Janey Miller is a pioneer, both as a female agent and a marketing agent in the Olympic space. She started representing Olympians in 1996 when she signed her first client, swimmer Amy Van Dyken, who went on to win six gold medals. Miller has represented both men and women in the winter and summer Olympics across multiple sports, including swimming, diving, track and field, gymnastics, speedskating, hockey, skiing and figure skating. Miller started her career at Gold Medal Management and worked at IMG before joining Octagon in 2007. At the Rio Olympics, Miller represented gymnast Simone Biles, who won four gold medals for the U.S. last summer.
“
Do not get too hung up on the fact that you are a woman in this business. If someone has a problem with you being a woman, it’s their problem, not yours. And never apologize for fighting for your clients and for standing up for what you believe to be fair and/or right. Women are probably under-represented in the athlete representation business, but I also believe the Olympic space, in particular, has made significant progress as I am meeting and interacting with more and more women today compared to when I first entered the industry.”
 |
Photo: COURTESY OF OCTAGON
|
On changes over 20 years: Marketing Olympic athletes earlier was much harder because you had to find a way to maintain their visibility and exposure in those four-year windows. You didn’t have social media back then. You didn’t have their own voice you could get out there. … Whereas now you can focus more on those long-term strategies. You can work with partnerships because you know you have other platforms where an athlete will be visible.
On longer Olympic careers: The longevity of our clients’ careers has increased; the complexity of their business interests, the time and resources required to properly develop and manage them, has significantly increased. You have athletes that now can go through multiple Olympic Games. … We have Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin, and Simone, hopefully, will go to a second Games.
On the Olympic marketing cycle: Sponsors generally start looking [at potential endorsers] — generally — a year out. I would love it where sponsors start to turn after the Winter Games and then immediately to the Summer [Games], and vice versa. Because the problem with that system is … when everyone wants the athletes the most, that is when you want to protect their time and they have the least to give.
On the next three Games being in Asia: There is no question that the Olympics being held in Asia for the next three Games creates some unique opportunities and challenges. A number of traditional Olympic sponsors have elected not to continue or renew their partnership with the USOC, which affects the number of potential opportunities for athletes. Couple that with the fact that the Winter Games do not draw the same level of global interest as the Summer Games, so we are navigating a very unique marketplace. We are very excited by the level of interest and activity we are already witnessing with Tokyo 2020. .
— Liz Mullen
