John Collins.
(executive vice
president-business, properties and club services
for NFL Properties)
Brandweek, Nov 13, 2000, by Terry Lefton
Returnee is drafting NFL's marketing blueprints as
the league rebuilds its off-field businesses.
After years. of riches from ancillary businesses,
everything but TV revenues have a slowed to a
crawl for the nation's biggest sports properties.
The maturation, and in some sectors downright
collapse, of traditionally dependable profit
centers, like licensed apparel and corporate
sponsorship, combined with a newfound imperative
for marketing their potent and lifelong affinities
in the interactive arena have left the leagues in
a state of flux.
Consider that the past 18 months have seen the
departure from the National Hockey League of evp/COO
Steve Solomon, the league's No.2 exec, along with
Richie Woodworth, who lasted just six months as
president of NHL Enterprises. The National
Basketball Association suffered the loss of its
CMO and NBA Properties prez Rick Welts, who
resigned in May '99, presaging a reorganization of
the league's entire non-basketball businesses and
creating a loss that the league is still smarting
from. The National Football League has gone
through its own re-org following the departure of
its president late last year, along with the NFL
Properties' president, and its svp-marketing and
fan development this spring.
The power axis has shifted at the bellwether of
sports leagues, with a triumvirate now at the
helm, headed by Roger Goodell, evp-business,
properties and club services. Goodell's first big
hire was bringing back John Collins, who, like
many league marketers, left in search of Internet
riches at a time when the Web was as much about
making personal fortunes as building enduring
businesses. Collins, who was with the NFL from
1989-99, last serving as svp-programming and
sales, returned in September after an eight-month
stint at Broadband Sports under the new title of
svp-marketing and entertainment programming. While
Goodell is clearly setting the new overall agenda,
Collins, who now heads the league's in-house
advertising and design groups, along with
publishing, shoulder programming, market research
and media planning, is the implementer. More
importantly, he's the de facto chief marketing
officer at a sports property whose business
practices are usually a model for the industry.
So while a few months is hardly enough time to
build a track record, Collins merits mention in
this year's crop of Next Generation Marketers as
one to watch, since he's drafting the marketing
blueprints at a time when the NFL is rebuilding
its of field businesses. Topping Collins' agenda
is a repositioning he hopes will make the NFL more
akin to Disney.
"Internally, we've never thought about it enough
as a brand that has to compete in the bigger world
of entertainment," said Collins, who came to the
league as director of sponsorship for NFL Films
after six years with Needham. "We should be
perceived as a monster consumer entertainment
brand, because we also produce programming that
networks build their schedules around and we put
billions of dollars of product on retail shelves.
I want people to see the NFL brand the same way
they see Viacom and Disney."
The objective is to allow the NFL easier entry
into other entertainment businesses and attracting
more top-shelf business partners. "Changing our
brand will affect everything from who we get for
talent at the Super Bowl halftime show to who our
licensees are and where their products are sold,"
said Collins. "There's no reason why we shouldn't
have [award-winning director] Spike Jonze produce
our commercials. There's no reason why, when the
Super Bowl has been estab lished as television
advertising's showplace, one of the great
commercials on it can't be from the guys who are
putting on the show."
Tweaking the NFL brand won't be easy politically
or creatively since it is one of the last bastions
of conservatism and the boys' club mentality that
were once common in every corporate boardroom. The
good news is that under Goodell, the league has a
mandate for change on the business side. And the
connection between sports and entertainment is
readily apparent.
"Puff Daddy talks about how juiced he is by the
fact that NFL players get juiced up listening to
his music before games for inspiration," said
Collins. "And it works both ways, because he gets
inspired watching their game. It's a question of
how we make the game bigger. And that doesn't mean
changing the rules, it means thinking about the
NFL as an entertainment brand, instead of just a
place that stages athletic events."
What's your favorite brand, and why? "Nike. They
have always captured the essence of what it is to
be a sports fan, an athlete and a participant.
That is a difficult balance to maintain, much less
market."
Expression most often heard saying: "What did you
do today?' That might even turn into a tagline for
us."
If I wasn't in this job, I'd be: "Learning how
to surf in California or Australia."
One brand I'd like to get a crack at fixing one
day: "Coke. For all the goodwill and history they
have, their recent work is pretty flat, especially
when you see what competitors in the category have
been doing marketing-wise."
Last book read: When Pride Still Mattered: A Life
of Vince Lombardi, by David Maraniss.
COPYRIGHT 2000 BPI Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group
