From the category archives:

Sports

Golf’s $1.4 Billion Missed Opportunity

by Daria Steigman on May 16, 2011

PGA Tour, Branding, Storytelling, Independent Thinking, Steigman CommunicationsWhen you think of the PGA Tour, what comes to mind? (Bear with me here–this post is not about sports.)

Here’s my short list:

  • Really ugly clothing
  • Country clubs
  • Boring men (see bullet 1) flying around in private planes

What’s on yours?

Here’s what should be top of mind: $1. 4 billion.*

The PGA Tour has raised over $1.4 billion for local charities. This is an amazing story. It’s a story about generosity, and excellence, and giving back to the communities where you live, work, and play (golf).

If I were advising the PGA Tour, I’d be storytelling in every town, city, and state where the tour has a presence. Instead, all we get are halfhearted TV ads branding “the next generation” of players. That and a Together, Anything’s Possible Web site that’s trying to to showcase the great charitable work that individual tour players are doing–but the look, feel, and writing are so bland that it looks to be composed of press releases (it’s not, but you have to be willing to click around to figure that out).

Savvy businesses align their  brands inside and outside. The PGA Tour spent so much time promoting one free agent (Tiger Woods) that it’s way behind the curve in figuring out how to tell its own story.

What story is your business telling?

*2009 estimate.

Photo by Dirk Hansen (Flickr).

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Opening Day 2011

by Daria Steigman on March 31, 2011

Sports, Baseball, Independent Thinking, Steigman Communications

It’s Opening Day!

Pardon the interruption as I take a much-needed day off to bow at the altar of the baseball gods.

Photo by Lauren Nelson (Flickr).

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Happy Presidents’ Day

by Daria Steigman on February 21, 2011

Wishing everyone (who has the day off) a great holiday. And everyone who’s working a productive Monday. You’ll be a day ahead of me this week.

Photo by Marc Gallant (Flickr).

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Roger Clemens Has Nothing on This Guy

by Daria Steigman on August 31, 2010

Influence, Popularity, and Community | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, llcSo I go out of town for a few days and miss the big sports story. No, not that story. This one.

What’s interesting about the Jay Mariotti story isn’t the facts. Or even the arrest. It’s the glee with which just about everyone has greeted the news.

Apparently this guy has no friends. Not among the community of athletes, coaches, and managers that he’s made his living writing and talking about. Not among his colleagues in the media. Even his co-commentators on ESPN‘s Around the Horn said they weren’t surprised by the sports world’s response to his arrest. One even said that Mariotti will “have to start rethinking how he goes about his business.”

It’s fitting to talk about this on a day that I participated in a tweetchat on the topic of “popularity versus influence.” See, Mariotti was influential (how else could he engender this much vitriol?). But he certainly wasn’t popular.

Business can be competitive. But it shouldn’t be mean. We always talk about the importance of community. That being helpful and giving back matter.

Here’s what you risk when you treat people as disposable. Or even just when they think you have.

Photo by Meddy Garnet (Flickr).

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4 Reasons LeBron James’ Decision Makes Business Sense

by Daria Steigman on July 9, 2010

Lebron James | Business not Marketing/PR or Branding | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, lccMike Greenberg said on ESPN Radio this morning that “you need to separate the decision from how it was done.” (He was talking, of course, about LeBron James.)

He’s absolutely right.

My friend Justin Goldsborough has a terrific post on James, Joe Mauer, and brand legacies in sports. His key point:

If he was still hoping to be the biggest brand in the world or the biggest brand ever, that chance is gone. In fact, he won’t even be the biggest brand in Miami. That’s Dwayne Wade’s team.

I agree, but I think–disappointment in Cleveland aside–we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that James made a business decision. And it was a fascinating one.

1. We’ve known for several years that James, Wade, and several top NBA players took shorter deals in the past in order to time their arrivals on the free agency market. It was a (then) subtle way to level the playing field a bit in a sports world dominated by team owners.

2. One man cannot be responsible for the economic well-being of an entire city. I’m very sympathetic to the people of Cleveland, especially the small business owners who have benefited from great pre-game crowds. But let’s step back and recognize that a business model dependent on one person, one client, or one product being an unending success is a bad business model.

3. One player cannot be responsible for an entire franchise. Plus Dan Gilbert’s classless response on losing his star player tells me he’s the last person I’d want to work for.

4. James is taking less money to work with people he likes and admires. (While we don’t know yet what he’ll earn in Miami, there’s no question it will be far less than the max contract he’d have had in Cleveland.) Isn’t this the type of decision we’d typically be applauding?

What do you think?

Photo by David Shankbone (Flickr).

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