That was the advice from noted golf instructor Jim McLean to Tom McCarthy when Tom showed McLean his home-edited collection of Ben Hogan videos. Thus began Tom’s journey from psychologist to historical film producer and missionary for one of golf’s great “swingers”, the late Ben Hogan.
Old video from Ebay and a bidding opportunity…missed
Returning to golf after years of absence, McCarthy found himself reflecting on his early training and exposure to Mr. Hogan’s legendary swing. “I found this three-minute tape on Ebay and knew I had to have it. I placed a bid but the auction was scheduled to close the day I was on vacation in Canada. So I paid $5 for an hour of computer time only to have the computer die minutes before the auction was to close.” Determined, McCarthy called the seller and found that he had lots more where that film came from. 
Tom then found himself collecting footage from every source he could find. In the process he began to think about what he could do with all this film. After all, Ben Hogan is a legend and his Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf
Getting a legend’s permission
Two key obstacles had to be overcome before he could consider commercializing his finds. One, he had a growing collection of 8mm movies but did not know the whereabouts of the videographers. In one case all he had was a name on the original Kodak film box. He actually hired a detective and was able to get a release to use the footage.
The second obstacle—the right to use Mr. Hogan’s name and likeness—was in some ways more difficult. The way Tom put it was “I did not want to hear ‘NO’”. Imagine getting this far and having the estate refuse to grant their permission. All would have been lost but there was really no other way to do it.
You can never gather too much content; but think through how it’s released
Tom experienced the power of workingfor a legend. Mr. Hogan’s name opened numerous doors along the way and allowed him access to some of the game’s most celebrated names. From instructors like McLean to players like Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Bob Toski, to the halls of Golf House, the United States Golf Association headquarters and home of the USGA Museum.
Armed with hours of footage the series expanded from one DVD to three DVDs, a documentary and an instructional DVD plus several one-minute commercials for the Golf Channel. The $300,000 production budget was stretched and now they had to recoup this investment. Eighteen months later the Collection was ready for sale.
“If I had to do that over again I would have broken the Collection up into several different pieces”, Tom explains. He realizes now that releasing them in a series fashion would have helped his sales and marketing efforts. “It would have given our sales team a new reason to call a store.”
Targeted long-term marketing is better than big budget mass marketing
I heard this over and over again from Tom during our conversations. Like many in his situation the impulse is to spend the money fast to get back your investment fast. But the reality is that the media programs require more than just money for the media itself. Someone has to manage them (marketing/PR team) and you need sales people to get the product into stores and on websites.
“Our ads on the Golf Channel did sell product. But just as importantly it created awareness with the golfers that shop in stores–and that helped get the Collection on the shelf.”
With big budget print and TV spending no longer realistic Tom is looking at Facebook and has had some success with creating exposure using YouTube.com (110,000 views and counting for this video).
“If I had to do it over again I would have gone for frequency in just a couple media channels rather than a short burst of spending in several.”
But that’s history and today Tom is excited about the potential of re-formatting his content for sale or viral distribution in the mobile phone stores for the iPhone/Touch/iPad, Blackberry, Google Android, Palm Pre and other emerging application marketplaces. He has hours of content to use to draw people into his story.
True passion is not easily deterred
If you get this far you must love what you’re doing, which makes chapter two easier (and more profitable). Tom shared that he recently secured the rights to bring Mr. Hogan’s classic “Five Lessons” into the digital world. Complete with avatars and motion detection technology golfers will be able to experience and learn from Five Lessons in ways they could never do in a book.
Some final thoughts about what he learned and his advice to others
Take it slow
Count your pennies
Shop around [for the best prices]
And above all:
“Be there at all times! You have the vision and the passion and you are in the best position to make the decision. Don’t defer it to someone else.”
