{"id":5612,"date":"2023-10-16T15:39:24","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T14:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/50mm.sportspromedia.com\/?p=5612"},"modified":"2023-10-16T16:13:16","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T15:13:16","slug":"why-a-sports-marketability-is-driven-by-the-interplay-among-its-brand-stakeholders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/50mm.sportspro.com\/analysis\/2023\/why-a-sports-marketability-is-driven-by-the-interplay-among-its-brand-stakeholders\/","title":{"rendered":"Why a sport\u2019s marketability is driven by the interplay among its brand stakeholders"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
In my last article<\/a> for SportsPro, I articulated the importance of applying the market research approach of viewing brands in a product category to athlete brands in a sports category.\u00a0By doing so, we ensured that the most comprehensive, holistic and inclusive list of global athletes was considered for this year\u2019s 50 Most Marketable Athlete rankings.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> A sports category perspective also allows us to optimally understand the degree of interplay among all brand stakeholders within a sports category, including its athletes, agents, sponsors and rights holders, such as governing bodies, leagues and teams.\u00a0The stronger this interplay, the greater the marketability of each of those brands within the category and thus the sport as a whole.<\/p> However, if there is friction among these interrelationships, everyone\u2019s marketability suffers and thus so does the entire sport.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p> The friction within a sports category or product category can be both visible and invisible. If it\u2019s visible, it\u2019s more easily measured.\u00a0If it\u2019s invisible, it can\u2019t be easily measured, even though people collectively know it exists, either because the data doesn\u2019t exist or there are factors that haven\u2019t happened yet.<\/p> For example, the friction in the Space Tourism product category with companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin is more visible when measuring the high price consumers must pay for a space flight experience.\u00a0Less visible friction in this same product category could involve a lack of familiarity or trust, both of which hold consumers back from engaging with Space Tourism brands.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p> As we\u2019ll see in the example below, which highlights one of the greatest professional boxers of all time, Manny Pacquiao, the boxing category previously suffered from invisible friction, which had to do with the interplay at the time among some of the brand stakeholders within it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p> In 2012, Pacquiao was not only widely regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world but also for his generation.\u00a0The Filipino had become the first boxer in history to win world titles in eight different weight divisions, having registered iconic, high-profile victories over legendary fighters including Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and Juan Manuel Marquez.<\/p> While breaking boxing records, Pacquiao was elected to the Congress of the Philippines as a representative of the Sarangani province. Additionally, he was also an accomplished singer having reached number seven in the Adult Contemporary chart in North America, starring alongside Canadian artist Dan Hill in a remake of Hill\u2019s 1977 hit Sometimes When We Touch<\/em><\/a>.<\/p> As if these accomplishments weren\u2019t enough, Pacquiao also had the aura of a rags-to-riches national hero who had risen from the impoverished streets of General Santos City. With his amazing story, local sponsors loved Pacquiao and he endorsed many products within his native country, from fast food to detergents.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p> As global sponsors became aware of Pacquiao, they wanted to partner with him too. However, longstanding friction in the Philippines boxing sports category was preventing deals with highly interested international sponsors. As Michael Long indicated in his 2012 article for SportsPro magazine, ‘Making Manny’, there were key reasons for the friction that was holding Pacquiao back from reaching his full marketing potential and, in turn, Filipino boxing as a whole.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p> A major sticking point was that there was no one in place to centralise Pacquiao\u2019s business affairs. Instead, he had a multitude of people who claimed to represent him and rarely followed through on agreed-upon terms.\u00a0This led to consistent complaints from companies not trusting that their agreements would be executed along with numerous examples of lost sponsorship opportunities, including failed contracts with global brands like Gatorade and EA Sports.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p> As Long\u2019s article points out, critical decisions made by Pacquiao helped overcome this friction. After two decades boxing in the Philippines, in February 2011 Pacquiao decided to work with a more professional and reputable sports management agency to eliminate confusion and any lack of trust.\u00a0He turned to a boxing promotion company based in the United States, Top Rank, whose team consisted of chief executive Bob Arum and president Todd DuBoef.<\/p> With the approval of Pacquiao\u2019s Canadian advisor Michael Koncz, Lucia McKelvey, a former vice president at IMG Golf, was appointed as the boxer\u2019s agent. She would not only act as the sole point of contact for all of Pacquiao\u2019s commercial affairs, but also oversee his business development and marketing matters at Arum\u2019s Las Vegas-based promotional behemoth.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\tThe making of Manny<\/h3>