Niche Marketing to the Filipino
In May, UFC 98 featured a light heavyweight bout between Phillipe Nover and Kyle Bradley. 1 minute and 3 seconds into the fight, Nover was caught in a fury of punches, dropped to the mat but quickly regained ground. Even though Nover appeared capable of continuing in the fight, referee Yves Lavigne thought otherwise and quickly called a TKO in Bradley’s favor. The fans booed Lavigne’s decision.
Nover, considered by many to be the toughest registered nurse, faced a second disappointing loss in the Octogan; this time it was due to a questionable referee. While Nover’s losses put a giant dent in his career, profiteer, Dana White, was probably the most disappointed as it placed another road bump in his plans for bringing a UFC fight to the Philippines.
In an interview soon after his The Ultimate Fighter loss, Nover remarked on plans for UFC to capitalize on the Filipino market by bringing a fight to the country. This business decision reflects a trend seen, more evident in the sphere of professional fighting, whereby Filipinos are being seen as a viable market. One needs to look no further than the success and marketing strategies being used to “sell” Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao has created a platform for many Filipino-Americans to identify with a mainstream figure; he matters. It is with the loyal following that Pacquiao generated which allows sports industry heads to take notice.
A few weeks ago, Bob Arum, announced that he would not be able to hold a night of Filipino boxing featuring fights with Nonito Donaire and Brian Viloria at AT&T Park due to a scheduling conflict. Arum acknowledges the strength of the Filipino-American community in the Bay Area, a community that sold out a Filipino Heritage Night for the San Francisco Giants. It isn’t just in the Bay that these Filipino Heritage nights have generated big turnouts, as they have been successful at ball games in Los Angeles and San Diego as well.
It is evident that fight promoters have taken notice of this market audience. Aside from this and dancing, what other segments of pop culture do people notice has began to receive a Filipino focus?
On March 7, at his UFC debut, Mark Munoz gave fight archivists footage worthy of being in a UFC top knockouts list. Unfortunately for Munoz, the knockout came from Matt Hamill’s head kick. The “Filipino Wrecking Machine” was seen as being too green to enter the UFC, but knowing Dana White’s plans, one wonders whether Munoz’s premature jump was a direct result of an attempt to create another Filipino-American fighting hero. Folks seem to be quick to pay attention to a segment of the population that they had previously ignored but are now doing what they can to sell us a bar of soap by attaching an eight rayed sun and three stars.
-Ninoy Brown
June 18th, 2009 at 11:58 am
I think it goes both ways. Obviously you can see Dana White angling a way to profit off of the Filipino audience, but I don’t think Filipino fighters are exactly shying away from “promoting” their Filipino heritage as well. A guy like Brandon Vera rocks Alibata tattoos and comes to the ring with blue, red, white and yellow trunks, and Mark Munoz feels to promote himself as a wrecking machine of the Filipino kind.
Race, fighting, and promotion go hand-in-hand. The Oscar De La Hoya/Fernando Vargas fight was immensely popular because the back story was that Vargas was a “real” Mexican, whereas Oscar wasn’t. You’ll always have your “Irish” Mickey Ward’s and “Latin Snake” Sergio Mora’s of the world.
Fighters that come from a different background seem to commonly play to their respective groups. Seems like that’s the way it has always been.
June 18th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
^
I agree with Al
Fighting sports have historically marketed themselves using fighters ethnicities as selling points. Obviously promoters cash in on this but many fighters willingly play into this.
some examples of huge fights that used ethnicity and socio-economic status as marketing points
Pacquiao vs any Mexican
Chavez (mexican) vs De La Hoya (mexican american)
Gatti (italy) vs Ward (ireland)
Morales (tijuana) vs Barrera (mexico city)
Cotto (puerto rico) vs Margarito (mexico)
June 18th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Highlighting ethnicity for pro-fights is definitely not new. But the phenomenon with marketing Filipinos seems to be new for our community. And as mentioned, the use of marketing Filipino identity in other areas of pop culture (America’s Best Dance Crew?) is evident.
If the Cotto vs Pacquiao bout goes underway, there’s no doubt that they’ll play up the Puerto Rican vs Pilipino angle.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Those are all great points, ethnic-based fights always make more money. But with the UFC it seems forced ,Pac-Man worked his way up and he became a sensation( not saying these pinoy fighters didn’t). But these promoters seem to want to have a fighter who’s not ready yet to be the next Pac-Man of MMA.
Aside from this and dancing, what other segments of pop culture do people notice has began to receive a Filipino focus?
I’ve noticed that hip-hop blogs have been helping underground artists become known, a well known blog called 2dopeboyz.com have been showing clips and tracks of Bambu if you search their site. Also with BlueScholars their album was reviewed on Hiphopdx.com a couple of years ago.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
oh and where can you get that jacket?
June 18th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
That jacket was only available in the Philippines. My mom was just out there, and I asked her to get it for me. They were sold out though.
June 18th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
I don’t think MTV is marketing the Filipino identity with America’s Best Dance Crew. IMO, it just so happens that all the best dance crews seem to have some Filipino contingent. If they have a Tinikling challenge at some point next season, then I’d start to wonder.
I also think that fans are just as responsible for pushing the “nation vs. nation” agendas you see leading up to fights. I read the Manny Pacquiao forums from time to time, and I’ve seen some of the most supercharged, racist commentary spew from there. I don’t think Manny or Top Rank came up with the “Mexicutioner” moniker either. Fans just love to get over on other countries and are willing to put up the money for bragging rights.
ejunco:
To me the rise of Filipino fighters doesn’t seem forced, although UFC putting Mark Munoz on the main card was a bit questionable. Although he had some impressive wins against some nobodies, I don’t think he was ready for a fighter like Mark Hamill. Vera is an exciting fighter when he cares, and Nover was in the finale of the reality series. I think both have rightfully earned the shine they’ve gotten so far, but of course you can see how those 3 performing well is good news for Dana White. Read: $$$
- Al (Boozeandshoes.org)
July 2nd, 2009 at 7:49 pm
If the Cotto vs Pacquiao bout goes underway, there’s no doubt that they’ll play up the Puerto Rican vs Pilipino angle.
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yeah that’s the next rivalry
Bob Arum was already talking about putting Juan Manuel Lopez, Nonito Donaire and a couple of other Pinoy and Rican fighters in possible undercard matchups for Cotto vs. Pac
by the way though
now that Manny’s left the lighter divisons, that are traditionally dominated by Mexicans, and now he’s going to be fighting more Americans, Brits, and Puerto Ricans… it feels good to be able to root for the guy now lol