By: Mike Boykin
There are college students graduating this month who spent their senior year taking the necessary steps to prove to companies that they have what it takes to be future stars in the sports business. The opportunities they stalked might include small starting salaries or job descriptions filled with menial tasks, but they are embarking on their dreams of working in sports because each of them understands what it means to “bloom where you’re planted,” as my friend Mark Dyer is fond of saying.

For those of you among this year’s graduates who have done little to no legwork, the gates of hell are about to open. I was recently asked by a student what I would do if I was one of the latter, and I offered two pieces of advice: Read the following Mark Cuban quote, and then pray.

“[This is the] worst possible business in the world for a college graduate to try to get into because it doesn’t pay shit [and] there’s a thousand people applying for every job,” said the Mavericks owner, recently addressing the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. “I get 20 résumés a week, minimum, minimum, saying, ‘I’ll work for free. I just want a chance.’ I get some — I get one or two a month [saying] ‘I’ll pay you to come work.’”

It’s an intimidating comment that’s purposefully meant to scare some of you away. Sports, like politics, attracts some of the best and brightest for jobs that pay better in other industries. The aforementioned student, undeterred by the Cuban quote, replied, “OK. So what do I do after I pray?” We hold a monthly networking meeting in Charlotte for people seeking jobs in sports, and this is what we tell the ones who are diligent enough to ask.

Network like crazy

There are more networking options readily available today than at any other time in the history of business. Social tools like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are the preferred communication platforms of your generation, but not mine or many other hiring managers.

Pick up the phone; attend networking events in your area; ask for a five-minute meeting (before, not during, working hours); and prepare your elevator speech. Create a map of people you meet and let them know other people and organizations with whom you’re communicating. Don’t “spray and pray” your résumé — a great phrase I recently heard. Did you like that job you found this morning on Career Builder? It was filled three days ago.

Fandom is not a qualification

Unless you’re applying for a job as assistant general manager or a fantasy sports editor, no one cares that you won your roto league seven years running. We look for type-A people who are highly self-motivated and want to rule the world — and might have different opinions on how to get there. We want ethical people who take the high road and aren’t afraid to ask, “Is this the right thing to do?” But the magic dust is that they’re collaborative. They want to be part of a team, not pretend to own a team. And the old press box rule applies across sports: “Don’t ask for autographs.”

Preparation

You know what turns off hiring managers? Someone who takes 30 minutes to prepare before coming to see them. In the agency world, we spend hundreds of hours doing background work just to prepare to approach a single potential client, so it’s obvious to us when a job candidate only visits our website to prepare for the interview. If they’re only going to consume a tiny amount, that’s how much they’ve told me they want it.

Seek out people in your network who know about the company. If you don’t have one, find one. The best way to cut through the noise is to get someone to call on your behalf. And never take the introduction for granted because you’re risking the reputation of your reference.

“I have kicked more people out of my office because they weren’t prepared,” said Louis Cunningham, a longtime sports marketer. “There was a friend of mine whose son came to me, and I guess he thought that because of my relationship with his father that he was going to get it easy, and I probably lit into him the hardest because he took advantage of his father’s relationship with me.”

Thank-you notes

Write a note to every person you meet. You’re elevating yourself. You’re differentiating. Make them remember you. If you’re under 35, you’ve grown up in a paperless culture, but you still need to follow your mom’s rule about thank-you notes. If you send me an email three minutes after our interview, I know you sent it in the parking lot, which doesn’t take any effort. I open up every handwritten note I receive; I unfortunately can’t say that about emails.

The bad news if you’re a new graduate without a job? You’re standing on the starting line of the Ironman Triathlon. The good news? If you put in the work to get the work, you’re about to embark on a rewarding career that will bring so many memories that you’ll forget half of them.

Any job search includes challenges and frustrations and discouraging times, but even on the bad days, make the choice to do something: volunteer, write two more letters and make two more phone calls.

Remember the advice from Cuban, but find inspiration in the words of author Mary Anne Radmacher: “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’”

Mike Boykin is executive vice president of sports marketing at GMR Marketing. Follow him on Twitter @Mike_Boykin.

As always, please feel free to chat us up on Facebook and Twitter. And have a Happy Mother’s Day!

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun highlighted the ESPN Wisconsin Sports Awards. Rodgers took home Professional Athlete of the Year.  Rodgers was nominated alongside Braun, former Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder and golfer Steve Stricker. Along with the night’s main honor, Rodgers also received the award for Player of the Year and represented the Packers for Team of the Year.

There were several sports stars and notable figures who also crossed the red carpet in to the Wisconsin Club Thursday night: Rodgers, Braun, Ron Roenicke, Doug Melvin, John Hammond, Rob Jeter, AJ Hawk, Jarrett Bush, Barry Alvarez, Andy North, Pat Richter, Ahman Green, Mark Chmura, and Ron Dayne to name a few.

GMR produced the entire show from beginning to end, including creating a production and stage concept, stage set-up and tear-down, audio, visual, lightning, on-site tech support, and entire run of show.

For a complete list of nominees and winners, please visit espnmilwaukee.com or the Wisconsin Sports Awards Facebook page.

The award is presented annually to a graduate of the SAFM program that has positively impacted the sports industry and the lives of others around them.  Fellow GMR’er Mike Boykin received the award in 2003, and other past notable winners include ACC commissioner John Swofford and Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall.

Allison will be presented the award this weekend (May 10-12) during the annual Ohio University SAFM Symposium in Athens, OH. Along with a variety of events held for the alumni and current students, the weekend concludes with a keynote speech from the honoree.

During her tenure with GMR, among her many accomplishments Allison has been instrumental in the growth of our soccer practice and the successful win and management of the BP Olympic account.

Executive Director of the Center for Sports Administration, Jim Kahler (’81), said, “Allison truly represents what the Charles R. Higgins Award means to Ohio University Sports Administration. She has made the Ohio family proud through her accomplishments and her willingness to give back through the years.”

Upon hearing she was the 2012 recipient, Allison said, “I am humbled to accept the Distinguished Alumnus award. The Sports Administration program has meant so much to me throughout my life and career. I’m honored to be included with the names of the past winners, all of whom have made an impact on our industry.”

On behalf of her 600+ GMR teammates worldwide, we would like to congratulate Allison on this distinguished award. As such, we created a video to thank her for her hard work and contribution to our agency.

Congratulations to Allison Kelly on being named OU Distinguished Alumnus from GMR Marketing on Vimeo.

Bruce Springsteen gave the keynote address at the 2012 SXSW Festival. You can read all 12 pages of the transcript on the Internet. But that’s a lot of pages. These sketchnotes drawn by GMR’s Tim Reynolds’ helps illustrate Bruce’s ideas of harnessing the power of creativity.

The Boss said pop music is divided along a thousand different genres, that there’s no unified theory in music. There were ten thousand bands at SXSW 2012, but when Bruce started, there weren’t even that many guitars to go around.

The real change in music began when pop became a cultural movement, a social movement even. But even with the various genres, it all comes back to Rock and Roll.

Elvis is probably the last thing we would all agree on. There’s no unified theory, only the power of creativity and the purity of human expression.

Watch below: what do you think about the creativity in music lately?

Brands should pay special attention to the diagram at lower right: our survey found that festival attendees use social media to follow sponsors almost equally  to the bands they came to hear.

[CLICK TO ENLARGE]

Stay up to date on this and other music trends here on our blog, or by following us on Twitter: @GMRmusic and @GMRmarketing.

And a happy music festival season to you all!

Print, TV, and radio ads debuted nationally supported by Supercuts’ first-ever Artist Ambassador Program. The Ambassador program is a social marketing network that relies on an online community of local and regional bands who will communicate brand messaging to a network of over 4 million loyal fans. In addition, the program is integrated into media partnerships with iHeart Radio, ESPN X Games and a promotion with Live Nation.

GMR conceptualized & developed this program as well as played a significant role in securing featured artists, developing the Ambassador network, creating the music discovery website and negotiating the Live Nation Concert Cash promotion.

Each Rock The Cut commercial spot showcases a Supercuts stylist with featured bands and musicians. Among the featured artists are Vintage Trouble, DJ Ken Loi, Laura Bell Bundy, and Gold Motel. Candid salon interviews, live concert footage, rehearsals and photo-shoots provide a stage for the musical artists to share their pre-show rituals. The spots reveal that a good hairstyle is right in tune with stylish digs, sound-check and everything in between when it comes to gearing up for a show.

Be sure to check out all of the “Rock The Cut” music content including free music downloads, commercial spots, and behind the scenes footage available here: http://bit.ly/GMRRockTheCut

By: Barry Wilner

Hard tackles and long touchdowns aren’t all that rock NFL stadiums: the in-stadium atmosphere includes enough music to substitute a concert for the actual game.

Though traditional stadium songs are well-loved and recognised, most people don’t realise that they are also an expense for teams, who do not own the rights to them. Teams pay a public performance license to use music in their stadium- at a typical cost of around $30,000 a year- in addition to separate licenses if they want to use the same songs they affiliate with their team on gameday elsewhere in their marketing.

However Banshee Music, a division of GMR Marketing in Wisconsin, has been offering sports teams an alternative option that has helped the NFL transform team anthems and touchdown songs into something that makes a little more wallet sense. Banshee has already made its name working with NFL teams, and even some college sports programmes in the U.S. to create original music that not only saves money licensing popular music but also elevates their brand identity, in part by giving leagues and their teams more control over their music.

“The songs are designed to celebrate that club and match them with an authentic artist who is a fan of the team,” says John Canaday, Banshee’s vice-president of sports marketing. “We try to do that as often as we can, localise it.”

“Once the music is created, we want it to be used in-game, heard in team broadcasts and marketed through digital and social media and online elements, and we have opened up the distribution scenario that touches sponsorship.”

Banshee Music’s tie-in with the NFL began in 2009 with the Green Bay Packers, who were seeking an original song for a new player introduction campaign dubbed “G-Force”. For more than a decade, the Packers played the Rolling Stones classic Start Me Up- as popular a sports anthem as there is- but given their new campaign, the Packers weren’t certain of it with regards to how it fit into the initiative.

Instead of searching through the thousands of already recorded- an heavily licensed- songs available, Banshee suggested creating something the Packers could own, also giving them a voice in the creative and approval process.

That song created, entitled G-Force, has lyrics specific to Green Bay and their Lambeau Field home, and the Packers have control of its use. The Packers even teamed with one of their licensees, Johnsonville Sausage, for a promotion in which fans were able to get a free download of the song by going to a local store and purchasing specially-marked packages of their product.

Banshee followed its partnership with the Packers by collaborating with three more NFL teams: the Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers.

Because of the business model Banshee Music has put into place, restrictions on the use of the songs created have been eliminated for teams, and they can use the music anytime, and through any channel they want. In all its agreements with teams, any profit made from the music created is distributed on a revenue share basis with Banshee who foots the bills for developing and recording the music.

The partnership between the Panthers and Banshee resulted in a seven-song CD featuring local musicians, something the team requested. On matchdays, the Panthers play popular hits and mix in their seven songs from the CD for fans in the club levels before the teams kick-off. They also play one or two of the songs during the game and one post-game, believing it adds to the fan experience in a unique way.

“We were blown away how fast they came back with quality stuff,” says Kyle Ritchie, the director of the Panthers’ scoreboard control room PantherVision, who adds that the franchise’s music initiative with Banshee is “driven by fan requests for what little bit of music we had- an interesting fight song- and a desire to connect with our team at tailgate parties and other events.”

The Panthers teamed with Banshee on a second project of songs for children that the club’s mascot will use during personal apperances, or that can be played at school functions. Those songs are not on a CD, but are downloadable from the internet.

The Broncos meanwhile do their player introductions to Mile High, a song originated through Banshee. The team produces video content that plays on the stadium scoreboard with the song right before the players exit the tunnel from underneath the stands.

For the Falcons, Banshee put together a piece with a local band made up of die-hard fans- Falcons On Top- which is played for each touchdown the team scores at the Georgia Dome.

Last year Banshee went one step further and directly to the NFL, seeking to create a centralised approach to open up the platform to all 32 teams and to get the music exposed across NFL- controlled digital rights, signing a multi-year deal described as a “music-branding partnership”.

Under the deal, Banshee has, and is in the process of, creating new, proprietary music for teams across the league that can be used by any of the league’s teams during games and in their own media, be it through highlights packages or online marketing.

“[The deal] ties music directly back to the game,” says Tracy Perlman, the NFL’s vice-president of entertainment marketing and promotions. “It gives us a national platform to expose the in-stadium experience to all fans and heightens the awareness of the local teams on a national level. It also provides an outlet for us to directly connect to the music industry through artist and label relationships and the partnered creation of music.”

Among the artists to have recorded football songs for Banshee are Darius Rucker, Jordin Sparks, Hinder, Chickenfoot and James Durbin- in addition to dozens of local bands, singers, and musicians who have submitted material to NFL teams or to Canday’s agency.

The artists are just as eager as the NFL to collaborate, which is a big nod to the dynamic power of the league’s audience; the NFL is becoming an increasingly important platform for musicians to get heard- and this gives these artists a new method of reaching the masses that they’re missing elsewhere.

“Any opportunity you get to take your brand and music to the masses, you jump all over it,” says Chief Zaruk of the band Hinder, which has played concerts for the Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens. “We are a straight ahead rock ‘n’ roll band and we feel that our music appeals to the demographic of football fans. No matter what age of the crowd, we think that our music works with football fans.

“Also it can only help as our music gets to reach new fans and a mass audience that we would not normally be able to tap into.”

A cottage industry might also be in the making: with producers, engineers and mixers on staff, Banshee Music can take a demo record submitted by a group and, as Canady puts it, “bring it to life”.

“We have artists coming to us all the time,” he says. “Obviously, artists have been going to teams and the league often with music, and now the teams and league are referring them to us to do some screening and manage that process.”

Expansion to other sports isn’t far off- Banshee already has deals with major college sports programmes at Michigan, Ohio State, Florida, Texas, and Louisiana State.

“There’s always going to be applications because music always is such a part of sport and the fans love their teams and the sport so much,” says Canaday.

“We’re open to taking this model and applying it to other platforms, but let’s build a model that works and we know we can take from the NFL and apply it elsewhere.”

Get more info on SportsBusiness International magazine here.

Reese’s

Game play is Friday, March 30, 2012 at the Superdome in New Orleans with tip-off at 4:30pm CST.

This is the fourth year the Reese’s brand will sponsor the Division I game.  The Reese’s College All-Star Game is a free event for fans that showcases the best senior collegiate student athletes in the country.

For fans that are unable to attend Friday’s game, the Reese’s College All-Star Game will be televised on truTV on Saturday, March 31, 2012 at 1:00pm CST with an additional re-air on TNT on Thursday, April 5, 2012.  For more information on the Reese’s College All-Star Game, visit www.reeses.com/marchmadness.