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Saturday, October 28, 2006
WWE: My Super Brand, 28/10/206, 2 PM
WWE: My Super Brand
Super brand is not a mere brand it’s a passion. It’s a phenomenon. And you become crazy for it. You should be able to give your left hand for it. As Rajnikant in some parts of south India. So is Harley Davidson in US.
There are times I have fought with my sisters just to watch WWE. There are times I have skipped my meals just to watch WWE. I have had numerous fights with friends, who say WWE is bogus and staged! I have lost a longtime friend just for WWE!!! And I have never been able to know why this craziness is for WWE??? May be this write up will give me some clarity.
WWE is not merely a wrestling or sports or TV show, its wrestling entertainment. Over the ears so much Branding has been done on it that it has become a Cult show for most of people.
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) is a publicly traded, privately controlled integrated media (focusing in television, internet, and live events), sports, and entertainment company dealing primarily in the professional wrestling industry, with major revenue sources also coming from movies, music, product licensing, and direct product sales. Vince McMahon is the majority owner and Chairman of the company and his wife Linda McMahon holds the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Together with their children, Executive Vice President of Global Media Shane McMahon and Senior Vice President of Creative Writing Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, the McMahons hold approximately 70% of WWE's economic interest and 96% of all voting power in the company. The company's global headquarters are located at 1241 East Main Street in Stamford, Connecticut, with international offices in Los Angeles, New York City, London, and Toronto. The company was previously known as Titan Sports, Inc. before changing to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc., and most recently becoming World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
WWE's business focus is on professional wrestling. It is currently the largest professional wrestling promotion in the world, and holds an extensive library of videos representing a significant portion of the visual history of professional wrestling. The promotion previously existed as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, which promoted under the banner of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), and later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). WWE promotes under three brands; RAW, Smack Down! And ECW. WWE is also home to three of the eight internationally recognized world heavyweight titles.
WWE's revenue in fiscal 2006 (from May 2005 to April 2006) was approximately $400 million (US), with a net profit of approximately $47 million. As of August 2006, the company's market capitalization is over $1 billion (US). Its stock is traded on the NYSE as WWE.
Current programming:
Main programming
RAW Friday Night SmackDown! Extreme Championship Wrestling
Web shows
HEAT Velocity (defunct)
Miscellaneous
A.M. RAW Saturday Night's Main Event
After burn Bottom Line The WWE Experience
Developmental territories
Ohio Valley Wrestling Deep South Wrestling, LLC
Subsidiaries
The World World Bodybuilding Federation WWE Films WWE Records XFL
Miscellaneous
24/7 Alumni Diva Search Draft Lottery Hall of Fame Pay-per-view
Ratings Roster Tough Enough Video Library
One of the Key point of WWE is that they sell Entertainment to be precise. Wrestling just happens to be one part of it. Just incidental. So wrestling fights bundled with entertainment in a real situation, kind of Live becomes extremely exciting for customers. Fights become repetitive over period of time. So reason for that fights changes over period of time. People involved fights change. Situation changes, Context changes and stipulations change. This brings in excitement and element f newness in every fight. So background to every fight is clinically done so as to garner lot of enthuse.
Every word that a wrestler speaks, every moves that he makes is copy righted. So even if a wrestler leaves WWE, he can’t use it else where. For example, John Cena’s “you can’t see me” catch phrase is copy righted. Similarly, his finishing move “FU” is also copy righted. IPR Lessons t is learnt here.
Insertions or placing ads in rings, sideways, TV frames is another major way of advertising. Merchandising Star’s caps, tees, belts, albums etc also generate lot of revenues for them. If you follow the full shows, you will notice so many subtle but powerful way they communicate their brands. During PPV events, they organize Rock shows, concerts etc just like the famous basket ball matches. For every PPV they have a Theme and a song. Their target audience is young crowd. So they get in Divas to show off and titillate audience, which is another major way of pulling young crowds.
Each rivalry and fight that follows has a Hero and a Villain. Even the commentator’ take a stand for each hero and villain which brings in excitement to the commentary. At WWE you expect the unexpected as far as match outcome is concerned that actually fuels the excitement. Event organized by WWE is so spic and span and so organized. The sitting arrangement is perfect. I have never ever heard of power failure or technical failure. But once it so happened that power went off abruptly, but wily organizers turned this in to drama and viewers believed that it was intentional.
Viewers are the real king for WWE. So many a times WWE organizes press conferences before events where in people go and get their autographs etc from stars in person. This is a good way to keep the viewers engaged and make them feel part of WWE family.
Each and every thing WWE does have lot of thinking behind it and with an aim to popularize WWE. I can go on and on citing such instances. Truly WWE branding and Marketing is awesome. It’s no different reason that I am so attached to these shows.
Important lessons from WWE for marketing students is, “Customer never knows what he wants, It’s the duty of marketers to identify his needs and offer him a value proposition that he cant refuse.”
Super brand is not a mere brand it’s a passion. It’s a phenomenon. And you become crazy for it. You should be able to give your left hand for it. As Rajnikant in some parts of south India. So is Harley Davidson in US.
There are times I have fought with my sisters just to watch WWE. There are times I have skipped my meals just to watch WWE. I have had numerous fights with friends, who say WWE is bogus and staged! I have lost a longtime friend just for WWE!!! And I have never been able to know why this craziness is for WWE??? May be this write up will give me some clarity.
WWE is not merely a wrestling or sports or TV show, its wrestling entertainment. Over the ears so much Branding has been done on it that it has become a Cult show for most of people.
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) is a publicly traded, privately controlled integrated media (focusing in television, internet, and live events), sports, and entertainment company dealing primarily in the professional wrestling industry, with major revenue sources also coming from movies, music, product licensing, and direct product sales. Vince McMahon is the majority owner and Chairman of the company and his wife Linda McMahon holds the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Together with their children, Executive Vice President of Global Media Shane McMahon and Senior Vice President of Creative Writing Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, the McMahons hold approximately 70% of WWE's economic interest and 96% of all voting power in the company. The company's global headquarters are located at 1241 East Main Street in Stamford, Connecticut, with international offices in Los Angeles, New York City, London, and Toronto. The company was previously known as Titan Sports, Inc. before changing to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc., and most recently becoming World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
WWE's business focus is on professional wrestling. It is currently the largest professional wrestling promotion in the world, and holds an extensive library of videos representing a significant portion of the visual history of professional wrestling. The promotion previously existed as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, which promoted under the banner of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), and later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). WWE promotes under three brands; RAW, Smack Down! And ECW. WWE is also home to three of the eight internationally recognized world heavyweight titles.
WWE's revenue in fiscal 2006 (from May 2005 to April 2006) was approximately $400 million (US), with a net profit of approximately $47 million. As of August 2006, the company's market capitalization is over $1 billion (US). Its stock is traded on the NYSE as WWE.
Current programming:
Main programming
RAW Friday Night SmackDown! Extreme Championship Wrestling
Web shows
HEAT Velocity (defunct)
Miscellaneous
A.M. RAW Saturday Night's Main Event
After burn Bottom Line The WWE Experience
Developmental territories
Ohio Valley Wrestling Deep South Wrestling, LLC
Subsidiaries
The World World Bodybuilding Federation WWE Films WWE Records XFL
Miscellaneous
24/7 Alumni Diva Search Draft Lottery Hall of Fame Pay-per-view
Ratings Roster Tough Enough Video Library
One of the Key point of WWE is that they sell Entertainment to be precise. Wrestling just happens to be one part of it. Just incidental. So wrestling fights bundled with entertainment in a real situation, kind of Live becomes extremely exciting for customers. Fights become repetitive over period of time. So reason for that fights changes over period of time. People involved fights change. Situation changes, Context changes and stipulations change. This brings in excitement and element f newness in every fight. So background to every fight is clinically done so as to garner lot of enthuse.
Every word that a wrestler speaks, every moves that he makes is copy righted. So even if a wrestler leaves WWE, he can’t use it else where. For example, John Cena’s “you can’t see me” catch phrase is copy righted. Similarly, his finishing move “FU” is also copy righted. IPR Lessons t is learnt here.
Insertions or placing ads in rings, sideways, TV frames is another major way of advertising. Merchandising Star’s caps, tees, belts, albums etc also generate lot of revenues for them. If you follow the full shows, you will notice so many subtle but powerful way they communicate their brands. During PPV events, they organize Rock shows, concerts etc just like the famous basket ball matches. For every PPV they have a Theme and a song. Their target audience is young crowd. So they get in Divas to show off and titillate audience, which is another major way of pulling young crowds.
Each rivalry and fight that follows has a Hero and a Villain. Even the commentator’ take a stand for each hero and villain which brings in excitement to the commentary. At WWE you expect the unexpected as far as match outcome is concerned that actually fuels the excitement. Event organized by WWE is so spic and span and so organized. The sitting arrangement is perfect. I have never ever heard of power failure or technical failure. But once it so happened that power went off abruptly, but wily organizers turned this in to drama and viewers believed that it was intentional.
Viewers are the real king for WWE. So many a times WWE organizes press conferences before events where in people go and get their autographs etc from stars in person. This is a good way to keep the viewers engaged and make them feel part of WWE family.
Each and every thing WWE does have lot of thinking behind it and with an aim to popularize WWE. I can go on and on citing such instances. Truly WWE branding and Marketing is awesome. It’s no different reason that I am so attached to these shows.
Important lessons from WWE for marketing students is, “Customer never knows what he wants, It’s the duty of marketers to identify his needs and offer him a value proposition that he cant refuse.”
