No, three words brought back the NBA from near death: Magic, Larry, and Michael. Zippy the Chimp could have written that advertising campaign.
Michael Contopoulos wrote: > Glen, > > Nominate me to head USATF and I'll do better than that. I will prove your > assertations false while raising millions of dollars and developing a core > set of distance and middle distace runners capable of running with and > beating anybody on the scene. I'm a man with little tolerance for > incompetence, and sadly, that is all I see in USATF. Being 24 years old > with nothing more than a bachelor's degree and 2 years work experience, I > don't think I am in the best position to make an impact like I would like to > someday. HOWEVER, I can tell you this much, given the authority and power > to surround myself with knowledgable people, older and wiser than myself, I > am 100% confident I can out lead Craig Masback and bring this sport to a new > level. Look at soccer: a sport similar to t-n-f in that there is wide high > school participation, it is huge in Europe, but the post college domestic > scene was seriously lacking. It is still not where it wants to be, but > soccer is surely worlds ahead of track and field in this country. And you > are wrong about advertising... the NBA was about to go broke when an > agressive advertising campaign and restructuring plan under commssioner > David Stern brought it back from the dead. You are underestimating the > power TV. > > Mike > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Subject: Re: t-and-f: USATF Advertising idea... > >Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 11:21:53 EST > > > >In a message dated 1/30/02 8:23:59 AM Central Standard Time, > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > > > > > OK, why is distance running not popular in the US but fly fishing gets > >great > > > ESPN time? Why can't the general public watch a 13 minute 5k, but I > >have > > > co-workers (in NYC, not down south) getting amped to work half a day so > > > they > > > can sit on their couch and watch machines speed around a track 500 > >times? > > > Its all about advertising. Television advertising. > > > >Michael... it is NOT all about television advertising. In fact, I would > >posit > >that the popularity (or lack thereof) of distance running in the U.S. has > >little to do with the sport's TV exposure. Heck, they can show baseball 24 > >hours a day on TV and I still won't like it, or watch it. Same goes for > >beer... surely the most advertised product on primetime sports TV, but I > >still am not remotely interested in it. And NASCAR? Heck, I live "in the > >south" and I wouldn't watch that garbage if it was the ONLY thing on TV. > > > >People like what they like for odd reasons, and no amount of slapping them > >in > >the face with endless "cute" or "touching" or "cool" ads will change that > >much. > > > >As for your assertion that you could easily raise millions of dollars for > >an > >ad campaign... then just do it (sorry, Nike...). Talk is cheap. Once you > >get > >that first million, come back and share with us how easy it was. And by the > >way, you'll have to operate under the same restrictions as USATF, i.e. no > >"ownership" of athletes and their images. > > > >Glen McMicken > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
