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FREESTYLE
from an on-
board
cam-
era,
speed
gliding!
This
is hot
stuff.
And
from all
this,
they
will be
able
to
develop
audience
WOIlLD CUP
interest
both
1IIiIII_1IIiIII _ _ IiIIIIiII_ZIllliEIiIIIIiIIUl§lliI!
in
the
sport,
and in the
pilots
as
personalities.
But this is
still
not quite
enough.
For
broadcasters, building up
audience awareness
and
loyal
following,
is imperative. Their rev-
enue comes from viewer subscription or
advertising or
both. Whichever
way, size
counts. For
them, the bigger the
audience
the
better.
But, it
takes
time to build
audience size.
And in the
UK
for instance, terrestrial
com-
mercial
channels
need to hit
around
1.8-
2
million
viewers
before
serious advertisers get
interested. The producers really
sweat
until
that figure
is reached, and then they have
to
maintain it. For this, they need
a
regular
fix
for
their
viewers.
It's
easy
to
see
why
a
World
Championship
that takes place
every 2
years
doesn't
get a
look in. And that's why
the WHGS which has 5
events
in its first
year.
has
grabbed
the
imagination
of
Eurosport.
Skysport.
Transworld
Sport,
Gillette
World
Sport
Special, Reuters
and
major networks
around
the
world.
WHGS
competition structure counters all
the criticisms
the TV media have traditional-
ly
made.
It
is a
platform
from
which we
can
start
the
rejuvenation of
hang
gliding.
But,
it
will still
need
something
else:
entry from
the
pilots and commitment
from the manufactur-
ers.
Pilots - bypass the politics
The
series
IS
going
to
be a
lot
of fun
in a
lot
of great
places.
And for those
who
have previously been
excluded from
international comps,
the low
entry fees
make it a
real
,
andaffordable opportunity
to
mix
it with
the high fliers
.
If
you
want to
reach
the top or just
learn
from
the
best,
you
can do it without
having to
go
through the process
of
pain,
politics and
downright
unfairness that
some
countries
call
national team selection. All you need
is your FAI Sporting
Licence
and
you
can en
ter
any or all of
the WHGS series.
So, the motto
should
now read;
if
you
can't
beat
'em,
jOil1 us!
Get
sponsored
...
New ideas create
new
possibilities.
For the first
time in
HG,
there's
an
inter-
national comp circuit
that
provides an
attractive environment for sponsorship.
Pilots
who want to
fly professionally
are
in a
position to
go out and seek sponsors
to
provide the funds to
do
so.
And pilots
April
1996
should
do just that, because
they
now hold
the key to what
sponsors
really
want;
media
exposure.
... Manufacturers too
There's
a
lot
at stake
in
the constructors'
championship,
and the 'switched
on'
won
'
t
take long to realise that the media is
going
to
pay plenty
of attention
to it. It's
a separate
area
of
competitive
intrigue. And just like
Formula One,
good
media
exposure
means
that to get a slice of
the
action, sponsors
will
want to
invest in
teams
as well as
individu-
als.
So,
all
the
spin-offs for
pilots,
also apply
to the manufacturers,
only
more
so.
In
fact,
they probably have more to
gain from
the
Series than
anyone.
By
getting
right behind
the WHGS
and giving
it their
support,
manu-
facturers
will
actively
do
something about
claiming back the territory lost to other
sports.
Re-take the initiative
Manufacturers
should
remember that
serious growth
in the
sport started
with
avail-
ability of commercially
produced hang
glid-
ers.
It wasn't bureaucrats that made the
sport.
Pilots bought gliders, not rule books.
This may
sound
dismissive of the work
done by the
sport's administrators.
However,
it is not meant to be, what they have done
contains a
lot
of good and
hard work.
But,
their endeavours have lacked the balance
needed to keep the
sport
healthy and
grow-
ing.
Given the
current state of
hang
gliding,
increasing
overall
market
size
may be more
important than increasing
a
market
share
in
a
declining
sport.
After
all,
bills don't
get
paid
with a
100
%
share of
nothing.
Manufacturers have to decide whether to
be market makers
or
market
traders.
And
there's
a
big difference between the
two.
Market makers are proactive
companies
like
Sony,
who created a
demand
for their
'Walkman'
from a
public who never knew
they needed them. Market traders
just sell
to
an
existing
market without having
any con-
trol in its direction.
Originally, whether they knew it
or
not,
manufacturers were the
sport's
market mak-
ers, and
they're
going
to have to take
on
that
role
again.
Only when the turn-arounds been
achieved
will
fighting for
market
share
make
real
sense.
Don't get eaten!
What's been written
so far about
the
WHGS has
only covered some of the issues,
and only a
very
few of
the possibilities
that
the Series will
stimulate.
From the
outset,
the
design brief was to create
a series
that would
be
great
for the pilots, and at the
same
time
publicise the
sport.
There's been
a
lot of
work done behind the
scenes
and there
are a
lot
of
people who intend making
sure
that the
best is
yet
to
come.
The WHGS message is
simple: satisfy
the
customers you've got
then
appeal
to
a wider
audience; turn the appeal
into interest
-
into
greater
membership.
This is not the time to take things
easy
and
there's a
great
quote by William
Knudson that clearly states why:
"The
competition will bite you
if
you
keep running:
if
you stand still it will
swallow you"
Well, we've been bitten! Let's not
get
eaten.
Murray
Rose,
Media
&
Sponsorship
Director
WHGS Tyle Llwyd, Llanfrynach, Brecon
Powys,
UK
Tellfax
+44 1874 695481
Ken
Cooper flying
Warriewood, Northern Beaches. Photo David Ferreira
15
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