Georges St. Pierre | Source: MMAWeekly.com
While her first client continues to mesmerize fans with his performances inside of the Octagon, Shari Spencer, manager of UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre and UFC Lightweight Champion Frank Edgar, turned heads last year when she successfully negotiated sponsorship agreements with Gatorade and Under Armour to represent GSP to the mainstream masses.
With 2009 now in the rear view mirror, Spencer recently donated her time to conduct a lengthy interview with Tapology’s Steven Kelliher in regards to continuing the effort to build St-Pierre into a brand the likes of which MMA has yet to see from one of its own. In addition, Spencer discussed the current state of MMA in the mainstream, what it would take for other fighters aside from St-Pierre to break into that picture in the future, how her client has been dealing with his increase in fame, and much more.
Tapology: The UFC recently opened an office in Toronto. What impact do you think that will have on the ongoing struggle to get MMA sanctioned in Ontario?
Spencer: Well, I think primarily it’s going to benefit Ontario because right now fans are traveling from Ontario to Montreal and spending their tax dollars there. MMA is huge in Canada, particularly on a per capita basis, so the fact that they haven’t regulated it hasn’t hurt the sport, but this will definitely help it. I think hiring the person that they did will bring some more legitimacy to the sport, just like it did when they brought Marc Ratner over.
Tapology: Moving on to GSP—I heard that the line to get an autograph from him at the UFC Fan Expo was around seven hours; what has it been like for you to see his celebrity rise so dramatically over the past few years and how has he been dealing with it?
Spencer: For me, everything we’ve been working for has been for him to have that level of celebrity and to have recognition outside of the sport. I notice him being recognized in the airport or in restaurants much more now than a few years ago, and the line at the Expo was a testament to that. Even Georges is sometimes taken aback at the impact that he has on people—that they are willing to wait in line for seven hours just for ten seconds of interaction with him.
Tapology: Do you see his popularity growing even more in the future and becoming more overwhelming?
Spencer: I do see it going bigger. I think some of the things that we’re working on now will continue to take him to that level. I think it will create a new challenge, which is finding new ways to maintain that balance. When I first started working with him, he was relatively unknown in Montreal, so that was sort of a haven for him; we intentionally did not look for sponsors in Quebec to allow him to have that anonymity for as long as he could. That all changed with UFC 83 in April of 08’.
I think we need to keep looking for ways to let him be normal. I’ll give you an example: we were at the Expo, and we had a couple of hours before signing autographs. Georges saw all of the people out at the pool having fun and he would’ve loved to go out there, but he knew there was no way he could go out without being mobbed. He can’t be a normal guy anymore and I think he’s adjusting to that quite well.
Tapology: One of the biggest stories about Georges last year was his sponsorships with Gatorade and Under Armour. We saw him involved with a Spring ad campaign for Under Armour, but what can we expect to see of him from those two brands in the future?
Spencer: The initial deal we had with Gatorade was a year deal that expired in March, but we did renew with them for another 18 months and we will be shooting a commercial in August that hopefully you will see by the end of the year. With Under Armour, I think you will continue to see activation in that realm—maybe even a signature line of GSP products.
Tapology: Similar to top athletes in more mainstream sports, is it your main goal to build Georges himself into a brand?
Spencer: Absolutely. You’ll also notice that our latest sponsor was announced before his last fight: Mission Skin Care, which is a line of skin care products designed by and for athletes. They have other iconic athletes like Serena Williams and Steve Nash, so again it’s showing Georges as an athlete, rather than as a fighter trying to build a brand. He participated in the development of a muscle rub along with Steve Nash and Serena Williams, so that’s the first product that you’ll see his image on.
Tapology: Judging by your experiences in dealing with executives from Gatorade, Under Armour, and Mission Skin Care, how knowledgeable about the sport of MMA are they, or are they only interested in Georges?
Spencer: It really depends on the brand. We’re still with Affliction, and they obviously know the field. With Under Armour, they had been looking at the space for a few years and just felt that Georges was the right athlete to activate with. With Gatorade, there was a bit of an education process. There were some executives who were afraid of losing the soccer moms, and I think it’s fairly understandable that the “corporate types” need some education and need to understand that it’s not just two guys fighting in a cage.
Tapology: Could you see these companies endorsing other fighters within the next few years, or do you think Georges was a unique case that attracted their attention based on his mainstream appeal?
Spencer: I don’t want to speak for the brands, but I think Georges represents a fairly safe way to enter the sport. I have not been made aware of any plans to enter the sport in a more aggressive way—with the exception of Affliction—but I think that Georges is a test case and how consumers respond to Georges will determine how much deeper they go into the sport.
Tapology: I think an interesting aspect of the way MMA fans respond to seeing Georges in these campaigns is that they seem to root for his success. You don’t see that kind of reaction among fans of other sports.
Spencer: Those of us who are fans of the sport are very proud and passionate, so when we see one of our own that is represented in a mainstream brand’s commercial, we feel like they’re finally getting it.
Tapology: Back when you were in negotiations with some of these large companies, were there any companies you approached that had no interest in representing an MMA fighter?
Spencer: There were some that we spent a lot of time trying to educate, and there was some frustration, but it’s the same thing the UFC goes through trying to introduce the sport to new markets. Sometimes you feel like a bit of an Evangelist converting disciples to the sport.
Tapology: What is in the way of widespread mainstream sponsorships of fighters right now and what might help to make the transition easier in the future?
Spencer: There are many facets to that answer. I think part of it is the fighters themselves and how they conduct themselves. Rampage, for example, is a colorful character, but that particular character is not going to fit in with every brand. Brock Lesnar and Chuck Liddell are probably the most recognized faces in the sport, but the Mohawk and tattoos aren’t going to resonate with every brand out there.
Most of the sponsors in the sport right now are relying on brand placement during the fights, so they’re effectively buying an event sponsorship via the fighter.
Tapology: Georges is going to be a coach on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter. How much of the decision to have him coach was based off of his desire to do so and to fight Josh Koscheck and how much was based off of getting him more television exposure now that his English is much improved?
Spencer: I think our motivation wasn’t so much to build Georges’s mainstream recognition because I think that the people that tune in to TUF already know who Georges is. I think it will give us an opportunity for them to get to know Georges even better. It’s also an opportunity now for him to start giving back. He has reached a pinnacle in his career that he can now help to encourage other fighters, and I think you will be impressed with the level of coaching this season. Iron sharpens iron, so this team is really going to benefit from him.
Tapology: A lot of fans are disappointed that this means we won’t be seeing Georges fight again until December. How does he feel about the long layoff? He has said in the past that he prefers it.
Spencer: He does because when he is training for a fight, his goal is set on that opponent and everything is about finding sparring partners and developing a strategy to win that fight, because everybody knows how sophisticated he is with his game plans. When he is not training for a specific opponent, he is improving his skills as a fighter in general.
For example, two weeks ago we were in L.A. and he trained with Freddie Roach for a week to work on his boxing. He has to keep training during his off time in order to keep that interval between himself and the rest of the pack.
Tapology: In MMA more than in most other sports, each performance is very important to an athlete’s financial success. If a basketball player loses a game, he can play again a few days later, but a fighter might have to wait six months. With that said, how proportional do you think the relationship is between Georges’s in-cage success and his mainstream appeal? If he were to be knocked out by Josh Koscheck, do you think it would do a lot of damage to him in terms of his recognition?
Spencer: We are very careful not to have any performance clauses built into our contracts. I think if he did lose he would handle it with the same class that he always carries himself with, and I think he will always be a draw whether he is the champion or not. Chuck Liddell still puts butts in seats, and he hasn’t been the champion for a while now. Certainly it helps having the title, but I don’t think he would be diminished by a single loss at all.
Tapology: Do you think Georges’s exposure to casual fans is important to the continued acceptance of MMA in the mainstream?
Spencer: I think it benefits Georges, the UFC in particular, and the sport in general. It’s not just about Georges; it’s all encompassing, and if you were a bad role model it could do some damage to the sport. I don’t think you’ll ever see that from Georges. When people meet him, they have a different view of what a fighter is, of what a mixed martial artist is.
Tapology: Do you think it’s possible for other fighters to attain the same level of success without world-class representation?
Spencer: It’s possible. I don’t know in every case what is holding fighters back. I will say that the first thing I did with Georges—and it’s why I think we’ve been so successful—is I took everything off of his plate that did not contribute to him becoming a better fighter, whether it was media relations or something else. 98% of the time, he is training and getting better.
By allowing him to do that, I can then leverage his performance into getting the best sponsorship deals that we can, but I see a lot of fighters that handle their own scheduling and manage their own careers because they don’t want to pay a management fee or haven’t found someone they feel they can trust.
Tapology: My last question is a very broad one. Why Frankie Edgar?
Spencer: You know, I find it interesting that people were surprised when I signed him as my second fighter. I was approached and asked about considering him, did my homework, and at the end of the day I have a set of criteria when selecting a client. I have to want to help them, they have to have the talent, and they have to be marketable.
Tapology: Thank you very much for the time, Shari.
Spencer: Thank you.
