Fans! You are our main reward! Why was all this invented, without you everything would be boring, sad and meaningless! Especially when there are many of you.
So, the main thing has been said – now let’s look at it in more detail.
Several hundred of the most dedicated took part in the national championship in Malinovka. Malinovka is a bit far away, and all the hotels and houses for rent are occupied by athletes, coaches and power men from the channel. However, this did not stop the most active ski enthusiasts. There are no stands at the stadium, but the fans stretch out along the track, “Scandinavian style” – and it’s wonderful. It is extremely pleasant to run in a hallway bustling with people cheering you on and calling your name. I admit it’s cooler than winning in a place where there are ten spectators, including the local favorite, Coach the dog.
People along the road in Malinovka can safely be called “active fans”. In gratitude, none of us skiers left until all the autographs were signed and all the selfies taken. By the way: who is the most popular among fans? That’s right, Dmitry Guberniev, I still have to work and work to reach the size of the crowd in Malinovka who adore him!
But here’s a question that interests me regularly: what is the connection between us and the fans? Not spiritual, through an autograph and a selfie, but objective, material.
The UFC lives on PPV, pay-per-view. Football clubs – due to income from television rights, sales of paraphernalia and the ambitions of their owners. It is difficult to influence the ambitions of billionaires, but in all other respects spectators and fans can influence the bosses of this sport and the athletes themselves. In football or hockey, you can buy a T-shirt, sweatshirt or can of caviar with the symbols of a particular club or athlete.
Like in the theater. Boring show? No one will buy tickets and the buffet sandwiches won’t sell for the price of an airplane wing either.
What do we have? And the paraphernalia? Here Alexander Bolshunov and Yulia Stupak launched their own clothing brands – well done, I respect you, it’s a lot of work. But where are the articles of their brands on the shoulders and buttocks of these same fans in Malinovka? But it is the most targeted audience.
Where are the competitions in the spirit of “winning training with Savely Korostelev”? (Savely, do you know that for a certain audience you are irresistible?!) I think that if such a new idea comes to someone’s mind at the last moment, Savely could send them far away. But if you agree with him in advance and adapt to his regime, then luck may smile.
What’s the point of organizing a race with 70 people on the start line if the broadcast only shows five or six leaders – and sometimes I’m in twentieth place as a “sad surprise of the day”? The rest isn’t even for extras – extras are sometimes shown in films, but here it seems like even that wasn’t the case.
What if we instead organized races, in which ten people would be selected based on the points scored in the competitions (we call this “ruspunkts”), and five more (ten, twenty) would be selected based on the voting results fans online? Whoever is the most popular will show up. But everyone is guaranteed to be shown. This is why traffic to the FLGR website will increase!
This is getting ridiculous (no). Tatyana Sorina and Lisa Pantrina are sponsored by one ski manufacturer, Anastasia Sedova and I by another, Bolshunov by a third. But when I come to train in Lazutinka or Meshchersky, each time I am convinced that our success in competitions has no visible influence on the choice. From my impressions, people ski more with high-end skis from another company, which no one in the team owns and which has completely left Russia. And so these skis end up in our country through incomprehensible channels. Or is this just something I don’t understand?
So popularity doesn’t translate into sales? Maybe it makes sense to put me and Pekletsova at the store checkout – “a hundredth ski buyer, like us, has a surprise”? Okay, we’ll sort out the sponsors ourselves, but I think you already understand that the word “marketing” hasn’t been mentioned in ski racing at all.
I come back to the fans.
Unfortunately or fortunately, the noise on social networks is practically the only way for them to express their attitude to what is happening today in our sport. And not just with us – with almost everyone.
Since Alexander Bolshunov decided to respond to my irony on the air, many words have been written about this “on various Internet”. Written from the sofas, I would like to emphasize, by eminent representatives of the tribe of “experts on all issues”. A huge thank you to them!
“More noise, louder and different” has been my motto since my early years. Every comment left by a real person, not a bot, helps promote the news. That is why many of those who find it difficult to recognize Bolshunov and have never heard of me suddenly saw a story about “our quarrel” in their news feeds. This is how the algorithms of all social networks work. So to everyone who cares, thank you. Not only write yourself, but also get your friends and neighbors involved! The content does not matter, the main thing is to do it more often, more actively! Now is your only chance to leave a mark – don’t waste your time!
“Illness” in general should be positively material. Have you offended your idol? And you have just ordered a T-shirt with his name on the Marketplace! Lost? Blouse! Won? Two!
Writing nasty things on the Internet won’t help your idol!
Do you really want to influence processes? Unite, create clubs, choose an asset, support “yours” through action.
Otherwise, it’s all a waste of time.
The Alfa-Bank Russian Championship will be held at the Malinovka ski center in the Arkhangelsk region from March 16 to 24. Watch live broadcasts on and Match! Arena”, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
