No More Janus Charity Challenge
Frist off, I think it is awesome that RnP are offering to help us out with our fundraising efforts. That is going way above and beyond!
On a not so great note, it appears WTC and Janus have ended their relationship:
http://www.trijuice.com/2010/11/par...n_ends.htm
"Given the deep impact this program has made on so many individuals, nonprofits and communities, we are disappointed to announce that our sponsorship with Ironman will not be continuing in 2011. While the program will remain in effect for Ironman Florida and Arizona in 2010, we were not able to structure an ongoing partnership with Ironman that would be mutually beneficial to both organizations."
I wonder how Ben is going to spin this one???
0
Comments
Why not find another way to make a buck? Set up their own charity challenge and skim the admin off the top? I wonder.
Not saying that I like this situation, but having a hard time seeing how all the backlash is going to actually materially hurt their bottom line...
From what I've seen at races, a core strategy of the WTC model is to look around the expo, their races, the tri space, see who/what is making money or building relationships with their customers, and either buy those people, take them over, or squeeze them out. Consider:
I think we are days away from WTC announcing their own charity challenge, or whatever, so they can more directly capitalize on the do-gooder mojo that surrounds fundraising. If you think about it, for years they've been once removed from the mojo of the JCC. This way it can be the ICC and they can directly benefit from that mojo.
That said, I don't understand why they announced this before having their own program in place, especially considering the recent fiasco of Ironman Access. It's almost like they have a recuring To-Do calendar item scheduled for Mondays that sayd "Fook up something else this week so that we continue to be the bad guys"
.
Only thing I can think of is that JCC jumped the gun and announced the ending of the relationship before WTC was expecting it.
I'm guessing that's gotta be it. I wouldn't be surprised if Janus was walking away with some ill will over the negotiations (or lack thereof). There's certainly some acrimony over the Gatorade -> Powerbar drink negotiations at Gatorade, IIRC.
On a side note, I asked whether there were any qualification criteria whatsoever to enter the "series finale" in Clearwater for next year's 5150 series. The answer was no, which tells me that we are simply gaining a local late season olympic. I did mention that they would be doing the community a disservice if they ever use "Ironman" in conjuction with these events. The i-dot in the 5i50 logo is their signal that the M-dot will not be watered down at this distance.
That's pretty much it, but it was a nice gesture for them to call on a Friday afternoon when most of their staff was out in Clearwater for tomorrow's championship. Perhaps they are getting more sensitive to the perception out there.