How Mark Cuban and Daymond John Went From Pups To Sharks

Mark Cuban and Daymond John are two business experts who are most famously known as “sharks” on the hit ABC series Shark Tank. They share a similar background of being men who built their wealth from the ground up.

 Photo courtesy of ABC

Mark Cuban is a self-made billionaire with an estimated worth of $3.2 billion dollars. While most people know him as the owner of the NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks or from his appearances on Shark Tank, Cuban’s business portfolio dates back to when he was a little boy. At the age of 12, Cuban was going door to door selling garbage bags to save money to buy a pair of sneakers he wanted. His big break came in 1990 when he created MicroSolutions, a computer consulting service that he later sold to CompuServe for $6 million dollars. His bigger break came in 1995 when he and a friend wanted to listen to the Indiana Hoosier’s basketball games in Texas. They created Broadcast.com in order to listen to the games in Texas. Four years later Cuban and his friend sold the company to Yahoo for $5.6 billion dollars.

 Photo courtesy of ABC

Daymond John is a self-made millionaire with an estimated worth of $300 million dollars. John, like Cuban, got his entrepreneurial start at a very young age. At the age of 6, John was selling pencils at school, shoveling snow in the winter and raking leaves in the fall. His first break came in 1992 when he launched a clothing line in his mother’s living room. The clothing line was called FUBU, an acronym which stands for “for us by us.”  He sold the items in and around his Queens, New York neighborhood, but he couldn’t keep up with demand. His mother took out a second mortgage on her home to fund his dream. Everything changed in 1997 when LL Cool J, a rapper from Queens, New York, wore a FUBU hat and slipped FUBU into the rhyme of a Gap commercial he was featured in. Both LL Cool and John hail from Queens, New York. LL wanted to look out for his fellow native New Yorker, much like others had looked out for him. He wore the FUBU hat in the commercial and recited the lines:

G-A-P gritty

Ready to go

For Us By Us on the low

“G” that’s for getting it

A for always

P that’s power

After the success of FUBU, John went on to see success as an author, motivational speaker, a shark on Shark Tank as well as serve on President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative.

Each expert is looking for something different from a business plan. John is looking for a plan on how one intends to brand their product or service. He said, “branding is the most important part of a successful business plan, even if the plan is to do something that has already been done.” This is critical because there are very few “brand new” ideas. There are many ideas that build upon or take something away from a previous idea or creation, so you have to brand and market yours to stand out from the rest. Cuban is looking at a few areas of the business plan. He wants a business plan that will show if there is a need for the product or service, is there a market for it and he wants to see a well developed and produced business plan. This will let him know if the business is something he wants to invest his money in. Cuban wants to ensure that his personal investment and his personal brand are not going to be tainted by an idea or a creator who did not have their business plan properly developed. Losing money is not an issue for him, but he does care about his reputation in the business world. When seeking money from an investor the decisions made by the creator of the idea can impact everyone involved.

Daymond John’s viewpoint on branding is the viewpoint I need to focus on for my plan. There are many crisis management firms in the United States and in the world. I have to brand my company in a way that makes it stand out from everyone else.

References:

Articlebio. (n.d.). Daymond John biography. Retrieved from http://articlebio.com/daymond-john

Expert Views on Business Plans. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-07-02T08:44:00-07:00&max-results=7

Forbes (n.d.). #527 Mark Cuban. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-cuban/

Lee, Ellen (2012, August 7). How FUBU founder Daymond John conquered urban fashion. Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/id/48535056

Mark Cuban Companies. (n.d.). Company website. www.markcubancompanies.com

How OJ Mayo Can Rebound Back Into The NBA

On Friday, July 1, 2016, OJ Mayo was “dismissed and disqualified from the NBA for violating the terms of the league's anti-drug program.” League rules stipulate that no other information may be released publicly about the Anti Drug Program including the drugs used that caused the dismissal. Mayo will be eligible for reinstatement for the 2019-20 NBA season. Sadly, this is not new for Mayo. In 2011 he was suspended for 10 games for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Mayo was drafted 3^rd in the 1^st round of the 2008 NBA draft. Later that evening he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies. He played in the NBA for 8 seasons for the Grizzlies, Mavericks and the Bucks. In 2008 he was the runner up for rookie of the year. Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls (now New York Knicks) won it that year. Here are the highlights of Mayo playing against the Chicago Bulls in the 1^st round of the 2015 Eastern conference playoffs. The Bulls were up 3-0 in the series. Mayo showed up and showed out!

Friday was also the start of free agency and as we have seen it was very lucrative for many players. Mediocre players and players most people have never heard of did very well in this free agency. Mayo may have easily missed out on potentially the biggest pay day of his career. It is not impossible to conceive that Mayo could make a successful return to the NBA in 2 years. According to USA Today they state that a player may return to the NBA upon successful completion of a drug rehab program.

"The circumstances surrounding the player’s dismissal and disqualification; whether the player has satisfactorily completed a treatment and rehabilitation program; the player’s conduct since his dismissal, including the extent to which the player has since comported himself as a suitable role model for youth; and whether the player is judged to possess the requisite qualities of good character and morality.” Via USA Today

We saw Chris “Birdman” Anderson successfully rebound back into the NBA after his 2-year dismissal, so returning is not an impossible thought for the 28-year old Mayo. A completely healthy Mayo may have at least 5 years left in him at that point. If Mayo hired my firm to assist him during this time, I would advise him to enter a drug facility and focus on that for one year. I would encourage him to enter a facility for 6 months and for the next 6 months continue on an out-patient basis. During the 2^nd year of his dismissal, I would advise him to get a chef and a trainer. This will help him with his diet and NBA training. He would give lectures at colleges and universities on the dangers of drugs and how it may have cost him a very lucrative career. My firm would set him up with television and radio interviews so he can show coaches and other players that he is successfully recovering. We would incorporate social media to show his daily workout regime. I would advise him to mentally prepare for the fact that it may be over for him as a player in the NBA and offer him other options such as coaching at the collegiate level, becoming an analyst for a sports network, or working in the NBA office lecturing to players about the hazards of drugs. Having a Plan B is not setting him for failure, but setting him up for success. Unexpected disappointment could be a huge setback to someone fighting an addiction and could potentially send him back to the very thing we are keeping him away from. Proper preparation and planning can be the difference between successfully kicking an addiction or continuing on an addictive path.

Ayesha Curry, Sponsors & Social Media

Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals had all the makings of a soap opera. You had a great storyline with the city of Cleveland having not won a sports championship in 52 years. You had the Golden State Warriors attempting to do what very few have done; repeat back-to-back NBA championships. You had Steph Curry, the reigning two time MVP of the NBA getting ejected from the game. As if that was not enough, you had Curry’s wife venting on social media. This led to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith commenting on her tweets on ESPN’s First Take, which led to angry posts and blogs from women and men all over social media on Friday. As a crisis manager, the one thing I know that will keep me up at night, more than my phone ringing, will be social media. This relatively new piece of technology has a power that few people understand. Let’s start from the beginning:

Ayesha Curry, Steph’s Curry wife, started Thursday evening, game 6 of the NBA Finals, in frustration. She tweeted:

            10 mins til game time and the whole teams families are sitting here on the bus. They won’t let us in yet. Interesting tactic though. Again. Via Twitter @ayeshacurry

The game continues and Steph Curry gets ejected. Ayesha Curry returns to Twitter:

           

            I’ve lost all respect. Sorry this is absolutely rigged for money or ratings not sure which. I won’t be silent. Just saw it live sorry. Via Twitter @ayeshacurry

She deletes the tweet, but not before it’s retweeted over 1,000 times and screen captured. She returns to Twitter a third time and tweets:

           

            Police racial profiled my father and told him to remove credentials and tried to arrest him. It’s been a long night for me. I apologize Via Twitter @ayeshacurry

Immediately, I recognized that her tweets were going to pose a problem. My first thought was, she was posting from an emotional space. This is generally the root of all problems. Yes, it’s her account, yes she is her own individual and separate from her husband, but life in the public’s eye is not without consequences. My second thought went to his sponsors. How would they view the tweets? When players sign contracts to endorse products there is something called a “moral clause”, written into every agreement. Moral clauses are all written differently. In a 2015 podcast, Kelly Jones, senior counsel at Under Armour, defined moral clause:

           

            A contractual provision usually contained in the termination provision of a contract. It’s generally written that if the athlete commits an act that the company views as negatively impacting the brand, meaning, whatever the athlete did, the brand association with that athlete could be negatively perceived by consumers or the public. This clause allows the brand to terminate the contract Via SportsLawBiz

We do not know the contents of any of Steph Curry’s contracts therefore, we do not know the structure of his moral clauses. Moral clauses are purposely written with a vague and broad definition of what an athlete can do to cause a company to invoke the use of the moral clause. Companies purposely do that to maintain flexibility in termination. Knowing this, I was very against Ayesha Curry’s tweets. What if his clause includes postings from immediate family members? When your significant other holds a prominent position, that position becomes the “family business.” Everyone has to be mindful of his or her actions. I was then reminded of an email I had received from my niece’s high school requesting that the parents and guardians of students at her high school conduct themselves appropriately on social media. The email requested that we do not post negative comments about the teachers, other parents or other children of her high school. If a high school is making this request, what is an NBA organization or a major brand like Under Armour requesting?

The next day, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith commented on Ayesha Curry’s actions and his comments started a social media firestorm for the rest of the day with many women using the term “sexist” and “misogynistic” to describe Smith. You can watch the full video here. Here is the part I DO agree with:

            …she stepped out of line. You are the wife of Steph Curry. What you do is a reflection on him. What you do is a reflection on the organization he works for. You have to be mindful of that. You can’t get caught up in your own individual emotions. Via First Take.

Smith made a great point that I do agree with. He made the point within the first :30 seconds. Sadly, he didn’t stop there, and proceeded to go on for more than four minutes, where his comments then turned sexist. He attempted to compare Ayesha Curry to Savannah James, LeBron James’ wife, and how she is not on social media nor in the public eye. I had no problem with that comparison. My issue was his use of 8 adjectives to describe the women. He used “beautiful” 3 times, “adorable”, “lovely”, “gorgeous”, “sensational” and “special”, when speaking about them. Their looks have nothing to do with their character and how they carry themselves. As a crisis manager, I cringed on both sides of this. Here is how I would have handled it.

I would tell Ayesha Curry to take a break from social media until the series is over. I would also advise her on best practices for social media, the first one being never post from an emotional space. Stop and think about what you want to post and what is the message you want to convey. Deleting posts in the internet age is useless. If you write it, stand by it, but think it through first. If you know it can be misinterpreted in anyway, do not post it. As for Stephen A. Smith, I would have him apologize on his social media platforms as well as First Take, and his Sirius/XM show for everything he said in regards to their looks. It was not needed. His point was valid, the manner in which he went about it was not. People are calling for his firing or suspension, but what will that accomplish? He is not the first, nor will he be the last man to bring a woman’s looks into a conversation. He, like most of the world, needs to be educated about that and this could be a teachable moment. Lastly, everyone needs to understand, learn and respect the power of social media.

Fan Loyalty & Engagement

Everyone loves to support a winning team, but who supports the team when they are losing? The people who support their teams even when they are losing are called “loyal fans”. “During the good times and the bad, these fans are always there to show their support.”  Loyal fans contribute to an organization’s revenue. They pay for tickets to games, pay for parking at the venue, and pay for food at the venue all generating revenue, even when they are losing. Loyal fans are important to sports organizations because they “keep the lights on.” Teams are currently studying and coming up with new ways to increase fan loyalty and engagement.

Organizations are turning to technology to increase fan loyalty. A big issue at sport venues across the country is the lack of Wi-Fi access. People want to post video and/or post to their social media accounts showing what they are doing and where they are doing it. The new Sacramento Kings arena is scheduled to open in October 2016 and, "slated to be the techiest arena in the league.” Keeping the millennial in mind, the venue will be able to accommodate 500,000 snap chat posts per second. The Detroit Piston’s created a game day email that can be updated in real time every time you open it. Before the game, you can get real time stats on the players. During the game, when you have to go to the bathroom, and don’t want to walk away from the game, you can get real time score updates as you wait in line. The Detroit fans have responded favorably to the new email with 49% increased mobile engagement. For organizations trying to build more and keep their loyal fans in attendance, they must come up with creative ways to engage them before, during, and after the game.

There are various ways to engage fans. The Golden State Warriors have done a great job of engaging fans before the game. It is known that if you arrive to a Warriors game an hour and a half early, you will see Steph Curry put on a show with his 15 minute warm up routine. After his warm up, he takes the time to meet and greet with fans in the venue. This has spread from Warrior home games to road games as well. Allowing fans to watch the warm ups of their favorite team is something special to them, as it is not televised. Athletes taking the time to meet and greet with their fans is something special that money can’t buy. The gesture makes fans feel special. During the game, team's venues should be Wi-Fi accessible and able to handle the web traffic of the patrons. We live in a social media world. People want to document every aspect of what they are doing. After the game, some organizations produce small concerts with major artists to entertain fans. The Detroit Piston’s organization has a real time travel map to give you the quickest route in and out of the venue, so you can avoid sitting in long traffic lines and get home quickly.

Organizations go through winning and losing streaks. It is important that organizations keep their loyal fans engaged during both the good times and the bad times. Loyal fans tend to pass their habits on to their children. If you ask most people who their favorite team is and why, they will probably tell you that they grew up watching that team with their parent. You can almost say loyalty is hereditary. With this next generation of loyal fans, organizations must incorporate technology. The next generation rarely sits still. They are constantly multi tasking on their phones. If organizations do not give them the ability to use their phones at the venue, they could risk losing a generation of fans and risk losing money in attendance.

References:

Wagner, K. (2016, January 6). The Sacramento Kings are building the NBA’s techiest

            arena, a 21^st century coliseum. Recode.net. Retrieved from

            http://recode.net/2016/01/06/the-sacramento-kings-are-building-the-nbas-techiest-arena-a-21st-century-coliseum/

Wander, E. (2016, April 6). The Detroit Piston’s are sending emails that change

            every time fans check them. Adweek.com. Retrieved from 

            http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/detroit-pistons-are-sending-emails-change-every-time-fans-check-them-170603

Yi, J. (2011, January 25). The value of the loyal fan. SportsNetworker.com.

            Retrieved from http://www.sportsnetworker.com/2011/01/25/value-sports-loyal-fan/