A
few weeks ago, Fort Worth played host to national cheerleading
competitions. Literally thousands of cheerleaders mingled
around downtown, a sight to see. To a lay reporter,
who happens to be male, it was also totally confusing.
Expecting to see the SuperBowl of pre-collegiate cheerleading,
this turned out to be only one of several national competitions.
You'd
never have known it from the high levels of enthusiasm
though. The cheerleaders mingling outside of the convention
center bounced with nervous energy, their faces lit
with excitement. It was enough to compensate for the
vacuum cleaner known as the ticket office. How can an
organization charge so much for an amateur sporting
event? If our kids weren't there, we wouldn't go, and
that's a fact.
Competitive
cheerleading takes some knowledge to watch and understand.
First lesson, just because the ticket prices are high
doesn't mean that the seats are any good. The cheerleaders
performed on what looked like a large wrestling mat.
Their entire routine is played to a tiny audience of
judges who are surrounded by quite a bit of empty space.
Way to the back of the judges are seats for the ticket
payers. Sitting in the wings got you closer to the cheerleaders,
but you only saw their sides, since they faced the judges.
Sitting in the wings also meant that you felt the full
effect of the loudspeakers.
Second
lesson, competitive cheerleaders don't lead any cheers.
The music is so loud that the audience couldn't hear
cheers anyway. Besides, the audience cheers for the
cheerleaders, a fact that took some getting used to.
Make
no bones about it, the kids worked hard to whip up enthusiasm.
They came out like championship wrestlers, arms moving
up and down to milk the crowd. They moved to their positions,
waited for the music to start and then tumbled by doing
back handsprings and flips. They'd perform timing routines,
where two girls tumbled on colliding paths. A slight
miscount and they'd do full contact cheerleading. They'd
throw one of their number up in the air and catch her
again, all the while wearing enormous smiles to show
everyone how much fun they were having.
When
not competing against one another, cheerleaders are
the visual element of an intangible aspect of sports
organizations. They represent the goodwill of the club.
And goodwill is what trademarks are all about.
Trademarks
are used to distinguish one product from another. In
a sport where there are more than one national championships,
trademarks prove particularly valuable. The Fort Worth
competition was hosted by America 's Best, and boy anyone
who entered the convention center knew it. The America
's Best logo was plastered everywhere, even to the point
of a projection of the logo on the backdrop of the wrestling,
or performing, mat. That backdrop logo happened to be
perfectly positioned so as to fall within the field
of view of the cable TV cameras filming the event and
the still photos capturing pictures of the kids for
resale of their historic trip to nationals.
Another
lesson involved trophies. Positioned beneath the projected
logo were a slew of trophies. Unlike the SuperBowl,
America 's Best nationals had more categories than most
of us could ever believe possible. The reporter learned
from a mom on another, much bigger, team just how much
money some folks spend on the sport, for the coaches,
uniforms and all kinds of other necessary stuff. One
has a natural tendency to be smug, confident in the
belief that only those other teams spent all that money…
until informed otherwise by the spouse. Family CFO's
ask, why are we doing this? Statistically the most common
answer given by supportive moms is that colleges award
cheerleading scholarships. Not that anyone knows anyone
else who ever snagged such a thing.
America
's Best happens to be an unregistered trademark, meaning
that the company has common law rights to the mark.
A quick search of the Trademark Office revealed why,
with so much at stake, the mark was unregistered. The
Trademark Office lists several hundred America 's Best
registrations and attempted registrations. The mark
is so common it's used on some un-cheerleader products,
like cigarettes. Now that would make an interesting
tie-in.
Not
that the popularity of the mark matters. For these 13-18
year olds, one has the impression that other products
branded America 's Best fall into another world. The
cheerleaders know the difference between America 's
Best and their rival Cheer Power. All of which leads
to the last lesson, know thy market.
The
preliminaries were on a Saturday with the final competitions
the next day. More than two-thirds of the teams made
the finals and the remainder were invited back for consolation
performances. All the better to boost the gate revenue
from parents who are afraid to say no. For family CFO's
the trademark takes on a different meaning altogether.
That's
why the sweetest part of the event were the words, “Dad,
I don't want to do this next year.” No argument there.
Originally
published in the Fort Worth Business Press
Originally
Published in the Fort Worth Businss Press
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