“Mobilizing Generation 2.0…” in the female sports world

Today marks the first day that an assignment is due for a digital political advocacy class that I’m enrolled in as part of my John’s Hopkins Masters of Arts in Digital Communication degree.  As such, I’m required to post blog postings about our readings. To put a unique spin on my writings, I decided to integrate the concept of digital advocacy with my current blog promoting women’s sports. 

This combination, I hope, will present a new understanding of female athletes - one which is quite different than the sports industry of male athletes. I hope new strategic insight will mobilize an entirely new community to support  our industry.  

My first assignment is to read and reflect upon a book titled Mobilizing Generation 2.0: Technologies to recruit, organize, and engage youth by Ben Rigby. It’s important to note the youth focus, because it’s a unique one that I’m not always exposed to. However, I feel young female athletes of America are the answer to the ongoing question of “who is our market?” in women’s sports.

Below are some of the top strategic insights I pulled from the book that apply to engaging America’s female athletes with the women’s sports industry…

1) Understand Web 2.0 technology is “a conversation”
To reach the youth audience, I strongly agree with Rigby that the answer is NOT to simply integrate Web 2.0 technology as “another communications outlet for content/information that already exists.” Rather, leaders in this industry need to first understand the fundamental principle that Web 2.0 is ”conversational media” - meaning that it’s “authentic, immediate – more human.” (p. 52)

Read more

Twitter: A huge hit in sports, especially for women

When Jayda Evans of the Seattle Times called me a few weeks ago and asked me what I thought about Twitter’s role in the future of women’s sports, I told her that it could only be a good thing.

Jayda, a Seattle Times blogger and writer, later published an article titled “Sports go mad for online pastime with Twitter.”

I love how Jayda wrote this article. Instead of focusing upon huge Twitter celebrities like Shaquille O’Neal and Lance Armstrong, she gave some credit to the ladies who have recently been stepping up to the plate, including Natalie Gulbis (@natalie_gulbis) and over 13 WNBA players. Read more

Stringer rightfully complains about Rutgers’ failure to market her program

Rutgers women’s basketball team have done it again – they’re on their fourth trip to the elite eight in five years. That’s pretty amazing.

But in an article released on NJ.com today, head women’s basketball coach Vivian Stringer was not happy.

In fact, she was just the opposite (and rightfully so). She was quoted as complaining about the athletics department’s inability to effectively market a program that has been incredibly successful in recent years.

I have to say, I agree with her.

And speaking out was a great way to put some pressure on their new athletic director, Tim Pernetti.

But the answer is more than just installing a  flashy scoreboard or having smoke come out when the girls run on the floor.

It has to do with engaging directly with your audience, creating fans.

For example, get your athletes online. Have them blog. Get them on Twitter, have them respond to their fans. Hold contests through Facebook. Partner with third party sites like womentalksports.com (disclosure, I am co-founder of this site) to get these ideas out there.

These ideas aren’t new.The fans will come if you earn their respect, I assure you. In fact, if you’re looking for a good role model, check out what women’s pro soccer is doing – they’re leading the way for other women’s sports teams to follow.

In the mean time, keep winning. Keep speaking out about what’s unfair. Your fans will come.

Check out the rest of this article (it’s an interesting one), here: NJ.com on Rutgers Women’s Basketball.

WNBA’s Atlanta Dream use Facebook to give tickets, get fans

I love what I’m seeing from WNBA marketing teams lately .

They’re finally catching on to the fact that if they engage directly with fans online, they will start to generate some attention (without much investment).

Here’s the latest…

The Atlanta Dream is holding a contest on Facebook – if they get 1,500 fans to their fan page by Wednesday, March 18, they will give a free ticket to everyone who has joined for their May 27th “Dream game” against Connecticut.

Looks like they sold themselves short.

It’s only March 13 (11am EST) and they have 1,045 fans.

So not only are they going to hit their mark likely today (five days early), but they might be giving away a significant amount of tickets come Wednesday.

This isn’t a bad thing.

It’s worth the investment. They’re establishing a hell of a fan database, where they can continue to engage with people (if they choose), and they now (likely) have the attention of the entire league (not to mention sports 2.0 folks and social media marketers).

I love it so much that I just became a fan of their page.

Looks like I’m going to get a ticket. Only, I don’t know how I’ll be able to get down to Atlanta in May, but I’d love to be there in person to see how many people actually show up for the game.

On the local level (for me), I’m thinking maybe the Washington Mystics should wise up and do this too. This is much more effective than a “Dad’s and daughters contest” – which I think is a great idea, just not as “catchy.”

I hope to see more teams (and other women’s sports) engaging in new ways online in the coming months.

By the way, hat tip to Twitter-friend @beingthere (Brendan Wilhide, a long-time UConn lady huskies fan) for the heads up on this. Brendan has a great list of athletes on Twitter, if you’re interested in checking it out – it’s pretty cool.

ESPN features “The Selling of Candace Parker:” Can she transcend women’s sports?

Today, ESPN released a cover story with Candace Parker as part of their complete package of features for Women’s History Month 2009.

The story is well written, clear, inspiring and balanced. What’s great about it is the focus – a story about how Candace Parker is going to be marketed in the WNBA.

Parker is demanding a different kind of attention… the kind that focuses on her talent and her story, not her sex appeal. And that is the most promising thing I’ve heard about the future of women’s sports in a long, long time.

ESPN’s Allison Glock features Parker as one of the best, which is the attention that Parker deserves, as she’s set some serious milestones for women’s basketball over the past decade.

Glock says that Parker will “will transcend her sport:”

She will be a bigger Mia Hamm, a more accomplished Danica Patrick. Patrick is nowhere near the best in her field, but she doesn’t need to be, because she is hot enough to pose for Maxim. While that works for her, Parker wants more. She wants to be a champion, too, like Maria Sharapova, who earns upward of $25 million a year — the most of any female athlete — of which only a small fraction comes from playing tennis. Parker won’t be satisfied until she is a household name. “I wouldn’t mind being the female MJ,” she concedes. “I want to have major crossover appeal.”

What Parker doesn’t deserve is a focus on her sex appeal, which is something that’s started to happen. The focus on sex appeal has to do with female athletes appearing in Playboy and other like-minded disgraceful publications, largely due to the fact that those publications are willing to pay up.

Playboy-like publicity has serious repercussions for female athletes, as it promotes a focus body image. We learned that surfer Layne Beachle frequently suffered chronic fatigue and depression due to the focus on her body image in her career. We’ve also heard stories of female gymnists and volleyball players suffering the same kinds of symptoms as the result of their portrayal in the public eye.

So the question becomes, if Parker really is the next “female Jordan” who will transform athletics, will a “sex appeal” be necessary to get the attention of sports fans?

In my opinion, as a society, we should say no. Because we can do better than that. The athletes themselves should speak up and demand more than that, and Candace Parker is the first “big name” to do this.

Glock says:

“Team Parker has so far avoided the cheesecake route. They have higher aims. They want the all-American money, and the all-American money comes to the athletes people love, not the athletes people want to sleep with.”

What’s incredible about Parker is her story. How she got here. What she’s accomplished. Her personality (I’d love to follow her on Twitter). Her attitude. Her dedication. And most important, her talent.

Just the other day, social media guru Seth Godin (who I love to read) wrote about a difference between PR and publicity. He said the best way to get sustained attention is to communicate the stories of the clients, not simply generate publicity (which anyone can do). The stories, he said, are the ones that sell – they’re the ones that keep people coming back, because they’re real, meaningful and lasting.

And that’s the direction where women’s sports needs to head, and it looks like Parker is going to take them there.

It’s going to be great to hear stories about her baby traveling around with her to games, etc. Because that is new, different and real.

My absolute favorite quote by Parker is how she will deal with the new baby, which she is expecting in July.

“Basketball is calming to me. Whenever anything goes on in my life, I go shoot. As long as I can shoot, I’m okay.” And the baby? “The baby will be along for the ride, with me on trips, at the court.” She sighs. “You don’t hear about male players doing that, do you? Women, we just have to balance more things. It’s harder for us. That’s just the way it is.” She offers a weary smile before adding, “For now.”

Great attitude to take, Candace. I love it.

It’s very promising to hear that Parker’s sponsor (Adidas) seems to understand that Parker has a great story to tell:

Jim Gatto, head of global sports marketing for Adidas — which is releasing Parker’s player-edition shoe, the TS Ace Commander, in 2010 — sees her as an athlete who inspires women at all levels. “She was in our ‘Me, Myself’ campaign,” he says of the all-us-girls-are-in-this-together promotion. “We thought we could build stories around her. She has global reach.” Gatto says Adidas has been tracking Parker her whole career. “She always fit the brand values: authentic, inspirational. And not just from a basketball standpoint.”

With increased attention to her story (her inspiration), she’ll go far, and she just might take the rest of women’s professional sports along with her. In only one year, she has already done great things for women’s professional basketball.

“Candace is already delivering for the Sparks. LA’s season ticket sales were its highest since 2005; twice as many were sold after draft day as before. Home attendance was up 10% for the season, and road crowds were three times bigger for the Sparks than for other WNBA teams. The WNBA’s TV ratings finished up 19%, and Parker’s jersey is by far the league’s best seller.”

That’s awesome to hear.

Parker is the future of women’s basketball, and if she demands attention in the right ways, she just might transcend her sport, and set a precedence for women’s sports in general. Parker is incredibly marketable, she’s got a great story, and she’s not going to sell her body for money.

I wish the WNBA, Parker’s agent and Adidas the best of luck in generating some much-needed publicity to an awesome sport and its most promising chance at creating a new era of marketing for female athletes.

(NCAA) A drained economy: The end of women’s professional sports?

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Yesterday, at the top of NCAA.org read the question,

Will the economy undo women’s professional sports? Would this have a trickle-down impact on women’s college sports?

My personal opinion is no. The economy won’t undo women’s professional sports. Our culture’s value system will. When the economy is down, so are programs (across all industries) which rely on sponsorship/advertising and aren’t particularly “popular” with the dominant class of society. Unfortunately, these days, women’s professional sports fall into that spit bucket.

However, it doesn’t mean we can ignore the problem – it’s a topic that rightfully deserves some discussion.

The Houston Comets announced this week that they will be suspending operations until they find a new owner for the club. We don’t know what this means for the future of the Comets, but as far as the 2009 season is concerned, the Comets are done.

Similarly, the LPGA announced in late November that it will be cutting back on three tournaments this year, as well as prize money. USA Today reports,

“The reductions come amid an economic downturn that is sweeping across the sports world, although the PGA Tour increased its purses for 2009.”

However, there is hope in the sky.

Women’s Professional Soccer is making a comeback. This article in Forbes discusses the mistakes that WPS’s predecessor has made. With all that investment, they couldn’t get people in the stands.

What I pose, however, is a larger question.

With the overwhelmingly large amount of young women (and older women) who currently  – or at some point in their lives – participate in sports, why are female professional sports so unpopular? Where is that disconnect? Where is that market?

With Leather discusses women and the sport of hunting

I read something interesting today on a popular male sports blog, With Leather.

This news certainly caught my attention, but this blogger’s opinion left me a bit less than thrilled. (Check out the picture to the right for example A)

According to the Wall Street Journal, because fewer and fewer men are going hunting, the sport has started to target women.

Apparently, they’re trying everything from “pink guns to gender-specific hunting courses.” Also, they’re looking for hunting spokeswomen, creating specially-tailored weapons, such as lighter crossbows and apparel makers such as SHE Safari and Foxy Huntress LLC are marketing camouflage expressly to women.

With Leather mentioned that womenhunters.com offers support.

Now, of course, since With Leather is so deeply involved in casting opinion on some of the world’s greatest athletes, you’d expect him to make an intelligent comment from all of this, right?

Wrong. Think again.

Here’s what With Leather had to say:

“First of all, do NOT waste your time at WomenHunters.com.  I went there expecting tips on hunting women, and it left a lot to be desired.  Why can’t I get a little support here?  I’ve been targeting women for years, and the Wall Street Journal hasn’t written dick about me.  I can’t even get a license.  Apparently hunting women is only legal in Ohio and Texas.”

Ah, how refreshed and inspired I feel from reading that.

Nike’s “Here I Am” campaign raises eyebrows in Europe

It seems there is a problem with Nike’s new “Here I Am” campaign, at least when it is used in the same sentence with “Just Do It.”

The slogan, launched in Europe, is intended to promote exercise without being too aggressive, appealing to the “normal woman” (whatever that may be).

But the problem, according to Adrants, is

“The actionable “do it” portion of the parent tagline is seen to be a bit, well, awkwardly demeaning when placed next to the more submissive “Here I Am.” So is Nike telling the bulk of its audience to just do it with submissive women in Europe who will just lay down and say “here I am?”

Honestly, that’s NOT what I thought when I heard the name of the campaign. They’re way off.

Maybe the problem isn’t necessarily the slogan? How about the possibility cultures across the world are a bit sexist when it comes to women?

Personally, I like the slogan. I think it makes a great statement for female athletes in particular. “Here I Am” means “I’m here, and you should pay attention to what I can do.” I love it, and I think Nike is onto something.

It doesn’t screw with the Nike brand, as Adrants insists. Instead, it caters to a particular audience and enhances it. That, my friends, is a great investment.

(Interview) Because She Played… Erica Ortiz, Professional Drag Racer

My day job, I am a marketing and events coordinator for a company that manufactures broadcast equipment. I do some side consulting for the motorsports industry as well. But on the weekends and every other second of my spare time, my passion is drag racing. Drag Racing is the all out acceleration from a dead stop, as fast as you can go in a 1/4 mile or 1320ft. distance. I have been racing since 1998, and turned PRO in 2006.

Normally, people who race came about it through a family member that races, or some other mechanical aspect. My parents could hardly change a tire, so they find it very puzzling that I ended up having this passion for racing. I can remember being little and looking out the window of our painfully practical and all-around boring sedan at all the Mustangs and other hotrods on the road, and really being in awe of them. My favorite toys when I was little were little cars, not the Barbies my Mom wanted me to play with. When I got in my teen years, that passion for cars really grew. I was a 3 sport Varsity athlete in high school- Volleyball, Basketball, and Track. I actually had a full scholarship for Volleyball, but a severe auto accident the summer before my freshman year in college sidelined me from sports. The only release I had was to compete in cars, so after I graduated high school, I bought my first car- a Mustang GT, and started taking it out to the local track for Street Night. I’ve been hooked ever since.

Shortly after that, I started hanging out at a local speed shop with local star racer, Dennis Lugo. I ended up working there with him, and he taught me how to work on my engines, and really taught me the ropes of racing. My car progressively got faster. I started competing in a racing series, and ended up finishing #2 in my class in 2003, my first full year on the tour. I decided to move up to PRO in 2006, and finished #2 for the season in my rookie year there as well.

Though more women are out there today than when I started back in 1998, Drag Racing is still very much a male-dominated sport. Because it usually is such a unique story, women racing do tend to get more media attention. For the most part, that is a very good thing. However, as we have seen with IRL driver, Danica Patrick, you also tend to be scruntized much more and criticized for your every action. What that means is that as you are going through the learning curve process, they have a microscope on you. Any mistake you make (and believe me, all drivers make mistakes- male or female) spurns all the negative criticism that you can’t “cut it as a driver”. The truth is, all rookies make mistakes, the men just don’t have the magnifying glass over them for theirs.

The great thing about motorsports is that its the one sport where men and women can compete evenly…. the cars know no gender. But these cars are extremely expensive, and require the help of corporate and product sponsorships as you move up the ranks. Better equipment means faster times and makes you more competitive, so obviously the better funded racer has more chances of winning. Being a woman and also hispanic, I am able to offer a very different demographic to my sponsors. Because we are so rare in the sport, women tend to get more coverage and more mainstream appeal than male counterparts. This is a big selling point to sponsors…. win or lose, their car will make the press and thus reach their audience in a big way.

Sponsorships in drag racing are some of the most beneficial marketing dollars companies can spend because it provides them with a very wide array of marketing and promotional abilities. Everything from signage on the car (viewed by spectators, TV, magazines, etc), apparel, corporate hospitality, on-site event promotion, endorsements, printed promotions and hero card handouts, etc. are used as tools to give sponsors exposure and a ROI. My team makes sure that we are very proactive in getting exposure for the companies we represent. We have been featured in countless magazine articles (http://www.horsepowerandheels.com/Media/Print/Index.htm), we created our own TV Series (http://www.horsepowerandheels.com/TV/index.htm), and we stay active promoting the team, and our sponsors on a daily basis. BRISK USA (http://www.briskusa.com/), my main sponsor for 2008, started off as a product sponsor in 2006 and we really worked to get them exposure for their products. They were so impressed by the results, they decided to step up in 2007 to help us bring out a more competitive car. We work very hard to make sure ALL our sponsors are getting a very worthwhile response out of their association with Horsepower & Heels.

Although it would seem that after years of competing and especially how much more marketing appeal we have, that sponsorships would be easy for female drivers. However, I found out the hard way that the glass ceiling is still strongly in place. I’ve been told before that a sponsor still feels that he isn’t sure a woman could handle “a beast of a car like that” and that they are looking for a champion and to win races. Doesn’t matter that women have proven they can win…. the mental thought is still that a man can “get the job done”. Unfortunately, its a double-edged sword. Because you rely on sponsorships to fund a competitive car, women can only be as succesful as their funding allows. Until one is given the chance with a championship budget, we’ll always be running for 2nd best.

When I started racing, I very much wanted to be accepted, wanted to prove that I was able to compete with the men and be good at what I do. But after awhile, I found myself trying to “be one of the boys” to be out there competing with them. It was almost as though I was apologizing for being me… for being feminine and girly and still wanting to be a fierce competitor at the track. I didn’t like that…. and one day, when a fellow racer expressed his absolute disbelief that I wore heels to a dinner banquet it came to me: Who says Horsepower & Heels don’t mix?!? There is nothing wrong with being a fierce competitor and still being true to what I am…. I am very proud of being a woman in such a male dominated sport.

My friends laughed and really appreciated the name, and after launching my website (http://www.horsepowerandheels.com/) to the public, I received comments and notes from all across the world from other women who could relate. Its allowed me to meet so many great and supportive people.

I started the blog as an experiment in March of 2005 when I launched my website. I had just heard the word “blog” and wanted to learn more about the blogosphere and to have a place to talk about things that were important to me. It started off as a journal, keeping my family and friends informed with how the racing was going, but over the years has expanded to include all things important to me. I love the open communication it allows, and though my niche tends not to be as active in the social media area and don’t comment as much as I’d like, my blog still is the highest read section of my website, and brings 10,000 unique visitors and more each month.

I have readers of all types on Horsepower & Heels: men, women, other racers, and people who don’t race at all. Men thinks its cool, and love to chat cars. Women think its empowering, and kids like to see what’s possible when you put your mind to it. All of that is important. And I try to make sure that there is something for everyone, and that its easy to understand. I also think its important to use my blog for good causes too, that’s why you’ll see a lot of special causes posts (http://www.horsepowerandheels.com/blog/labels/Special%20Causes.html) in the mix too. Its important to give back.

After my rookie PRO season, my crewmate Debbie and I were laughing at all the funny things that happen behind the scenes getting to the races. Some of those stories just don’t make good blog posts, and some of them would have made me money on America’s Funniest Home Videos. So, we decided to start carrying around a camera for PNN.com and record what its like behind the scenes being to women on the road and at the races. So far, we’ve been struggling to get the car back together, but once the race season kicks back in for us, there’s sure to be hilarity to follow.

This goes back to what created Horsepower & Heels to begin with. People see you out there in racing t-shirts and tanks, and a firesuit, and they begin to forget that you’re still a woman and capable of being girlie and attractive. I haven’t been racing recently, and I still get the comments of awe and shock when I wear dresses and skirts, as if being a racer by default means I can’t be girlie too. Its not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes it can get a little undermining… like, do people even see me as girl anymore? Am I really that transparent? I’ve been “just one of the guys” so long that sometimes I just want someone to open a car door for me, or comment on my new outfit, and not the size of my engine. Don’t get me wrong, I’m way more comfortable in a shop getting greasy than I am in the kitchen or garden, but still.

You always get the jerks who make rude and lude comments, that’s just part of it. But I think that as a whole, I’ve found men to be very respectful and complimentary of the actual talent of women athletes, a pretty face just is the very sweet icing on the cake. It breaks the stereotype that women who succeed in athletics are manly and ugly…. just look at Ashley Force or Danica Patrick. Beauty AND Brains AND talent to boot!

I do think that regular coverage of women sports is lacking. We are lucky in motorsports, because we’re the only sport that women and men compete together, so we already have media representatives there and grab their attention. But if it were an all-woman series, I don’t think we’d get the billing or the coverage at all, and that’s sad. Its the same for all the other sports…. womens’ basketball only is talked about when there’s a fight, etc.

I do think its very important to show support for our female athletes, and that especially includes corporate sponsorship. By allowing them the same means to achieve in their sport, you are not only giving them the chance to be the best, but you are lending credibility to them in the eyes of people who subconsciously or even consciously view them inferior.

I don’t neccesarily consider myself a feminist, but I’m all about empowering women to achieve anything they set out to do. I believe that by not conforming to this centuries old idea of what a woman is supposed to do, act, and be, we are redefining what we are. That includes sports….

Media coverage such as ….Because I Played Sports, more support from sponsors, more personalization into the lives of the women. How much more impressive is it to see these awesome athletes, and know that many of them are mothers, career women, etc. Most women athletes right now are not making their living from their sport, unlike male counterparts. That’s what makes their successes that much more impressive.