COMMENT: ​WWE/UFC merger sets blueprint for fan marketing

Earlier this month we heard the sound of a seismic corporate bodyslam as WWE and UFC combined to form a $21 billion sports entertainment company.

Beyond the financials there are hugely interesting opportunities which these two behemoths are bound to exploit that could be the blueprint for brands and the future of fan marketing for years to come.

WWE has long been a success story of direct-to-consumer marketing. Underrated in the more snobby corridors of senior professional sports and ents, but with a vice-like grip over the attention of millions of young fans.

It took the merchandise game to new levels, rinsing every channel and media node imaginable to cultivate and leverage fandom. From the huge PPV audiences to app subscriptions, via live event merchandise, action figures, hit video games and hundreds more off shoots besides.

The result is an ever evolving eco-system to rival Marvel or Star Wars, thus producing a social media juggernaut. With over 16 billion social video views in the final quarter of last year, nearly 94m YouTube subscribers and more than 20 million followers on TikTok.

There is a positive modern nuance too which has not gone unnoticed, with female wrestlers comprising five out of the top 15 most-followed female athletes in the world across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This is popular, and impactful.

All this adds to the potency and relentless innovations of UFC, already boasting a cool 37 million Instagram followers and over 77 billion Tik Tok views.

The current UFC owner and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel will lead the business, taking a controlling interest in the new hybrid company.

But behind the numbers and between the legal lines, there is an emerging fan template which feels full of verve, swagger and super smart thinking that will undoubtedly be mimicked by many. Two of the greats being smashed together under such leadership will disrupt sports beyond fight entertainment.

Firstly will be a kind of bridging of ages never before witnessed in two different verticals. The coming together of the two means there will be a ready-made graduation or nursery slope of young wrestling fans who, as they get older, will seamlessly diffuse across to the more violent and aggressive combat sport of UFC.

Such enamoured consumers will be captured early with the glitz and glamour of WWE, where multiple storylines and an almost endless universe of possibilities make for a telenovela style soap opera narrative, which is cat nip to the young. They get to see backstories, alternative outcomes, and get sucked into battles of right and wrong through different characters and their complicated histories.

These same young consumers will now have an immediate path as they age and as their tastes mature, not needing to abandon the premises set in WWE and will instead be led by the hand into MMA via the slick UFC product. From fake moves and choreographed routines through to savage beatings and blood stained canvases, a new company will be better able to ensure the valuable fan asset is not just lost to other passions, sports and interests.

If they’ve been cultivated and nurtured as a parent-pestering 10 year old, they can be rinsed hard at 18 for their pay per view and live dollars in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The crossover events and blending of talent will be another huge opportunity which the new company will relish in exploiting. Just as in music where supergroups emerge from the ashes of old bands, or infamous collaborations make one off hits from stars of different genres, so the same will happen here. UFC hall of famers can come back for a last hurrah onto the wrestling circuit, reaping rewards against a very different type of sports personality.

Likewise, up and coming talent can be introduced and drip fed to unsure audiences via this ultimate discovery device. Either sports’ guaranteed watching millions can judge if the new talent is right or not, a gladiator-like social media litmus test for who is likely to succeed or fail, and where personality is everything.

Entirely new events, from digitally enabled hybrid live shows to online only watchalong moments can be piloted and trialled, combining moments of UFC and WWE together. From the mixing of martial arts moves, to the flexing of the rules, from wrestlers in the octagon and MMA athletes using tables, ladders and chairs in the ring. Mini moments can help owners work out what the audience really loves, how far to push the sports, what spin off content can look like, while all still generating both eyeballs and advertising dollars.

It is a match made in heaven. Yet when you look beyond the attention grabbing numbers in the headlines, you see there is a truly rich canvas with which future marketeers will surely learn from.

James Kirkham is founder of ICONIC