« Welcome New Year!
Money talks »

Power of the “Black Box”

Why Disc Golf is not growing faster? Why there is still a lot of people who do not even know our sport? Why our Major events do not get more on-site spectators? Why Frisbee´s still sells more than golf discs?

There is only one answer: TV and Media coverage
Scenario: You have arranged a superb tournament. Players are happy about generous payout and amateurs are exited about killer player package. There was only few non-disc-golfing spectators watching the finals. Not a single story on papers next day…This seems to be a story too common. What should be done differently?

Level of tournament organizing is good and tournament running routines are well known for most TDs. Instead of putting more effort for that the organizers must use energy to getting more media coverage and publicity. Problem usually is that the media attention is VERY hard to get. But honestly: how many times the organizer has used ALL his connections or skills to prove it? How many tournaments have really had a written media plan? How much personnel is reserved for media services? We are all good TDs and we all can run a PDGA tier tournament. But do we excel PR or media? IF the biggest tournament in the country / state can´t wake local main media attention (TV / paper): We have failed! Something has failed. Personally, I haven´t see a single press release or daily report from tournament aimed for media on any website. Most tournament webpages are aimed for players and “heavy users”.

What should be done? We must find the hot spots for media. The payout is not relevant (since our payouts are so weak). USD 100,000 could make it to the paper, but not USD 10,000. What about Ken Climo / Barry Schultz taking apart of the tournament? Maybe. Still average information for major media. How about local starts attending and challenging the Champions? This is good for smaller papers but does not interest major media. Charity? Is good way and some points affective, but does not tell much about the main thing: tournament.

* Exclusivity: Media is interested of exclusive and unique things and affairs.
* Contrasts: Media loves heroes and villains - can we offer them?
* Stories: Medias loves stories. “How he made his way to the glory”

Keys for successful media attraction:

  1. Make a comprehensive media plan.
  2. Hire / get at least one person to handle all your media contacts. This person needs to be experienced.
  3. Prepare a serious level press package that includes all the facts and figures of the sport and your tournament.
  4. Present your tournament in professional way. What ever it is.
  5. Arrange a press conference 1 day before the tournament and invite your media contacts there.
  6. Send a lot of press releases before, during and after the tournament.
  7. Trust yourself! You will hear “NO”s but that does not mean anything, right?
It is obvious that before we get into the black box we are relatively small sport. We can be a big grass root hobby and a lifestyle for many and still not interested in the eyes of media. Competition of that media exposure is cruel and without a connections this might be a distance dream. What is needed is truly devoted people in this sport who have both the skills and resources to bring this sport into the table. My finger is pointing to companies and organizations in our sport. Manufacturers have most resources to promote and develop this sport. PDGA has a important role for this too. Also disc golf media companies have a crucial role in the future - can they produce a quality stories (footage) to be offered to the media?
But who will make it first?

    This entry was posted on Thursday, January 4th, 2007 at 18:38 and is filed under Disc life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Power of the “Black Box””

  1. Geoff Says:
    January 5th, 2007 at 14:39

    Great entry. We were just talking about why disc golf isn’t bigger than what it is. Part of it is lack of media attention, but part of it is the perception of disc golf as being perhaps a slacker sport or hippie sport. Which, like the sport of Ultimate, is a huge misperception. Disc golf attracts many top athletes and requires an incredible amount of skill, practice, and dedication. Like anything, exposure is key: texas hold ‘em poker exploded after television coverage.

    Keep up the good work on this blog!

Leave a Reply