The following is an article from today's Madison & Vine, an Ad Age publication:
A Once No-Holds-Barred Slugfest Becomes Marketer Friendly
Founder of New Fight League Goes Legit With William Morris Agency
By Rich Thomaselli
NEW YORK — Mark Burnett was able to turn his new boxing league into a
magnet for marketers with “The Contender,” luring the likes of Toyota
and Home Depot into the ring. But will Gareb Shamus be able to do the
same for the International Fight League and turn it into a viable
branded-entertainment vehicle?
A comic book mogul wants to turn the IFL into a legitimate sports
league, with teams of fighters in different cities, and has Hollywood
representation to help attract marketers.
The co-founder of the International Fight League, Mr. Shamus is trying
to build a legitimate professional sport based on mixed fighting styles
— a combination of boxing, wrestling, karate, judo and other martial
arts — and part of his marketing message is to “change people's
perception that it's a no-holds-barred fighting,” he said.
Cleaning up the brutality
“The sport is sanctioned in 32 states, so the states regulate heavily
what the guys can and can't do,” said Mr. Shamus, who founded and is the
chairman of Wizard Entertainment, a publishing company of five
magazines geared toward fans of comic books, super-hero figures and video
games, and is the second largest producer of fan-related shows, behind
Comic-Con. “What we've done is taken the rules and made them even more
strict to create a safer environment. We've moved it out of a cage and into
an oversized boxing ring. We've eliminated elbow strikes to the head,
which eliminates 95% of the blood.”
Now Mr. Shamus and his partner, Kurt Otto, appear to be finding that
legitimacy. With plans to take the company public and a formal launch in
2007 of a 16-team IFL league, several major sponsors are on board and
the IFL has just signed two deals, hiring Dan Klores Communications to
assist in a wide-ranging branding and awareness campaign for the launch
and signing with the William Morris Agency for representation in
Hollywood.
WMA will focus on securing new, expansive TV and venue opportunities
for the IFL and its athletes.
“We are very excited about this partnership with the International
Fight League,” WMA's Marc Geiger said in a statement. Mixed martial arts
“is one of the fastest-growing properties in sports and entertainment,
and we think that the IFL has put together a solid, strategic plan to be
successful as both a sports property and a business entity for the long
term.”
Marketing a team concept
What the IFL is doing different than its two chief rivals (Ultimate
Fighting Championship and Pride) is creating a team concept in what has
been an individual sport. Fighters will be placed with one of 16 teams in
cities across the U.S., as well as in Toronto and Tokyo, and will
compete over a six-month season. Each event will have five bouts in
different weight classes.
The idea of the team concept, Mr. Shamus said, was to further fan
interest in the franchise cities and better leverage the IFL with potential
sponsors.
“I think those are aspects that make it very interesting for us as a
sponsor, and I think they have a lot of potential,” Bill Nielsen, senior
director for global partnerships for Microsoft's Xbox gaming unit, told
the Bergen Record in New Jersey. Microsoft, along with Coca-Cola and
Sandals Resorts, have signed on as sponsors of the IFL. “If it keeps
developing at the pace it has been, we're going to be really excited that
we got in early.”
The deal with WMA will then try to put the IFL and its fighters into
the psyche of the mainstream sports fan.
TV deals and concert co-promotions
“There are two components to the deal with William Morris,” Mr. Shamus
said. “We're working with their TV group, both domestic and
international. Right now we're on Fox Sports Net [and are currently negotiating
for the 2007 TV rights]. The other part is working with their concert and
venue group. William Morris is one of the largest representation firms
out there and not only handles musicians, but their concert tours.
They've put together some of the biggest tours in the world. If we could do
a co-promotion of one of our shows with a concert, it would be
fabulous. We're walking in with the weight and the power of the William Morris
Agency behind us.”
Up first: a deal with model Janice Dickinson's show on Oxygen.
Potential ring-card girls for the IFL will compete on Ms. Dickinson's show.
Mr. Shamus also benefits by having the marketing power of Wizard
Entertainment as a cross-platform with the IFL. At his last comics
convention, Wizard drew 60,000 fans to a show in Chicago — and Mr. Shamus
trotted out several of his IFL fighters and put on several demonstrations.
Marketing machine in place
“I have a marketing machine in place where I already reach over 3
million guys a month with magazines in 40 countries and in 10 languages,” he
said. “I understand the licensing and merchandising end of it. I
understand how to promote. I think being able to leverage a lot of the assets
of Wizard — from marketing to office space to accounting to production
— helps with the IFL.”
It also helps to have key people in place, and Mr. Shamus has brought
on Joel Ehrlich, the former senior VP-consumer products at Warner Bros.,
and former Marvel Entertainment chief Bill Jemas to the IFL's board of
advisors.
“We're building a tremendous organization,” Mr. Shamus said. “I think
it's going to work.”
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