From Click Z

Probably the smartest thing OLN did was take some ownership of the event (Tour de France) by branding its presentation of it. OLN created a new brand they call “The Cyclysm.” You can see the spots on OLN’s site. The whole thing has a sort of a “Lord of the Rings” feeling, with “gathering forces” and such.

Then, it ends. OLN owns the cyclysm.com URL, but it’s done nothing with it. Literally. The site resolves to a Network Solutions landing page. OLN hasn’t even bothered with “thecyclysm.com” (it’s available, if you’re interested).

The network’s taken the Cyclysm spots hyping the race and put them as a gateway into its site and made a little Flash intro piece. Then the brand it created is gone. The Cyclysm brand could be the destination for all the passion it’s tapped into with the commercials. Instead, we just get some online window dressing.

Search is another missed opportunity. On July 7, Lance Armstrong, the guy OLN’s coverage is totally built around,

took the overall lead in the tour. On that day, a Yahoo! search for “Tour de France” displays an ad for Kraftwerk’s album of the same name in the number three spot. Overstock pays a dime for each click.

The story doesn’t get better in the organic listings. OLN doesn’t show up on the first page. I could keep looking, but, if it’s below the 1999 French lesson (result #20), I’m not all that interested. Of course, Yahoo Sports is at the top, with plenty of live information.

Today, after watching the race on OLN, people will go online and find the tour in a million other places: Yahoo Sports, ESPN, and countless cycling-focused sites.

Update to the story: OLN is now raking #1 for “OLN” but still no presence for “tour de france” searches. And one more thing – OLN doesn’t even own OLN.com….

Read Full Article >>