Commentary by blog and social media consultant Josh Hallett on the use of blogs for public relations, media, marketing, communication & branding and from time-to-time the unsolicited opinion.
I'm glad to see Floyd Landis win Le Tour this year, especially after that epic ride on Thursday.
Why did I call him Lloyd? Two years ago when I was at the Tour de Georgia watching Floyd win the Stage 3 Time Trial there was a guy behind me that thought his name was 'Lloyd Flanders'. During the event he kept asking, 'When is Lloyd going to come by?'
This will mark the first year I will miss the Tour de Georgia cycling race. I've been able to see the first three editions of the race, but just can't make it this year. There is just too much work, which is a good thing right :-)
Frank Steele who runs TDFBlog has created TdGBlog to follow all the action. I'll be watching his blog, The Paceline and Flickr to follow all the action.
I have uploaded a few more photos to Flickr from the Tour de Georgia. This is a great one of Lance Armstrong leading Tom Danielson to the base of Brasstown Bald.
Received this e-mail from somebody:
I came across your pictures from the Tour de Georgia while searching the web for a picture of my husband. I thought I'd try to contact you directly to see if you know of anyone that happened to take a picture of an unicyclist riding up Woody Gap right before the racers came, and the hail storm, during Stage 4. Unfortunately, I was not able to take a picture because I was with our 2 young children in the restroom, but there were numerous people along the route that did. I'm hoping to come across someone that has a picture they would be willing to share with us. Please contact us if you have any information or any other websites to search for Tour de Georgia pictures. Any help would be appreciated
I saw him, but I did not take any pictures. What I remember is that his tire looked a bit low on air. Do you have any pictures?
Dave Aiello from Operation Gadget also blogged about the Tour de Georgia, but unlike me, Dave received media credentials.
What is interesting about cycling (opposed to football or baseball) is that some of the better organizations that cover it are web-based. These includes sites such as Cycling News and Pez Cycling News. Publicity directors for races are used to dealing with web-only media.
I asked Dave how the credential process went, and here is what he had to say:
Operation Gadget was fortunate enough to have a traffic spike that went from the 2004 Tour de France through to January 2005. I would say that the period from July to early November was due to cycling-related coverage, while November through January was due to our coverage of electronic gadgets.
I wanted to extend the cycling coverage traffic spike longer this year, so I looked at the calendar and decided that I would apply for credentials for the Tour de Georgia, the Wachovia Cycling Series including the US Pro Championships, and the NY City Cycling Championship. If I got a credential, I would cover each race in depth.
I applied for a Tour de Georgia credential. Jennifer Vincenzo, the Pubicity Director for the TdG, asked me to provide some examples of the coverage I would provide. I provided a list of 12 different story ideas, most of which were behind-the-scenes or sports technology related. I clearly staked out these areas as differentiators for Operation Gadget.
If you look at the coverage I provided, I did several of the stories that I suggested in my credential request, including:
1) Mavic Keeps the Tour de Georgia Riders on the Road
2) How TV Cameras Follow the Tour de Georgia
3) How Race Referees Police the Tour de Georgia
4) Discovery Uses Personal Media Players to Fine-Tune TT TechniqueThe icing on the cake was when ThePaceline.com picked up the Personal Media Players article yesterday and made it their lead. We got an extra 100,000 hits from that, which is a significant boost from our expected traffic.
Congrats Dave.
Last year during the Tour de Georgia I had an idea for a new web site/service, a photo/experience sharing site. The idea came while I was stading on top of Brasstown Bald waiting with a few new friends. One of us had a video camera and the others had digital cameras (some better than others). The conversation turned to picture and video sharing. We exchanged e-mail addresses and said "send me your photos/videos."
This same exchange took place on just about every stage, always with a different group of people. It even happens to me when I go to the US Grand Prix in Indianapolis each year. I thought why not create a web site where everybody can share not only photos, but video and perhaps narratives about the event. Flickr has the photo sharing part down, but not video or narrative. Plus is it also missing a bit of organization. Sure there is tagging, but that does not always work.
My idea was a combination of Flickr and Slashdot. Editors would create event categories and events in the system. For example: Cycling: Tour de Georgia. Users would then be able to post whatever they wanted, photos, videos, audio files or write-ups of the event. Everything would get posted, but similar to Slashdot there would be a member-moderation system. Visitors would be able to rank the quality of a post. If you shot a great picture of the finish or had a well written story it would rise to the top. Users would be able to use the tools the sytem provided or link to content on their blog or other services.
The name I came up with was "I Was There". Of course Iwasthere.com is taken.
Other issues always come up, like how do we make money? Advertising? we all know how well that works. But the hook for ad dollars would be the targeted market. We know that everybody uploading and viewing content about the 'Tour de Georgia' or any other event are obviously interested in that event. Then there is the critical mass thing. If I check out an event and nobody or just one person has posted content I might not be that interested in posting mine.
Today Flickr and blogs can fill most of the needs of this system, but it lacks the central organization. Flickr and Technorati will only turn up so much content tagged 'tourdegeorgia'. Services like Yahoo 360 and MSN Spaces allow users to connect to other users with similar interests, but who is cross-connecting the competing services?
During this year's race I once again thought about my idea from 2004. Sure I can read the TDF Blog or Operation Gadget for other TdG stories, but I want more.
"Where are the locusts"
That was a statement by one of my friends on top of Woody's Gap shortly after the hail storm. If you were there you know what I am talking about. In the span of a few minutes, the sky turned very dark, heavy rains fell, and then the hail. I think it hailed for about 5-7 minutes. The hail covered the road. It looked like snow.
Our day started early. By 'our' I mean myself and the gang of friends from Central Florida that had come up to watch the race. They all brought their bikes to ride. One even brought his wife, it was their 20th anniversary, but that's a whole other story.
Basecamp was my mother's home in Duluth, GA. Rather than playing hotel shuffle we all stayed with her or near her (the anniversary couple stayed at the Alpharetta Marriott). With this central location we would be driving a little bit each day. On Thursday it was to Rome and back. About a two hour drive.
Friday morning our plan was to get to the top of Woody's to secure a parking space by 8:30am. I arrived at Woody's around 9am last year and was able to secure one of the last few spots. For those of you who are new to the TdG the first race was ridiculed becuase the only 'climb' in the entire race was the short side of Woody's.
We arrived at the top to find what I expected, quite a few spots taken, but still some room. But alas the a*#hole park ranger would not let us double park like we had done the previous two years. So it was back down the long-side to find a space.
We parked and I played mini-team director. All the guys got their gear ready and planned to ride the 3-Gap route in advance of the real racers.
While the gang took off to ride, I hiked back up the mountain with coolers, chairs and the abandoned annivesary wife. We walked over the Woody's KOM and back down the other side and staked our claim to an area around 200M from the top. I had learned last year that this location is a bit better than the actual summit since you can see the riders a bit longer.
Some cars were parked along the road in certain locations but for the most part it seemed to be off-limits like last year. That soon changed, many people began to park along the road, often over the white line. The pattern soon reached a critical mass, the point at which there was nothing the rangers could do...what are they going to tow everybody? I quickly hiked back down to our vehicles and drove the Jeep back up and parked 'behind' our chairs.
One thing that is great about following the race year after year is that you see the same people. I saw a guy from Maryland and his son who painted the road on Woody's last year. They painted again this year. One item was a great rendition of the TdG 'Peaches' logo.
Now the wait begins. Part 2 coming soon.
I am back from the Tour de Georgia. I still have quite a few items to post about the race. I have uploaded most of the good photos I had on Flickr. I tried a number of times to meet up with Dave Aiello of Operation Gadget but the timing never worked out.
During my trip I also visited Auburn and met with one of Robert French's PR classes. I'll post on that later today.
Yep, Lance placed 9th in the Time Trial today. Operation Gadget had this quote from Lance.
Of his performance, Armstrong said, "Clearly I'm disappointed. I didn't feel great but I thought I'd do a better ride than that.... {It} clearly shows that I have some work to do." He also said that he's "probably behind on fitness" this year, compared to 2004. "I thought I caught up, but like I said, now I know I haven't, and now it's time to reevaluate the season."
Just to let any readers know my plan is not and has not been to provide a blow-by-blow of the race. I am just posting my experiences at the race. Frank Steele over at the TDF Blog is doing a great job of posting results quickly.
Dave Aiello at Operation Gadget is also following the race.
Floyd Landis of Phonak won the Stage 3 Time Trial in Rome, GA and took the overall GC lead, Lance placed 9th.
It was good to be back in Rome, even though it was a bit rainy today. Last year Rome hosted a stage finish and the time trial on the same day. This year the road stage finish was yesterday and the time trial today.
We arrived around 10:45am and checked out the expo before staking our spot at the top of the short climb on 5th street approx 500m before the finish. I took quite a few shots at the top of the climb and at the bottom. They're up at Flickr.
After the stage finish I went to the side of the podium and saw Floyd and the rest of the top 3. Phonak Chairman Andy Riis was in the states to cheer on Floyd. The whole time I saw him he was on the phone to Europe talking up the win.
As we hung around after the finish one of the TdG staff drove a truck into the finish-line structure, knocking it over. Luckily there was nobody underneath it. The two race-timing clocks on top did not fair so well though.
Rather than fighting the traffic out of Rome we hung around and ate a late lunch. Searching out a restaurant I spied Ted Arnold of Pez Cycling at a local cafe. Our crew of eight ended up at Jefferson's. We were sitting right next to photographer Celia Cole who is working this race for Daily Peloton. Some of Celia's shots can also be seen at The Paceline.
I'll post some more in a bit.
You would think that Nike would make sure the the Atlanta Niketown would have a good supply of Lance's new 10//2 clothing line?
You know the Niketown store in the state that is hosting perhaps Lance's last race on U.S. soil, the Tour de Georgia? You know the U.S. race Lance won last year?
Nope.
According to the manager the Atlanta Niketown was the only one in the U.S. not to receive the clothing line. How clueless can Nike be?
I told the manager I had just flown up from Orlando, hopped on MARTA and headed over here to pick up some gear. She told me I should have flown to Miami.
What shocks me is that Nike is usually pretty on the money with product launches and marketing. How could they miss this one?
I am off to Atlanta this morning. Blogging will be light the next few days, with a focus on the Tour de Georgia.
I will post a recap of my trip to Auburn though.
I have uploaded and organized some photos from the previous races on Flickr.
You can check out the Flickr tag tourdegeorgia for photos from other people.
During the 2004 race I took my Sony MiniDV camera and shot some quick videos. Linked below are some of the videos. All the movies are in QuickTime format. Sorry in advance for the poor camera work.
Stage 3
Blurry shots of the circuits in Rome, GA at the finish of Stage 3.
Stage 4 - Individual Time Trial
Chris Horner finishes his ITT and drops.
Bobby Julich cruises right by me. Little did he know that 2005 would be his year.
Lance zips by in a flash and heads right for the team bus.
Mario finishes his ITT and stops right next to me. He soon autographed a woman's chest.
Stage 5
Next week I will be following the 2005 Tour de Georgia. For the past two years I have followed the race all over the peach state.
The first race in 2003 was exciting because it was the first major cycling stage-race I attended. The finish in downtown Atlanta was a blast, although a logistical nightmare for the city. 2004 brought Lance Armstrong and Mario Cipollini plus a host of other major Division I teams. 2005 looks to be even better with Lance, Floyd Landis, Levi and many more.
I plan to post a series of TdG specific content over the next 10 days. To keep the main page of the blog focused on my normal content, all the Tour de Georgia content will be over at a special Tour de Georgia page (similar to what I did with the Super Bowl Commercials)
I have even created a special Tour de Georgia RSS feed that also splices in Flickr photos.
We recently attended Tour de Georgia cycling race in Georgia. The inaugural event marks the return of true stage racing in the U.S. Something not seen since the Tour DuPont in the early '90s. The initial site was developed by a rather savvy group out of Atlanta (ant farm interactive). Although the site contains all the core elements, it tries to impress too much.
First off a Flash intro. Like all Flash intros, cool to watch the first time, if you have the time, the plugin etc. Then it becomes old the next time and we're searching for the 'skip intro' button.
Interior design features consistent global and local navigation. Sidebar links to Cycling 101 and a Glossary are good ideas, especially when educating the many visitors who may know nothing about the sport of cycling. Course maps are animated, which once again, catches the eye the first time, but if you are visiting the site frequently to follow the race, it gets in the way.
Link off the home page for Tour de Georgia merchandise goes to a page with no co-branding, it's a scary looking store. Also once you leave the home page and navigate around the site, there is no link back home, the user is forced to use the back button, often repeatedly.
Pop-ups are used for the photo gallery, which has become almost a standard usage. One strange thing is the 'downloadable' photos which are offered in PC or MAC format. They are JPG files that are either zipped (.zip) or stuffed (.sit). But the compression offers little file size savings. So why zip up a single photo?
Results are now online, but usually not in a timely manner, but that's not the purpose of the site. CyclingNews.com offers the most up-to-the-minute coverage of all major cycling events, so that's where we went for our results. As an aside, VeloNews.com also covered the event, but it's sad when a web site based out of Australia (CyclingNews) does a better job of covering a US cycling race, than a US based site (VeloNews.
I understand though that one major goal of the site may have been to attract sponsors, and there is nothing a would-be sponsor will fall for more, than a slick looking web site.
All in all, Ant Farm does some cool stuff, and I like there logo.
e-mail: josh@hyku.com
skype: jrhallett
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