Andy Boyer

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Category: Business (Page 11 of 24)

A Few Notes About the Tiger Woods Debacle

December 11, 2009 /

Yes, I’ve succumbed to the Tiger Woods scandal.  I think there are a few items of this story that make it different than the ordinary tabloid affair.

1) The effect this will have on golf:  Golfers didn’t become multi-millionaires for consistently finishing 13th until Tiger got to town.  A huge percentage of golf fans are simply Tiger fans.  Phil vs Tiger is completely different than Phil vs “That other guy.” Sponsors were paying big money for Tiger, which meant TV networks could charge more money to Golf advertisers, which more money was going into the Prize Pool of each tournament.  Companies are already having to trim marketing costs.  This is a great excuse for companies to pull money out of Golf.  If you were the 45th ranked player in the world, you may have found this funny when the story broke, but your check for finishing 13th just got smaller.

2) Why the Tabloid Web sites are crushing the Sports sites: I can’t think of a better example of the power of search driving news consumption.  For the reasons listed in Section 1, the sports sites like ESPN.com have been loathe to dig too deeply into the story.  There’s a lot of hand waving and things like, “Yeah, Tiger’s in some controversy over there, but let us tell you all about the upcoming Alabama vs Texas game.”  ESPN needs this to go away, so they can get back to the business of reporting on Golf and Tiger’s domination in the sport.  To the sports sites, Tiger taking time out of competing in Golf is comparable to the New York Yankees deciding to sit out one season.  Or having the the entire rosters of both 2009 NBA All-Star teams take a year off to travel the globe.   But, ESPN’s decision to pretend it’s not a “big deal” is not fooling anyone.  People are just going to their favorite search engine, typing in “Tiger Woods,” and getting the juicy stories from other sources, like TMZ.  It’s another example of why in the news aggregation business, we really need to ensure all web sites get a level playing field to broadcast across.  You can’t trust news sources if they are in the pockets of the people paying the bills. 

3) Seeing the Inside Mechanics of Tiger’s Spin Machine: I don’t know about you, but I’ve been shocked at what seems to be near PR incompetence from Team Tiger.  Now, it’s possible that his transgressions are so monumental that cutting them down to 2 porn stars, a pseudo-madame, a reality show wanna-be and a few other random floozies, is actually a big win because they’ve managed to keep the other 90 quiet.  If that’s the case, then all of Team Tiger should be ashamed for not reigning him in earlier.  It’s also possible that their whole strategy of keeping him away from cameras for the last 10 years was specifically designed because they knew he’s been an eventual PR nightmare ready to explode.  But it does seem like all of the companies with money invested in Tiger should have been able to assemble a PR “Dream Team” to handle this better.

4) The Unfortunate Duck and Cover Strategy:  With some regard to number 3 above, I think it’s incredibly sad that Team Tiger’s best exit plan is to throw Elin under the bus.   According to some web sites, there’s a claim that Elin is demanding, “Your family or your golf.”  This would be a convenient excuse for Tiger to disappear to Dubai for 12 months and avoid having to discuss this issue with anyone.  The public perception would be that he “loves his family so much,” that he’s giving up golf to make it right by them.  The reality would be that the wife would be placed in the position of “Bad Guy” to anyone who watches golf.  Plus, sponsors, other golfers, advertisers and golf fans would all be cheated by having a year without the best player in the world.  The great thing about team sports, is that no matter what mess you find yourself in, you have an obligation to the rest of your team.  Alex Rodriguez couldn’t take a year off.  He had to go out every day and get heckled by fans, because he was ONE of 25 New York Yankees.  Kobe Bryant was ONE of 12 LA Lakers.  Those guys had to stick their pride in their back pockets and still compete against the best athletes in the world.  It would be sad if Tiger used the excuse of “My wife doesn’t want me to play” as a way to duck the criticism he deserves. 

Those are the thoughts of the top of my head.

SonicsCentral.com Reviews Candidates

October 26, 2009 /

SonicsCentral.com has done a good job of keeping us up to date on Seattle candidates’ views on the NBA returning to Seattle.  

Props to David Nelson of the P-I for asking these questions:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/insidebelltown/archives/182579.asp

Joe Mallahan:

I think we have to work very hard to attract an NBA team back to Seattle. That particular proposal I haven’t examined closely. The NBA’s not coming back if we don’t provide an arena that’s at NBA standards, the NBA’s come a long way. We have to figure a way for private and public dollars to partner to make that happen but it has to be done in a way where it’s not on the backs of the taxpayer. I am committed to working fervently to get a team back. The NBA is a huge part of our culture.

…With the tax payers paying their fair share. That’s a complex formula that we’re going to have to work on and partner with the private interests that are interested in owning an NBA team. As a community we blew it and we have to recover, it’s a big part of our history and culture and I would be very proud if I could help bring a team back.

Mike McGinn:

I need to know more about the proposal before committing to supporting it. My key issue here is ensuring that we’re making a wise investment of public resources into the arena and not finding our self in a position where the city ends up on the hook, these are pretty serious budget times. I’m open to a renovation of Key Arena, but I have to see what the payoff is.

We have to be careful with taxpayers and we have to make sure we’re doing the right thing for the surrounding business district, the arena, and Seattle Center. But I’m certainly open to people making the case.

If I Ran the MLS

July 15, 2009 /

This seems so easy, I still don’t get why they don’t do it.  The day after the MLB All-Star Game is the only day during the calendar year in which there are no sports on TV.  

This should be the MLS’ biggest TV spectacle of the year.

Every rivalry game should be being played today, all at the same time, all at the stadiums that will have the most fans.  Joe Fan should tune into a pre-game show, then see 90+ minutes of high intensity soccer programming.  With 8 games going on, at an average of 2 goals per game, there should be about 16 goals, or one every 6 minutes.  You can pick one or two games to feature, and then cut in to the other games whenever a goal is scored.  There would be so many highlights, you wouldn’t even have time to go to the fridge.

In fact, if you needed to, you should pay ESPN so you can be on both ESPN and ESPN2 at the same time with different programming, so there is an East Coast game and West Coast Game on live on each channel, so by switching between channels, you get access to 4 games, and highlights from the other 4.

Once that framework is set up, there is really no end to the fun you can have with it. 

If I Ran the MLB All-Star Game

July 15, 2009 /

I have 2 requests.  

1) The broadcast crew would NOT be made up of the Fox National Crew.  Fans, press, players or some combination of the three would vote on 3 local crews, each who would do 3 innings of the game.  Or maybe it’s 2 crews that get voted in, and the host team crew.  Or maybe one current crew, a crew of retired guys and the host crew.  You can toy with the details.  But get me a couple of innings of Vin Scully.

2) On each league roster, the longest tenured MLB player who has never mad an All-Star game makes the team.  If you’ve been a backup catcher since 1996, or are a 43 year old left-handed middle relief curveball specialist, well you deserve one chance to see the big stage in your career. 

That’s all I’m really asking for.

What Does Oprah on Twitter Mean for Social Media

April 18, 2009 /

So this is a time sensitive topic, and I’m already a day late, so this quick stream of consciousness will probably not be very well thought out and hence cause people to vehemently comment about how wrong I am.  Oh well.

So Oprah has joined the Twittierverse with the appropriately chosen moniker @oprah.  She was basically dragged kicking and screaming into it by Ashton Kutcher on his race with CNN to One Million followers.  (BTW, different topic, but you will never hear me say anything negative about Ashton Kutcher.  He is very high on my list of business minded entertainers that I hope to meet someday, not for the star power or Hollywood “glow,” but for the business and marketing insights I could learn.)

Now the social media world has fallen into a few camps on this.  

– Predictably, there is the camp who feels like their baby is being exploited now that Oprah has gotten involved.  These are the same type of people who listened to Pearl Jam at a dive bar in downtown Seattle in 1990 and then got mad when they showed up on David Letterman and sold out Madison Square Garden.

– There’s a camp who thinks Oprah is late to Social Media, and shouldn’t be given any credit at all.

– There’s a group of people who have never heard of Twitter who are about to sign up for accounts just so they can follow Oprah.

– And finally, there’s a bunch of people in mainstream media who are going to be calling the “Social Media Expert” in their city to do a 90 second interview on this “blossoming company called Twitter.”

So here’s my synthesis:  

Oprah never has and never will need Social Media.  She has the most popular syndicated television program in the history of mankind.  Combine all the impressions from the top 100 “social media superstars,” and I bet that number doesn’t even sniff the kind of eyeballs Oprah generates in TV and print.   And let’s not even begin to joke about revenue.  Take Harpo’s annual revenue in one hand.  Start counting up all the revenue generated by Social Media Superstars in the other.  And let me know when you get to an even balance.

I work in Social Media, so this may seem like blasphemy, but honestly, Social Media is what you do when you can”t get on Oprah.  If I build the world’s first economical and reliable jet pack, and post videos on YouTube of me flying back and forth to work all day, guys like Michael Arrington and Guy Kawaskai are going to cover it.  But if I get on Oprah, or even 60 Minutes, I better have an army of telephone operators ready to take orders.  It’s a subtle but distinct difference.  

Said more succinctly, Social Media is what we do to get NOTICED by Oprah’s producers.  It’s not what Oprah needs to do to get noticed by us.  

That being said, Oprah, as a teacher and educator, please use proper capitalization on your Twitter page.  There’s no reason to join the Twitterverse and then show 50 million kids that the only reason to ever use the “Shift” key on their laptop is to create a smiley face.  

So Oprah, welcome to our world here in Social Media-ville.  This is what has been created by all of us with lots to say, but nowhere to previously say it.  So come hang out for a while, and then remember us fondly when you are in front of your camera, in your studio, talking to 200 million people.

The Sustainable Group

March 29, 2009 /

I’ve been meaning to endorse / promote / plug this company for awhile.  I’m a big fan of The Sustainable Group, an organization run by Brant Williams.  In a nutshell, imagine if all the binders, notebooks and other office items you buy, lose and throw away could be made of bio-degrabable materials instead of plastic.  Now imagine that there are even more benefits.  

Rather than try to convince you, I’ll just provide a link over to their web site.  Check it out, and email Brant if you have ideas for how to get the word out.

Why 30+ Year Olds Have More Fun on Facebook than Our Junior Counterparts

February 6, 2009 /

I just don’t understand when people my age tell me, “Facebook is just for kids.”  I will argue that the best part about Facebook is in fact lost on these newbies, and us more mature folks are getting the best it has to offer.

To wit: My friend’s daughter is 15.  She has something like 700 friends.  Basically every person she has ever met is on her Facebook page.  There has never been a time in her life in which she was not keenly aware of what her people were up to.

No consider the 30-something year old who is tip-toeing into Facebook for the first time.  First he finds some work friends and maybe some folks he plays soccer with.  Then a few folks from his last job.  Then a few people from the town he used to live in, then college guys and then back to high school and elementary school.  People he hasn’t talked to or heard from in 20 years are now available.

I mention this because this has happened to me twice now in the last few weeks.  An old friend from college disappeared off the planet, reappeared on Facebook and it allowed us to have lunch and catch up.  Meanwhile, the next time I’m in New York in June, I will be able to meet up with a friend I last saw in New Orleans circa 1986.  

Now, today’s 15 year olds won’t get to enjoy this type of reunion.  So I’m sticking with my story – Lil’ Green Patches and SuperPokes may be fun and all, but it’s the reconnecting with long lost friends that makes Facebook as powerful as it is.

Suck it up Haters – Twitter is here for good

January 28, 2009 /

I know – it still makes no sense.  And it still sounds dumb to say you “Tweeted” something.

But there are times when you have to admit things.  Like when you realized the DVD was replacing the VCR, that EVERYONE would eventually have a mobile phone, blogging was going to be here forever, and you would never again buy music that didn’t come as an .mp3.

Twitter has reached that stage.  It is here to stay.  It has enough users now that business models are being built around it, even while it doesn’t have one of its own.  And here’s the thing – it doesn’t need one.  Someone will buy it.  If you won’t listen to me, read the charts below – the ones that show 800% growth YoY.  So go get your Twitter account and stop resisting.  It’s free, it’s easy and it’s fun.  Quit making fun of it and use it.

 

 

I Become an iLemming

January 25, 2009 /

Well, I finally succumbed to the pressure.

Since it launched, I’ve seen proud and cheerful owners of the iPhone gleefully show off thier little toy.  In bars, in meetings, in lines at Starbucks, they tauntingly stick it into your face, showing you all the magical things it can do.

I resisted.  

I stayed true to my core Blackberry.  I like the Blackberry.  It’s easy to use.  I don’t need real time stock ticket updates or the best way to walk from the Space Needle to Palace Kitchen.  I need a phone and text, and maybe some Internet.

Saturday, something snapped.  

Suddenly I realized that the phone had changed.  I knew it before, but I finally admitted to the analogy that we’re in the mobile version of the shift from VCR to DVD, and I still owned a VCR.  And there is no reason to buy another souped up VCR.  It is no longer an issue of iPhone vs Blackberry.  It’s become an issue of mobile devices in 2009 and beyond, vs mobile devices in 2008 and prior.  I knew all of this already, but some light piece of straw finally made that camel’s back break.  And the camel asked for an iPhone.

Now I’m simply a junior member of the cult.  I look for and will listen to the teachings of those original iPhone disciples.  And I have to admit to myself that I’m more than a little excited to play with all the toys and gimmicks.  

Now, I haven’t yet stood in line and condescendingly scoffed at those simple “iNots” walking around with their pedestrian devices.  But I’m sure one day, as I breeze through Google Maps or order a video before boarding a plane, I’ll have that smug look of a full fledged cult member.  

If you are an iPhone Davidian and have a favorite “must-have” application, please let me know.

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