The Other David Beckham

Because of some events this week, this blog entry will not focus on business, but on the other David Beckham. David "Ted" Beckham is the father of the soccer superstar David Beckham. This past Wednesday, Ted suffered a heart attack. The soccer playing Beckham rushed from Los Angeles to London to be by his fathers side. Ted Beckham is currently in stable condition and recovering from the attack. Let's hope everything works out and Ted has a full, speedy recovery.

The picture above is of Ted Beckham with his book David Beckham: My Son. Be sure to watch for my next blog update for more info about this book and the story behind it.

Motorola RAZR 2 Campaign

Motorola hoped to use David Beckham's global appeal to promote it's new Moto RED campaign. On top of featuring an all new Motorola phone model, part of the sales of this new line will be used for AIDS relief in Africa.

As one of Motorola's top endorsers, exclusive Beckham content is available to RAZR 2 owners. This content includes Beckham screensavers and downloadable video content. Another feature of the campaing is that Beckham will use Motorola products exclusively.

As lucrative as this endorsement is for Beckham, it also helps to further his position as a humanitarian by campaining for AIDS research and relief. It is refreshing to see athletes taking a stance through their marketing choices and not just chasing the highest bidders.

David Beckham

This blog entry will focus mainly on the collection of websites that focus on David Beckham

The Online David Beckahm Fan-zine

This website is the ultimate Beckham fan site. It features news, pictures, interviews and numerous image galleries. The galaries also include some of David's marketing campaigns. Look for more of those in upcoming blog entries.

The Official David Beckham Website

The official site of David Beckham is similar to the online fan-zine, but with some added features. It also contains information about Beckham's soccer academies, a section on his charity work, and even his own blog which he maintains on a regular basis.

The David Beckham Academy

As mentioned in a previous post, Beckham maintains two separate academies in London in Los Angeles. Since Beckham has been sidelined by injury, he has been making numerous appearances at the LA academy. The London academy also boasts a top notch training squad, featuring numerous members of England's womens national team which just reached the quarter finals of the Women's World Cup in China.

The Six Million Dollar Man

Friendly matches are a big part of professional soccer. Friendlies are much like the exhibition matches found in most American sports. Friendlies, however, typically pit teams from different leagues, countries, or continents against each other to expand a given team or leagues presence in another part of the world. Often, a smaller team will pay a more recognizable franchise an appearance fee to come an play a friendly match to boost interest and to raise money.

With this in mind, the Wellington Phoenix of New Zealand has announced that the Los Angeles Galaxy will play them in a friendly match to be host in New Zealand this December. The team has agreed to pay the Galaxy two million dollars for the teams appearance. There is one catch however - David Beckham must play at least 55 minutes of the match.

This is yet another opportunity for the Galaxy to cash in on Beckham - making two million dollars for their star to play for less than one hour. The financial gain is not limited to just the Galaxy, though. The mayor of Wellington, New Zealand, Kerry Prendergast, expects the city to make at least six million dollars due to Beckham's visit. David Beckham continues to turn everything around him into gold, and one would expect the scheduling of friendly matches to continue.

FC Harlem

FC Harlem is non-profit youth soccer organization located in Harlem in New York City. It is open to Harlem community children ages 5 to 14, and aims to teach the children not only soccer, but also to promote fitness and morales through team play and membership. The team is a member of the American Youth Soccer Organization and receives funding from the US Soccer Federation. Until recently, the team had no home field and played their matches at a variety of local parks. With the help of the US Soccer Federation and the MLS W.O.R.K.S. program (MLS charitable organization), the team is in the process of securing its own field and practice facilities.

Aside from donating and raising money for the squad, Major League Soccer also provided the children of FC Harlem with a once in a lifetime opportunity - to practice with MLS stars. The kids got to meet and scrimmage with Juan Pablo Angel, Jozy Altidore, Ty Harden, and David Beckham. Beckham said of the experience "today has been one of the best days since I arrived in America".

Exposure through charity is a great promotion for David Beckham. It allows him to be seen as more than just an athlete, but also as a humanitarian who also gives back to the community. Beckham has been active in youth soccer for years, and even has established two seperate David Beckham Academies in London and Los Angeles. Not many Americans are aware of this. The FC Harlem event, however, allows David to showcase this. He also is establishing himself as a driving force in establishing soccer in the United States and not just a ploy to sell MLS jerseys and tickets.

Futbol vs Football

The debate among many sports fans stems from the word football. To most fans in the world, this term relates to soccer. For American fans, however, the term refers to American football. During the opening weekend of NFL action, I'm sure most Americans are not thinking about soccer.

Adidas is looking to change that. Adidas has endorsement deals with both David Beckham and Reggie Bush, two of the most popular athletes in their respective sport. They have plans to unveil a "Futbol vs Football" ad campaign, featuring the two athletes trying their hand at the others sport. The ads are typically less than one minute long and show various aspects of soccer and football such as Beckham attempting field goals and Bush trying to stop Beckham goals.

The ad campaign is a refreshing take on the traditional football argument and is also a fantastic idea by adidas to blend two of its athletes into a single promotion and reach two separate audiences at the same time. The ads have yet to air, and may never be shown because of Beckham's injury. I disagree with the notion of pulling the ads. The money has already been spent on their production and may be the last opportunity adidas has to promote Beckham for several months. The NFL is extremely profitable, and running these ads during football games would allow them to reach a huge audience.

Below is a compilation video of some of the highlights of the ad campaign. For the actual TV spots, head to Youtube.com and search for "Futbol vs Football".

"Ridiculous schedule"

Now that David Beckham has been sidelined with a knee injury, it is easy to look back and see what went wrong. Alexi Lalas, team president of the LA Galaxy, was able to see this before it even happened. In an article found at Yahoo Sports, Lalas spoke out about the teams exhausting schedule and the effect it was having on the teams overall fitness level. Three days later, Beckham suffered a season ending knee injury.

The article compares the schedules of Los Angeles to other MLS teams, and notes that while the Galaxy played 10 games in a little over the span of one month, most other MLS teams played only four times. It is understandable that the team and league wish to get the maximum exposure out of the Beckham signing, but playing the team into exhaustion and injury is not the answer. Soccer is not baseball - the teams cannot play every day. Even NFL teams only play once per week.

A better idea would have been to schedule Galaxy matches in larger arenas to maximize ticket sales or to schedule some off-field activities to better promote Beckham. The leagues strategy to promote Beckham has backfired. This goes to show that sports promotions aren't as easy to handle as other types of business promotions. Exhaustion and injury is definitely a key component to consider when marketing a professional soccer player, especially one that is 32 years old. Finding the right blend of playing time and off-field activities is the key to receiving the maximum return on your investment.