One of the fun things about a blog is that it allows us opportunity to get outside our current agency’s business and shed some light on other interesting things in the world of marketing. I have always been intrigued by companies that evolve into case studies of marketing genius in a short period of time; the types of enterprises that can be viewed as revolutionary in their approach to the marketplace, the types of brands that redefine what it means to create a marketing juggernaut.
One of these companies is Zuffa LLC. They are the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC). For those unfamiliar, this is the sport where two guys square off in an octagon (UFC has trademarked the word octagon) cage and go at it. The sport is called mixed martial arts (MMA) and it’s actually a highly regulated and skilled sport that features athletes so conditioned they would put most NFL players to shame. But this is a blog about the business side of the UFC, so let’s keep it there.
In short, the UFC has quickly grown into a highly successful marketing machine. There are lessons to be learned for marketers if you study UFC’s marketing savvy. Here are a few quick facts:
- UFC started in 1993 and was purchased by Zuffa for $2 million in 2001 on the brink of extinction.
- UFC has experienced astounding increases in revenue and profit every year since 2001 and Forbes valued the enterprise at $1 billion in 2009.
- UFC 75 (free broadcast) set a record for highest household viewership in the history of cable television with 5.6 million on SPIKETV.
- In the last two years there have been numerous blue-chip brands sign multi-year sponsorship commitments with UFC, such as Anheuser Busch, Burger King, DIRECTV, and Harley Davidson, who made their foray into non-motorsports for the first time in their 106-year history.
- Xbox’s “UFC 2009 Undisputed” sold more than 1 million games in its first month on shelves.
- UFC 100 broke pay-per-view records with over 1.5 million household buys averaging $49.95 and ticket sales of $5.2 million (arena held 11,000, so do the math)
- UFC is currently broadcast in 36 countries in 18 languages and regularly holds events outside the U.S.
- UFC is a multimedia monster; setting the bar very high with loads of video content online, a prime-time TV show called “The Ultimate Fighter,” aggressive Facebook and Twitter strategies, an arsenal of mobile-friendly content, UFC iTunes, a full line of wearables and affiliated MMA brands, online communities, and way, way more.
The UFC juggernaut is also paying dividends for those affiliated with the sport. Fighters are landing movie roles, sponsorship of consumer brands like Gatorade (Georges St. Pierre), starring on network TV (Chuck Liddell on “Dancing with the Stars”) and generally finding their place in today’s world of consumer marketing. The apparel company Tapout started selling T-shirts at events out of a car trunk a few years back and this year will do around $125 million in sales because this brand is affiliated with the UFC.
I can’t wait until someone writes a business book about the UFC that reveals some their business- planning strategy. That will be a must read.
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