The European perspective

Comment by Rob Lewis on October 23, 2008 at 5:55am

Of course I haven't heard the commentary whihc went with the slides but I thought the dichotomy between Europe and the US overplayed. One reason for this may be because I'm from the UK but the take I have on sports marketing and the sporting culture is that UK sporting organisations are lagging the US mainly through a lack of management understanding of how sport should be marketed- at grass roots as well as in mainstream sports. I also think there may be alot more activity in spiort in the uSA (after all ahtletes have to come from somewhere) and although it is school as opposed to local sports club oriented, thatis not so far different from school based competitive sport that existed in the UK when i was growing up in the 60s and 70s. In fact the recent reserach from the European Advertisng Associtaion has shown a huge demand for interactive media (http://www.eiaa.net/news/eiaa-articles-details.asp?lang=1&id=168) . However i have to agree that there seems to be a cultural bioas led opportunity for socila networking in Europe to support grass roots and generic sports development and Iam encuraged by the fact Sport England are advertisng for a diretor of socila media!. I suspect that the way sports marketing will play out in Europe will lag the uS but that we will learn from them and implement with local variation. At the moment I don't think there is much that looks like 'good practice' in Europe but would welcome being out right on this. Isporty seems absolutley dead at the moment (I checked on 20th october and there were hardly any 2008 posts) for example althoughit seems like a good idea.A strat up ballz.com also seems to be sufering from lack of take up. However sites such as thoose managed by Nike seem to have great communities - although I am aware of why Nike do this!

Comment by Gijsbregt Brouwer on October 23, 2008 at 2:48pm

Rob,
England is always the bridge between US & EU, so I share your thoughts on that.
The presentation was focused on showing the differences in culture & the effect they have on the sports 2.0 initiatives. Certainly there are strong commercial properties in EU with sound social media strategies. And I know of quite some OK US initiatives for active sporters. In general, in my opinion, the differences are there. And it is good to know they are there, so we can learn from each other.
Too bad iSporty is lagging at this moment, it goes to show that building a good community really is tough. Be it in the US, the UK or in the rest of Europe.

Comment by Rob Lewis on October 24, 2008 at 4:36am

It may be, for active sporters, that there are almost too many options for community - from the physical sports club environment through to the many virtual options, that a single portal just will always struggle. I am surprised though that the adoption of social media does lag in pro sports in the UK - the majority of sites still are very 1.0 with an approach to news and merchandising that has not really moved forward. Again the basis of this may be that fans have many forums in which to support their teams and interact, and the clubs may be seen as acting to stifle rather than encourage debate. My own research into UK pro sports of rugby union and cricket suggested that most marketing managers saw the primary use of the web to reduce marketing costs of communication, and to increase sales of tickets and merchandise - laudable from a profit motive but not targeted at the younger generation. In fact most saw interactivity on the web site as just a burden in that they had to monitor what their fans were saying as opposed to interacting with them. I must admit that as I am writing about the use of new media and sports marketing, examples of successful practice seem a few, although i accept it is early in the development of expertise.

Comment by Gijsbregt Brouwer on October 24, 2008 at 5:05am

Rob,
I see the same here in NL. It shows that that sports 2.0 has a long way to go and especially on the pro sports side we can learn from the US. Have you written about your research somewhere (blog/site)?

Comment by Rob Lewis on October 24, 2008 at 5:35am

Hi
I started a blog http://sportsocialmedia.blogspot.com/ but it was more a series of notes to myself on what I was seeing. I am about to write a textbook chapter on PR and new media in sports management for a forthcoming book. Note this will not be the broad area of marketing but a specific focus on PR - but I want to expand that further and will of course touch on differences between the US and European models - i was thinking of referring to your hypothesis of differences as a reference point in my text if you'd be OK with that? I feel i am starting out on a journey since my initial research into pro rugby and cricket because then i noticed the apparent lack of interest in the fan/supporter shown by the clubs, and the fact that for many community = opportunity to sell more as well establish a good corporate reputation. Many felt ( and as both sports struggle against the dominance of football in the overall market) that a commercial focus was necessary at this life stage of the sport as they were comparatively late to even web 1.0. Timing may be important between the overtly professional US sport with its historical compromise between competition and revenue maximization, and the European model of competition preferred to revenue maximization. That is to say, US Sport has cartelized its operations legally with revenue sharing at its core, and competitive balance, while Europe has only just woken up to the fact that unless you have some kind of structure around sporting competition, success can be bought, and this erodes competitive balance (as Platini at EUFA has noted). US sports teams can invest in improved marketing because they do not need to invest as much in finance to maintain and improve player assets for example. Already the Premier League in the UK have floated the idea of no relegation and an elite of football clubs - and this would of course be perfectly compatible with Platini's view of salary caps, responsible finance, and lead to the US model of revenue sharing and competitive balance :-). Sorry to go on for so long but there are a few forces at work that go beyond the actions of individual sports organisations. However, I am sure that new models of sports marketing will emerge in Europe, but that also there are barriers to adoption that have to be faced and overcome

Comment by Gijsbregt Brouwer on October 24, 2008 at 5:40am

Rob,
I like your views. It underlines that we still have a long way to go.
Of course, feel free to use my hypothesis, as long as you quote me as a source.

Comment by Rob Lewis on October 24, 2008 at 5:49am

Thanks

Comment by coach001 on December 3, 2008 at 9:29am

Hello,

I visit your webpage, I saw the development and programs you have in there, In here we are having this kind of program like training of the players from ages of U10 - U16 and also looking for an organization to produce this players to, through scholarship programs,

Secondly, the partnership can help through the coaching development program organizing seminars here for the state coaches carrying the name and banner of your program in our country. This will also bring profit to you towards good organization of the program.

I will be happy to let me know the neccessary step to take go get this come to existance. You can visit us at www.heelandschallenegfc.com

Hope to read from you.

Regards

Comment by Gijsbregt Brouwer on December 3, 2008 at 4:45pm

Hi coach,
I think this is the proper link: http://www.heelandschallengefc.com/
Can you be more specific what it is you are asking?
Best, Gijsbregt

Comment by coach001 on December 4, 2008 at 5:11am

i am very impress in becoming a member of this group, But I want to know if there can be any developmental program the group can offer to soccer coaches in Africa.

Rgrds

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