Wonder
Women
At World Wrestling Entertainment,
women are a driving force
behind the company's success
World
Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is a booming, half-billion-dollar public company
that built its brand around stars like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and "Stone
Cold" Steve Austin. So when WWE executives tell you something, you tend to
listen. Not because they could reduce you to a pool of whimpering pain in a matter
of seconds, but because they have the performance track record to back up what
they say.
There are two things WWE wants you to know. First, the operative
word is "entertainment," not "wrestling." Second, watch how
you refer to the talent. They're not wrestlers; the men are "superstars"
and the women "divas."
If you find that surprising, here's another
revelation: to a large degree WWE is run by a few women. Sure, chairman and CEO
Vince McMahon, the very public face of WWE, still sits atop the organizational
chart. But it's estrogen rather than testosterone that wafts through the executive
offices. Three women in particular — Donna Goldsmith, chief operating officer;
Michelle Wilson, executive vice president of marketing; and Stephanie McMahon,
executive vice president of creative development and operations — are the
day-to-day drivers behind this $500 million-plus marketing engine. (At the time
this article was being produced, another powerful woman with the company, former
CEO Linda McMahon, had just left to campaign for a seat in the U.S. Senate representing
Connecticut.)
As Wilson points out, there's a certain logic inherent in
having women at the top of WWE. "We're an entertainment company," she
notes. "From our female executives to our divas, the women of WWE are smart
and powerful and play a pivotal role in our decision making and direction. That's
common at many entertainment properties, so I don't think anyone should be surprised."
Forbes
recently named Goldsmith the second most powerful woman in sports, behind only
Lesa France Kennedy, CEO of International Speedway. Before joining WWE in 2000
as senior vice president of consumer products, Goldsmith honed her marketing skills
overseeing global licensing for the National Basketball Association and working
for such consumer product companies as Revlon and Swatch Watch U.S.A.
Goldsmith,
who moonlights as an extra in TV soap operas, says her biggest challenge is dispelling
misconceptions about WWE. "One of those," she states, "is us constantly
being called professional wrestling. That term just doesn't give us the credibility
we deserve."
It would be hard to argue that point with Goldsmith, even
if she didn't have superstars like John Cena and Randy Orton ready to back her
up. Stamford, Conn.-based WWE is a media juggernaut whose concerted efforts to
make itself more family friendly are bearing fruit. The shift from a TV-14 to
a TV-PG business model is driving ratings growth and drawing blue-chip corporate
sponsors like Procter & Gamble, AT&T, and PepsiCo.
According
to Goldsmith, WWE is the world's leading provider of pay-per-view events. It produces
seven hours of new television programming every week of the year, and its video
game licensing operation has generated more than $1.4 billion in revenues since
1999. What's more, WWE has extensive consumer product, marketing sponsorship,
and e-commerce operations. "The magnitude and size of our business makes
us much more than professional wrestling," she points out.
Another challenge
Goldsmith faces, like every business manager in the current economy, is boosting
efficiency and squeezing costs out of operations, all while keeping production
values high. The numbers suggest she's succeeding: between the second quarters
of 2008 and 2009, operating income on WWE's flagship WrestleMania event doubled
on just a single-digit gain in ticket sales.
The other leading ladies backstopping
Goldsmith are no lightweights either. Wilson, who holds an MBA from Harvard Business
School, was chief marketing officer at the United States Tennis Association before
joining WWE in February 2009. She's also held high-level marketing positions with
the NBA and Nabisco. That background is proving useful in her new position.
"People
have many options when it comes to how they spend their leisure time and their
discretionary income, so delivering the most valuable entertainment experience
is always the top priority," Wilson says. With the entertainment quotient
already very high at WWE live events, she focuses on providing more value to families,
such as offering $15-$20 tickets.
Stephanie McMahon, the daughter of Vince and Linda McMahon,
grew up in the business. But she has more than just an ivory tower view of how
WWE operates. She learned from the ground up, starting out as an intern at age
14 and working in almost every facet of the operation, from reception and human
resources to live events and production.
It doesn't hurt that as an intern
McMahon had the chance to shadow both the chairman and the CEO and was privy to
every closed-door meeting and eleventh-hour phone call — not to mention that
she grew up around the likes of Andre the Giant and later was a TV personality
on WWE programming. Today she oversees talent relations and brand management,
live event booking and marketing, and the creative writing department. She also
produces and directs some of WWE's monthly pay-per-view events. "I grew up
in a world of midgets and giants and everything in between," McMahon remarks.
"I'd say it uniquely qualifies me for our particular business."
The
leading ladies are aware that people are sometimes surprised to hear WWE is not
a male-dominated organization, but Goldsmith is adamant that there is no glass
ceiling and everyone is treated equally. McMahon is somewhat blunter: "Women
rule the world. We just let men think they do."
Anyone care to argue?
Yeah, that's what she thought.
— Michael
J. McDermott
[FOR
THE MASSES]A Winning Formula
World Wrestling
Entertainment's successful repositioning as family-friendly attraction has not
only boosted its audience numbers among women and younger children, it also opened
a new world of opportunities in the corporate partnership arena. Among the companies
and brands that have participated at events such as WrestleMania and SummerSlam
are AT&T, Castrol, Gillette, the Army Reserve National Guard, Best Buy, Kmart,
Wal-Mart, 7-Eleven, and PepsiMax.
While marketing partners often have to
be disabused of the notion that WWE is still in the "Attitude Era" that
defined professional wrestling a decade ago, the numbers make a strong argument.
WWE broadcasts in more than 145 countries in 30 languages, to audiences split
about 60/40 between male and female. In terms of age, its demographics are evenly
distributed, about a quarter each in the under-18, 18-34, 35-49, and 50-plus cohorts.
WWE.com attracts 15.2 million unique visitors worldwide every month, and 5.6 million
readers troll the pages of the monthly WWE magazine.
— M.J.M.
Photograph: ©2009 World Wrestling Entertainment
Inc. All rights reserved.
