Extra Special Product News

Today the cachet of its name alone is overwhelming. ESPN—the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network—is much more than its embryonic days of sports highlights, rodeo and Australian Rules Football. Now it is a full-fledged brand that includes eight television networks, a radio network, the X Games and BASS properties.

ESPN is going full-bore into the consumer products arena, expanding on its successful product that recently hit the market.

“The relationship has to be there with the fan for a while,” says vice president and general manager of ESPN consumer products Steve Cipolla. “They trust us…they are loyal to the brand.”

“For a product to be sucessful it has to be relevant,” says Cipolla. “What we are doing in consumer products is very strategic; its relationship to the family; its meaning to the family; it needs to bring them closer to sports, closer to us.”

And that is where the genesis of the ESPN consumer products is based. The company, which, face it, is always going be broadcast-driven, says that its consumer products are not only entertaining, but also introduce the youngerster to the brand well before he or she becomes fixated with “catching the 11 p.m. Sports Center, that's where we are,” says Cipolla.

“It benefits the company on a lot of levels says Geoff Reiss, ESPN senior vice president and GM. “Clearly it benefits consumer products to contribute to the [company's] bottom line…by introducing younger kids to the ESPN [brand] name.”

Reiss says that not having to hit a certain number gives the division a bit of liberation, giving it the freedom to try different things. If one idea doesn't fly, it doesn't torpeedo the entire operation.

Most eight-year-olds arn't going to be anxiously anticipatiing the next Sports Center, but they will be playing with a trivia game, riding a skateboard or shooting hoops with ESPN-branded merchandise.

“People don't realize the extent of the ESPN brand name,” says Cipolla. “X Games, Bass Masters; it's more than people think. And we're able to work with our licensees to position our products differently than others, from a brand perspective.”

A top game is the Game Station (MSRP $179.99) that incorporates the favorite accoutrements of your local pub activity. It is basically a combined basketball hoop and scoreboard in a unit that fits in the bedroom.

“For all the people that see ESPN [programming], this is something they can see and touch and connect to,” says Cipolla. “It's a connection that kids will make. It brings them closer to us. We are thrilled to have a feature section in Toys 'R' Us [in the fall] featuring our things.”

According to Cipolla, “we didn't just jump into this thing” because it was a required extension for the brand, but rather was methodically planned and executed. After all, the brand was founded in 1979.

“The brand has what no other brand can deliver,” says Cipolla. “We are relevant because of our reach. You know, people will watch ESPN 54 minutes a day—that's an average person. As for the sports fan, well…”

The statistics are enormous and the following keeps getting bigger. The consumer products have a built-in consumer and retailers should waste no time grabbing a piece of what could be a very big future.