Adapting Without Caving in

What B2B marketers can learn from wrestling’s reinstatement to Olympics.

With Syria, 9/11 and the new Apple iPhone introduction dominating headlines this week, you may have missed another important story that’s been stirring international controversy since February. The sport of wrestling—real, unscripted, grappling by remarkably fit men and women—overcame a death sentence by the International Olympic Committee this winter and was reinstated (video). That rarely happens.

This means wrestling, a sport which dates back to the ancient Olympics over 3,000 years ago, is back on the Summer Olympic program, at least through 2024. Even if you don’t know a half-nelson from a headlock, there are some valuable lessons here for any marketer who thinks their brand and products are so entrenched in the marketplace that they will never be challenged or lose relevancy.

Big time wakeup call

In February, wrestling, which has appeared in all the modern Games dating back to Athens in 1896, was axed from the 2020 program after the IOC executive board made an assessment of the performance of all 26 sports in the 2012 London Olympics. Just like that. Cut. After 3,000 years.

Our comment at the time, “IOC Grappling with Irate Customer, Member Base” was the most widely read and circulated post in the six year history of this weekly blog. We’re big sports fans here, but we rarely cover athletics in this forum unless there’s a business angle.

Sucking it up

Rather than throw in the white towel (wrestlers rarely do), or publicly criticize the IOC for its short-sightedness, the world wrestling community sprang into action via social media, traditional media and face-to-face outreach. For once, countries as diverse as the U.S., Russia and Iran found some common ground (some would say common enemy). The global grappling community flooded the IOC website and amassed a list of petitions, signatures and endorsements on its behalf from 35 of the 50 U.S. governors and from leaders from over 100 countries. Outdoor competitions and exhibitions were held in major cities around the globe to showcase the sport to average, everyday citizens.

Rather than defend its legacy status as one of the original Olympic sports, wrestling took its demotion as a “wakeup call.” In short, it was time to modernize the sport and make it easier for the average Olympic viewer to understand, with more offense, less stalling, more female competitors and shorter time periods. All while preserving the sports’ basic integrity.

Even former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld got into the act. Rumsfeld, a former Princeton grappler, wrote an open letter to the IOC and an emotional op-ed piece for the Washington Post and other media outlets. “Wrestling is a universal sport that anyone can participate in regardless of geography, weather, race, gender, or economic background,” Rumsfeld wrote in February. “All that is needed is a flat surface, two competitors and a referee.”

“This crisis gave us the strength to change and we finally found we can change," observed Nenad Lalovic, new head of the international wrestling federation (FILA).

“I would like to offer my congratulations to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles,” said IOC President Jacques Rogge. “Wrestling has shown great passion and resilience in the last few months. They have taken a number of steps to modernize and improve their sport, including the addition of more women and athletes in decision-making positions; rule changes to make the sport more exciting and easy to understand; and an increase in the number of women’s competitions.”

Conclusion

Every once in a while a company, group or leader gets knocked from atop its long-held pedestal, accepts its new reality without making excuses, and finds ways to change and adapt to a new environment without sacrificing its core values. As a sports entertainment product, Olympic-style wrestling—real, unscripted, grappling—is not perfect and still has a lot of work to do. But the discipline, focus and resilience that so many of the sport’s leaders learned as young athletes, will help them find the path of least resistance through the new environment of TV- and mobile-friendly Olympic competition/entertainment. Don’t be afraid to change, or assume you’ll never have to. But when you do make changes, explore all viable options carefully and never stray from your core values.

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Tags: Olympic wrestling, Jaques Rogge, IOC, FILA, Donald Rumsfeld, Nenad Lalovic, US Iran Russia agree

IOC Grappling with Irate Customer, Membership Base

What B2B marketers can learn from the Olympic Committee’s hasty decision to drop wrestling and USA Wrestling’s lighting response

To borrow a phrase from the irascible tennis star and TV commentator, John McEnroe: “You CANNOT be serious!” 

That’s generally been the reaction of the worldwide wrestling community that was blindsided last week by the International Olympic Committee’s secret decision to drop wrestling from the Olympic Games. Not skeet-shooting, rhythmic gymnastics, yachting, or pentathlon—wrestling. In response, A Who’s Who of wrestling supporters have publicly denounced the IOC’s covert decision, including former Secretary of State, Donald Rumseld, best-selling novelist John Irving, NFL all-star receiver, Roddy White and  tidal wave of athletes, fans, coaches and Olympic enthusiasts on social media.
It’s not easy to get the U.S., Russia and Iran aligned against you on anything, but that’s a rare feat that the IOC has accomplished from its cozy headquarters in Lausanne Switzerland, one of the few locales in the world in which wrestling does not have a stronghold. Maybe the IOC geniuses will drop T'aekwondo too and get nuclear-aspiring North Korea into their hate circle as well. 

It's been over a week since the IOC announcement and things haven't simmered down. Yesterday, 10-time world champion, Valentin Yordanov, who won gold for Bulgaria at the 1996 Games, returned his medal in protest of the IOC decision.  

As novelist John Irving noted last week in a New York Times editorial, “Just two of the [IOCs] board’s members come from countries where wrestling is an actively promoted sport. Yet 180 countries wrestle, and only 53 engage in the modern pentathlon. Wrestlers from 71 countries went to London last summer; before they could compete, they had to win some of the toughest qualifying tournaments in the world.”

Demise of the modern Olympic movement?

Around 400 A.D., the original Olympics had become so corrupt it had to be abolished. It took almost 1,500 years for the “modern” Olympics to return, but we may be on the cusp of its second great hiatus.

Ironically, the IOC’s decision to disqualify wrestling was made on the birthday of Abraham Lincoln (a great wrestler in his own day) and during a time of year when youth, high school and college championships are being hotly contested in the U.S. Sports Illustrated notes that Lincoln was not our only wrestling president. Other grapplers who made it to the White House include George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, who supposedly "mastered a wicked move called the Flying Marc that savagely flipped an opponent to the ground." Ouch.

Lessons for B2B marketers

So, even if you don’t know a headlock from a half nelson, there are some valuable lessons for B2B marketers in this sad tale of public deceit and brand erosion.

We’re not going to deconstruct the less mainstream sports that wrestling lost out to—they each have their own merits, with dedicated athletes and pockets of loyal followers. But wrestling has been around since Day One of the recorded history of athletic competition. Whether or not you like (or understand) the sport, it has ubiquitous global participation and has fought the IOC’s attempts to change its rules for the X-games style TV audience. Dropping wrestling from the Summer Games makes about as much sense as dropping skiing or skating from the Winter Games.

The lesson for B2B marketers is that you’ve got to do your homework before making any bold product portfolio additions (or deletions) and you’ve got to understand your product’s core attributes and why they appeal to your customer base. Here are just a few:

1. Know what you’re up against. "This is a process of renewing and renovating the program for the Olympics,” beleaguered IOC Spokesman Mark Adams said. “In the view of the executive board, this was the best program for the Olympic Games in 2020. It’s not a case of what’s wrong with wrestling; it is what’s right with the 25 core sports.” Actually Marc, it’s not about what’s right—it’s about who’s kissing your butt the most. Not something most wrestlers are fond of doing.

2. Overcoming adversity. Wrestling is one of the toughest mainstream sports you can do, mentally, physically and emotionally. Wrestlers live for pain, sacrifice and discipline. Last week, Olympic gold medalists Rulan Gardner and Jordan Burroughs publicly thanked wrestling for pulling them out of poverty and for helping them overcome life-threatening injuries. Taking on elitist bureaucrats from Western Europe will be nothing.

3. Proud History: As Rumsfeld points out in his article, wrestling's Olympic legacy is unmatched. It is one of the oldest contact sports and was an important part of the first Olympic Games, which historians date to 776 BC. The first modern Olympics, in 1896, included wrestling as a marquee event. The sport has missed only one Olympics since then, in 1900. For those counting, that is 26 straight Games over a span of 112 years.

4. Global appeal: Wrestling is a universal sport. More than 170 nations from all over the globe have competed. In London, over 70 countries competed and 29 won medals. It’s not like the sport is dominated by two or three rich countries. Athletes from a great number of nations have won medals -- countries as diverse as Iran, South Korea, Sweden, Cuba and Hungary. More countries have been represented on the winners' podium for wrestling than for nearly any other sport. Globally, the TV audience for wrestling averages 23 million viewers, noted Irving. The modern pentathlon—one sport deemed more Olympic worthy-- averages 12.5 million.
5. Accessibility: To compete, all that is needed is an opponent and a flat surface. Anyone can participate, regardless of geography, weather, race, gender, culture or economic background. It doesn't require a golf course, a swimming pool or a horse.

6. Brand tie in. “Wrestling uniquely encapsulates the Olympic spirit, even though it harkens back to older and more martial virtues, rather than the arts festival and Kumbaya session that some may prefer the modern Games to be,” argued Rumsfeld. Few other sports are so directly aggressive: It is you vs. one other person, he said. “There is nothing to hide behind; there are no time-outs. It is all up to you. Yet, precisely because of those conditions, few other sports create such remarkable camaraderie among their participants.”

7. Social Networking Muscle: In response to the Olympic committee's decision, members of the international wrestling community have been reaching out to one another. They are finding common purpose to create a compelling argument for readmission. Within seven hours of the announcement the Facebook pages Keep Wrestling in the Olympics and Save Olympic Wrestling had more than 65,000 likes (and that number doubled to 130,000 by the next morning) and thousands tweeted using the #SaveOlympicWrestling hashtag.

As blogger Jim Licko asked the day after the decision; “Did the IOC solicit any feedback or conduct any kind of formal audience research before making their decision? If so, they may have done a poor job. Meanwhile, five hours after the announcement, USA Wrestling had developed message points and posted them publicly via Twitter, “Here is a list of talking points for everyone when you are discussing the matter of the IOC vote. RT & stand united.”

8. Sportsmanship: Wrestling does not have a true professional circuit and its athletes have rarely been tainted by use of performance enhancing drugs, contract holdouts when they’re already making millions, crass commercialism or violent, criminal acts in their private lives. Said Rumsfeld, “My firsthand experience gives me a greater appreciation for the sport. Wrestling had a positive impact on my teammates, my opponents and me." Rumsfeld also credits wrestling with developing his self-reliance, discipline, perseverance and strategic thinking. That said, he also credits the sport for encouraginh civility, integrity and self-restraint. "These qualities certainly reflect the proud tradition of the Olympic Games, which is why I fervently hope the committee will reconsider its unfortunate decision," Rumsfeld added. 

Conclusion

To exclude wrestling from the Olympics would be devastating for the sport, for the athletes and for the Games. Over thousands of years, wrestling has spread to every continent. It is practiced in hundreds of countries and done through many different styles in many different cultures. The sport has endured war, depression, social changes and globalization. "But the Olympic panel didn't see fit to include it in the 2020 Games," said Rumsfeld. "Something is wrong with that picture."

“I feel most sad for Eastern European and Eurasian countries where wrestling is their national pastime,’’ one of my son's wrestling coaches lamented last week. “It must be devastating to their national psyche to see their heroes and countries rendered irrelevant and obsolete."

DISCLOSURE: The author is a youth wrestling coach and former high school and collegiate wrestler

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TAGS: Save Olympic Wrestling, Donald Rumsfeld, John Irving, Roddy White, Rulan Gardner, Jordan Borroughs, Abraham Lincoln, Jim Licko, Keep Wrestling in the Olympics, #SaveOlympicWrestling