue and has found that "amateurish" is a far more effective marketing design. And their strategy must be working: after all, we just won 6 Olympic medals!

[Phrogger]

We had a huge beginners turnout at our first practice; at least three girls showed up that said they came because they saw women's sabre on TV!

In a previous thread I mentioned that I thought the Ten Thousand Fencers project was a great idea but didn't appear to have any teeth. (What benefit does anyone get from signing up? Are brochures available for clubs to hand out? How is the number of signups who actually tried fencing tracked?) Any updates on that?

[Phincer]

I think it's pretty obvious that the USFA has researched this issue and has found that "amateurish" is a far more effective marketing design. And their strategy must be working: after all, we just won 6 Olympic medals!

I fail to see how marketing design (and I use that term loosely) has anything to do with medals. Or did I miss your note of sarcasm?

[seak]

Most of the kids I'm teaching at a rec center this fall said they saw it during the Olympics (out of 11)

[oso97]

Our club stepped up its marketing efforts immediately prior to and after the Olympics. We had a write up in the local paper with a nice piece of art, were involved in an open house at the Rec Center the day after the girls swept Sabre, and did some targeted direct postcards to the parents of kids were involved in sports day camps at places around our area. We're following that up with handouts in a couple of elementary schools in the area we have good relations with, as part of their parent night (we're tying in with existing "anti-obesity" and "active child" programs).

As a result our two six week beginner classes (one for 8-13 and one for 14+ including adults) are maxed out, and we have two more scheduled to start the last week in October that are starting to get people signing up (and paying). Hits to our website have about quadrupled, and we've gotten a significant increase in the number of phone calls per week. We've been contacted by a number of people who had fenced before (mostly adults who took a college course, but a couple of people who had been involved in a more competitive way). Most of those were interested in pursuing foil or epee, so we directed them to one of the clubs in our area that could serve them better, as we're a sabre only club.

In short, there's not a thing we did that could have been accomplished at all by the National Office. We had to create targed advertisements that went after the folks in our area and were targeted to our population and their interests.

What the national level adminstration can do with the Olympics successes is to translate it into sponsorships of the major kind. That kind of thing takes TIME and requires prep work well in advance of the Olympics for months beforehand and we all know just how good the previous Ex-Com was at working together to make such things possible.

My understanding is that the new officers have been approaching potential sponsors and have gotten a couple of nibbles, but they're having to work through a lot of problems caused by that Sports Illustrated article that portrayed the entire organization from top to bottom as corrupt, and didn't present one bit of positive light. Obviously, it was a hack job, and fed by certain individuals with axes to grind, who didn't care if they hurt the overall organization, so long as their own personal agendas could be fullfilled.

[Nospam]

What is happening?
What is good?
What more could be done?

The Momster

Momster: I was taken aback by your post. In my thread where I expressed discontent about the lack of coverage for fencers sweeping the medals on Oprah you said :

One of the other fencers is in law school and the other one is in her first year of college.
They have lives. Mariel is not in college and has time to do these things.

The Momster



----If I had won an Olympic medal you'd be darn tooting I'd be on Oprah and shouting from the rafters! By appearing on Oprah who knows where it would have led to as far as endorsements or promoting fencing. I know everyone has their own lives but I have to tell you I was surprised to only see Mariel from the woman's sabre contingency. If all 3 medalists were there I am sure Oprah would have mentioned them and who knows where it would have led.

[Jason]

I fail to see how marketing design (and I use that term loosely) has anything to do with medals. Or did I miss your note of sarcasm?

Note? I thought it was a symphony.

[Capt. Slo-mo]

If I had won an Olympic medal you'd be darn tooting I'd be on Oprah and shouting from the rafters!

Or, in this case, limited to a quick shot of waving to the camera. I suspect it may have been an amusing behind the scenes moment before taping, as the various agents for the non-NCAA Olympians negotiated for airtime with the harried Oprah producers.

But in this thread, I think Mo was referring more to the USFA system-wide efforts to capitalize on the Olympic success.

If all 3 medalists were there I am sure Oprah would have mentioned them and who knows where it would have led.

You're sure based on what? The two time fencing Gold Medalist (and presumably her agent) was there. If that couldn't get a mention, I'm not sure why you think the addition of the others would have caused an Oprah epiphany. It seemed pretty straight forward, from what I saw of the show, that Oprah was mainly interested in the mainstream, "marquee" athletes.

The invitation materials pretty much indicated the saber ladies would be in a riser in the background with 150+ other athletes. I can't say I blame either Sada or Becca for not wanting to miss their early University classes, just to be video wallpaper.

[piste off]

I know everyone has their own lives but I have to tell you I was surprised to only see Mariel from the woman's sabre contingency.

I am sure the missing ladies are sleeping well knowing that you are willing to step in and help run their life.

They've been such royal f-ups to date.

R-

[LTranter]

We have about 30 adults signed up for our Fall beginner class (about 10 more than usual) and every week new kids are showing up. We were able to get local evening news coverage of a club tournament highlighting on off our youth fencers. Also, just by lucky happenstance, the Olympics coincided with a Physical Education in-service for our public schools. We gave out info and have signed up about 5 schools so for demos.

L

[tchwojko]

If all 3 medalists were there I am sure Oprah would have mentioned them and who knows where it would have led.

You know Oprah?

I'm a bit dumbfounded at the onus you put on someone winning a medal. If she doesn't want to be on the show, for any reason, then that's her prerogative. I don't believe the USFA signed her to a marketing contract. She gets to set her own priorities, and you get to set yours.

[Nospam]

You know Oprah?

I'm a bit dumbfounded at the onus you put on someone winning a medal. If she doesn't want to be on the show, for any reason, then that's her prerogative. I don't believe the USFA signed her to a marketing contract. She gets to set her own priorities, and you get to set yours.

The original poster asked:Cashing in on the Olympics


What is happening?
What is good?
What more could be done?

My comments were in in response to this thread here and the Oprah thread. The title of the thread 'Cashing in on the Olympics' I think says it all. If you want to 'cash in' then you need to self promote and Oprah would have been a good place to start. My comments are not meant to slight any fencer ever in a harmful way. I was merely making an observation about the Oprah show. Every Olympic athlete that medalled is/was entitled to make their own decision as to whether they should appear or not appear on the Oprah Team USA show.

[Nospam]

I am sure the missing ladies are sleeping well knowing that you are willing to step in and help run their life.

They've been such royal f-ups to date.

R-

Is wanting to see the Womans Saber team celebrating their medal sweep on Oprah a bad thing? An Olympic Medal IS HUGE ! Most athletes make it their life's work just to get to the Olympic's let alone win a medal!

And Piste off- I don't care if you abbreviate your curse words or not. Take it elsewhere.

[tchwojko]

If you want to 'cash in' then you need to self promote and Oprah would have been a good place to start.

Where by "self", you mean someone else.

There was some jumping to conclusions in your post. I find it odd to ask (and rather impolitely at that) someone who just won us a medal to do even more sacrificing of her own personal goals.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

----If I had won an Olympic medal you'd be darn tooting I'd be on Oprah and shouting from the rafters! By appearing on Oprah who knows where it would have led to as far as endorsements or promoting fencing. I know everyone has their own lives but I have to tell you I was surprised to only see Mariel from the woman's sabre contingency. If all 3 medalists were there I am sure Oprah would have mentioned them and who knows where it would have led.

Y'know, I probably could have easily survived missing a couple days worth of classes my first semester of college and been fine. But I didn't know that at the time. At the time, it would have been unimaginable to me to miss those classes. I went to a standard high school and a standard college, and as such, the transition was pretty mild. I assume that the transition to a home schooled life to a large university is more difficult. But I'm sure that if it was really worth it, that if everyone else was really going to be there, then it would make sense for her to be there.

But don't even start on Law School. Sada is require to be there 80% of the time. End-of-story. Sick? Death in the family? Invitation to Oprah? You get your 20%. I think most people would like to save those absences for the flu and bad traffic making you 10 minutes late (and thus not necessarily receiving credit for being there at all).

I'm also not sure you've been made aware of how important one's first year of law school is. It decides what you do your first summer. Grades and what you do your first summer (oh, and where you go) are the major factors in what you do your second summer, and the second summer is the one with the potential for lots of money and a job offer after graduation. Oh, and it's hard, because it's brand new, and you have to figure out how to brief a case and what kind of study method you're going to use and what study guides to buy.

If Sada was going to be going, there's a better argument for Becca going, because Becca wouldn't be penalized nearly as much. But asking Sada to go is Not Fair To Her. And if Sada's already not going, why should Becca give up the very deserved opportunity to be a Normal Kid for a while?

[hello?]

As far as I am concerned, these girls showed up on the strip in China. That was their job. They did great (that's why we have any Olympic-anything to 'cash in on'). Where they show up or don't show up afterwards is their business. (On the other hand, while I am not surprised, I find the tone of statements like "Muriel is not in college and has time to do these things" distasteful. If SHE chooses to get an agent and personally 'cash in' on the Olympics, that's HER choice. She certainly deserves it. I hope she cashes in as much as she can and I hope she shows up on the strip in London.)

[edew]

I fail to see how marketing design (and I use that term loosely) has anything to do with medals. Or did I miss your note of sarcasm?

As a general rule on the internets, expect sarcasm. If one can't see sarcasm in the mists of the words, then realize the post was written by either a complete newbie or an idiot.