Maybe they should organize a boycott or sumpthin'?
Lou Figueroa
"Hey, kids! Let's put on a show!"
Uh oh. Berhman/ABP
- Thread starter jalapus logan
- Start date
Maybe they should organize a boycott or sumpthin'?
Lou Figueroa
"Hey, kids! Let's put on a show!"
From my vantage point, it seems like the ABP made a move without having a strategic plan in place beforehand.
A well-thought-out strategic plan, one which was created by industry experts and seasoned veterans in pool that engaged in an meaningful back-and-forth, would have provided direction to achieve their ultimate goal(s). It is so easy today to engage in teleconferences which is very convenient in that members can participate in the comfort of their own home or wherever they want.
A boycott shouldn't have even been suggested until all other options were exhausted.
Instead, it's like the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, and they're punting with no clear direction or foresight as to the ultimate consequences.
Can't wait for the lightning round. :embarrassed2:
A well-thought-out strategic plan, one which was created by industry experts and seasoned veterans in pool that engaged in an meaningful back-and-forth, would have provided direction to achieve their ultimate goal(s). It is so easy today to engage in teleconferences which is very convenient in that members can participate in the comfort of their own home or wherever they want.
A boycott shouldn't have even been suggested until all other options were exhausted.
Instead, it's like the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, and they're punting with no clear direction or foresight as to the ultimate consequences.
Can't wait for the lightning round. :embarrassed2:
This is one of my big sticking points with the ABP. They don't have any leverage to make demands other than their name recognition, which isn't a very big chip to play considering only a few thousand people know who they are. They want to show up to the tournament, play, and get payed. That would be great if that was the way it worked. But the real world is different. Professional athletes do much more work than just play the game.
I saw a documentary on John Cena, a professional wrestler (I know, wrestling, not the point). It was a week in his life. It was amazing the amount of work he did to promote the WWE. He did like 3 promotional signings, showed up at a Make-A-Wish event, one day he spent 5-6 hours on the phone talking to radio stations promoting the weeks WWE event. He flew to 13 cities in 8 days, almost all in the name of promotion. Why do you think it's so popular, because it's marketed constantly.
You know who spends more marketing dollars than anyone in the world? Pepsi and Coke. Who doesn't know what Pepsi and Coke are? Yet they still spends hundreds of millions on marketing/promotion. I'm sure they do it because they like to throw money away.
In the runout radio interview, Rodney Morris said the players were going to start doing more promotions to help the game. He's been a "pro" for 20 years (minus a few in the middle but let's not get into that). What have they done in that time to promote the game, other than just show up? I know they want to be paid, but you have to build a customer base first to be viable. How can you make demands based on something you say you're going to do in the future? Especially when you've had two decades to do it and haven't yet.
Tap, tap, tap! :thumbup:
(None of that minimizes the players deserving to be paid promptly.)
I think one of the probelms is that believing Barry is becoming more and more difficult even as this moves along. A high percentage of press releases I have read from Barry have been riddled with unsubstantiated or inaccurate statements, broken promises and so it goes on. He really should pass lines of communication to someone else.
I agree with you and do believe that Barry has the interests of the game at heart. Unfortunately sometimes you are forced to take a stand and the ABP have chosen to do that here. Barry is not the only one with a deplorable record of player payments on that I would agree, but that doesn't mean the ABP's stand is wrong. They have to do what they feel is right, the same as Barry has to do what he feels is right.
Will there be a winner in this? Over the short term probably not, over the longer term maybe, is that what most people want to see, I imagine not most of us would like to see everyone being a winner. I am sad to say at this stage all I see are losers on both sides in the short term.
I agree they should be paid, but my point is they have to work together to create money to be paid with. It's hard to pay on time with money that isn't there. Professional pool is an entertainment industry. The reason pro's exist is because people are willing to pay to see them. They have forgotten that small little nugget that makes the whole equation work.
MikeM said it very well:
Yeah, its really a shame that Barry can't be like all those other promoters who have $180K laying around to guarantee their prize funds. Like the guy that runs.....the.....uh, ...well.....
Oh, wait, there aren't any promoters around like that. Do you really think it is possible in this industry to guarantee and escrow a prize fund of $180,000 prior to the event? Who has come close to doing that in America?
Oh, wait, there aren't any promoters around like that. Do you really think it is possible in this industry to guarantee and escrow a prize fund of $180,000 prior to the event? Who has come close to doing that in America?
IMO, Barry should scale back the 40K that's he's adding to the prize fund out of pocket and put the money into a escrow fund. By eliminating the $500 entry fee gift that he's giving to past US Open champions, he can save another 10K and apply that money towards the escrow fund.
Best post in this thread. If you go back 6-7 years, you will find some posts where I made the same comparisons to pro wrestling, saying that promotion is a 24/7/365 job. It fell upon deaf ears.
Can you hear me now?
In 2009 the companies with the largest advertising budgets (all channels) were the following in descending order:
Verizon
Procter&Gamble
AT&T
Johnson&Johnson
General Motors
News Corp.
Sprint Nextel
Time Warner
General Electric
Walt Disney
Janette Lee is the largest "brand" in pool American pool today by far. You know her... "yea, that asian chick. Whats her name??? Oh yea the Black Widow!"
Can you hear me now?
The companies have changed in the last 15 years, but the message is still the same. My information is from when I went to college, I realize it was probably going to be different. It still links to my point.
Edit to read: "You know who spends more than anyone...... Verizon and P & G".
It doesn't have the same ring to it, lol
The companies have changed in the last 15 years, but the message is still the same. My information is from when I went to college, I realize it was probably going to be different. It still links to my point.
Edit to read: "You know who spends more than anyone...... Verizon and P & G".
It doesn't have the same ring to it, lol
I seriously wasn't trying to be a smart ass. I worked for IBM last year and they were the top of one category and I couldn't remember what for. I knew who they (largest advertisers) were at one point recently, but forgot, so I wanted to looked it up again.
Your point is well taken. I liked your original post a lot.
Jeanette Lee is promoted by the APA. Over a quarter of a million people Nation wide. And she's pretty too.
Nah, man. Ya got it all wrong! This is pool, god-dang it! You've got to "fly under the radar"! There's a great future in doing that. Didn't you know about those vast pools of money "under the radar"? Under the radar is where currency goes to breed...
Jeanette is her own brand. She is also her own self-promoter. Her image is used by the APA as well as a lot of other brands she promotes.
I would bet the Jeanette Lee's brand is more recognizable than the APA brand world wide.
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12ozCurl
Banned
Nah, man. Ya got it all wrong! This is pool, god-dang it! You've got to "fly under the radar"! There's a great future in doing that. Didn't you know about those vast pools of money "under the radar"? Under the radar is where currency goes to breed...
I think Mr. O'Riley would disagree with you
In order to have a long term benefit, someone must invest time and resources. All that is being accomplished so far is an investment in destroying a single event.
If Y'all want, I would be willing to grab Archer, et al. and Behrman and march them all to Brunswick's corporate headquarters and lobby for the promotion of this dang thing. We can all whistle Dixie as we march. Or bang war drums. I don't really care. I just know that I would be developing a plan that unites, not divides. And I would be marketing that plan to sponsors such as Brunswick, Aramith, etc. who stand to make some $ promoting the activity that requires the use of their products. How can that be wrong???
This is a perfect story to sum up this idea. John Schmidt was playing golf with some guys in Florida. He told them he was a professional pool player. The first thing they asked is if he knew Jeanette Lee. He said he is friends with her and they didn't believe him, lol.
That is THE point to this thread, to tie in my point with his. Schmitty can probably give Jeanette the 6 or 7 and his straight pool high run is three times hers, but he is there and the guys with him ask about Jeanette Lee. That is called marketing. No one knows who John is but everyone knows who the black widow is. That is why she makes $700,000 a year, not because of how she plays.
No! You're wrong I tell ya'! She makes all that $ because she's flying under the radar!