Meteksan Archery World Cup Concept – Questions & Answers

Archery World Cup Concept – Questions & Answers   Why was the Archery World Cup created? (Sport development reasons, commercial reasons, etc.) At the IOC session 2005 in Singapore, archery was confirmed as an Olympic sport. However, there were three areas that required improvement:   Ø Tickets sales Ø TV coverage Ø Sponsorship revenues   FITA understood this message from the IOC and strongly responded with the creation of the Archery World Cup. With four Stages and a Final, the World Cup has several targets:   Ø Involve top-level archers all year long. Ø Host finals of each Stage in exciting locations (downtown or in places that are tourist attractions) to provide great promotion for a city / region. Ø Host a grand World Cup Final in an extraordinary venue. Ø Develop a strong sponsorship platform. Ø Give archery more media exposure.   The Archery World Cup was launched in 2006 and it has received glowing reviews from athletes, media, fans and sponsors since. Through allowing vast flexibility for organisers to take the competition venue to spectacular locations together with a focus to make the event into a show, the Archery World Cup has raised spectator and media interest in all the host cities as well as in international viewership.   The first World Cup Final was held in 2006 at the Mayapan Pyramids (MEX). The 2007 edition took place in Dubai (UAE). In the Emirates, FITA built a 70-meter floating platform on the Madinat Jumeirah Lake with the famous 7-star hotel Burj Al Arab in the background.   Nowadays, the special concept is implemented for all the World Archery events! Stages of the World Cup took place in the “Oldest Fort of the New World” in Santo Domingo (DOM). The archers stopped by the Marina in Porec (CRO) and they shot on the beach in Antalya (TUR). The recent locations that were chosen include the downtown of metropolitan Shanghai (CHN), the western part of the USA in Ogden, Utah, the famous Nyhavn Canal in wonderful Copenhagen (DEN) and the Gardens of Edinburgh (GBR).   Before the event, promotional activities are held in the city to create a buzz and anticipation for the event, which also allow fans to mingle with the stars and for people to try out archery. With such efforts to take the event to the city and to the people, the promotional impact for both the city and archery is significantly increased.   How have the athletes responded? With a lot of world records! The best archers in the world took the opportunity to be on the front stage and the level raised not only at the top but also in the middle of the pack. Many world records were broken every year and (potential) medallists came from far more countries than in the past. In the 2009 World Championships, an unprecedented 12 countries from five continents won medals.   The World Cup Stages give to anyone more chance to compete at the highest level and improve. The stages have reached new participation heights bringing together more than 300 athletes from about 40 countries on many occasions.   The World Cup gives the archers the possibility to compete in high level events several times during the season with good organisation, strong support from fans and strong competition. It is also the chance for the archers to compete in front of live television and a lot of media interest. The archers have enjoyed every minute of it and have gotten a lot of recognition back in their own countries. For instance, Dola BANERJEE (IND) and Jorge JIMENEZ (ESA) have become true national heroes with wins in the Archery World Cup.   How have commercial companies responded? The commercial companies have also taken the opportunity to get more visibility with archery and to be associated with values such as:   Ø accuracy, technology Ø dedication, target Ø elegance, well-being Ø nature, clean sport   Companies such as KIA Motors, Longines, Turkish Airlines, Vakifbank or TFORS have joined an integrated sponsorship program that gives a lot of activation opportunities for the sponsors. The World Archery sponsors benefit from the visibility on the field, logos and advertisements on TV, the FITA website or in the Target Magazine, etc… They also have the chance to enjoy first-hand contacts with the best archers in the world and sometimes to shoot with them! The World Archery sponsorship program gives rights to every event of the World Cup and the World Championships.   The World Cup has also provided more visibility for the manufacturers of archery equipment who has in turn given more support.   Has the World Cup been able to generate more media attention for the sport of Archery? With an estimated cumulative audience of 800 millions every year since 2006, archery has definitely been a hit with TV audience and with its new television programs.   The success of archery has been proofed one more time by a study conducted by the International Olympic Committee. Every minute of archery at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has been watched by more than 35 million viewers on an average! This ranks archery at the 10th place among the 28 Olympic sports.   World Archery has been praised for the quality of its images, not only during the Olympic Games but also during each stage of the World Cup. FITA has been working since 2006 with the same FITA TV team (HTR company) as Host Broadcaster. FITA has started producing in the 16/9 format in 2008 and in HD in 2009.   Archery images are shown in key markets such as China, India, Russia, Korea, Turkey, France, Italy, Ukraine, Great Britain and many others. In December 2007, World Archery was the first international sports federation to launch a new web TV on YouTube (www.archery.tv) where the fans can see all the final matches of each event. The website (www.archery.org) has also undergone a lot of improvements and provides live results and commentaries. The coverage in other media has been constantly on the rise as well and archery has regularly appeared in major newspapers worldwide.   Have there been any negative consequences of creating a World Cup? World Archery launched the World Cup in 2006 and it has carefully planned its organization to avoid any negative consequences. In television for example, FITA directly manages most aspects of the competition. For instance, all the technology (results, accreditations, TV graphics, website, etc.) is managed with one of the FITA sponsor, TFORS (Technology FOR Sports). FITA has also hired a Sport Presentation company to ensure that the fans fully appreciate the show on the archery field. FITA has also conducted seminars with its local organisers to make sure that they understand the whole concept of the World Cup and that every one plays its role perfectly. A full debrief by FITA after each event also ensures that the knowledge is transferred and that the events keep improving.   Has the creation of the World Cup shifted the level of importance of the World Championships / Are there any thought of combining the World Cup and World Championships somehow in the future? The figures clearly show that the World Cup has added value to archery and that it had not clustered the benefits of the World Archery Outdoor Championships.   FITA has benefited from the World Cup experience to enhance as well the World Championships. FITA has used the same sponsorship platform for the World Cup and the World Championships to bring more value to the sponsors. On the media side, FITA has benefited from the experience and the reputation of the World Cup to enjoy live coverage of the World Championships in many countries around the globe.   Since 2006, the Archery World Cup has enhanced the identity and all the activities that World Archery has been running. With the recognition of the World Cup and the interest of media worldwide, there is more leverage and motivation to be drawn from this fantastic event for the expansion of archery.   FITA Communication Updated January 2010