Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s title fight with Oscar De La Hoya scored a knockout for marketing and sports advertising professionals. In this, the highest grossing boxing event in history, top revenues came from pay-per-view audiences and product tie-ins. If you're looking for an exciting, lucrative career in sports without having to endure a body punch, consider career training in advertising, marketing, and public relations.
With the sellout at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Hotel, the bout earned a world-record $19 million at the gate and HBO, which sold the fight at $54.95 per household, bested its record 1.99 million paid individual viewers for a Tyson-Holyfield bout in 2002. Do the math; it's more than $112 million in cable revenue alone.
While most sports marketing and tie-in promotion experts have never set foot in a ring, have been hit by a pro football lineman, or faced major-league pitching, they do have common bonds: they love sports, hail from advertising, marketing, or public relations backgrounds, and have completed training in evaluating market share, creating promotional campaigns, and forging partnerships that last long after the event is over.
Getting into Sports Marketing
An IEG Sponsorship Report projected that sports sponsors spent $8.8 billion in 2006, accounting for about 66 percent of all industry sectors buying into American promotions. Just who are the professionals who drive these campaigns?
Many hold bachelor's and master's degrees in marketing from colleges and universities. They represent advertisers that hope to reach the sports demographics across college students, young professionals, and middle-aged adults who buy cars, athletic gear, fast food, and plenty of alcohol. Their professional titles include Account Coordinator, Account Executive, Sports Marketing Account Manager, and Business Development Specialist.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that among these professionals, "high earnings, substantial travel, and long hours, including evenings and weekends, are common." For many positions, employers are looking for candidates with college degrees in business administration, public relations, and advertising. The BLS adds that courses in "business law, economics, accounting, finance, mathematics, and statistics" can give candidates the edge.
Terese Smallwood, a sports marketing specialist with Williams & Connolly law firm, cut her teeth with the Atlanta Hawks organization after receiving a BA degree with an emphasis in sports management and communications. Her firm's client list includes basketball stars Tim Duncan, Ray Allen, and Grant Hill.
"So much depends on perfect timing," she told Sports Business Journal. "You have to stay ahead of the game and strike while the iron is hot."
Tying in the Marketing Hooks
The marketing iron at the Mayweather-De La Hoya bout was definitely hot.
Rapper 50 Cent previewed a new song at the fight, the aptly titled "Take it to the Bank," and he reportedly bet $1 million dollars on Mayweather. De La Hoya took home a $25 million purse, and winner Mayweather earned about $10 million--peanuts compared with what marketing, advertising, and PR folks hauled in.
Consider the advertising and marketing lines that fed into and led away from the Mayweather-De La Hoya bout. HBO created and promoted the series "24/7," a marketing ploy that had viewers tracking the boxers for weeks as they headed toward their showdown in the ring. Tecate's aluminum cans with visages of the De La Hoya will remain in 7-11 stores until the last beer is sold.
Laila Ali, youngest daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, is another marketing genius boxing star, with a 24-0 record. Ali appears with her father in an Adidas footwear spot. Named one of People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People this month, Ms. Ali is currently on television's popular "Dancing with the Stars." You can buy her book, Reach!, or purchase her training videos, where she's teamed with boxer Sugar Ray Leonard. Or you can get a degree that gives you entrance into superstar marketing itself.
The Mayweather-De La Hoya bout was a dream made in marketing heaven. According to Sports Business Daily, sponsors sunk more than $50 million into tie-in promotions. Companies including Mexican beermaker Tecate, Cazadores tequila, Subway sandwiches, and Rock Star energy drinks bought multinational airtime, web space, print media ads, and billboards latching their goods to the fight.
Philadelphia Daily News reporter Bernard Fernandez wrote that the fight was "a model for how all future megabouts should be packaged and sold to a business community heretofore untapped by boxing." Wouldn't you love to do the packaging and selling? With a degree in advertising, marketing, or public relations, you can become a part of the exciting world of sports marketing.