Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Taking A Sports Apparel Brand Global Via The Web

Posted by Anonymous on 5/27/2005 at 6:46 PM ET 1500 Points
Client is a national well established retailer that has acquired the rights to a popular sporting event and wishes to take that sports apparel brand global via a cutting edge website. Looking for creative web concepts, idea's, thoughts and promotional concepts. Thoughts, suggestions and cutting edge technolgies are welcomed.



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  • Posted by mgoodman on 5/27/2005 at 7:18 PM Member
    The best and fastest way to gain visibility would probably be to sign up one or more recognized stars from the sport involved. It could cost big bucks up-front, but it will all but guarantee visitors to the site. Without knowing any more than you've given us, I'd spend the money on the draw (i.e., the stars) and not on an outrageous website.

    Remember, getting people to the site is much more difficult and costly than keeping them there and selling them stuff.

    You can use contests, games, or sweepstakes, of course, but then you still have to generate awareness. Is advertising in traditional media (e.g., broadcast and cable television, radio, newspaper, targeted magazines, etc.) out of the question? Again, it's more a question of getting people to be aware of the site than anything else.

    You also have the option of creating some publicity events at the local level (perhaps in-store if they are a well established retailer), and using the ink that generates to create awareness of the website. There may also be local teams, clubs, pro shops, etc., that can become vehicles for getting the word out.

    I have a client that sells athletic apparel and uniforms through a network of high school and college coaches. If you think there's a way to use his connections and distribution system (or even his mailing list), I would be happy to make the introduction. This would depend on the nature of the "popular sporting event," of course.

    These are just a few first reactions. I'll give it some thought, and if I come up with more I'll be back. (What country is the "popular sporting event" held in? That could spark more ideas.)
  • Posted by Pepper Blue on 5/28/2005 at 12:27 PM Member
    Hi Bill,

    As the recent commericials that Go Daddy produced with the Go Daddy girl at:

    https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/superbowl05/landing.asp

    and Carls Jr. with Paris Hilton:

    https://www.spicyparis.com/paris.html

    Show that sex still continues to sell.

    How well?

    Go Daddy is now the largest registar of domain addresses in the world. 4 months later, the ad still continues to get national press many times a week. Everytime this happens the Go Daddy website gets slammed again and more new business happens.

    The day the Paris Hilton commercial appeared, traffic to the Carl’s Jr. site was so heavy that it brought the site down for several hours.

    Are they selling burgers? Wait a couple weeks, I'm sure you will hear all about their record burger sales.

    Are the ads “the ultimate example of corporate irresponsibility” as they were called by the Parent’s Television Council? Or as their president called them are they “raunchy and sexually graphic” and “soft core porn?"

    That is not part of your question, and not to condone this type of advertising because I am not, but there is a lesson to be learned here and you need to look at these strictly as excellent recent examples of how to drive people to a website and then adapt them to your product and target market.

    Once you've got the buzz, the product will sell and I would acually be careful about developing a website with too many bells and whistles.

    If you haven't already, read "The Big Red Fez" by Seth Godin and if you have read it, read it again taking careful notes.

    Here is a nice example of a sportswear (shoes) website that doesn't bury the desired response (buy their shoes) in the message. They are always focusing on one thing; why and where to buy their shoes:

    https://www.keenfootwear.com/flash_content/main.html

    I hope that helps.
  • Posted by Mushfique Manzoor on 5/31/2005 at 4:01 AM Accepted
    hi Bill

    i like Micheals idea of hooking a sports celebrity. apart from that my 2 cents are....

    first, create 2 great ads for your brand as well as the brand tagged with the sporting event (to have the effect like the Paris Hilton one).

    second, ensure your site is at the top of the search result list when anyone searches for the sporting event in google, yahoo, msn, hotbot, lycos, altavista etc. the site name will have the sporting event name and your brand name has to all over the site, in a way, that the surfer understands your brand is the sponsor of the event.

    third, enter into contract with Yahoo mail for placing in your brand and event ad in the mail pages top. when one accesses his/her yahoo mail account, the ad must be visible in welcome page, mail pages and signout pages. Also make your brand & event sponsorship visible in all channels of Yahoo, like sports, movies, and others.

    fourth, enter into agreement with popular sports channels like ESPN, Sky Sports, Star Sports etc. to have your brand & event related ads and other communication on thier website home pages at least.

    fifth, create a new site having the brand name and event name together which will be communicated everywhere and accessed by all thru' search engines etc. (refer to point#2)

    sixth, your client have retail chain stores. so have those stores decorated with POS materials communicating about the new site (refer to Point #9).

    seventh, organize a contest in which the grand winner will get 2 tickets to see the final game and others will various branded merchandise. The contest will be played on your newly developed site (refer to Point #5). communication about this contest has to done in all ATL and BTL media, to create a hype of accessing your site.

    eighth, you can also have the contest played thru' SMS and ensure that your SMS contest number is accessed by subscribers of all the mobile operators of target countries easily.

    nineth, re-brand all your retail stores with the event logo. hopefully the logo carries your brand name, if not then while re-branding also communicate that your brand is the sponsor/rights owner.

    all of these will take time and money to develop and implement. i believe you client has enought deep pocket to do all these since they wanna go global.

    i hope this is the Holy Grail you are looking for ;-))

    cheers!!
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