Bill Schmidt, the son of an Appalachian coal miner, whose extraordinary life included winning an Olympic medal and crafting the marketing that elevated Gatorade from an $80 million brand to a billion-dollar one, died last week in Knoxville, Tenn., after a brief illness. Schmidt was 78 and is widely credited for inventing many of the rudiments of what is now called sports marketing, long before that term existed.
Across the industry, the consensus was that the legacy and impact of the former Gatorade vice president of sports marketing are inestimable.
“It’s impossible to overstate Bill Schmidt’s impact on sports marketing,” said Strike Inc.COO Tom Fox, who followed his eight years at Gatorade with titles at Aston Villa, Arsenal and the San Jose Earthquakes. “We were a little Midwestern food company that in 1991 stole Michael Jordan from Coke. That propelled the brand into the stratosphere — and that was all Bill.
“Look at all the [marketing] inventory that’s everywhere now: coolers, cups, towels, seatbacks. Those all date back to Bill and Gatorade. So many people in sports marketing owe their careers to him — I’m one of them.”
One of Rick Welts’ first NBA deals was signing Gatorade to a sponsorship, one which included the Slam Dunk competition. “I’d put Bill Schmidt in a category of marketers with [Coca-Cola’s] Walter Dunn and Chuck Fruit and nobody else,” said Welts, now the Dallas Mavericks’ CEO.
Today, every marketer boasts of their “integrated campaign.” There’s also considerable chatter about organic sponsorships. Schmidt and Gatorade were doing that long before those phrases existed. “He was larger than life and always figured out ways to get Gatorade featured as part of the game,” recalled Welts.
Consumers and competitors took notice.
“Bill Schmidt was the guy we all wanted to be,” said former Coca-Cola and Miller Brewing marketer John Cordova, now an independent consultant. ”Outside of the equipment brands like Nike, Gatorade was the first CPG tied directly to sports. It was on the sidelines and on the benches. He made that connection, and so many marketers copied.”
Added former Anheuser-Busch marketing czar Tony Ponturo: “We always knew we had to watch Bill and Gatorade closely, and we were jealous of them owning so much of the sidelines. Today that seems like an obvious ploy, but [back] then, it was a revelation. Your aim as a marketer is to make your brand part of the fabric of the game — that’s what Bill did with Gatorade.”
Gatorade was the first of Jordan’s endorsers to sign a 10-year deal. David Falkwas on the other side of the table on that one.
“It would be an exaggeration to say that Bill made Gatorade, because he built such a great team,” said Falk, “but he pioneered so much at a time there was really no such thing called sports marketing, and took a product without much visibility and got it on every sport’s sidelines.”
Now, one can debate whether Jordan made Gatorade or vice versa. Of course, one could make the same rhetorical inquiry about Nike and Jordan.
“Gatorade’s ascendance in sports absolutely coincided with Bill Schmidt’s,” said Steve Schanwald, former Chicago Bulls EVP of business operations. “You don’t need to say much more.”
Schmidt was the first in his family to attend college, and the odds against him earning a track scholarship, much less a path that took him to an Olympic bronze medal in the javelin at the 1972 Olympics, were astronomical. Somehow, those odds usually worked in his favor.
“There wasn’t anything Bill wouldn’t attempt,” said his twin brother Bob. “That determination and his ability with people were the two things that made him a great problem solver.”
Schmidt was the “relationship guy,” again decades before that term even existed. Since sports is the definitive “who you know” business, that side of him is what many across the industry remember.
“He could be demanding, but always fair and knew it had to work both ways,” said former NFL corporate sponsorships SVP Jim Schwebel, now a principal at Apel Inc. “As a result, they got exposure other companies dreamed about without having to spend a lot on media.”
Said Greg0 to 1999: “Relationships were the most important things to Bill. He was an Olympian there as well.”
Former Quaker Oats President/COO Phil Marineau hired Schmidt in 1984 when the company owned Gatorade. “The strategy was to own the sidelines, from kid to pro, and Bill was the guy who led all that,” Marineau said. “He knew that with every deal there would be a relationship beyond just that transaction, and was he phenomenal at making that happen. And he hired people who ended up being the who’s who of sports marketing.”
Gatorade’s sidelines sponsorship remains one of the NFL’s largest. Schmidt and Gatorade made every property aware of how valuable their sidelines could be as marketing inventory. His courting of pro sports trainers (Gatorade was a charter founder for many of their professional originations) produced unassailable allies.
Recalled Marineau: “In some cases, the trainers would overrule the owners and those were the people serving the sidelines.”
“Bill Schmidt left a giant footprint across the industry,” said Atlantic League President Rick White, who cut Gatorade’s first MLB deal when he headed MLB Properties. “ln a world with a lot of egos, he never showed that. We were on our fifth meeting before I found out he was an Olympian.”
Said former Gatorade marketer John Somsky: “Bill had this marketing peripheral vision that always allowed him to see the bigger picture. There are strategists, and there are people who execute strategies and are good at operations. Bill Schmidt was one of the very few who was good at all of those.”
Terry Lefton can be reached attlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
