Run Away With Your Business Plan

There are two things that runners love to do, have fun and run to eat.  When I think of two men who are instrumental in making an impact on these to fundamentals of running I think of Joe Reynolds, the founder of Red Frog Events and Steve Ells, the founder of Chipotle.  Both of these individuals have built incredible organizations from scratch and are doing what they love.  They are both experts in developing business plans and seeing them come to fruition.  They advise people everywhere on how to build a business, what’s important, from the name of the company to ensuring that your employees, the meat of your organization are happy and productive. 

When it comes to making sure your business plan finds a niche Steve Ells understands the concept well.  Mexican food isn’t new.  Fast food isn’t new. Sustainable food in a fast food environment on a mass scale is new.  Steve Ells perfected it with the Chipotle brand.  Now he is bring the same philosophy to Pan-Asian with his new ShopHouse restaurants. Steve Ells understands you have to, be different, think different and stir the pot a bit with your margins, ideas, and branding.

You may not have heard of Joe Reynolds or Red Frog Events, but I am sure you have heard of the Warrior Dash or the Great Urban Race.   Joe took $5,000 in 2007 and founded Red Frog Events, LLC.  The company was projected to make $50 million in revenue in 2011.

Joe Reynolds proves it’s important to take a normal function, like running, and turn it into something fun.  With a business venture you have to be different, be creative and stand out from the rest.  Make your marketing idea transcend geographical boundaries and differences.  Creating the Great Urban race for cities and the BeachDash for the cities by the bays.

Joe provides advice on how to make a great company including ensuring from the start you have a creative environment for your employees and a company mission that stands behind this.  Joe provides unlimited vacation to his 81 employees and offers a four-week sabbatical after 5 years of service. 

If you’re looking at being entrepreneurs take the advice of Steve Ells and Joe Reynolds:

1.     Be creative – Pick a great name, have unique titles, have a great different logo

2.     Be different – Take something simple and make it better, unique

3.     Grow quickly but not too quickly

4.     Do well for your employees and the earth.

If you are just starting out in business these two individuals are great resources to gain an understanding of what makes a great business plan and entrepreneurs.  So don’t just stand in place, come up with a grand concept and get running. http://warriordash.com/

Earth Day: Sports and Marathons Go Green/Eco-Friendly

The world is talking about Earth Day and the crazy weather we are having. Record heat for the 2012 Boston Marathon caused 4000 plus participants to defer their entries until 2013. With high temperatures of 86 degrees who would blame them. Although it is the Boston Marathon. Followed this weekend by snow in the Northeast part of the United States it makes the weather another topic on Earth Day for discussion on global warming.

Many sports teams and marathons are looking for ways to go green and install eco-friendly methods in their events. The stadium that the Miami Marlins play in is eco-friendly LEED Certified construction project. According to the Miami Marlins Facebook page they are doing even more than just playing in a “green” facility. The Marlins players have taken their fight to be green the streets of Little Havana to encourage their fans and neighbors to be more energy efficient. The caravan as they are calling it was long before the new stadium opened and long before Earth Day 2012.

The Marlins are not the only ones working to save the planet. The White Sox in Chicago unveiled a new parking lot at US Cellular field considered the “grand slam” for water management. The parking lot, which does not have to be paved for at least 40 years, is designed to absorb water instead of creating standing water. This prevents flooding and takes the water to where it is needed the most, in the ground.

By reducing the runner’s footprint, marathons are going green as well. Many race directors are looking for ways to create an eco-friendly environment for what many runners believe is already and eco-friendly sport. Marathons are encouraging runners to carry their own water or cups for pouring water into.

The Boston Marathon going green effort includes using less trash to limit the number of cars on race day. At the top of ever list of the greenest races is the Austin Marathon, with a farmers markets at the end and the use of recycled toilet paper in the Porta Potties and tons of recycled trash bins along the course. You can’t go much greener then this race.

On this Earth Day, if you are looking for ways to go green while running, I highly recommend the website Running Planet for tips. If you are a race director or just want your race to go green, stop by Road Race Management and order the newest book The Road Race Management
 Guide to Greener 
Running Events - 2nd Edition. It’s every thing wanted to know but were afraid to ask about going green with your events.

As you celebrate Earth Day watching Americans favorite pass time played on eco-friendly turf or your going out for a run in last years race shirts instead of buying a new one, remember you to can help the world one step a time.

Digital Marketing in Sports – Building a Community

It is hard to believe that Facebook and Twitter have only been around for 5+ years and the Internet less than 20 years.  Our lives have changed in the last 5 years and so has the way that Sports teams and Athletes interact with fans and participants. Sports Marketing and Digital Marketing in Sports has changed from the days of TV Advertising, Radio Advertising and Newspaper columns to reach fans. Communicating with Fans and participants has become so much easier and instantaneous.  With Facebook Fan pages, YouTube Channels, Mobile Media and iPhone Applications, SMS and MMS channels you and your fans can be in constant communication.  We now place the way a Sports Fan or participant communicates in their own hands, they determine the method that works best for them, we as business owners, and marketers do not.  

Of course everyone in a community follows one team or another, if you’re an Ohio State Buckeye’s fan the people around you know it and you participate in anything from Twitter meet-ups to LinkedIn groups dedicated to your school.  Companies are realizing the benefits of these communities and are creating them for those that follow their brands or creating communities so more people will interact with their brands.  Two companies that are at the forefront of this are Nike and Rebook.

A pioneer in the Digital Marketing is Nike.  Nike created an entire division dedicated to developing technology that allows users to track their participation in sports and fitness and integrate the results into a communication process through Facebook and Twitter to broadcast the results.  Through all of this Nike is creating a mega channel for data that can be used by marketers.  Nike is building on-line communities for wearers of the new Nike Fuel to interact with other owners of the product.  Nike was very successful with the Nike+ in creating a community that allowed Nike to gather data to target marketing to those who regularly provided feedback on their logged runs and created incentives for runners to participate in competitions against others in the Nike+ community, bring followers back to the Nike site over and over again.  Participants broadcasted their results on Twitter and Facebook and encouraged Friends to provide “Cheering” or challenged Facebook Friends to get in on the experience by joining the Nike+ community.  This built additional brand awareness for Nike and put them on the forefront of Digital Marketing.

Rebook is another brand that has tapped into the digital community of an underground fitness crazy CrossFit.  Rebook became the initial sponsor of CrossFit in 2010 and launching the partnership with a shoes and clothing line during the 2012 Superbowl.  CrossFit is a social media networking crazy in-and-of it-self, with WOD, CrossFit games and barebones gyms.  Instead of changing what CrossFit is, Rebook is embracing the CrossFit culture with the partnership.  Rebook is bringing CrossFit to everyone with large shipping containers being dropped all over the country for people to try out the sport, most times locations only learned about via social media marketing on Facebook and Twitter. 

So what as Sports Marketing professionals can we learn from all of this?  Don’t stop believing in the next big digital marketing method.  Find a way to engage your customers now in a community, whether you are a professional sports team, a marathon or fitness crazy, find a way to build a community for your current fans and for your future fans to interact.  All the while you will be collecting data on them. How to use the data will be another Oprah Show in Sports Marketing.  

Sponsors, Sponsors, Everywhere is a Sponsor

Over the last few weeks a number of sponsors have renewed or announced a partnership with a sports team. Budweiser and the Olympics announced the renewal of the long-standing partnership.  Toys R Us announced a first time agreement with the Special Olympics and Milk became the official refuel beverage for the Ironman series.  Everywhere you look in sports there is some kind of sponsor.  The NBA is even considering allowing sponsors logo’s on the players’ jerseys. 

Do you remember the very bright red with black and yellow uniforms of the University of Maryland?  Yes they were different and many remember they were sponsored by Under Armour. The uniforms of the University of Oregon, done by Nike.  While the super fan and those that watch college football on Saturday’s in the fall know this the causal fan may not.  What the causal fan may know better is the name of the stadium that they watch their favorite teams in.  Citi field in New York, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indi and Pet Co Park in San Diego. 

Pretty much every marathon you run has a sponsor.  The ING New York Marathon.  The Bank of America Chicago Marathon.  The Honda LA Marathon.  Just this month Allstate signed to sponsor the 13.1 Marathon series across the county. 

It is not just ballparks and marathon names that can get sponsored.  Have you ever run a small 5k race where the water stop is manned with people from a local bank?  They are a sponsor.  The back of your shirt from any race will have every sponsors logo, the front may as well if they have a title sponsor, like ING, Bank of America or Honda. 

If you run a half or full marathon, your guaranteed to experience the “official” drink and the “official” pick-me up like GU, Power Shots or Gatorade. 

So what is in it for the sponsors?  Maybe the sponsor is trying to break out into a new market with a new audience or a new product. The sponsor might desire an image boost and by partnering with a non-for-profit they achieve a residual effect based on their good will.  It used to be that sponsors worked with sports organizations that their CEO’s liked so that they could be seen at every event.  That’s not the case anymore and most organizations are looking for a return on their investments. 

For the big and the small sporting organizations, from the major leagues to the little leagues sponsors are everywhere, and frankly that’s a good thing.  Without sponsors the teams on the field might not be as good as they are, or the events we enter and buy tickets for would cost much more.  Without sponsors, little league teams with dreams of making it to the big leagues wouldn’t exist.  So next time your out at a sports event or running in a race, look out for the sponsors names and support them at your next opportunity you never know what good is coming out of that sponsorship. 

Goofy For Disney

Over the last 4 years I have competed in 8 Disney running events, now known as RunDisney.  I love every race for the fun and enjoyable atmosphere, yes if you are looking at qualifying for Boston this is not the place.  If you want to have a great time, love getting pictures and don’t mind running in a tutu or Mickey ears this is the place for your first or 20th run. 

From a marketers standpoint my favorite part about Disney is how they take the information I provide when I register and incorporate it in all of their communications to me.  From using personalized emails with my name, to emails with pictures of me, to a personalized url (PURL) with my picture, time and favorite characters.  Not only is this done through the email and online communication, but also on the race bibs we receive with our chips included.  They understand that I love the Princess and the Frog and ensure that my emails show scenes from the movie.  By having the characters we love on the race course they encourage you to stop for pictures, and one of those pictures is going to be sent in an email congratulating you on your awesome finish, of course with a link for you to buy that picture and more. 

Once you finish you are sure to receive a virtual certificate that you can download with your time and finishing place and of course your name in the color of one of your favorite characters.  You would really be surprised at how many races don’t supply this one great takeaway for free or don’t provide it electronically.  Many only support the top ten percent of their finishers in acknowledging they even finished.  Those of us in the middle and the back of the pack burned more calories over a longer time period but hey what does it matter if we aren’t Boston bound. Disney don’t care as long as you had fun and come back for more fun.

 

One thing that I have seen a lot from races of late is Facebook badges, this is something that RunDisney doesn’t do. This might add a personal touch to the pictures we download and would increase the brand awareness of the great number of Disney races.  Of course incorporating the personalization into the badge would provide the Disney touch that many of the badges are missing now.

If you are looking for a well-executed race that uses the marketing best practices that only Disney does best then look no further than Disney for your greatest competition and your most enjoyable event. There are 5 more events in 2012 waiting for your registration and of course the 20-year anniversary of the Disney Marathon in January 2013. If your crazy like me you’ll register for the Goofy Challenge, a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday.  3 t-shirts, and 3 medals.  Yes it’s Goofy but not Dopey (add a 5K). 

NFL Blackout Rules - What's right, what's wrong

Living in what is considered a small market broadcasting city, I am well aware of the issues around the NFL’s policy to blackout NFL games when the stadium is not sold out at least 72 hours in advance of the game.  While the Jacksonville Jaguars have not had a blackout game for the last two seasons, it is always threaten to happen.  Most weeks during the football season you will hear that the team received an extension to the rule.

What many don’t realize that the NFL did not instill this rule, but that Congress passed the legislation back in 1973.  Prior to 1973, the NFL blacked-out all home games during the regular season and during the playoffs.  According to recent tapes released during Nixon’s presidency, the President wanted to watch a Washington Redskin’s game that would have under normal circumstances would have been blacked-out.

According to an SBNation the blackout rule was derived when the NFL made most of their money from ticket sales.  With the financials changing to have most of the revenue provided by the broadcasting rights, the rule is under investigation by the FCC.  The FCC will rule on the need to change or not change the blackout rules, as they are set today.  The review will take place this week on February 27, 2012. 

Here in Jacksonville, some people are hoping that the rule will not be lifted.  That sounds strange doesn’t it?  I agree, except that the tipping point could be reached and teams in smaller markets, like the Jacksonville Jaguars, could pick up and leave for a city like LA.  What would stop them from going if ticket sales go down and heading to a city that can afford to put a winning team on the field, one that in the end would create higher revenue from Ticket sales and broadcasting or so that is what the proponents say? 

Florida is hit hardest by the NFL Blackout rule with 3 teams in the state with low attendance and a higher percentage of blackouts occurring.  So 2 Florida lawmakers are fighting to end the blackout rule.  Since each of the teams used or requested public funds over the last 30 years, the Senator’s, according to a recent report in Tampa, Florida, want to ensure that customers in those markets fans or not are given a better chance to watch their favorite teams.  It will be interesting to see what decision the FCC comes to and where we go from here. 

We have learned from MBL Baseball that broadcasting allows teams to be competitive.  The question remains if the NFL could change this so that smaller markets can compete.  I am very interested in what the FCC has to share. 

A Marathoners Assumption of Risk

On February 12, 2012 I ran the National Breast Cancer Marathon in Jacksonville, Florida.  The weather was very different than a normal February day in Florida with temperatures never reaching higher than 40 degrees and a wind chill unheard of, at 20 degrees.  Friends suffered hypothermia and dehydration along the course reminded me of the legal and liability issues around marathons.  Runner safety should be the backbone of every running event, but we have all been a part of or heard of event that went terribly wrong.

With a registered field of 45,000, the 2007 Chicago Marathon was looking to be a great race.  The elite athletes proved this by having two of the closest finishes in the history of the marathon, but what was happening behind them would prove to be a future case study for race directors and lawyers. 

There is really no way to articulate what happened that day or who was at fault.  So many worlds collided in one event that questions have arisen on who is liable for the wrongs of an endurance event.  Runners World magazine describes in detail the “Melt Down” that occurred that day.  The weather topping 92 degrees in the sun, the lack of water at water stations due to faster runners using more than what was forecasted, the race director cancelling the race in what has been deemed to late for the conditions, runners not recognizing their own bodies telling them to stop, EMT’s in unfamiliar locations with limited directions and overwhelmed emergency rooms in the area, all of these created a snowball effect creating a disaster with 1 death and over 300 people treated at area hospitals. 

Every participant signs a waiver of liability, essentially waiving the right to assumption of risk. Just like purchasing a ticket to a baseball game does for foul balls.  The question is does this cover negligence on the part of the race organizers or the volunteers if you are at the back of the pack during a marathon?  Do you sign away your rights to have water available in extreme heat or that the ambulance driver will know the way to the emergency room?  The Sports Law Blog questions all of this and how much warning does a race organizer have to give?  The expo had announcements that it would be extremely hot and that participants needed to ensure that they took every precaution.  Is it then the participants’ responsibility to ensure that they have enough water and Gatorade to make it through the first part of the race?  In my opinion it is.  I feel that as a casual back of the pack runner, it is my responsibility when running a Marathon or Half-Marathon that I have trained well and am prepared for the race.  If it is hot, as it was in Chicago, then it is my responsibility in signing a waiver of liability and assuming a risk that I dress appropriately and ensure my own hydration needs are met.  As with the Florida marathon in the cold, it was also my responsibility to ensure that I was dressed appropriately and stayed hydrated.  While I don’t think that those running up front of a race should use all of the resources I think in extreme conditions it will always be a calculated risk that happens. 

I think that the best thing that the race officials did is stop the race.  Do I think that they could have done more, sure?  I think that they could have worked to start the race at an earlier time given the forecast.  Would this have made participants angry if they wouldn’t have started on time, yes but most waivers signed by runners give the organizer the ability to make changes?  Changing the start time in advance would have proved to be a smart idea.  Every participant has to retrieve his or her own bib number at the expo, communicating the change here would have been appropriate.

As a runner in Florida, I often experience the conditions like those at the Chicago Marathon.  There are races that I won’t do any more because I see how participants are treated and how race officials are prepared.  Race directors should look at what worked and what didn’t at the 2007 Chicago Marathon and should learn from them before any more people get hurt.  That said runners should take responsibility for yourselves just as you do on a training run and make sure you are prepared for anything.