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The
Figh./
Back Begins!
World class events that bypass the politics and hassle of
national selection; World Cup Grand
P
rix that bring togeth-
er cross country, speed gliding and aerobatics; affordable
international competitions; these were just three of the objec-
tives set by Dennis Pagen, Spanish 10 Hayler and myself at
the WHGS formation meeting in early '95.
W
hat really clinched the idea of the
WHGS for me, was the consensus
that hang gliding needed some
serious marketing. Because, in the race for
membership, we are in competition with
some very good sports. And we're losing.
Marketing success
?
$26 million, that's how much Michael
Schumacher will get for driving a Ferrari in
the
1996
Formula
One
World
Championships. And that doesn't include
what he will receive from product endorse-
ment, branding on his helmet
etc.
This driver
will eam more in one year than all our manu-
facturers and top pilots put together.
What's really significant about this is that
it's just a small fraction of the total money
sponsors invest in Formula One. And that,
crucially, is
a
direct measure of how well
motor racing has marketed itself to the out-
side world.
Or failure?
Now, you can't accuse Hang Gliding's
administrators of having a failed marketing
policy, because, unfortunately, it looks like
they never had one in the first place. The rea-
son may be the sport's rapid growth in its
early
years.
SPEED GLIDING
-WORLD CUP-
14
In those
days,
gov-
erning bod-
ies
struggled
with
grow-
ing numbers
of pilots
and
making
rules to
con-
trol
them.
Membership
appeared to
be
doing
well
enough
in i t i all y.
Marketing the sport never found its way onto
their list of priorities. Why
should it?
If cop-
ing with growth was
a
problem, why make
things worse by
advertising?
It was a golden era, a period of plenty,
but sadly, no provision was made for the
future. So when the inevitable downturn
occurred, there were only rule books to turn
to. And they didn't contain the
answer.
CIVL and national clubs
are still
not
geared for promotion and pUblicity. They are
about
control
and administration. So, if we
leave it to them to
stop
the rot and get the
sport
growing again, it won't happen. The
best we'll get is well ordered decline.
Perfect timing
We've a lot of catching up to do. To turn
things around, we need
committed
marketing
at an international level. The problem is,
there is not enough cash left in the
sport
to
aggressively promote itself. But, here's the
good news, some people do have the money.
Sponsors. The trick will be to get them to
part with it.
The first thing to understand
about spon-
sorship is that it's not
a
free lunch, it's a busi-
ness deal. Sponsors will want
a
return on
their investment: exposure. And for the first
time, we're in
a
position to deliver the
goods.
The sharp
growth of satellite, cable and
dedicated
sports channels,
means that there's
now
an awful
lot
of airtime
to fill. So there's
hot
competition
between them to
screen
the
most popular
sports.
And by buying up the big
events
,
the
more powerful of these media moguls have
even
put a
squeeze
on
established
national
broadcasters.
For them, the dilemma is this. There are
not enough top division
sporting
events to
go
round. And they're being
forced
to look out-
side
traditional
sports
like football
and
rugby
for good
alternatives.
For hang
gliding,
there
FAI
WORLD
HANG GLIDING
SERIES
has never been a better time for
an
outfit like
the WHGS to take the
initiative.
Hang gliding has got
a
lot
going
for it. It
offers
something
that main
stream sports
haven't
got; an extra
dimension - up. It's
adrenalin
raising, high tech and dynamic.
It
also has
star
quality pilots, and the media
are
always
hungry
for
personalities
-
for
Schumacher read: Suchanek, Ruhmer. Tudor,
Leden, Arkwright, Pendry, Harvey ... I
could
go
on. These are the basic ingredients that
make hang
gliding capable of
being project-
ed
and
promoted
as a
major
sport - synchro-
nised
swimming
it is not.
So, if HG has
all
this. why isn
'
t it up
there
on
TV with the best of them? In its XC
form,
HG
competitions
are a problem
for
TV
producers
and
broadcasters.
Their main
objections
are: that it's invisible - most
of
the
action
takes place away from the cameras
and therefore, it isn
'
t
a
spectator
sport: for
the
cameras
to
follow
the
action
would be
incredibly
costly; and
finally,
(the
event that)
should
be
our
show piece, the World
Championships, only take place
every
two
years.
The time between these competitions
is
far
too
long.
Size counts
Now
you
can
see
why bringing
XC,
Speed Gliding
and
Freestyle together in
one
location
and
using
one
landing field,
appeals
to the
media.
There'll be plenty
of action and
all of
it
will
be in front of the
cameras.
It will
draw
in
spectators
,
which
will
give
that
ex'tra atmos-
phere.
The
TV
images
will not
sim-
ply be
excit-
ing,
they'll
be
unique.
Imagine the
pictures
FlU
CROSS·COUNTRY
WORLD CUP
SKYSAILOR
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