Lord of the Rings
WWF becomes wrestling’s champeen with WCW purchase.
The Battle Royale is over.
The bi-polar world of professional wrestling united in March when Stamford, CT-based World Wrestling Federation Entertainment bought ailing rival World Championship Wrestling, Atlanta. Although terms of the deal were not disclosed, analysts estimated the price tag to be a bargain-basement $10 million to $20 million.
The WWF bought the 30-year-old WCW operation from AOL Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting System arm just days before the money-losing wrestling operation was set to shut down. The WCW franchise lost about $80 million in 2000.
“This acquisition is the perfect creative and business catalyst for our company,” ceo Linda McMahon said at a press conference. “The incendiary mix of World Wrestling Federation and WCW personalities potentially creates intriguing story lines that will attract a larger fan base for the benefit of our advertisers and business partners.” WWF declined to comment on which WCW personalities it will retain.
The acquisition gives WWF control of WCW’s library and its property rights portfolio. The WCW will retain its name and its status as a WWF “rival.” At press time, the WWF was working out numerous details on such issues as licensing rights, cross-over events, and sponsorships. But it didn’t wait long to unite the properties. A cross-over broadcast aired simultaneously on TNT and WWF network partner TNN just days after the deal was announced, and the “plot” began: WCW was actually acquired by Shane McMahon, bitterly estranged and vengeful son of WWF chairman Vince McMahon.
While most of the WCW wrestlers should stay employed, the organization’s marketing department could get lighter as the WWF takes over for unified branding initiatives.
“For sponsors, the opportunity is definitely in the short term,” says Peter Stern, president of New York City-based sports marketing agency Strategic Sports Group. “The deal has created a spike in interest. Sponsors should look to new leveraging strategies.”
The two organizations have been fierce competitors since the 1980s, when the rise of TBS and TNT as “superstations” turned the WCW from regional programming to national entity. Competition between the two helped fuel the sport’s huge surge in popularity in the ‘90s. Upstart WCW programming took the ratings lead early in the decade, but was only able to hold onto it for a few years.
The rivalry ultimately led to a game of one-upmanship in which the WWF pushed the envelope on sex and violence — thereby increasing its ratings but alienating societal watchdogs as well as some sponsors. WCW, meanwhile, sought to boost the entertainment level while maintaining a family atmosphere, and used that distinction when negotiating with potential sponsors.
It’s all in the family now.
BEER AND CHEESECAKE
Playboy begins a promo push.
Playboy is getting Wicked. OK, perhaps ‘more wicked’ is a better phrase.
The New York City-based gentleman’s magazine this month lends the talents of its latest centerfold to Pete’s Wicked Brews, San Antonio, TX, which will run a summer sweepstakes offering the grand-prize winner a date with Christa Nicole, a.k.a Miss May 2001.
Score a Wicked Summer Fling will send the winner and a friend on a two-day trip to the Major League Baseball city of their choice for a day at the ballpark and a night hanging out with Nicole. The sweeps kicked off in retail stores April 1 and runs through May 31. P-O-P (with tearpads) supports.
A full-page ad in the May issue of Playboy, radio and TV spots, and ads on both brands’ Web sites direct consumers to retail locations to enter the promotion. The Marketing Continuum, Dallas, handles.
Playboy is making a concerted effort to recruit and retain advertisers by “leveraging our many assets beyond the printed page,” says president and publisher Michael Carr. That means promotions utilizing anything from Playmates (there are now 556 of them) to the Playboy Mansion and and Hugh Hefner himself.
