WTC has lost the magic. Thoughts?

Triathlon Forum
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Sitting at the airport gate in Madison on Monday, several athletes/family expressed these thoughts. I’m wondering how many ST’ers feel similar. Or differenct.

WTC Has Lost Sight of the Experience
At the so-called “Expo” outside, there were forklifts wheeling up and down the aisle on Saturday, ferrying stuff to stock the finish line. Sweaty, green T-shirt clad (and somewhat unkempt) workers were roughly shooing athletes and their families aside. Golf carts with workers talking on cell phones and radios were also scurrying up and down the aisle. The Expo walkway was blocked at one end by the Finish Line, so athletes and family had to really want to see the booths at that end, because they had to backtrack almost a block to get out. While I understand that work had to be done to get ready for Sunday, do we really want forklifts with full pallets of boxes in the middle of families enjoying the Expo? It only takes one kid to dart out into that mess to get seriously hurt. You would NEVER see Disney do this.

BTW, I worked both days in a booth. Not once did anyone from WTC come by and say, “How’s it going? Need anything?” Nope, they already had our money. I take that back. On Saturday afternoon, one guy came by and said, “Hurry up and break down. We need this area to get ready.” This was 45 minutes before the Expo was scheduled to end.

The Same Old Merchandise
I talked to a lot of athletes about M-dot merchandise, and the consensus (from my info) is that the merchandise is second-rate for a premium price. Which begs the question: What is the motivation for the merchandise store? Profit only? Building the Brand? Outlet for the online store? Having managed event gift stores and brick-and-mortar gift stores for 5+ years, I can attest that there is more to merchandising than ordering T-shirts and putting them on a rack. That said, I’ll say the merchandise at the event store is the same old T-shirts, jerseys, and coffee cups. Nothing special (see Experience above). Shouldn’t there be at least one piece of merchandise that you could only get at that specific event? Wouldn’t that be special?

Throughput
Anyone who’s got experience in retail will tell you that throughput is key. How much merchandise went unsold because people were unwilling to wait an hour or more to give WTC their money for the same old merchandise? How many people skipped the opening banquet or awards banquet because they didn’t want to stand in line for an hour like cattle?

Where was 5150 and Ironkids?
When kids came by our booth with their Ironkids medals, we made a point of talking to them and encouraging them. Where was WTC? If they want to build this youth-development idea, shouldn’t they be visible at the Expo? Same for 5150. What a missed opportunity to spread the word. I know Ryan Robison worked his tail off to make Ironkids happen and happen well, but someone dropped the marketing ball.

Disclaimer
I love IM racing and appreciate the opportunity. I want WTC to succeed (and only wish I were one of the investors! Ha!). I did two IM’s and 3 HIM’s this year, and will be racing in Branson on Sunday. But to succeed, WTC has to see beyond staging a race. That’s my $.02…

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my thoughts:

SAVAGEMAN!!!

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$$$$$

Nothing new here. Rev 3, Challenge, lots of other great companies coming up.

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BTW, I worked both days in a booth. Not once did anyone from WTC come by and say, “How’s it going? Need anything?”

I volunteered all day at IMLouisville and had several WTC representatives come out to my lonely outpost on the run turnaround to ask how I was doing and see if I needed anything. And I’m certainly no WTC apologist.

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At least your complaints are about the retail side and not actual race issues.

chris

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Fair enough, and I’m glad that happened in Louisville. I hope they were WTC employees and it seems they “got it”. And there may be a difference between the volunteer teams and the (more) corporate teams. Don’t know for sure how they’re structured or how they approach an event from a corporate perspective. Boy, I’d love to read their event Mission Statement…

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The retail side of the “experience” is the least important to me. If these are the main complaints you heard, then it tells me WTC is still doing a good job of putting on an actual race. I race Wisconsin in 2007 and Lake Placid in 2010, and both experiences were fantastic . . . the energy and vibe were exactly what I expected (and paid for). I couldn’t care less about the merchandise.

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Sounds like it’s a good thing I dont do races based on the expo and crap you can buy but the actual race as it seems I would have been sorely disappointed.

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No, they have not lost the magic. A few examples of the magic are:

  1. They announce a race at the highest cost ever (IM NYC), and it sells out in what 9 minutes?
  2. General entry spots for IM CDA 2012 are gone, and everyone says the race is going to be “worse” in 2012 because of a rumor of a bike course change.
  3. IM AZ sells out even with a terrible swim venue and multiple loop bike and run courses which many athletes hate.

I could go on…

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That’s why I like my bike! (and this adds one more to the list). Because even though I agree with you for the most part, my wife still makes me stand in line for an hour to pay for what she buys…

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No, they have not lost the magic. A few examples of the magic are:

  1. They announce a race at the highest cost ever (IM NYC), and it sells out in what 9 minutes?
  2. General entry spots for IM CDA 2012 are gone, and everyone says the race is going to be “worse” in 2012 because of a rumor of a bike course change.
  3. IM AZ sells out even with a terrible swim venue and multiple loop bike and run courses which many athletes hate.

I could go on…

Don’t confuse brand recognition with quality. Apple sells tonnes of products every year that aren’t the best in quality or usability. But they have a very strong brand.

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I never said “magic” equaled quality. In fact, if your quality is good, then you don’t need magic. Your products will sell themselves. Since everyone seems to think WTC events are not quality, then they must have some “magic” that keeps their races selling out. Just like, as you state, Apple’s products have some flaws, then they must have some “magic” because they sell a sh*t ton of computers, cellphones, and mp3 players. That “magic” may very well be brand recognition.

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Exactly… Rev3, et al, may put out a quality race, but so far they don’t have the brand magic of IRONMAN™ mattresses and baby joggers.

Until you see a Rev3 coffee maker or bathroom scale at Macy’s, they’ll always be second banana.

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I never said “magic” equaled quality. In fact, if your quality is good, then you don’t need magic. Your products will sell themselves. Since everyone seems to think WTC events are not quality, then they must have some “magic” that keeps their races selling out. Just like, as you state, Apple’s products have some flaws, then they must have some “magic” because they sell a sh*t ton of computers, cellphones, and mp3 players. That “magic” may very well be brand recognition.

And i never said you said that magic equaled quality.

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If they continue to sell out in minutes, the “magic” is still there…

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Since everyone seems to think WTC events are not quality,

That’s simply not true. There may be a vocal majority that bitches about them all the time, but by any objective measure they are very high quality.

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Since everyone seems to think WTC events are not quality,

That’s simply not true. There may be a vocal majority that bitches about them all the time, but by any objective measure they are very high quality.

I agree that IM events are quality events. My N=1 experience at IM Louisville this year was everything I imagined it would be and more.

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Don’t confuse brand recognition with quality. Apple sells tonnes of products every year that aren’t the best in quality or usability. But they have a very strong brand.

I could be argued that compared to their competition they are very good in both.

Which leads to competition. If WTC have lost the magic it opens the door for others … Rev3, Challenge. WTC are playing a very risky game in resting on their wilting laurels.

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I will say from my experiences at IMLou, the quality and quantity of race swag went down a bit from '07 to '09. Just my perception.

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I hear what you are saying, but here is my opinion-

  1. The expo at any triathlon that I have ever attended is crappy. Ever done a Rock n Roll Marathon? Now that is an Expo. Tons of people walking around. Tons of different booths.
  2. WTC gives out a t-shirt, a hat and a medal. I don’t need to buy anything else at the race to have for memorabilia. It is nice to have stuff that you might need for race day (arm coolers/warmers, tubes, co2, maybe goggles or a race belt).
  3. Sure they charge a premium for their stuff at the expo. Ever been to a pro or college sports games? They also charge a crazy amount of money for crap like t-shirts, key chains, jerseys, beer, pretzels. You don’t like it, don’t go.
  4. Are you really complaining that a forklift driver was unkempt? Should they have been wearing sports coats and slacks?
  5. Maybe the WTC wasn’t walking around asking exhibitors if they needed anything because they were busy making the sure the race was going well. Or answering a question about some spectator wondering if her husband had made the cutoff or not.
  6. Banquets- No thanks. I was at IMAZ last year for the “mandatory” course talk but skipped the food. I’d rather not eat food that was made for 2,500 people. No matter how “good” it might be, it is still food made in mass quantity.