FAI, soaring and Olympic Games

On Monday, October 31, 2016 at 1:27:06 PM UTC-4, Dan Marotta wrote:
How about a soaring reality show on Discovery Channel? We could all get
tattoos, grow beards, quit getting haircuts, spit and cuss a lot, have
girl groupies with big boobs and low cut necklines... It'd be a hit for
sure! Where do I sign up?

On 10/30/2016 11:09 PM, Sean wrote:
Not sure what FAIs end game strategy is with SGP yet...the right producer and it's off to the races...and yes, I've talked to several producers. Longshot is an understatement but you never know...

--
Dan, 5J

Now that's funny -

Dennis

On Monday, October 31, 2016 at 2:09:01 PM UTC-4, Sean wrote:
Actually, in Olympics, Pan Am Games, etc., often the sailing events are held miles away from the main Olympic city. For example, the Atlanta Olympics held our events (Sailing) in Savahnah, Georgia. 3-4 hours by car.

I think you miss the point of Dubai entirely Bruce. You may be thinking only of yourself, and even then only conventionally.

If we want soaring to grow substantially then we really need dramatically more poeple to notice it. To get interested in it. We need dramatically more exposure. Assuming we found a means of increasing public exposure (and image) of soaring...out of that pool, a few might get inspired to try it. Out of that few, some will get their license and so on.

These events, such as Dubai and the Olympics, are aimed at gaining exposure for the sport of soaring. They are aimed at demonstrating how soaring competitions work to the public and honoring the athletes & teams and ultimately the champions.

The Americas Cup has adapted itself to fit the TV format required to build advertising value. They run very short, fast, exciting races in a stadium environment as much as possible. This has raised awareness of the sport of sailboat racing dramatically and he events (NBC sports) are actually getting impressive ratings.

It is possible for soaring to have a similar jolt of energy. It just requires the proper circumstances. And none of this, Olympics, Dubai, etc., affects any other soaring pilot negatively. It simply raises awareness to a sport which is dismal (especially in the USA) from a marketing perspective.. See sailplane Grand Prix.

In other word you should be thankful. We could use all the help that we could get right now...don't you think?

I think we should be more positive and thankful to those trying new ideas vs. insulting them.

Sean I am not sure that broad based exposure has any effect on building interest in a narrow specialized activity as soaring. I think you want to target your efforts to identified market segments that tend to fit soaring pilot profile. I have watch curling on past Olympics and never had the desire to try it.If you look at every persons time as resources, i think we would be better off using those resources to focus on those groups that that are more likely to be influenced.

Just my thoughts,

Dennis

Marketing success is, at its most basic level, measured in terms of "exposures." In other words, how many times is your brand, product or company "exposed" to the eyes and ears of your target audience. Soaring is a general thing so IMO our audience is everyone. Next there is the "meaningfulness" of the exposures. Somewhat more subjective but worth considering. It is far more cost effective to focus on basic exposures than it is to try and target. Especially when you have little or nothing to start with (our situation). Trying to target from the beginning is like trying to land on the centerline after your rudder has fallen off the glider. Especially true when the sport is so amazingly obscure (almost hidden from the public) here in the USA. That and the fact that our demographic is 55+ (perhaps 65+) and needs to be equalized or exceeded at the teen and twenties demographic if we are to grow again (or even survive).

What I am talking about is basically regularly leveraging free exposure as a matter of practice. Employing the media and other marketing engines to work for us as normal operating procedure. It only takes paying attention. For example, every SSA contest (or any soaring event for that matter) should be writing press releases and calling local media outlets (TV, print, web) to visit. Media loves invitations. The exercise of inviting media can be automated and tuned. Media involvement is very rare in the USA, even at Nationals or SSA Conventions. It should be absolute at every event. Particular attention should be paid to sports media. As a sport, we are sitting on the ground with the engine off in terms of marketing. We have few youth members to leverage for help as other sports do (paragliding). Quite embarrassing. We need to work harder to make up for this unfortunately.

The Olympics is important and valuable. Shrugging it off because you have watched curling and not picked up curling is fairly dumb (sorry). Imagine an average Joe seeing 10 minutes of the Olympic glider race event similar to some of the better SGP coverage you may have seen. Now imagine 1.8 Billion people (Olympic viewership in Brazil this summer) being potentially exposed to glider racing. The Olympics have very, very strong youth demographics. They provide sports with a certain legitimacy as well. It might be hard for some of you to get your heads around, but I am thinking 10-20 years down the line here. If we want to have a great, thriving sport then we need to get our heads out of our butts and shamelessly expose the sport as much as possible. Why not? Or should we just keep standing around with our hands in our pockets? This conservative, tip-toeing around alone has gotten us where we are today. It cannot be allowed to continue.

Finally an Olympic bid is not that big of an undertaking for us here in the USA. The good news is that the US so separated from the FAI and Europe (the big boys) that we would not have to move a muscle. They would lead that effort because FAI is relevant and US rules are irrelevant. We should all be absolutely begging the FAI to build an Olympic bid for soaring. All upside for us and zero work.

Olympic Sailplane Racing. Sounds great to me! What is there to lose?

Sean

I hate being a "Debbie Downer" but.......... I was on the 1988 Olympic Team and have been part of an orphan sport for 45 years

"What's to lose" actually also What is to gain? is another good question before embarking down a road without a map.

I will give you 2 experiences that kind of speak to both.

1. We had a woman who had place 5th in the prior World's and felt to get on the podium requires her not to work at all and therefore fundraising was a high priority. She raised sufficient funds, unfortunately the thing she was unable to do was have sufficient time to train - she did not make the Team.

2. This/my Sport has been in every Olympics since 1936. They felt pretty cocky and safe after the 1980 Olympics - we won 3 medals, had Olympic profit sharing money, excellent exposure and a great sponsor. They forgot to take good care of the sponsor and that exposure alone would not gain any new Athletes.

The sponsor is gone - the money is gone and how many of you have heard of Olympic Sprint Kayaking

It is dangerous to lose focus and to believe growth comes easy via exposure.. It is all about the execution of a plan and allowing it to evolve and follow where it succeeds, while stopping what does not.

Soaring is a beautiful Sport and I believe there are many ways to expand - I am not sure Olympic exposure is a magic bullet or maybe even a waste of time.

my 2 cents

WH

On Wednesday, November 2, 2016 at 10:46:43 PM UTC+3, wrote:
I hate being a "Debbie Downer" but.......... I was on the 1988 Olympic Team and have been part of an orphan sport for 45 years

"What's to lose" actually also What is to gain? is another good question before embarking down a road without a map.

I will give you 2 experiences that kind of speak to both.

1. We had a woman who had place 5th in the prior World's and felt to get on the podium requires her not to work at all and therefore fundraising was a high priority. She raised sufficient funds, unfortunately the thing she was unable to do was have sufficient time to train - she did not make the Team.

2. This/my Sport has been in every Olympics since 1936. They felt pretty cocky and safe after the 1980 Olympics - we won 3 medals, had Olympic profit sharing money, excellent exposure and a great sponsor. They forgot to take good care of the sponsor and that exposure alone would not gain any new Athletes.

The sponsor is gone - the money is gone and how many of you have heard of Olympic Sprint Kayaking

I seem to recall a couple of chaps by names of Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald who weren't too bad at it.

Olympic Sailplane Racing. Sounds great to me! What is there to lose?

Sean

Dignity. Precious time. Besides those two Sean you are out of touch with modern reality of information processing. Only 6% of people trust the media, so why would take up a sport based on mainstream media coverage? If the media says it is safe and fun, 94% hearing that won't believe it. http://www.activistpost.com/2016/04/...ent-trust.html
And lest you think old school media still has credibility, the ghey old lady is near death.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ly-profit.html
SGP is perfect you make the rules to make it how pilots want to fly and new media compatible. Then pump it out with youtube, vimeo, twitter, gab, get a soda company involved, etc. The X-Alps is redbull media's largest audience event. Soaring and walking, plus human drama. The mainstream media and the olympics are extinct, they just haven't realized it yet. Waste of time and dignity.

Geeze. No wonder we are nearly extinct. The glass is half empty, arrrrrhg!

Let's just peck away on our private Facebook accounts and tell more lies? That will fix things. :-)! Immediate gratification in small private groups beats hard work, trying new things and having a chance at success any day! In other words, we will never know if we never try.

Seriously, I think that the FAI has dropped the ball by not answering this question for all of us and trying over the bast 80 years to being soaring into the Olympics. Soaring would be a great Olympic television sport.

I was part the US Olympic Sailing Team. I did the Pan Am Games (our class was not in the Olympics) and it was a great experience. The Olympics definitely does not hurt sailing in the slightest. It is outstanding coverage and a huge highlight for the sport and for youth sailors. It would be amazing for soaring in my opinion...

Notice women are in the race, level with the men and ages range from 18 to 52 yrs old...

https://youtu.be/4emdfoTvNKk

"Soaring would be a great Olympic television sport."

I agree, but technology to cover a decent soaring competition well simply does not exist. (Satellite tracking, CGI and cockpit views make it exciting for those who understand the concept, but it looks like a video game to most spectators who are not pilots.)

Don't get me wrong- I watch the SGP videos from South Africa, New Zealand and Chile over and over. Ionia? Nyet!

We fly hundreds of miles, in three dimensions. Altitudes of over 15,000 ft. and speeds above 100 mph are simply out of the operating range of most helicopter camera platforms.

Contrast these parameters with Sean's favorite: Sailing is performed in two dimensions at sea level at speeds of about 11 knots. The course is a few miles in length and width.

Extremely easy to cover with helicopters, and lots of folks can watch the "action" from the shore or from a boat outside the course with a decent set of binoculars and a few beers. Bikini clad crew on other spectator boats also add to the enjoyment with the aforesaid binoculars. Not so much in soaring.

I'll paint a picture...

The budget for Olympic sailing RIO this summer was around 25 million dollars (from what I have heard). And advertising investment was 5-10x that amount for NBC. Other Olympic events have far, FAR, larger budgets (obviously) and the network makes a fortune. Think about that. The media investment (and in turn sponsor investment) in Olympic coverage can be enormous. With that kind of money focused on soaring, even a fraction, Olympic Sailplane Competiton coverage would be like nothing we have ever seen before. Chile and New Zealand would look like child's play in comparison. It would probably be broadcast live from the cockpits in addition to improvement everywhere else. If that happened, and based on the history it has a snowballs chance in hell, Olympic Soaring would gain enormous exposure.

And this attention would be more than "just the Olympic event." The bid process for the sport alone would be major news. The media around each countries qualification process (trials), the test and pre-Olympic events leading up to the Olympics, the glider design/manufacturer drama deciding what gliders will used for the Olympics, etc would all begin to play out years before the actual Olympic event. A whole new level of potential interest would be created on a scale we can not really imagine. Sponsors may even become interested outside the Olympics which could carry into domestic events, national organizations such as the SSA, etc.

We might even grow again.

FAI where are you?

By the way, there is a great article on this very subject in gliding international this month.

If you want soaring to be comparable to sailing you have to make soaring a collegiate sport. With the right Title IX lawyer you probable could Otherwise the Olympic comparison to equestrian events is more apt. Without specifically searching how much Olympic equestrian coverage do you see in the regular press?