No more surprises

FEATURE | PARALYMPICS

Mateusz Michalski (right) of Poland wins gold in the men’s T12 200 metres at London 2012, where new commercial records of almost every kind were set

No more surprises Its brand may have been given new vigour after its summer in one of the world’s sports marketing hubs, but as Alexis Schäfer, the International Paralympic Committee’s commercial chief, points out London 2012 was by no means the first successful Paralympic Games. It was simply another positive step towards commercial and sporting maturity for the event.

By David Cushnan

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t was the summer when the Paralympic Games came of age. Watched by unprecedented television audiences, not to mention an adoring home crowd desperate to soak up every second of Olympic spirit, Paralympians such as Oscar Pistorius on the track, Esther Vergeer on the tennis court and Natalie du Toit in the pool gave stirring performances and became household names.

That, as the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) will tell you, was Beijing 2008.

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Four years on, the IPC is basking in the glory of another, perhaps even more successful Paralympic Games, this time in London.

Alexis Schäfer, the IPC’s commercial and marketing director, calls London 2012 “phenomenal” and with good reason: ticket sales of 2.7 million resulted in Locog, London’s local organising committee, exceeding its ticket revenue target by UK£10 million to reach UK£45 million; there were pleasing early television figures, including increases in audiences across the five major European

territories and significant increases in coverage in key future markets such as Russia; and in the host territory domestic broadcaster Channel 4 delivered near-blanket coverage, which was complemented by extensive newspaper coverage – front and back pages – throughout the Games. By almost any measure, London’s Paralympics were a triumph, prompting IPC chairman Sir Philip Craven to proclaim them “the greatest Paralympic Games ever” during a rousing closing ceremony speech.

But if the IPC was evidently – and

rightly – delighted by this year’s Paralympics, Schäfer is keen to remind those who have busied themselves since describing the London Games as a huge leap forward for the Paralympic movement, as well as the opening of a new commercial chapter for Paralympic sport, that Beijing wasn’t bad either. “People went away from Beijing saying that they didn’t believe London could do [as well as] that,” he says, “so I think we have to remind ourselves that with Beijing we already had a very successful Games.”

Indeed, a quick glance back through the history books shows that the Beijing 2008 Games recorded a worldwide audience of some 3.8 billion people across 38 monitored countries, with some 1,800 hours broadcast by 64 rightsholding broadcasters. Comparative cumulative figures for London are not yet available, with the IPC currently in the process of extrapolating and interpreting the mountain of data recorded over the summer.

What is certain, however, is that the IPC, from its headquarters in the German city of Bonn, is now going about its business under a deeper scrutiny than ever before, courtesy of unparalleled interest from the sports industry at large in the commercial development of Paralympic sport. “The difference,” Schäfer points out, “with the sports marketing industry is that a lot of people working for sponsors, working for agencies, working in the sports marketing industry have been a much closer part of London than they were Beijing.

“I always say in Beijing, before the Paralympics happened, people left town.

This time they stayed in town, saw Channel 4, saw people in the venues.

In Beijing CCTV broadcast the Games almost 24 hours [a day], the stadiums were full, we had great performances but the difference is now there are more people that can tell the story about the Paralympics – and I think that is going to make a big difference going forward.”

Sitting down with Schäfer, the man responsible for what happens next commercially at the IPC, just six weeks after the Paralympics ended in London with that Coldplay-themed closing ceremony, it is clear his mind is whirring

“Now there are more people that can tell the story about the Paralympics – and I think that is going to make a big difference.” with possibilities. The 50-strong IPC is itself still in debriefing mode, an extensive task after any Games but one that on this occasion could have real significance for the future of the Paralympic movement as the organisation looks to capitalise on the momentum generated by London.

Already, though, Schäfer and his small team are laying the groundwork for Rio’s Paralympics in four years time, as well as beginning final preparations for the Sochi winter version in 2014.

Just hours after he sits down for this interview at the end of a busy day at the Sportel television rights market in Monaco, the tender process for the UK rights for the next two Games will close with competitive bids submitted by 2012 broadcaster Channel 4 and the previous home of the Games on British television, the BBC. That the tender package allowed bidding for both the Sochi 2014 Paralympics and Rio 2016, however, is a step forward in itself; it is the first time the IPC has bundled the rights to multiple Games. “It’s one of the strategies that we are already looking into to give the broadcasters continuity, so they know they’re going to be the host broadcaster years in advance,” Schäfer says, citing Channel 4’s impressive coverage of Paralympic sport in the years preceding London 2012 as evidence of how a broadcaster can build the narrative, educate an audience and introduce the characters of each discipline in advance.

“Where that is leading us now is that we are looking ahead to the next four years to work with the foundation that we have and to work with our partners now to actually maximise the impact going to Sochi and Rio,” Schäfer explains. “And between those Games look at more events – the athletics world championships, swimming world championships, the alpine skiing world championships and test events for Sochi that are coming up in the next year – to

work on the gaps between Paralympic Games and give the athletes a more continuous platform, to give broadcasters a better story to tell and to make it easier to follow the stories of the athletes. That is really what is grabbing the attention and what captured the imagination of a lot of people.”

Eloquent stars of Paralympic sport, most notably of course Pistorius, were easy to find in London, many with their own compelling tales. Schäfer admits the IPC “need faces, need ambassadors” and says the organisation itself still has a critical role to play in establishing Paralympic sport. “Our job is to make it easier for people to access information about the Paralympic Games and then once people seek it I think they understand they are stepping into a rich pool of opportunities and content.

It’s the same for sponsors once they understand and get their heads around what we can deliver.”

The IPC currently has four worldwide partners: Visa, Samsung, Atos and specialist equipment manufacturer Otto Bock. Each began its involvement in Paralympic sport at a national level and was subsequently scaled up by the IPC. There is also one international partner, Allianz. “They are pretty substantial companies,” Schäfer says as he considers where the Paralympics might go next in terms of sponsorship. “Once we have the opportunity to work with a company then we are pretty successful at delivering value for them. In that sense we have proved we can work with fairly sophisticated sponsors and help them achieve their goals.”

Schäfer explains that worldwide Olympic partners will always be a focus for the IPC as a result of the arrangement, renewed in May until 2020, that ties the Olympic Games to the Paralympics and, amongst other elements, confirms that both will be staged in the same city.

“In our agreement with the IOC

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FEATURE | PARALYMPICS

IPC broadcast challenge 1: the tricky US market

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fter its blanket coverage of the Olympic Games, there was general bemusement at US broadcaster NBC’s decision to broadcast just four hourlong Paralympic highlights programmes on its cable service and, a week after the end of the Games, a 90-minute highlights package on the network itself. The broadcaster, which missed the opportunity to cover 98 US medals including 31 golds, received criticism aplenty, not least from the IPC. At a few weeks distance, Alexis Schäfer offers his take on NBC’s stance and the IPC’s future strategy in a key market. “There is no question that the USA is extremely important,” he says.

“Full stop. There’s no question that we as a rights holder want to have the deepest and broadest coverage that we

can achieve for the event. When you look at where we’ve been in the USA before the London Games, in Beijing and even before that in Athens, then it is true that the coverage was better than before. Now, are we happy with where we are in the United States at the moment? No. We believe we have fantastic athletes, with fantastic stories to tell. Paralympic sport has shown how it can capture the imagination of the audience and that’s also what we would like to drive into the US market.”

The US broadcast rights for this year’s Paralympics were sold to the United States Olympic Committee, which acted as an agent and contracted NBC. Moving forward, Schäfer says the IPC will consult all its US stakeholders before deciding on a broadcast model in the country for future Games but

The IPC’s commercial model hints that one path forward might be to get Paralympic corporate partners to help fund coverage. “There’s outstanding commercial support for the Paralympic team now in the US,” he says. “I think it’s the time to sit down, look at Rio and work out a plan and then to see with whom we can work best on that plan. If there is a plan I’m sure there is a way to find corporate backing for such a plan and if there’s a plan to build an audience and work together with the US Olympic Committee, with the athletes, with the IPC, the organising committee and a rights holder in the US, then I’m sure there is the possibility to build an audience around Paralympic sport. If we find the right model there together with some dedicated partners we will also be successful in the United States.”

IPC broadcast challenge 2: the live broadcast quandary

There was no live television coverage of Alex Zanardi’s handcycling golds at Brands Hatch

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ne drawback of the remarkable success of the Paralympic Games in London, in the host nation at least, was the lack of live coverage provided to broadcasters of certain sports or events. Former racing driver Alex Zanardi’s handcycling gold

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medals and home hero David Weir’s triumphant T54 marathon victory were two headline-making events which, for economic reasons, were not supplied to broadcasters as they happened. On Channel 4, catering for a Games-hungry public in the UK, audience demand at times outstripped supply. “Olympic Broadcasting Services [OBS] was the host broadcaster that was contracted by the organising committee but they delivered what the organising committee told them to deliver,” explains Alexis Schäfer, “so when you criticise somebody for a lack of coverage it’s a conversation that you have to take on with the organising committee and not with OBS.” Alexis Schäfer confirms that every event is covered live at the winter Paralympic Games, but the larger summer Games present more of a challenge. The IPC is already looking towards Rio. “Of course the marathon would look fantastic in Rio, it would have looked fantastic in London but those events for which we were criticised

are also very expensive to produce,” he says. “We offer a very high-quality product already to the broadcasters and we need to have a conversation with them about what they’re willing to contribute to the Paralympic Games budget in terms of a rights fee and then step by step to increase the coverage. It is our desire, our ambition to have full, live coverage of the Paralympic Games, but sometimes the financial imperatives ask you to make decisions.

“We look very carefully, we talked to a number of broadcasters and in London there was already enhanced coverage of athletics. We made this happen together with the organising committee, so there we increase the bar.

We need to look at how many takers we have for that type of coverage, how much money it is and where’s the best place to maximise the usage. The more broadcasters we have asking for that kind of coverage, the stronger the business case is going to be for us to say, ‘It’s a worthwhile investment.’”

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ccording to the organisation’s 2011 annual report, the last edition available, the Paralympic Games every two years provide approximately 50 per cent of the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) total revenues.

Yet the IPC’s current financial model for the Paralympics sees the organisation pass all Gamesrelated marketing rights to the local organising committee in return for a fixed rights fee. “You would love to compare it to the International Olympic Committee,” Alexis Schäfer says of the Paralympic model, “but that is something that doesn’t really

work. We pass on the domestic rights, the ticketing rights and also the international broadcasting rights to the organising committee.

They commercialise and receive all the revenue to support the Paralympic Games.”

In its own strategic action plan, covering the 2011 to 2014 period, the IPC admits that ‘while this arrangement has been instrumental in providing revenue stability, at the same time it limits the IPC’s ability to grow further revenues from the Paralympic Games in the short to medium term’.

The success of London 2012 would appear to give Schäfer and the IPC something of a platform

to generate additional revenues through non-Games Paralympic sport events. As well as the 171 National Paralympic Committees (NPC), the IPC’s membership also acts as the international federation for nine Paralympic sports – athletics, alpine skiing and swimming amongst them.

Building new commercial platforms around world championships in each is the next step. ‘The IPC runs a range of events outside the Paralympic Games,’ states the IPC action plan. ‘Revenues from these events are small, but in the longer term there is the potential for them to provide some opportunity for revenue growth as they increase in standard and profile.’

“It’s a tremendous moment. It’s a very exciting time for all of us. You put a lot of work in and now you’re getting a lot of response.” we have to protect the TOP sponsor categories,” Schäfer says, “so that means no organising committee, no national Paralympic committee in the IPC in relation to the Paralympic Games can go to a competitor. Therefore it is important for us to work with those companies to get them involved in the Paralympic Games.”

London was the first summer Paralympics where all 11 TOP partners activated Paralympic sponsorship rights, following a trend started at the Vancouver 2010 winter Games. “That’s first of all revenue for the organising committee because those companies separately have to go into domestic agreements with the organising committee,” says Schäfer, “but for us it is very important to leverage the promotional benefit from all those partners. We cannot go to anyone else anyway, but they are fantastic companies to work with and if you can work with them in partnership and build a trusting, mutually beneficial relationship we believe that both for the TOP sponsor and the Paralympic movement there is

a lot to gain there.” At a domestic level, meanwhile, Schäfer reports that “the majority” of Sochi 2014 partners have already bought into the winter Paralympic Games in two years’ time.

One major point of difference between the IOC and the IPC is the latter’s more relaxed stance on in-venue branding.

Schäfer believes it is “of growing importance to be able to give that type of comfort to a sponsor” but that the IPC tries to do it in a “decent way”. He adds: “We don’t want to over-brand the event but at the same time we want to give partners meaningful and good recognition. In Sochi we will see some innovations in that regard, to give fewer partners a little bit more, but still manage it well with the look of the Games. That is the direction we are going. It’s going to continue to be there.”

And with that Schäfer is off into the hustle and bustle of more meetings with broadcasters at Sportel. It is his daily diet now and perhaps broadly indicative of the way the Paralympic Games is,

Alexis Schäfer, the IPC commercial director

slowly but surely, being developed as a commercial platform, helped of course by the events of London’s golden summer.

“It’s a tremendous moment,” he says as he departs. “It’s a very exciting time for all of us. You put a lot of work in and now you’re getting a lot of response.

It’s fantastic that we can now deliver a fantastic platform for the athletes. We have delivered now, for a number of Games editions, successful Games.

“I think there are no more surprises about the Paralympic Games.”

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