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Form Athletics - Competing in the MMA World

Photograph courtesy of www.mma-scraps.com

With mixed martial arts, MMA, being one of the fastest growing sports world wide, it is no surprise that there are many apparel and athletic brands attempting to tap into the market. With so many MMA based brands being advertised globally, how does one succeed? Form Athletics seems to have implemented the perfect game plan for MMA success.

Form Athletics was co-founded by Bantamweight superstar Urijah "The California Kid" Faber and Mark Miller. According to Sherdog, a very respected and prominent MMA website, Faber is currently one of the top ranked Bantamweight fighters and the world and he is the former Gladiator Challenge Bantamweight champion, former King of the Cage Bantamweight champion, and the former WEC Featherweight champion. Get more Urijah Faber statistics from Sherdog here. Mark Miller came into the brand as the former Senior Vice President at DC Shoes Company. The two teamed up and based Form Athletics out of Laguna Beach, California. Merely seven months after the launch of the Form Athletics brand, K-Swiss, also California based, took interest. K-Swiss has now acquired Form Athletics and is continuing to produce and advertise the brand to the MMA world. Read more about the acquisition here.

So how did Form Athletics do it? With so many brands trying to get their market share of the MMA world, how did they succeed in being acquired by the huge company in K-Swiss in only seven months? A lot of factors go into it, but in my opinion, an expert marketing and advertising strategy is at the heart of their success.

When Mark Miller teamed with Urijah Faber, that in itself gave the company a huge advantage. Faber is known for his tireless work ethic and is an outstanding ambassador for the sport, both inside and outside of the ring. In having Faber as the face of the brand, Form Athletics got a lot of support from the fans of MMA. Now, Form features signature lines from many exciting and respectable MMA fighters such as Jon "Bones" Jones, Chad Mendez, Anthony "Showtime" Pettis, and Mark "The Filipino Wrecking Machine" Munoz.

(Listed left to right: Joseph Benavidez, Urijah Faber, Mark Munoz) Courtesy of www.formathletics.com

Aside from having many popular fighters represent the brand to give it popularity; Form Athletics has also been able to differentiate itself from the typical MMA clothing line. In a recent interview with Mark Miller, Ariel Helwani asked Miller why the brand did not use "skulls and the crosses" as many typical MMA brands are using. Miller is quoted as saying that Form Athletics is "a brand that was really associated with athleticism as opposed to aggression...We don't want to put skulls on our guys, we don't want to put weapons on our guys, we don't want to say it's a blood sport. Okay, our guys train like it's nobody's business." By focusing on presenting their MMA fighters as "athletes" instead of just "fighters," which no other brand seems to be doing in the MMA world, they have been able to gain a lot of commercial popularity. See the full interview between Helwani and Miller here.

Instead of focusing on aggression or hate, Form has realized what MMA is really all about, and that is competition. They realize that to be a mixed martial artist you need to be in the best physical shape in order to compete at the highest level. By creating a brand that has focused on presenting classy athletes, who train harder than anybody, and who are respectable fighters, they have had an incredible amount of success in a very short amount of time.

Checkout the latest Form Athletics commercial below to see how they are presenting themselves as a lifestyle brand in the MMA world.

Do you think that Form has done a good job competing with other major MMA brands such as Tapout, Dethrone Royalty, and Affliction? Personally I think they have done an incredible job tapping into a completely different market of mixed martial artists. I am looking forward to seeing what new marketing strategies Form Athletics pulls out next in order to remain successful in an industry as intense as the sport it represents. If the career of "The California Kid" is any indication as to how well Form Athletics will perform in the future, I'd say there are many good things still to come.

John Galliano Being Fired From Dior - Opportunity in Disguise

With all of the news lately about celebrities getting into sticky situations due to offensive comments, it should come as no surprise that John Galliano, famous Christian Dior designer, has found himself in a similar spot.

photo credit: vivavictoriavintage.blogspot.com

According to The Wall Street Journal, Christian Dior suspended Galliano on Friday with the intent of firing him after he made some "anti-Semitic" remarks in a bar in Paris. Galliano admitted his love for Hitler and even went as far as saying to fellow bar goers, "People like you should be dead."

In France, anti-Semitic remarks are deemed illegal and are punishable by six months in prison. It will take a while for Galliano to be "officially" released from Dior due to the fact that in France the procedures for firing someone are a lengthy process. See the full article from The Wall Street Journal here.

Natalie Portman, who has represented perfume by Christian Dior, has made it public that she will not be associated with Galliano in any way. This is not only bad press for Galliano and his own personal brand, but for Dior as a whole. The release of Galliano's fall-winter collection is coming up very soon at the Paris Fashion Week and due to the time crunch, Dior has stated they will continue to use the almost completed Galliano products. This is a very risky move for Dior as Galliano is getting so much negative publicity at the moment.

Should Dior continue with the collection? What will the public response be at the release? Personally, I think that although this is extremely bad press for Dior, it will ultimately prove beneficial in the long run. Although it is negative attention right now, the fact of the matter is that Dior is getting publicity. The word of mouth publicity of any idea or brand is extremely valuable. Like stated before, Galliano is the not the first big name celebrity to be caught with his foot in his mouth. Soon enough, another celebrity will come along, make a mistake, and say something foolish. Especially with today's media, it seems as though everything ends up on the internet. When this does happen, the public will be less likely to remember this particular incident and simply remember Dior in general.

I look at this as a great business opportunity. Dior can bring in a new, young artist to create a collection and give a fresh look to the brand. They could start a whole new marketing campaign and rally around the new designer. This would inevitably create new publicity for the brand and ultimately make people forget about the negativity that is happening right now. Dior has statistically made done worse than that of Louis Vuitton in both sales and operating margin. Also, it is stated in The Wall Street Journal that since 2002 Galliano, even with media buzz of his runway fashion ideas, did not really create much of a financial profit for the company. This leads back to my point in that a new designer, with a new take on the brand, would prove beneficial to reaching a new audience and creating a profit.

What are your thoughts? Should Galliano's collection be released? Is there a good business opportunity hidden beneath the scandal?