Promoting the sport and not the brand?

NYKaju · 10-16-2007, 05:24 PM

Seeing lots of comments in threads about how Dana and the UFC are only concerned with promoting the promotion (UFC) and not so much the fighters or the sport.

After thinking about the past few UFC's I've seen, there certainly is a lot of self-promotion going on throughout every event. Imagine playing "Hi Bob" (drinking game) every time you heard the words "Ultimate Fighting Championship" or "UFC." You'd be hammered under the table before the event was a quarter of the way through.

Now if you compare this to other sports, all the commentating, advertising, and focus is on the competitors and teams. You don't see NBA bragging about how they have the best basketball talent in the world every event. You don't see the NHL name dropping themselves every 30 seconds.

But the question begs to be asked. What more do you want? How can the UFC change it's approach and image to stop nutriding itself, and put the spotlight on the talent and not itself? By putting too much focus on a few fighters isn't the best business strategy as all it takes is some sour grapes, or a poor string of fights, and suddenly your poster boy leaves you with you pants down. By focusing on the brand and not individual fighters, does it not uphold a bit of security for the sport and the company?

NYKaju · 10-16-2007, 05:27 PM

strikezone · 10-16-2007, 05:30 PM

NBA doesn't really need to name drop lol.
I agree with what you are saying. UFC promotes themselves not the sport and not the fighters.
But you have to admit it seems to be working for them.

FS said almost the same exact thing in this interview...
http://www.frankshamrock.com/mp3s/Fr...TheHotSpot.mp3

NYKaju · 10-16-2007, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strikezone

FS said almost the same exact thing in this interview...
http://www.frankshamrock.com/mp3s/Fr...TheHotSpot.mp3

Thanks for the link. Good stuff

NYKaju · 10-16-2007, 05:39 PM

nothing else?

strikezone · 10-16-2007, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYKaju

nothing else?

Throw UFC in the title and the sheep will come trust me ;)

NYKaju · 10-16-2007, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strikezone

Throw UFC in the title and the sheep will come trust me ;)

+15 points for on-topic humor

It is sad that people would rather discuss a thread titled, "Fedor's running!" than any of the numerous threads I see ignored every day with a bit more substance. Anything more than 3 sentences, and it's too much to read.

strikezone · 10-17-2007, 01:34 AM

New Frank Shamrock interview on this very issue...
http://www.frankshamrock.com/press_fs_on_rc.html

JOLLYjoe · 10-17-2007, 01:39 AM

They could promote the fighters who are in the next event. They used to do it a lot more than they do now.

They show the same lame clips over and over again, even during the events.

who me · 10-17-2007, 01:43 AM

The NBA is a hell of a lot older and better established than the UFC, still the NBA promotes itself as the NBA not pro basketball too. The NFL pushes itself as the NFL and it's the same for the NHL and MLB too, the goal isn't to push the brand instead of the sport it's to make the two synonymous to the average viewer. When you think NBA you think of pro basketball but do you automatically think of only the UFC when you think MMA? The UFC is a long long way from the kind of powerful branding those organizations have (sort of like people say coke when they mean any kind of cola drink in a lot of places) thus they still push the brand very hard.