Marketing and sport: a tricky situation part 2

While the situation for the cyclism is gettin worst and worst (yesterday Rasmussen, the leader of the Tour de France, was kicked out from his team, one other racer was arrested for doping and the French press claim the Tour is dead), other sports have no reason to be happy.

NBA: even if David Stern try to minimise the story, to have a referee who admit to put money of the matches he had to run and is involved with the mob, well this is a real mess.
Tim Donaghy undermined the legacy of the NBA. How many match final results were affected by the referee? Are we sure that he is the only one? No other referee, no other players were involved?

F1: in the meantime, in Paris, the International Federation is helding a trial against Mercedes McLaren team. The team is accused to have spied the Ferrari team. Lot of documents proving this story have been found at the house of one top engineer of the McLaren team. The team could be excluded by the World Championship with huge economic damage and image damage for McLaren and Mercedes. The main sponsor is Vodafone.

As we all can see, the sport world is under a big threat.

Should we expect a decrease of the audience for the sports involved in these events?
In your position of consultant and marketing men and women, what would you suggest to a client of yours?

Technorati Tags: Marketing, sport event, nba, formula 1, tour de france, mercedes mclaren, ferrari, tim donaghy, rasmussen, david stern

Marketing and sport: a tricky situation

The latest news from the Tour de France are a very bad sign for cyclism and for sport.

To recap:

- the former leader of the Tour was found positive to a banned drug
- the two major german TV Stations immediately stop to broadcast the race
- the new hero of the Tour, and the favourite racer at the beginning of the race, was found positive to testosterone

All this in a race who claimed to be the cleanest one.
Most of the sponsors will probably withdraw their money for the next season.

Is this story limited to cyclism?
I'm afraid not. And if I was a marketing manager who put money in sport events I would worry about it.
Who can reassure me that my brand is not linked to a doped athlete?
How badly my brand can be hurt by such a correlation?

If you were is such a tricky situation, how would you react?
Withdraw?
Resist?

Technorati Tags: Marketing, sport sponsorship, tour de france, doping

Ethic, honesty, transparency (to be cont'd)

Few weeks ago, I made a post about the Guillaume Prébois, the journalist running the his own Tour the France under medical control in clean condition.

The Tour organization has made a statement to fight against any form of doping and to stay a clean race and banning cyclists who were caught doping or under trial for doping.
A clear marketing move to retain sponsors, sell the race to the TV Stations.

But yesterday something went broken.

A German cyclist has been found positive to an antidoping control on June 8, well before the Tour, but he was in the race until three days ago.

The two major German Television, ZDF and ARD, decided to stop to broadcast the Tour.
Nikolaus Brender, from ZDF on behalf of the two TV channels, said: "We cannot air an event with athlets and teams that may be using drugs. We want to show that we can sustain the movement if and only if it is clean. And this is a message for all the other sports, too."

This is a move that should make all the marketers to think about how the sponsorship in sport events are a delicate topic, how is important to carefully choose the sport and the face to marry your brand.

The fastest is not always the best.
The honest, yes.
At least for your brand.

Technorati Tags: Tour de France, ZDF, ARD, doping, marketing, sport sponsorship

Dune restaurant blog

Dear all, a quick info about the blog.
Due to my poor technality, I turn the blog over the blogpost platform.
Typepad is far too complicated to me: my fault, indeed.

So go to the new Dune house: www.dunerestaurant.blogspot.com

Enjoy.

Technorati Tags: Dune restaurant, restaurant, roma, rome, italy, food, wine

ads that make me sick

I begin today a new series about awful ads from the Italian market.
I've noticed that the qualitative level of advertising in Italy is rather poor.
Who's to blame for?

1. Agencies are not brave enough to propose bold creative execution. How many times I was in creative presentation where the agency apologize for a proposing something out of the box.
   
2. And how many times I've heard clients doing the job of the creative dept. Getting into meeting with handwritten papers with layout and claim already fixed in their mind. The first question to ask for should have been: are you paid for that? Are you a marketing manager (or a product manager ) or you work for the agency? Who does pay for you salary?
3. Well, to tell the truth, there are the international creative execution to mess the situation further. Those beautiful ads where the local environment is passed by. How many issues this approach has created to companies and agencies?

But let's go the winner for this week.

I do not know what's your knowledge of sailing and winds. But indeed you know that waves go in the wind direction as well as you may konw that the America's Cup boats do not sail with wind over the 18/20 knots.

The Italian watch makers, Sector, defied the law of nature and the rules of the America's Cup in just one ad:

1. the boat is sailing under a gennaker with backwind but against the waves
2. the waves are for a very strong sea, well over the regatta rules and the chance of the boat to float
3. last but not least, they should work a bit on photoshop

Technorati Tags: marketing, sailing, america's cup, mascalzone latino, sector

The heat is on!

Launch date: Monday, July 16th

Formats/Prices:

Hardbacks $29.99
Paperbacks $16.95
E-book $9.99

Background
Dedication

Authors:
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Luc Debaisieux
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Bob Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Mitch Joel
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Krishna De
Kris Hoet
Kofl Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Pollinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carrol
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
CK
Drew Mcclellan
Gavin Heaton

Technorati Tags: Age of conversation, marketing, blog, drew mcclellan, gavin heaton, gianandrea facchini

Start me up

Yesterday evening, the Rolling Stones were on stage here in Rome.
As wrote in one of the previous post, I had an All access pass and, indeed, got to the concert.
After two hours of a flood of music, the Stones marked again the huge difference between the great rock and roll bands and most of wannabe music heroes of today.

This short video is a 1,44 minute video dedicated to Lewis Green, who made a comment saying "Start me up".
Even if a couple of days late, this is to celebrate the achievement of 1.000 comments on his blog.
Enjoy, man.




The second video is the tribute paid to Keith Richards. His guitar was the opening of all the songs.
He also sang a blues with Ron Wood at the acoustic guitar.
Rock on ,man.

Technorati Tags: Rolling Stones, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Lewis Green, Rome, Bigger band tour

This is a bold move from MPAA

MPAA in its war against illegal download has finally taken the boldest move possible:

"has launched a site called MiiVi that's dedicated to busting those that are both in the process of downloading copyrighted content, as well as those that have already engaged in the illicit act. Unbeknownst to download pirates who think MiiVi is a legitimate site, the destination allows users to download whole movies. It also features a downloadable app soliciting "fast and easy downloading all in one great site."

As reported by MarketingVoice.

Now, these guys seem to live at the Flinstones age.
Not only, they are not able to find new business model but spend money and time to try to trick the web.
And get eventually discovered in a couple of months.
Well done, guys.
If I was in the industry and pay for your salary, I would fire you.

Technorati Tags: Marketing, MPAA, download, MiiVi, marketing voice

Tagged!!

Well, tags and tagging may be a little boring. We do all our best to avoid e -mails saying deliver to 100 people or you got headache for a weak!
But I have to admit that this is a little different as it make you write something more about yourself. Yes, we do write something about ourselves everyday with our posts and comments. And, lately, I 've seen most of us to turn on a more personal mode.

Anyway, here are Random Things About Me:

1. I love dogs, sometimes more than humans
2. I love Pinot Noir Burgundy stile
3. I love modern art
   
4. I have an All Access pass for the Rolling Stones concert in Rome of tomorrow
5. I have a tattoo with a phrase from Sympathy for the devil
6. I adore Paris (the city, not the Hilton)
7. I love to cook and try new recipe for friends
8. I love Buddhism

And now the tagging for 8 people.

CK - ck-blog
Masiguy - masiguy
Gavin Heaton - servantofchaos
Stephen Denny - note-to-cmo
Pierfrancesco - pier-blog
Simone - simonemorgagni
Drew - drewsmarketingminute
David Armano - darmano

I do not know your reaction to the meme and the tag game but consider this tagging comes from an admirer.

Technorati Tags: fun, meme, game, tag

Feel free to step in

As life is too easy and I have a lot of free time, I have a new blog along with Bizandbuzz.
Please check: http://www.dunerestaurant.typepad.com/

This is the blog of the restaurant, where you can find information about the activity, as exhibition, parties, news about the city of Rome.

Enjoy,G.

Technorati Tags: gianandrea facchini, dune restaurant, rome, roma, italy, food, wine

Small thing that helps in making the world better

Eni, the Italian petrol company, has a new dress code: until September no jacket and tie.
The reason: 9% of saving in electricity and CO2 emission for each centigrade of air conditioning.
The goal: the perception that everyone of us, from the single person to the big company, can do something real for the environment.
The result: a great pr activity that goes along with the other activity named 30% - 24 practical suggestions to save energy, money and the environment.

Congratulation to Paolo Scaroni, the Ceo of Eni.

Technorati Tags: Eni, Paolo Scaroni, environment, marketing, Eni 30percento

Ethic, honesty, transparency

On the Sunday supplement of La Repubblica, I have found this amazing story.
Guillaume Prébois, a 35 years old journalist, will participate to the Grand Boucle, the Tour the France.
He will run the legs of the Tous one day in advance under medical control and making the anti doping control everyday.
The purpose is to show that too many athletes do use addictive drugs to be faster.
Fabio Biasolo, a ultracycler, will support him in this adventure.
We can follow him at www.Lautretour.com

It all started when Tom Boonen, the world champion, at the end of one mountain leg of last Tour de France, said: "today the leg was so tough that a normal person would have gone to hospital"

Why I do post about this story?

1. Because I feel that this could be a great chance for companies to sponsor the clean face of a much discussed sport. Masiguy had some post on the dope issue. (see May 25, 2007)
2. It is a great marketing chance to link your brand to a project where ethic, honesty, transparency are the goals.
3. It is a strong message to all the amateurs of this sport, which has a huge market, about your brand and its positioning as a trusted one.
   

Is your brand in the position to support a project like this?
Is there around other projects like this one that could deliver to your brand?
And last, if Guillaume had asked support to your company, what would have been your answer?

Technorati Tags: marketing, honesty, cycling, dope, guillaume prebois, masiguy, la repubblica, tour de france, la grand boucle, lautretour

A new blogger toolbox

A great new suggestion from Drew's marketing minute: the new blogger toolbox.

Et voilà the suggestion for the new bloggers around:

Conversation Agent by Valeria Maltoni - a great thinker who write in a clear yet articulated way
Bizsolutionplus by Lewis Green - the ethic approach to business and to blogging and god knows how we need it
Servant of Chaos by Gavin Heaton - the down under look to our world making you see things from a different perspective
Webware by Rafe Needleman and others - I like the fresh insight to cool web apps
Note to CMO by Stephen Denny - a cool way to tell to CMO to wake up

Hope you'll enjoy these blogs and find them useful and inspiring.

And do not forget: this is not a "if you're tagged, jump in" sort of thing. If you know of some great resources...jump in. If you got named -- please, by all means jump in too!

Technorati Tags: community, new blogger toolbox, tips for new bloggers, z-list

Tell me why

Few months ago, Digitas was acquired from Publicis Group for some as 1.6 bn dollars. Not bad.
A bold move to reinforce the Publicis position in the digital world.
Then, David Armano left the agency to join Critical Mass.
And three days ago, Greg Verdino left Digitas to join Crayon.
And probably some other moves took place in the meantime.

Now, why buy a company, pay a huge amount of money and then lose talents?
This is not a new story about this form of acquisition from the communication groups.
They are late in detecting new trends, then buy companies and try to turn them to their corporate approach and, most of the time, they kill them.

Technorati Tags: marketing, publicis, david armano, greg verdino, digitas, crayon, critical mass

Marketing is, after all, about value creation

This quote from CK's blog is the title of this post because I've neglected my blog lately.
And it shows from the readership.
Too many stuff to do. And a bit of selfishness.

But marketing, in its being a mix of art and science, has in itself some zen spirit and require a daily practice.

You need to stay on the news, get informed, attract and engage.
This is the main difference between writing a book and keeping a blog.
After a book is published you can have some rest, when a post is done you have to think about the next one: no post, no comments, no conversation.

And as well as marketing, blogging is about value creation.
The creation of a consistent reason to read your blog, to understand your thoughts and to comment them.

Technorati Tags: marketing, blog, blogging, ck, value creation

“What else is there to live for? food and women”

And so I did it: I just became partner in a restaurant.
This is a long story.
I have always loved the idea of a restaurant, probably it's in my dna: my grandfather was a maitre in luxury hotels aroud the world.

Anyway, along with my consulting career, I'm now working on the marketing for the restaurant.
Go there and have a look:

http://www.dunerestaurant.it/main_Eng.html


And if you are in Rome or plan to come to the eternal city, send a mail.....

Technorati Tags: restaurant, food, wine, rome, marketing, gianandrea facchini

It's no longer the new news but the relevance of the news

When I first started to blog, my focus was on the latest news and on writing something with strict connection to marketing (or at least the serious side of marketing) because the blogs I read was consistent in this approach.
But lately this way of blogging has changed and shifted from marketing to relationship.
Wait, I'm not saying we are no longer writing on marketing. The approach has changed: we blog about personal aspects of life, about relationship.
We do not forget that the job of the marketers is to advice on how to sell brands and products to customers, but they are no longer customers only but human being.
And the relationship between our bloggers has followed this path.

I'm more confident that there is a way to sell brands and products which is smart and transparent and honest.
A way where customers are not only grps or clicks or whatever measure you need to use but persons.

And across this path, this group of bloggers, I'm linked to, became a community.
We don't consider ourselves for the number of links but for what we are and what we say.

My approach has changed too:
it's no longer the new news but the relevance of the news.
Being the first to write about is not important to me is I have nothing relevant to say about.

Technorati Tags: marketing, blogger, blog, customer, commmunity

*@###§^^!!!!!!!!

I'm in a battle royal with technology!
Next update coming soon!

Technorati Tags: tachnology, quicktime, plugins

Better work few minutes more

A quick update on The 4-Hour Workweek.
I've got a mail by Tim Ferriss who probably did not get my question (of course, it may be a fault of mine as I write in a foreing language).
Anyway my question was:

tim,
i'm very curious to read your book but, as i live in italy, no chance to get the audible version.
any suggestion?
thanks,g.

The answer is:

Hi Gianandrea,

Thank you for your email. You should be able to download the audiobook at www.audible.com, or you can download the ebook at www.powells.com .

Thanks so much!

Tim

The problem is:

at Audible the book is not available for outside the US
at Powells it is in pre order and I did not spent other time to check is there is the same problem

It is the same problem I detected by myself and which made me send a mail.
After three days, I got a mail with a useless answer.

Technorati Tags: 4-Hours Workweek, Timothy Ferriss, word of mouth, marketing, Tim Ferriss, customer care

Customer care and the 4 hours work week

You have heard about a clever guy who is selling his method to work 4 hours a week and still living healthy.
I heard about him yesterday at Steve Rubel's place.
At first I was amazed by how smart is this guy : the book, five minutes conferences, a blog, some advice on how to measure your life quality, how to save money with a more rational standard of living, etc.
Wow, sounds great. Let me buy the book.
First problem: the book is not yet available for Italian market. Ok, such a smart guy, I send him a mail telling how i wish to understand more and we'll find a solution. So I did and I got an answer in five minutes. The most disappointing answer I, as a customer, can receive:

Hi All,

In an effort to actually get work done, I am checking email once every 2-4 days. If you need a response soon and have my number, please call me. I actually prefer phone for quick decisions.

If this is media, speaking, or interview-related, please find
appropriate phone info under "contact" at www.fourhourworkweek.com.

Cheers, and here's to life outside of the inbox!

Tim

P.S. I read all e-mail personally, but I cannot always reply, especially with involved how-to questions. Please don't be offended if I don't respond, and be sure to check out the blog, forums, and 4HWW communities that are popping up online. Thanks for
understanding, and I appreciate your e-mail!

Wait a minute:

1. to save your time you just do not check email?
2. to save your time, I have to phone to you?
3. you read all email personally but do not answer because you can't?
4. I have not to be offended, if you do not answer?

What about customer satisfaction?
You sell a product, your book, and to sell more you build up a story around it and to live with your story you tell to a customer to not send mail, better a phone call and if you should not answer just take it easy?

Is it me or there is something wrong?

Technorati Tags: 4-Hours Workweek, Timothy Ferriss, word of mouth, marketing, Tim Ferriss, customer care