| |
The sports industry is a multiple billion-dollar business, and representing professional athletes has become necessary and essential to the industry. In today’s market, competent decisions, negotiations and planning are vital to the careers and profitability of both athlete and company as they come together through joint marketing opportunities. The athlete is clearly the fulcrum that the entire sports world is built around.
Good agents have relationships with potential sponsors, and take a fully integrated approach to their clients’ wealth, personal life, career, and post-career challenges. The role in representing a professional athlete is to create unique opportunities for organizations to build more brand personality by borrowing from an athlete that already represents those qualities.
Business Problem
23-year-old Brad Ludden, one of the number one kayakers in the world based in Vail, Colorado, initially choose to go professional in the sport of kayaking with the understanding that it was notorious for not supporting its athletes very well financially. “I knew I was going to need connections with the right organizations, and outside counsel to create the right kind of brand that would be appealing to companies that would want to discuss sponsorship,” said Ludden.
Solution
Ludden chose to engage Untraditional Marketing principal, Joel Heath, to represent him, help him build the right brand, and arrange the right kind of relationships with organizations. Untraditional Marketing was integral in helping develop Brad’s brand to make him one of the most recognized kayakers in the country. Untraditional Marketing built an athlete strategy for Brad that focused on his ability to build a better world through his athletic talents rather than just focusing on beating his opposition in traditional competitions.
Furthering a life long dream where Ludden wanted to give back to the sport that had given him so much, Ludden and Untraditional Marketing’s principal created a non-profit called First Descents, a free, seven-day kayak camp for young adults with cancer. “For kayakers, a first descent is the first successful navigation of a river or creek,” said Ludden. “At the First Descents camps that Untraditional Marketing helps me run, we teach young adults to kayak and help them gain the confidence to successfully navigate the obstacles of life with cancer.”
Untraditional Marketing helped Ludden put this dream into a business plan, formulate the non-profit and organize a board of directors. Today, First Descents is a significant part of Ludden’s brand.
Results
Today, Ludden is the most written about kayaker in the sports history because of his work around First Descents. He was just recently featured on NBC’s Today Show. Also, due to his involvement in the Teva Mountain Games, the nation’s largest exposition of mountain recreational activities and high-country culture, Ludden has been covered in many outdoor and national publications such as Sports Illustrated Adventure, Paddler Magazine, Men’s Journal, Glamour, and USA Today just to name a few. Further, due to his increased exposure, he was the first kayaker to be signed by Nike ACG and is one of the highest paid kayakers in the sport.
For additional information on Untraditional Marketing and/or its
business successes, please visit www.untraditional.com or contact
Joel Heath at 970.926.4799.
|
|
