PROFESSIONAL
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Photo by: DOLLY CLEW
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What I Like …
■ An insight: A great sponsorship activation should feel like something that only your brand can do. If you can easily substitute another brand into the activation — especially one of your competitors — start again.
■ An influential person in my career: Karen Earl, chairman of Synergy. I’m privileged to have known Karen for most of my working life and to have worked with her since I joined the business in 1999.
TIM CROW
CEO, Synergy
■ What I do: My role spans three areas: advising clients, leading Synergy and contributing as a partner to Engine (the LLP of which Synergy is a division).
■ Where I'm from: I grew up in Halifax, in Yorkshire.
■ Where I Went to School: I have a degree in English language and literature from the University of Birmingham.
■ My First Job: Working behind the bar of my local pub in Halifax.
■ An out-of-the-box idea: Don’t think of fans as communities to be managed — think of them as ecosystems to be nurtured.
■ A timeless idea: There are only two sorts of deals: good ones and bad ones.
■ A sports facility: Camp Nou, home of FC Barcelona. Watching a big match there is an unforgettable experience.
■ A naming-rights deal: The O2 in London. Naming rights reimagined as 21st-century marketing, not 20th-century badging.
■ A sports event: London 2012. Fairly top-of-mind right now!
■ A hire: Manchester United hiring — and in the early years staying loyal to — Sir Alex Ferguson.
■ A brand: Apple. Quite simply the brand of our times.
■ A strategy: P&G’s “Proud Sponsor of Moms” Olympics strategy. Credible, powerful and very differentiating.
■ A marketing campaign: Since Nike found their soccer voice 10 years ago, watching them evolve their soccer business through a series of consistently brilliant campaigns has been fascinating.
■ A trend: The revolution in sports and entertainment marketing created by social media.
■ An innovation: Real-time and location-based marketing: 2012 will, I suspect, be a breakthrough year.
■ A Twitter user/account: I follow around 200 people, but if I had to single out one it would be Paul Kelso (@pkelso), the Daily Telegraph’s chief sports correspondent, who is consistently intelligent and entertaining.
■ A story that bears watching: The evolution of sports marketing in the BRIC economies.
■ An idea I wish I had thought of: Facebook.
■ A fantasy job: Founder, Time Machines Inc.
What I Like About …
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Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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■ Sports: Matchups between immortals, such as Ali v. Frazier when I was growing up, or more recently Federer v. Nadal.
■ Sports media: Nowadays, the ability to customize it.
■ Sports technology: In golf, it’s helping me to improve despite getting older!
■ The future of sports business: The inevitability of improved governance.
■ Sports fans: The humor.
What I’d Like To …
■ See: More of my wife and daughter.
■ Change: The overcommercialization of much of sport in recent years.
■ Change in what I do: Have less competitors!
■ See more in sports: Good governance.
■ See more of in sports business: Marketers.
■ See less of in sports business: Salesmen.
■ See different: An increased emphasis on qualitative research.
■ Eliminate: Rights holders making cut-and-paste pitches to brands without doing any prior research on them as businesses.
What I Don’t Like …
■ In general: Apathy.
■ Pet peeve: Poor spelling and grammar.
■ In business: People who live by rules rather than values.
■ About sports fans: The minority who use their support as an excuse to be anti-social.
PERSONAL
What I Like …
■ That would surprise those who know me: I find a lot of sports boring.
■ About myself: I’ve been a non-smoker for over a year now.
■ Heroes: Nelson Mandela, Seve Ballesteros.
■ Players: George Best, Tom Watson, Viv Richards, Roger Federer, Lionel Messi.
■ Team: FC Halifax Town.
■ Olympic sport: Anything Team GB wins a medal in at London 2012.
■ City: New York City.
■ Possession: Wedding ring.
■ Memento: My late father’s wallet.
■ Music: I have eclectic tastes but default to Miles Davis.
■ Books: I love Ian Fleming’s James Bond stories. So much better than the Bond movies.
■ Authors: If I had to choose one it would be Charles Dickens.
■ Gadget: Kindle.
■ Trip: We love heading up to the North Norfolk beaches.
■ TV: “The Wire.”
■ Concerts: London theater and musicals.
■ Artist: Caravaggio.
■ Food: Sushi.
■ Dessert: Ice cream.
■ Drink: Vodka.
■ Scent: Freshly mown grass.
■ Vacation spot: Miami Beach.
■ Car: Mini Countryman.
■ Aftershave: Davidoff Cool Water.
■ Singer: David Gilmour.
■ Quote: I’m hoping to hear Jacques Rogge say “This was the greatest Games ever” at the London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony in August.
