Sports Marketing: Building Image on the Web
By Chhun Sun, The Salt Lake Tribune
Jul. 30–Nearly a million people have seen the video on YouTube or on his Web site. And some actually listened to him and voted.
Toronto’s Chris Bosh, in a cowboy hat, with his best Southern drawl and in the fashion of a cheesy cars salesman, asked fans to vote him into the 2008 All-Star Game.
"I’ll see you in New Orleans," he concluded, waving his hat in the air.
Weeks later, Bosh became an All-Star. Now, there’s no telling how much the video influenced people to check off his name on the ballot, considering he was putting up All-Star numbers anyway. But there’s one major truth here: It helped. There’s no shame in self-promotion these days, even if you’re a public sports figure.
Musicians do it all the time, uploading new songs onto their MySpace page or writing about their concerts in the blogosphere. It’s a way for them to reach out to their audience, giving fans a glimpse of their humanity and everyday lives.
Like musicians, athletes can produce YouTube video themselves, with a webcam and probably no script and no corporate head controlling their every move.
Welcome to the new age of media.
"I think I set the stage," Bosh said.
Professional athletes have MySpace and Facebook profiles, too — though be careful, because there are fake ones out there. Utah Jazz stars Andrei Kirilenko, Mehmet Okur and Deron Williams have their own Web sites, supposedly to give fans a little more insight about their thoughts and actions.
Kirilenko undoubtedly gave fans some insight last summer, demanding a trade in his Russian blog before he worked things out with the Jazz.
Golfer Mike Weir and Olympic wrestling champion Cael Sanderson have their own Web domains, too.
How it got started
Bosh didn’t want to rely just on the video to get him into the All-Star game. It was mostly for exposure, and to help him get closer to the likes of the bigger stars who were ahead of him, like Kevin Garnett and LeBron James.
Plus, he knew he had the personality to pull it off.
"I wanted to be in a position where I didn’t want to rely on that, because after I made it, I was like, ‘OK, now I have to play well.’ You know?" he recently told The Salt Lake Tribune. "I just don’t want to rely on that. Plus, I just wanted to make the voting competitive, because K.G. [Kevin Garnett] and LeBron [James] were hundreds of thousands — probably millions — of votes ahead. So I just wanted to make something fun."
The feedback was wonderful, Bosh said. He knew he started something that peers would have to live up to.
It was his idea, though his girlfriend and brother helped with the filming of the video.
"Everybody was real surprised," Bosh said, "because I guess people didn’t know I had that sense of humor."
There’s no word yet if the Jazz’s Williams — who expressed his disappointment to the media about being snubbed from the past two All-Star games — will follow Bosh’s lead.
Not just for the big boys
Chris Fetters, the Northwest football recruiting expert for scout.com, thought there was nothing high school recruits could do to surprise him. He knows all about the particular methods teenagers use to sell themselves — from producing highlight videos to creating their own little Web sites, though these domains usually look elementary.
Then there’s Tate Forcier.
The star prep quarterback from San Diego has done something even Fetters didn’t think anyone would do. Not only did he create his own Web site to make himself more appealing to schools all across the country, he has also posted recruiting letters and offers online — for all the world to see. It’s an effort to make himself look more valuable.
"He’s done something no one else has done before," Fetters said. "At the very least, it’s a very interesting concept." It’s a situation, he added, that college coaches are trying to stay on top of.
"On the other end, it’s up to the kids. They can do what they want to do and Forcier broke that barrier."
Will he do it again?
That’s not the question. Bosh knows he’ll try the gimmick again.
The question is: How far is he willing to go?
Will he pull off a stunt in which he jumps out of an airplane just to get a vote or two?
Will he risk his life in front of, say, an Aston Martin?
OK, that last one has already been done — by Kobe Bryant, who shot a commercial for Nike (in YouTube fashion) in which he appears to leap over the speeding car to prove that his new Hyperdunk shoes can save your life if necessary. The video had the feel of Bosh’s plea for All-Star votes.
Bosh won’t say what he’ll do next.
But he implied that it’s possibly going to be bigger and better.
"I think I’m pretty creative," he said.
Tribune reporter Michael C. Lewis contributed to this report.
csun@sltrib.com
Self promoters
Tate Forcier: He’s a star recruit and quarterback from Scripps Ranch High in San Diego. To get the attention of college coaches, he has posted recruiting letters from some of them on his Web site, hoping the coaches will recognize his value.
Chris Bosh: The forward for the Toronto Raptors "set the stage" by producing an online video in which he seeks All-Star votes — an effort that definitely helped. He says he’ll do another video next year.
Mark Madsen: Like many of his peers, the center for the Minnesota Timberwolves has a blog. He contributes once or twice every month during the regular season. He offers his thoughts on each game, giving insight into the life of an NBA player.
Sites to check out:
www.chris-bosh.com
www.deronwilliams.net
www.markmadsen.com
www.kirilenko.ru/?lang=eng
—–
To see more of The Salt Lake Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sltrib.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Salt Lake Tribune
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.