Blue2 Media

Good morning tennis players and others…Wimbledon has just ended, and again, I kept hearing about Serena and her GOAT status, to which I have always rolled my eyes.

We know after watching this video we just put together with our client, InProduction, you'll want to get out to an event this summer! You probably don't remember the seat you sat in at the last event you attended, but we bet you remember the event. #FoundationsOfMarketing

I co-founded Women’s World of Backgammon three short years ago with one of the top women players in the world, Karen Davis. One of the things we have done is initiate and support women-only events to give women the experience they need to compete in a male-dominated sport. As we have gained ground, both in tournament results and in numbers showing up to play, there has been increased conversation around why women need women-only tournaments. We put out this response today to the backgammon community, but I think it's true for more than backgammon. Boardrooms. Funding presentations. And the list goes on. Backgammon is one of the few places where men and women compete equally. It has given me confidence and acumen in business, as well as backgammon. I thought you might find it interesting. – Christine Merser

I'm sure you have heard that Melinda French Gates has left the foundation she founded with her ex-husband, Bill, and started her own foundation around women's empowerment. One billion dollars toward women's empowerment and health over the next two years. We are all breathing a sigh of relief and excited expectation. We have always known that change comes with money - that to follow the money is to have the opportunity to be heard. Melinda, who as an equal partner, built the Gates Foundation into one of the foremost game-changing foundations in the world, is now focused on women and our future. I will take a minute watching a rising sun to thank her for what will surely come from her focus. I am working on a new book, Circles of Collaboration: Rethinking Your Network. In addition to providing a history of women and circles, a history that circles back to cave-person times, my co-author, Leslie Grossman, and I present the template for setting up your own thoughtful circles, each one filled with individuals around a particular focus, that you can draw on to assist in heading wherever you want to go. With the new infinite options for building a posse created by social media and the global reach we now all have, it's a game changer for setting your goal strategy. In her announcement about the new foundation, one of Melinda's commitments is to provide $240 million to partnerships with a diverse group of 12 global leaders. Each leader will be provided with a $20 million fund to distribute to charitable organizations they consider to be doing urgent, impactful, and innovative work to improve women's health and well-being in the U.S. and around the world. Women are collaborators. It's our own gender form of leadership. Surround yourself with women who are the best in their field, get in a circle, and on an equal basis, figure out how to address the problem or task. They will work alone, together, and draw their own circles around them to support both the overall goal and the separate goals for each area represented by the twelve women. By passing the baton to these twelve women, she is setting up a perfect circle of collaboration, and because she won't have to be in charge of all the actions affecting those who will receive the money, it will move forward quickly, and I am certain, more successfully than a follow-the-leader approach. When someone like Melinda Gates sets out to accomplish something, she puts power in the hands of others. The circle of collaboration she announced today will surely fly to greater heights because they are sitting around a round table, with input from all, not a rectangular table with Melinda heading the decision-making process. Me? I wish my book was already on the shelves. And, I can't wait to learn about her chosen collaborators and have the opportunity to think through her choices about putting them together. --Christine Merser, Founder, Blue 2 Media

Read on for more about Alexandra Peters story and the history of samplers. If you're in the Litchfield Connecticut area, be sure and attend tomorrow's (free) opening party for Alexandra's latest exhibit "With Their Busy Needles: Samplers and the Girls Who Made Them" put on by the Litchfield Historical Society at the Litchfield Historical Society.

Unless you've been lying in a fetal position on the couch regarding the upcoming elections, you know about Caitlin Clark, the women’s basketball player from the University of Iowa who is leading women’s basketball on its trajectory for greatness in American sports.   Yes, she is the poster child for growth, but women’s basketball enthusiasm has increased over the last few years while men’s has declined. Now, once again, we women are faced with the issue of following the money that has held us back for centuries.   Here are some stats for context:   The women’s finals surpassed the men’s finals for the first time ever this year, with 18 million viewers for the women's finals compared to 14 million for the men's.   Increased interest has been growing for years, starting in the late 2010s and picking up speed over the last decade. There has been a huge surge in merchandise sales for women’s basketball. However, TV coverage and ad dollars have not risen at the same rate as viewerships.   I watched some videos of the women arriving for the draft pick, and despite many of these amazing athletes teetering into the event wearing heels as high as the hoops and walking as if they were five in their mother’s heels, they were amazing. All shapes and sizes. Diverse. Getting off buses, not out of limos, and making me proud. So exciting. And, they cheered for each other, something you never see in watching the men’s draft event. So proud. So proud. We heard that Caitlin was wearing Prada. And, my heart started to sink. As each woman arrives, in their red carpet splendor, dressed by designers trying out new options for more than pretty faces selling their wares, I could see the handwriting on the wall. "Deep breath," I told myself. I just hope they stay true to what they want to wear, rather than what others want to see them wear. Moving right along.   The room was filled with women. The announcer. Coaches. Fans, and the fabulous potential picks.   In the center of it all was Caitlin, the woman who not only has broken every record for points scored (both men’s and women’s) but also for assists. Yep, the sisterhood of helping each other is not lost on women’s basketball. No one has ever led in both scoring and assists in basketball. Ever. She does.   Wait for it.   She is picked first, and then we hear what she will be paid. It’s a four-year contract worth $338,535 for all four years. And the fourth year is an option. So she will make $76,535 her first year. Please do not come back at me with endorsements. Don’t even think of doing that.   There is a moment in the fabulous film Jerry Maguire where Tom Cruise is negotiating on behalf of his client, where he says they will walk away. Then there is the moment when Cuba Gooding demands dollars reflective of his greatness. And, so it goes. Click the link below to read the rest of Christine Merser's piece. https://lnkd.in/ecCE7wTw    

A feminist friend wrote me the following text yesterday: I’ve been watching the women’s March Madness finals and the quarterfinals before that. These women are unbelievable, & the viewership is beyond that of the men’s, as well as the ticket price. It will make an impact for the respect women get. Here is my response. Yes, it will have an impact, but there is an investment by the male-dominated sports world to make sure they continue to dominate in the press & around all media presenting sports. Let's look at who is leading the viewers... From 2021 data, the most recent available from ESPN: 79.2% of the sports editors were white and 83.3% were men. 72.0% of the assistant sports editors were white and 75.8% were men. 77.1% of the columnists were white; 82.2% were men. 77.1% of the reporters were white; 85.6% were men. 77.0% of the copy editors/designers were white; 75.3% were men. 72.4% of web specialists were white; 78.1% were men. Women play basketball a bit differently, in my opinion. They are more connected to the team, more emotionally driven when playing, & more watchable, really. Now, let's ponder the different size of the ball for women and men. Women shoot from further out for 3 pointers. Interesting. The ball is slightly lighter, but I am not sure it would change that data point, rather than give commentators less room for 'well, they can, the ball is lighter.' Why not make the balls for both genders the same size & weight? In 1935, Dittebrant suggested the introduction of a smaller and lighter basketball for female players (Dittebrant, 1935, in Pitts and Semenick, 1988). The author stated that the standard basketball was too heavy and too large for women, & that women's palms were too small to efficiently control the ball. The women's games set records last week; the most viewed college basketball game of all time on television was not the men's March Madness. It was the UConn Iowa game with Caitlin Clark on center stage. The ad cost for that game was $500,000 per spot, versus the men's $1,000,000 per spot. Granted, the increase for the women's spot was twelve times more than the previous year, but half the men's, with millions more viewers? And many of them female? And females do most of the buying of goods and services? Seriously? Follow the money, women friends. Follow the money. Pay attention to the ad buy costs. Pay attention to the women commentators and what is covered and what time and what day? Yes, we had a great moment last week. And it wasn't a 'one-off.' Look at women's volleyball at my alma mater, the University of Nebraska, and weep for men's football there if you care. It's not a one-off. But, it will take our voices backing up a demand for what we want to see in advertising and a demand for our voices off the court, commentating about what is happening on the court, as well. Congrats to all the women playing basketball last week. Well done. I'm so proud to be a woman right now. -- Christine Merser

I am writing a book with Leslie Grossman about women and circles of collaboration, which have a history almost as long as womankind has been on Earth. More on that later. Part of our premise is that when you put together circles of collaboration around your goals, a project, or anything you have in mind for success, you can accomplish—well, pretty much anything. And, as social media and the internet have widened our ability to create circles of people to support us, the sky's the limit. You just have to structure it, draw it (thank God everyone can draw a circle, right?), and include the people in it. Then it's a question of execution with those in your circles. One of our examples of someone who has intertwining circles of success around her trajectory to song stardom is Brandi Carlile. No one, until now that is, has used our circle methodology in music the way she has. You can buy the book (looking at a June launch) to find more about Brandi. But now there's a new girl in town. Beyoncé. Already a legend but was feeling, over the last few years, out of touch or unrecognized by her peers. When I look at her career, I think maybe she was just too isolated, not enough circles of collaboration around her small circle for safety. But, she hasn't called me to chat about what actually happened, so I will set that aside for now. "Cowboy Carter," Beyoncé's new album, is a collaboration. Her inner circle collaborations (they are singing with her or commenting) include Willie Nelson (1 million followers), Miley Cyrus (217 million followers), Dolly Parton (7 million), and Malone (26 million followers). Do the math. Yes, that's 250 million possible new fans. I say new because I'm not sure Dolly Parton fans were following Beyoncé before this new album. And that's just the inner circle. Let's look at Beyoncé's rendition of the Beatles' "Blackbird." Yep, the over-sixty crowd. I downloaded it this morning. Love it. And, she had Tanner Adell (9.6 million followers), Brittney Spencer (89,000 followers), Tiera Kennedy (43,000 followers), and Reyna Roberts (339,000 followers) join her on the track. I didn't know any of those artists until now. Clearly, they are not in my small circle of collaborators. Also featured throughout the 27-track project are The-Dream, Pharrell Williams, NO I.D., Raphael Saadiq, Ryan Tedder, Ryan Beatty, Swizz Beatz, Khirye Tyler, Derek Dixie, Ink, Nova Wav, Mamii, Cam, Tyler Johnson, Dave Hamelin, and Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter. In an interview, Beyoncé said that she hadn't felt "welcomed." She created quite a circle of collaborators. She also said, "This is a Beyoncé album; this is act two of Cowboy Carter, and I'm happy to share it with you." Click the link below to read the rest of Christine Merser's piece. https://lnkd.in/eUiFjhu8