NSCA Media Project
Background
The currently elected Executive Council has identified as a priority project, the generation of marketing material to support member clubs and further the aims of the NSCA in general, namely, “to develop the sport at all levels of participation”. In the absence of a funded marketing position on the NSCA Staff, the EC has decided to ask the national delegates for a rule change to increase the target fees $1/100 targets for three years to fund a pilot media project which would result in (a) a 26-episode per year television series for 2012-2014, which would bring shotgun sports to the 30 million homes that view the Outdoor Channel, or similar channel, and (b) video marketing collateral that could be used in a variety of formats to further familiarize potential NSCA members with shotgun sports in general, the NSCA, NSSA, and affiliated clubs. While the production of related marketing materials is not currently being proposed, an enormous amount of usable material will be produced from the filming of the television series content. All fees collected from the increase in target fees would be dedicated to marketing efforts for the NSCA, its clubs and membership.
Shotgun Sports Television Series
The project will result in the filming, editing, production of 26 episodes per year intended to be aired three times a week.
Project Management
The project will eventually be managed by a Media Committee, selected by the Executive Council. This committee will consist of EC members, as well as those NSCA members and non-members who have experience in media production. Until the committee is selected, the EC will, as a group, direct the initial activities.
Project Timeline
Production will commence in late second quarter of 2011 and continue through the summer and into the first part of fourth quarter. Initial airing will occur in the first quarter, 2012. Each subsequent year that the series is continued, production generally precedes airing by 6 months.
Project Economics
Project funding consists of three sources: targets fees, which total about $190K for the year; title sponsor fees, for the most part collectible over the course of series airing and estimated to be from $75-100K; and commercial spot sales, all totaling $350-400K for a series year. Since production costs precede all funding sources except target fees, the NSCA/NSSA will have to agree to float the cash flow for the first year, the balance of which is projected not to exceed $75K. The project would be cash flow neutral in first quarter, 2011, and remain so going forward. On a cumulative basis, it is breakeven in first quarter of 2012 and going forward.
Series Content
While format is yet to be decided, it is envisioned that the 30 minute series, consisting of 22 minutes of programming and 8 minutes of commercial time, would cover, over the course of a 26 week production, topics such as (a) shotgun sports (sporting, skeet, trap, Olympic sports, FITASC, etc.), (b) clubs visits (NSC, Sparta, OTC, major NSCA affiliate clubs, resort clubs, etc.), (c) shotgun manufacturers, (d) related business manufacturers, (e) major competitions (NSCA Nationals, NSSA Worlds, ATA Grand, SCTP Nationals, 4H Nationals, oil field events, FITASC World Championships, Olympic event World Championships, etc.), (f) tips from the pros, and (g) related organization contact (NSSF, NRA, USA Shooting, ISSF, etc.).
Expected Results
The goals of the project are (a) to raise the public’s awareness of shotgun sports in general and the recreational opportunity that shotgun sports represent, and (b) increase the flow of customers at the club level. There will be no attempt to convert the viewer to competitive sporting clays, the theory being that increased participation in shotgun sports in general will increase awareness of and interest in competitive sporting clays proportionately. The success of this program will ultimately be connected to other successful marketing and membership enhancement programs carried out by NSCA. Of course, the final metric will be increased membership in the NSCA!
Frequently Asked
Questions
1. What is the background for deciding to produce a television show based on shotgun sports? One of the most common complaints voiced by member club owners and managers is “what is the NSCA doing for me?” The most common comment heard about individual membership is “why can’t we figure out how to make the membership grow?” The current EC, at its initial meeting (actually even before the election) agreed that one of the fundamental assertions we would base our agenda on is that the clubs were the future of the sport. As go the clubs, so goes membership! As go the clubs, so goes the NSCA! Everything derives from the health and prosperity of our member clubs. So then the question became, what can we do to help the clubs? The answer we eventually came to was that we needed to promote shotgun sports in general, make it easier for individuals to find local clubs, and generally make the public more aware that shotgun sports represent an opportunity to have fun! This led to our efforts to fund the proposed television show.
2. What will the format of the program be? It has not yet been decided, other than that we will produce 26, 30 minute episodes per year covering some combination of (a) overview and introduction to shotgun sports (sporting, skeet, trap, Olympic shotgun events, etc.), (b) club profiles and visits, (c) competitive event coverage (NSCA Nationals, ATA Grand, Skeet Worlds, 4H and SCTP Nationals, etc.), (d) industry profiles and visits to relevant factories (“How They Build It” style visits to shotgun manufacturers, clay target factories, trap manufacturers, shot towers, etc.), and (e) anything else we can think of that can fit in the final format and that would be interesting to the viewers.
3. How confident are we that the cost estimates for this project are accurate? We have gathered as much information as we can from those with relevant knowledge of both production and network airtime buy negotiations which has resulted in a spreadsheet that has been used to estimate the worst case negative cash flow. There is no question, however, that until contracts are proposed, negotiations with one or more networks has started, and other details decided upon, there is a degree of uncertainty in our analysis. We have tried to be conservative in our estimates so that the probability of something unforeseen causing a major disruption is as low as we know how to make it at this point.
4. Okay, so what happens if something happens that makes the cost estimates really inaccurate? If, during the startup phase, we realize that the cash flow will be unacceptable in the first year (when there are no revenue sources other than target fees), we will delay production until a later time when the accumulated funds from target fees are adequate to fully fund the project.
Worst case, if we, for some unknown reason, decide to abandon the project, the fees will continue to be collected through the year the decision is made to end the project, and the resultant funds will be used to promote the sport and our clubs. If the project is terminated prematurely, target fee collection will not continue past the end of the year of the termination.
5. Shouldn’t a television show be considered as part of an overall marketing program? The answer is, of course! The problem is, NSCA does not have enough excess cash in its annual budget to fund a marketing person and the programs that you would expect from such a position. Someone likened this to a chicken and egg problem. We are proposing to go forward with a television series which will hopefully eventually generate enough cash to help fund additional marketing and collateral generation programs to further help our clubs promote the sport and the NSCA membership. If we can grow the membership, that will also contribute to our ability to fund more programs.
As stated earlier, the current EC believes that healthy and robust member clubs will result in a proportional growth in sporting, which will result in some percentage of individuals deciding to pursue competitive sporting clays.
6. The EC is re-elected every two years. What happens if a new EC is elected mid-way through this project? The EC is re-elected every two years and each member can serve a maximum of three consecutive terms. For this program or any other initiative to be successful, regardless of the tenure of the current EC, you, the delegates, as the body that elects the AC and subsequently the EC, have the responsibility to see it through to fruition if you believe it is the right course of action for the sport, the organization, member clubs, and individual members.
7. This project, if successful, should result in more people interested in sporting clays. But not all such people are interested in competitive shooting. Shouldn’t we be thinking about how to accommodate the shooter that doesn’t want to venture very far away from his/her local club? Yes, and this program is an excellent opportunity to address this issue. The NSSA and NSCA, in another parallel effort, are spending a lot of time thinking about ways to craft a Recreational Membership category, and we can learn from this effort. Timing wise, this project should generate a new level of interest in the sport in the mid-2012 timeframe, which would be a good time for us to introduce a program that embraces the club shooter who does not want to travel on the tournament circuit! So, there is synergy in these programs.
8. Speaking of timing, when will the program appear on TV? Content production and edit precedes scheduled air times by 6-9 months. They can, of course, be made to have much shorter and it may be appropriate to handle production on a shorter schedule for some content. As we start up, however, content production will commence in the second quarter of 2011 with first airing targeted for first quarter of 2012. Network air time purchase precedes airing by almost a year!