Badminton Popularity - The Role of Yonex

Perhaps badminton would do better if it's promoted similar to martial arts rather than other racquets sports? The game is so much more technical at higher competitive levels and requires lightning fast reflex. We just need more exposure in the mainstream media. There is a reason for optimism as the demographics of North America is changing. Immigrants tend to hold on to their values longer than assimulate into the "melting pot", bringing ideas and values into their new homeland. California has always been the start of many popular trends, I am sure badminton will follow the same pattern as well.

 

Perhaps you dont know this but in USA, badminton is known as the "back yard sport" and its not known as a Jet Li style fast and furious sport, but a slow sunday afternoon hit around in the park "sport". USA is unlike the asian countries nor european countries where there is the real sport of badminton being marketed to the masses. Unfortunately at this time the backyard version of this wonderful sport is what most poeple see / hear / play in USA. I am merely pointing out the facts. These big companies have professional buyers and would only purchase and sell things in their stores based on demand, and for now badminton in the american market is sold and bought as a back yard sport.

badminton is not an outdoor sport... Maybe it's ok to sell these picnic badminton sets, and maybe it helps people to appreciate the pro's later. But given the playing condition and styles of play in the back yards, the image of badminton will never achieve any kind of improvement. This is also true in the fact that badminton has not become any more popular among the american people in the last 30 years or more in USA.

 

Badminton needs a good endorser

I used to play tennis and I am seeing how tennis had its ups and downs. Now I play badminton and do agree that is indeed more difficult than tennis (more straining at that!).

What badminton needs is a champion who can be a very good endorsers of product! Tennis was in its low when Pete Sampras was the champion. He was just not a good endorser. Look at tennis right now. They are on an upswing! Stars like Federer, Nadal, Sharapova and Roddick are very good endorsers.

Once badminton has find its star, then the rest would follow. I could not forget a comment by Ms. Emms, she said, "I work as hard as Sharapova and we have the same ranking but see how much she is getting."

 

We need endorsers

Badminton requires very good product endorsers. Tennis was in its low when Pete Sampras was the Champion. He was not a very good endorser. Look at where tennis is nowdays. Federer, Sharapova, Nadal, Roddick are very good endorsers! People are buying the racquets and outfits that they use. When people buy, sponsors do get excited!

So for badminton champions create dramas! Look for rivalries, humanize the champions, write articles on them. This would definitely whet up peoples appetite and thus increase followers... and in the end make badminton very marketable.

Ms. Emms sums it up when she said, "I train and work as hard as Sharapova. We have the same world ranking but look at how much she is getting.".

 

This goes back to my point of view. USA needs a badminton champ to lift the sport. People MIGHT (I stress on MIGHT, not 100% guaranteed) become more interested in this sport because of National Pride. A badminton champion from US will tell the nation that badminton is some serious game recognised by the world and not a back yard game played by ladies on sunday afternoon.

This precedes everything - money, media, sponsors, management principles (4P's), etc... to make badminton a popular and successful sport.

 

i know this might sound really stupid, and doesn't have a lot to do with marketing, well actually quite a fair bit. but here's my idea.


seeing that in North America, children in their elementary and even junior high years will have mandatory phys ed classes where almost every sport played will be covered in the class. if yonex can some how make some type of video compilation of tutorials and show some skills of the pros in the video. maybe they can provide these videos to schools in NA and hope that kids might see what competitive badminton is all about and get intrigued or hooked into the sport. with the way some school teachers let students just play around, and tap it like old ladies on a sunday afternoon it promotes to some of the athletic kids, that "hey, this sport sucks. look at everyone tap it like girls back and forth with big lobs." because this is what i felt, luckily i knew that badminton was a great sport

 

Not a bad idea, but i'm worried about that even Yonex makes thousands of these videos and distribute them to the schools, and pay the teachers to show them at PE classes, the teachers won't show the video at all, and even if they show the video, no one wants to watch.

Educating the public about the sport is important, but "arousing" the interest of the public is the stepping stone.

 

Agree. A good start in passing the correct message to the public who knows very little about Badminton.

 

...hmm...here's my suggestion...sorry if it's been said already, but i haven't had time to read all the posts...anyway...here it goes...
...basically everyone here knows how badminton is perceived by the public in North America as a "wussy backyard sport". We've also seen those cheap badminton/volleyball sets that they sell in places like walmart and stuff. another thing is, most of us badminton players are quite opposite from the current basketball player attitude such as being really repulsive and "do whatever you want" kind. we don't go around and act like we don't care about anything. most of us are the kind that probably care bout our grades and stuff...well...us badminton students anyways. but i was thinking, since summer vacation is coming up and there are going to be so many people outdoors, why don't some of us get together, pitch in, and buy one of those cheap badminton sets. after, go to the beach or park or wherever people are on a busy day, set up, use your own racquets and birds (maybe not the best you've got, but something that is pretty "usable"), and play your butts off.

...doing this isn't really to show off, but to show people what badminton's really like...some macho guys from the beach will probably walk by and laugh at you just for setting up a cheap badminton net and playing. but after you get warmed up, show them what its really like. if you've got enough time, maybe even draw lines out and start a game. soon enough, the sounds from smashes and clears will draw a crowd and spectators as people walk by, and this'll hopefully convince people that badminton isn't what they thought it was, and try it out. actually...maybe if you're nice enough, let people try out the game for themselves for a few rallies...with so many of us throughout canada and the us, there's probably enough of us to show a lot of people how "not backyard" badminton really is... ...who knows?...maybe we don't really need Yonex that much...yet.

 

hey great idea mate... show it off to the public

You should post your idea to another thread in this forum "What would you want to improve Badminton" posted by Smiley.

 

only if the cost of the shuttlecock can be reduced .

 

You can't play tennis on random grass lawns. The spins on the ball won't work well if the grass courts aren't maintained correctly. It's just as hard to play tennis in the wind.

 

perhaps hollywood should make a movie whether as topic or big mess of it to get attention..with the big international stars and on the trailers...show off to the masses the fantastic shots (OUT OF THIS WORLDLY) that players are capable of....repetitively as in first time viewers will see it and say "Holy Sh*t..you can do that?!" and yes...we do it fairly regularly

remember the WW2 soccer movie with pele? michael caine and sly stallone? they did feature int'l stars also...i think it helped promote a lot to the rest of the world(VICTORY 1981 movie)

or at least plant a few badminton playing scenes in movies with the FANTASTIC SHOTS!!!

am pretty sure lots of actors is game for it..didnt we read paul newman,dicaprio and jet li playing?

here in the philippines..many many actors/actresses are playing it regularly....so it becomes a hit faster with the masses...also universities is starting to get serious with their teams...thus more young kids are motivated to play

 

Congratulations to Tony & Howard for winning WC2005 MD Title

As I mentioned in my previous posts in this thread, this is a very good start to popularity of badminton in the USA. Media, US Government, Yonex are now opening their eyes, brains and more importantly, their wallets, to boost this sport. The WC2005 MD title won by Howard and Tony is a solid proof to the US nation that badminton is no backyard game played by ladies on sunday afternoon.

WELL DONE USA BADMINTON TEAM. KEEP IT UP & GOING !!!

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2005082...kfg_FOs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3cm82NXAwBHNlYwM3NTU-

IBF wants women shuttlers to add some fashion appeal 2 hours, 41 minutes ago


ANAHEIM, United States (AFP) - The International Badminton Federation is calling on its female athletes to wear more glamorous outfits, complaining that the traditional style of dress is too old fashioned.


Speaking during the finals of the World Championships in Anaheim on Sunday, IBF deputy president Punch Gunalan said he wished the women shuttlers would dress more like Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova.

"We are too old fashioned," Gunalan said. "Nowadays the girls are becoming a little better dressed.

"We need to be in the fashion world. So we would like to see players wear more appealling clothes to the public. By appealling I mean use it for everyday use. So when people walk around they would want to wear it.

"Unfortunately we ar¥e far away from that. Let's take Maria Sharapova. Look at her tank tops. It is pretty."

New Zealand bronze medallist Sara Runesten-Petersen said she is in favour of anything that will attract more fans to the sport as long as it isn't forced on them.

"I wouldn't mind it. I can't wear skimpy tops because of my shape but some of the girls have beautiful bodies so there is nothing to hide," Runesten-Petersen said.

"Lots of girls wear skirts and skimpy tops why not when they play sports?

"I wouldn't want to play in just a bra but a (tank) top is fine.

"Why not when you are a girl, look like a girl. But it should be up to the individual and not enforced."

Olympic champion Zhang Ning, of China, said has no objection as long as it is done tastefully.

"It is acceptable to me," said top seed Zhang. "The tank top is alright, just not the string top."

Men's singles champion Taufik Hidayat, of Indonesia, said flashier outfits are "a good idea."

The IBF's attempt to popularize the game to a larger audience was evident by the use of scantily-clad cheerleaders during the breaks between matches on Sunday at the Arrowhead Pond arena.

"Our target is to promote the game to the audiences," Gunalan said.

Gunalan said he is talking to clothing manufacturers like Adidas and Yonex about coming up with some new ideas.

"There is too much monopoly right now for one company, Yonex. We need to get companies like Reebok, Nike and Adidas involved," Gunalan said.
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i didnt knew gunalan is so fashion tuned

 

well, to expediate popularity with shortcut like modifying fashion, it helps a bit as s_x sell so to speak. However, IBF shouldn't rely on it too heavily. We know golf is popular and golfers wear pretty tame apparels. In tennis, i find men's badminton top and shorts are more flashier than men tennis players.

 

I find the comment about Nike, Addidas and Reebok kinda funny actually. I mean, sure, if they got into badminton, that'd be great because they're huge companies with the financial and historical backing to make drastic changes on the current situation.

You know, most of the time, it's some sorta badminton federation who is encouraging the pushing here in Canada. Usually it's done through tournaments or a few dedicated badminton places... but lets say, here in montreal, most badminton groups (clubs) are a ragtag bunch with no central mind. Basically, it's free courts for anyone.

While court time may definately appeal to existing players, finding the next generation players is indeed a lot about marketing. I don't want to get into the whole ***-sells issue, but lets just say that I think in large part the primary source for parents finding a sport for their kids, that being the sports store ("What am I gonna get Johhny or Julie for her birthday?") need to get their acts together if they want to promote this kinda thing. There are a lot of parents out there (the kind who don't really play sports, or who maybe played something when they were younger) who really do just walk into a store and sorta browse. If all the advertissments are for soccer, basketball, baseball, etc... what can we expect?

Locally here in montreal, Sports Experts publishes this little free 'sports magazine', and this month's issue actually had a 3-page article about badminton! It's a great start. Unfortunately, the people who put together the section in my opinion don't know all that much... for example, they had a photo of prep position for a short forehand serve ... and a SEPARATE photo for the prep position of the long forehand serve. (Lol, it's the SAME THING!)

But anyway, I digress... my point is that the other sports in north america especially are already in cycles of marketing-- the tournaments are out there, they are on television, in the newspapers, so people want to buy into those sports, so the stores carry it and thus you have advertissments all around from different stores competing for the client to get gear from their shop.

Badminton's problem in north america is that it's got a broken cycle at best. We have the tournaments, yes-- but the television coverage isn't there, so the layman's impression of badminton is still 'backyard style'-- and so what's the incentive to buy into it? And without inventive, how is the store supposed to make any money, what's THEIR incentive to advertise badminton more? And without more marketing on the storefront, awareness is just so-so, and badminton ends up being that section of the wall with a bunch of rackets that none of the employees know anyhting about.

In that sense, maybe you do need someone like Addidas, Nike, Rebok, whatever. Maybe not to make rackets, but lets say shirts or shoes... or hell, if a phone company like Rogers can sponsor tennis (what's the relationship between Tennis and telecommunications?) what's the diff? Just like what's the relationship between F1 cars and beer? Lol.

I agree that we need yonex to push the bar, but at the same time, I don't think we should rely on them. I'm not saying this from the perspective of monopolies or whatever, just the general opinion that it's usually bad to rely on any one entitiy for everything because then there is a lot of stagnance in terms of innovation.

In my opinion, events like those "Knight To Remember" tourneys by Black Knight are the kind of thing that people should be doing... Yonex in my opinion doesn't do enough to get the next generation players out, they tend to in my eyes be the sponsors for the greats. Anyone can try and sponsor a great player. That's the thing about commercial entities-- they want it for the marketing benefits.

But what I want to see is a company that will do community stuff, a company that will sponsor even the BAD players. (Within reason of course.) I just mean all those schools out there, high school level, college level, whatever, the levels where players are picking up a racket for the first time. Too many companies have too much emphasis on making killer players-- when, i think, they may have a lot to gain if they were to tailor more to try and attract a 'home crowd' first off.

All those supersports out here right now, they started off small too-- basketball started in a plain gym with a fruit basket. Yadd yadda. The problem with badminton in north america is that in most cases it hasn't had the chance to have that 'childhood', and yet, the companies are trying to push the mature image right off the bat.

In asia, this may be possible... but north america is a different ballpark.

 

Yes, making clothing more everyday friendly would be the ABSOLUTE BEST IDEA for advertising badminton.

We all know basketball players and fans walk around wearing basketball jerseys and the same goes for football and hockey fans. Why not make it easier for badminton fans to walk around in badminton clothing? Particularly donning the colours of China perhaps and even having "D Lin" on the back

The idea of changing badminton clothing to have more everyday appeal is the greatest idea in terms of American advertisement. I'm very glad that article was brought upon me.

I'm gonna remake another thread and point this out because I find that it is VERY important.