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HOW WILL THE NFL SAY “NO MORE” TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE?.

The Ray Rice domestic violence matter has shined a giant spotlight on an issue that has surfaced time and time again in the lives of professional athletes; namely, domestic and other forms of violence outside the field of play. This seems even more prevalent in sports that are particularly violent in nature. In other words, when you make violence and/or physical contact the essence of your profession (like in the NFL), how do you learn to turn it off in other parts of your life? Apparently, it is not so easy.

The Ray Rice domestic violence matter has shined a giant spotlight on an issue that has surfaced time and time again in the lives of professional athletes; namely, domestic and other forms of violence outside the field of play. This seems even more prevalent in sports that are particularly violent in nature. In other words, when you make violence and/or physical contact the essence of your profession (like in the NFL), how do you learn to turn it off in other parts of your life? Apparently, it is not so easy.

The NFL’s policy on domestic violence is archaic and reactionary rather than proactive and progressive. The NFL would have loved to sweep the Ray Rice incident under the rug. When it blew up in their face—the NFL (and Ray Rice’s team, the Baltimore Ravens) over-reacted in an effort to calm the outrage by unceremoniously cutting Rice from his team and issuing a draconian suspension. The suspension was recently overturned by an independent arbitrator in that the length unjustly punished Rice far beyond the scope of the justice system.

In truth, the NFL is much like Gladiators of ancient Rome and the “voluntary” and “permissive” violence it promotes on the field is the same violence that our culture is infatuated with as evidenced by the enormous TV ratings for NFL games. But the NFL has a duty to take effective measures to ensure that the athletes that are so violent on the field get the counseling and training they need to ensure this violence does not carry over to domestic life. This counseling should start even before an incident like Ray Rice’s breaks out (domestic abuse; fighting; bullying;, etc.). The NFL has a further duty to ensure that its athlete employees are good corporate citizens, promoting the type of values that the NFL should be promoting off the field of play that can be an example to its fans and society as a whole.

Simply stated, the NFL could have avoided all this by using an approach of clarity and transparency clearly outlined in a five step process that should ultimately be incorporated into the collective bargaining agreement:

Education—every sports league (through its teams) should institute a mandatory education policy about the dangers and consequences of domestic and other forms of violence. This more “violent” the sport, the more intensive the program should be.  The process should be audited to ensure compliance.

Suspension/fine—in proportion to the offense committed (after an internal investigation takes place with at least some minimum “due process” standards in place)

Counseling—must be administered by reputable and independent agencies (not by organizations on the NFL payroll, no matter how good their credentials).

Community Service— must be administered by reputable and independent agencies (not by organizations on the NFL payroll, no matter how good their credentials).

Zero tolerance— for repeat offenders

This openly stated policy by the NFL (education/fine/suspension/rehab/service/0 tolerance) would go a long way to send a message that the NFL demands its athletes absolutely refrain from domestic violence/ bullying etc. off the football field, and that such violence has absolutely no place in our society.

PAYDIRT FOR KIM KARDASHIAN: THE CONFLUENCE OF MASS & SOCIAL MEDIA.

There has been lots of talk in the past weeks about Kim Kardashian.  When I spoke recently at Web Summit in Dublin, I touched upon the explosion of social media, growing a whopping 80% from 2013 to 2014. On the heels of all this, Kim allowed the release of a series of nude and provocative photos in the social sphere from a photo shoot she did for Paper Magazine, which was quoted in Adweek: “November 12, our traffic hit 6.6 million page views with 5 million of those being unique visitors. This is just direct traffic to the site, and does not include the billions of impressions created on social channels and news outlets.”

There has been lots of talk in the past weeks about Kim Kardashian.  When I spoke recently at Web Summit in Dublin, I touched upon the explosion of social media, growing a whopping 80% from 2013 to 2014. On the heels of all this, Kim allowed the release of a series of nude and provocative photos in the social sphere from a photo shoot she did for Paper Magazine, which was quoted in Adweek: “November 12, our traffic hit 6.6 million page views with 5 million of those being unique visitors. This is just direct traffic to the site, and does not include the billions of impressions created on social channels and news outlets.”

Not coincidentally, Kim’s “celebrity” status just reached an all-time high in terms of pop culture reach. This apex happens to coincide with the breakout success of her new Kim Kardashian’s Hollywood app which reportedly generates roughly $700,000 per day (projecting to net out approximately $200M per year).

The lesson from all this: in order to create enough weight to cut through the clutter in today’s world of fragmented media, one must be able to penetrate both traditional (mass media) and new media (social media). Kim and her “momager,” Kris Jenner, started figuring out long ago how to create “buzz” as Kim became known as a socialite and used their TV show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, as an engine to stimulate ongoing interest in her life. With all the talk about Kim’s recent photos in Paper Magazine, it is just one of the many catalysts that have been used for years by Kim and her team to fuel interest and spark conversation around her. This started early on with Kim’s sex tape then continued with her series of “train wreck” relationships and social exploits that were well-documented on the show where art imitated life. As a result, Kim increasingly became the subject of “pop culture” coverage (weekly magazines, TV shows). Then Kim discovered that by using social media, a significant number of people were interested in engaging with her directly.

In 2011, the Founder of Skechers, Robert Greenberg, decided to purchase an ad during the Super Bowl broadcast, and as CMO and President of Skechers Fitness Group, he challenged me to find someone that could not only star in the ad but also get a lot of “PR” as he called it—showcasing Skechers entry into the walking/fitness business. At the time, Kim Kardashian had about 1.7M Twitter followers, was regularly featured in a number of weekly publications, and was pretty well-known for her series of high profile failed relationships as documented in her weekly reality show. She had also done a lot of one-off endorsements—some successful and others not so much. However, one thing seemed evident, Kim had lots of balls in the air like so many women today and was challenged with a rigorous work schedule that made finding time to work out challenging. That was one reason, I thought she would be a credible candidate for our walking product . Moreover, because she already attracted regular attention in the media, I was hoping we could use the lead up to the Super Bowl to activate “earned” media, meaning traditional PR, coupled with social. It was a grand experiment to push the outer limits of how social and mass could combine to create exponential exposure.

The ad we designed was to have “art imitate life” and we staged a secret (“embargoed”) TV/video shoot where all we publicly announced was that Kim was going to “break up” with someone in front of the projected 110 million people which comprised the Super Bowl audience. At the shoot we didn’t let the media on the actual set but kept them outside and fed them video sound bites from Kim where she “teased” the spot and expressed her remorse and trepidation at the reaction of the audience to this “break up”. Not only did traditional media respond to the story enthusiastically, such as USA Today, weekly TV, print and electronic publications, but it also snowballed throughout the world of social media. The result was that we generated nearly 2 billion media impressions before the Super Bowl ad broke, which then garnered another 200 million or so views.

Watch the Kim Kardashian Skechers Super Bowl spot here if you want to see who she broke up with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzXSi6TTKpc

Following that campaign, Kim’s Twitter followers swelled pretty quickly to more than 15M. Soon she and her advisors devised an even more sophisticated, effective and efficient content production strategy around making Kim a personal media company aligned around Instagram photos and videos. This focus was particularly effective this past year since social interaction has grown at the rate of 80% with Instagram being the highest platform of all. Currently Kim has nearly 30M Twitter followers and over 22M Instagram followers.

So now you have all Kim, all the time. Open Yahoo, Kim’s on the front page. Open MSN or AOL and Kim’s on the front page. Go to the newsstand: she’s in People, Us, etc. Turn on TV, Access Hollywood, ET, she’s there as well.

So what does this tell us? In order to build a powerful brand in today’s fragmented world, you must address all forms of media (traditional and new media) and build critical mass as quickly as possible. Once you reach critical mass, with the right content production strategy, you can convert celebrity to brand and identify numerous unforeseen revenue streams like our friend Kim Kardashian has done.

Watch Kim and Kris introduce the Skechers launch here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaaDw_HNqLM

IDENTIFY, POSITION AND ACCELERATE THE VALUE OF HIGH GROWTH BRANDS.

I spoke at the Web Summit in Dublin, Ireland last week alongside some of the  most innovative companies and people in the world. The most influential leaders in the Technology world were there or have attended in the past.

I spoke at the Web Summit in Dublin, Ireland last week alongside some of the  most innovative companies and people in the world. The most influential leaders in the Technology world were there or have attended in the past.

photo credit: Jerome Reilly, Sunday Indo Sport

My presentation focused on how to identify, position and accelerate the value of high growth brands— particularly as relates to converting the “fame” of an athlete into a brand with long term value. I used my work with Shaquille O’Neal (“Shaq”) and Oscar De La Hoya (“Golden Boy”) as examples and presented a formula for how this can work most effectively— and it is relevant to any celebrity or high growth brand.

I also talked about how brand building has changed so much in a world where media has gone from concentrated to fragmented because of the emergence of so many TV networks and the growth of broadband and mobile. And because of mobile devices, the consumption of media is absolutely exploding. For example, social media engagements grew 80% from 2013 to 2014— staggering! And of all the “growth” platforms on social, it appears that Instagram is growing at the most rapid rate in enlisting engagement.

When I began representing Shaquille O’Neal out of college, he was relatively unknown. Through our work together, Shaq was the first athlete that ushered in the convergence of sports, entertainment, music, marketing and technology. And today he is a worldwide brand.

The strategy I developed early on and applied to Shaq was called Marketing Coalition Systems (MCS). The components of MCS are below:

  • Only work on the remarkable— something special and unique unlike anything else in the world. In sports “winning” is a huge component of remark ability
  • Create a brand positioning for that remark ability— express it in a creatively compelling yet simple way to define the value proposition of the star athlete or entertainer
  • Create a “mission statement” that expresses the vision of the brand should it reach its ultimate goal
  • Define the primary and secondary “engines” that will give the brand marketing weight in this world of fragmented, yet exponentially growing media and communications. Make sure to use all available communication platforms to amplify the brand message and, most important— make sure the content that is communicated is “on brand” and “remarkable”.
  • Build a “coalition” of marketing partners that will use their marketing budgets to provide more weight behind your brand. I call this using OPM (other people’s money) to grow your brand value
  • Host a Summit where the marketing coalition comes together and aligns their future marketing communications consistent with your brand positioning and is creatively compelling. I created the concept for a “marketing summit” in the mid-1990s with Shaquille O’Neal when we were launching the “Shaq” brand. It turned out to be quite effective in creative massive marketing weight.
  • Always be aware of the latest developments in technology as an amplification tool but remember you have to start with great content that is remarkable/shareable or the technology will be useless.

Finally, it is really interesting with the explosion of social media (and it is just beginning) how athletes and celebrities today have an opportunity to engage, activate and even monetize their audience in unprecedented ways. Kim Kardashian stumbled upon this with her mobile app, “Kim Kardashian’s Hollywood” which reportedly generates $700K per day! I expect to see lots of experimentation around that model in the future for celebrities or athletes with large social followings that can be activated.

We are still in the early stages of this new form of media and its impact on brand building. Let me know of your experiences or insights about best practices and opportunities for the future.

IMPACT OF NBA MEDIA DEAL.

Lots of discussion about it. The impact on cable costs to consumers. Whether money was left on the table.

Lots of discussion about it. The impact on cable costs to consumers. Whether money was left on the table.

Simply put, the NBA’s current media deal is groundbreaking in the same way its last media deal was—both setting new benchmarks in the media world. Last time, the NBA ushered in the move from an “exclusive” Network only deal to a “hybrid” media/cable deal including ESPN (Disney) and Turner (TNT). This resulted in increased coverage across multiple platforms that did not exist previously.

The latest NBA media deal is a milestone for the world of “new media” by re-upping with those same partners but commanding an astonishing price. The reason for this dramatic increase is that so many new forms of media and communication are incorporated into the deal—from traditional broadcast to “over the top” to every platform of social media and communication. The increase in media consumption over the last 10 years has been dramatic and sports content sits at the top of the list when it comes to that increase.

Everything now should be measured in terms of “share of attention”—and that’s not just limited to TV viewership (cable viewers). The NBA has an enormous social following—and that share of attention is what justifies the huge increase in rights fees. Could NBA have gotten more as Tim Leiweke says—by giving Facebook and Google a shot at “bidding”. I’m not so sure after speaking with some top media executives. Bottom line, ESPN and Turner were willing to pay whatever Commissioner Adam Silver asked—and his asking price really stretched the boundaries of what is economically justifiable for these rights. In the end, loyalty and good business prevailed and a seemingly great deal was struck for all long term partners.

Welcome!.

The purpose of this blog is to be on the lookout for the remarkable in the world of sports, music, and marketing. I am interested in innovation and exploring the boundaries of human capacity and celebrating a life filled with rich experience and purity of intention.

The purpose of this blog is to be on the lookout for the remarkable in the world of sports, music, and marketing. I am interested in innovation and exploring the boundaries of human capacity and celebrating a life filled with rich experience and purity of intention.

The David Stern that I Knew.

There has already been so much written about the legend of David Stern, but I wanted to share my view of this amazing man and a few of my personal experiences. David was not just a mentor to me, but I was continually inspired by his incredible accomplishments, vision, business instinct, and by his heart. I’m proud to be characterized by him as a “close friend”.

There has already been so much written about the legend of David Stern, but I wanted to share my view of this amazing man and a few of my personal experiences. David was not just a mentor to me, but I was continually inspired by his incredible accomplishments, vision, business instinct, and by his heart. I’m proud to be characterized by him as a “close friend”.

In the early years, David carried the NBA on his back, and he is one of the few in history to transform a small, struggling sports organization into a global juggernaut. It is well documented that when David took over the league, the NBA Finals weren’t even on live network TV in the USA. He did so many extraordinary things to grow the popularity of the league both as a media company and as a business both domestically and globally. He ruled the NBA owners, players, and employees with an iron fist, but always in a way that put the business interests of the NBA first. David was always the smartest person in the room and had such a charisma and swagger about him and he was one of those people that marvels with his depth and breadth of knowledge and his otherworldly business acumen. He reminds me of heroes of American folklore, like George Washington crossing the Delaware in command of a small overmatched army riding his horse at the front of the lines in the face of adversity and managing to pull off miraculous victories through courage, instinct, and inspiration.

While David was trained as a lawyer, he turned the NBA into the world’s most progressive sports league. At a time when sports marketing was in its infancy, David introduced new nomenclature and approaches to marketing that served as a textbook case for the rest of the world. David introduced a methodology for using marketing partnerships to grow enterprise value for the league by harnessing the power of coalition marketing to add weight and value to the NBA brand. David coined the term “marketing partnership” as opposed to the traditional term of “sponsors” to define the relationship with the NBA and those companies that were paying for the right to use the NBA marks in association with their advertising. It implied a deeper, more fully integrated and committed relationship. He was one of the first people to stand for the proposition that business must “do well by doing good” and the original architect of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s progressive, “purpose driven” approach where the NBA is not just a sport or a business, but a force to move culture in a positive way. There will never be another leader like him in sports.

I met David Stern during the period when I represented some of the most well-known players in the NBA including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kevin Johnson, and Shaquille O’Neal, among others; and one of my clients, was WNBA great Lisa Leslie. David and Adam were evangelists for gender equality and took great pride in launching the WNBA and Lisa was a big part of that. When I began representing Kareem, it was my first NBA client. It was towards the end of Kareem’s career; David took me under his wing and strategized with me how to create a more meaningful bond between Kareem and NBA fans. Kareem had always been an intellectual, but somewhat introverted and felt a bit persecuted by both the media and fans—and didn’t connect particularly well with either. David suggested that I convince Kareem in his final season to do a farewell tour so that he could experience an outpouring of affection from the NBA fans around the league. Then Kareem would see an outpouring of respect and admiration from these fans in recognition of his extraordinary talent and accomplishments. Kareem agreed to do this, and we orchestrated a farewell ceremony in every NBA city during Kareem’s final season. It was a turning point in his relationship with NBA fans and made Kareem understand how much he was appreciated even by seemingly hostile fans in opposing cities.

David cared so deeply about the well-being of NBA players and the image of those players. He took an interest in everything they did, from the way they dressed, to the kind of marketing they did for themselves, to their charitable activities. He orchestrated a myriad of player image building programs at the NBA which he ultimately combined under the umbrella of NBA Cares. In fact, David was incredibly aware and involved in protecting the image of NBA players and their relationship with fans. He would have no problem chewing agents and players out (including me) for what he felt was improper conduct or behavior or just exercising bad judgment. It was almost like getting called into the principal’s office.

I also had the opportunity to work together with David and now Commissioner Adam Silver to resolve the longest lock out in NBA history when things looked perilously bleak. Even though the relationship between the league and players/agents is slightly adversarial, we became dear friends through that process. I have never encountered anyone smarter, with greater command of all the facts, and one who knew how to exercise nearly perfect judgment in the face of crisis. I also discovered through that process that even when David had the upper hand in negotiation, he always made a deal that allowed the other party to emerge with their dignity intact.

David always told me that if he wrote a book it would be titled “Micromanagement is Underrated” and he personified that principle in the way he ran the NBA. He was a fierce workaholic who demanded nothing less from all those who worked at the NBA. It’s common knowledge that David would arrive at NBA offices on 5th avenue and 51st street in NYC about 9am every morning. He would proceed to work tirelessly the entire day and leave for home around 9pm that night. Of course, no one wanted to leave the office before David for fear that they would be perceived as a slacker so anyone at the NBA either became a “lifer” because they embraced the work-a-holic culture or they burned out and moved on.

Another interesting dynamic at the NBA was that David knew everyone’s job better than they did and everyone knew it and everyone was painfully aware that David was a perfectionist. NBA employees lived slightly in fear that David would go right to the heart of their weaknesses or insecurities—and point out the deficiency of their work product, almost as if he were prescient. Sometimes he would do it in front of me just for show. I was just amazed at his intellectual superiority. His analytical skills were razor sharp and he loved to “joust” and teach lessons usually with a twinkle in his eye, but that twinkle didn’t assuage the fears of NBA employees who would bear the brunt of his scrutiny. While he probably ruled a bit more with fear than with love, I never saw him do anything in a malicious or mean-spirited way. He just loved to teach and to well, “micro-manage”.

Even after Adam Silver took over as Commissioner of the NBA, the shadow of David Stern was still cast. In Adam’s first All-Star game in New Orleans as Commissioner, when the Game had ended and the weekend festivities had come to a close, Adam and I happened to be riding up the elevator together at the Windsor Court hotel. I notice that Adam seemed preoccupied with whether things had gone as well as possible that weekend. Adam then looked at me, and said he kept expecting his phone to ring and have David on the other end pointing out some detail that he overlooked but he realized that he was now the Commissioner and he was actually the “boss”. It just took a while to sink in that David had passed the torch to him. We both started laughing.

I remember walking into David Stern’s office in 1992 right after I began representing Shaquille O’Neal. Sitting in the corner of the room was Adam Silver, who David introduced to me as his “special assistant”. David said: “you can trust him so speak freely”. Throughout the next 10 years, David and Adam were my free “consultants”, helping me navigate Shaquille’s career as the first athlete to build a true “brand” where he fully controlled his own IP by converging sports, media, marketing, entertainment and technology. We were building a “brand” for Shaq through the engine provided by the NBA and the ancillary plan we created together. David would sit me down for a lecture when he felt we were getting off course. During this time I would often complain to David that everyone was “hacking Shaq” too much and he wasn’t getting the foul calls he deserved. David would just smile and send Adam to calm me down. On the flipside, I remember having dinner one night with David and Adam following a game when Shaq and the Lakers were on their way to winning their first championship. Someone in the restaurant yelled out Stern: “you cheater!”. David just ignored the outburst, smiled and turned to us and said: “it comes with the territory”. Criticism never really bothered him because he knew in his heart that he was doing the right thing. He always had a plan, a vision, and had a way of inspiring confidence in everyone around him that his leadership and judgment were unparalleled.

During that period, I became close friends with Adam Silver as Adam ascended the ranks of the NBA to become President of NBA Entertainment, then Deputy Commissioner and then added COO of the NBA to his title. Adam was involved in nearly every meeting I had with David and the two of them were practically inseparable for over 20 years. Whenever I had a meeting with David, I would always roll into Adam’s office first to plot my course and get his insights. Often, I would arrive with some new technology gadget – like a phone that was actually connected to the Internet. Hardly anyone had seen that before and when we showed David he was absolutely intrigued. David was always curious and always loved learning—he possessed an almost child wonder when he was introduced to something new and was excited to understand the next “big thing” and how it would be used to the NBA’s advantage. Adam and I “conspired” to get David to embrace technology and David was receptive to do so. One day Adam and I went into David’s office and told him that the NBA should be leader in technology and should create the NBA Technology Summit. David thought about it for a while and said: “go do it”! And then he gave himself the nickname “Digital Dave”.

That was the beginning of David Stern’s love affair with technology which continued the rest of his life and ushered in the NBA’s leadership position as the sports league most proficient and advanced in technology, from its infrastructure to social media. At the time I had become friendly with some of the power players in Silicon Valley and I would at times trot them into the NBA office for a meeting with the Commissioner. Adam and I would sit back and watch David put on a show, which was always entertaining. He was the last of the charismatic leaders, strutting around the office like a proud peacock showing off his analytical skills and intellectual prowess.

David created the concept of the “NBA Family” and once you were “in” you remained a member for life and he was always there for you. You got invited to everything—games and NBA functions, including NBA All Star weekend. I was lucky enough to be included and he never failed to ask how my parents or kids were doing, always with a warm smile on his face. At the Olympic Games while there for USA Basketball, David and Adam would always make time come watch the beach volleyball competition with me since I was the Commissioner of the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball tour at the time. They were in the stands sitting next to me when my wife, Holly McPeak, won her Bronze Medal in Beach Volleyball at the Athens Games. David and Adam even sat in the pouring rain together with me in Beijing and watched Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May Trainor win their Gold Medal.

While everyone is quick to point out all of David’s incredible career accomplishments and what he is meant to the NBA and sports in general, there is one thing that separates David Stern from every other sports and business leader, namely, that he exited the NBA on his own terms and created a path to succession that set the NBA up for future success and made it unquestionably the best run sports league. One of the most difficult things in business or life is to give up power, especially when you are experiencing extraordinary success and at the top of your game. Remember the Lord of the Rings: it’s an internal struggle to give up absolute power when the ring is on your finger. Nothing was going wrong at the NBA and his intellect was sharp as ever when David Stern decided to create a succession plan.

I felt honored and fortunate that David felt comfortable discussing this philosophical dilemma with me as he grappled with the question of when it was time to hand over the reins of power. David concluded that no matter how incredible his accomplishments, and that his capabilities were incomparable and had in no way diminished, his time would eventually come to an end. He had the choice to orchestrate the transition himself or it would be done from the outside either by others or natural causes

David also came to the determination that Adam Silver was the only one for the job, that he had groomed him for 20 years and it was time to anoint Adam as his successor. David’s reasoning was that not only was this the perfect way to continue his legacy but more importantly set the NBA up for future success. Under Adam’s leadership, David felt that all the NBA brand pillars would be intact and safe. And even though their styles were opposite, David expressed that Adam possessed the set of skills required to maintain the NBA’s global growth and build upon its core values. In in his final act as Commissioner, David Stern performed his final and greatest service for the NBA that he had built, namely, to set the league up for future success.

As I remember David Stern, I think about someone who stood above the crowd in so many ways and made such an enormous impact upon sports, business and culture. As the Frank Sinatra song says: “I did it my way”, and that line applies so perfectly to David Stern. Not only did he do things “his way” but it invariably turned out to be the right way and David left the NBA and the world a far better place because of his enormous contributions. David Stern was the stuff that legends are made of: a larger than life figure that left this world with a legacy of admiration, respect and love.