Tia Hellebaut – Case study Who? Tia Hellebaut is a retired Belgian track and field athlete, who started out in the heptathlon and afterwards specialized in the high jump event. She won multiple European Championships in high jump as well as a world title in Heptathlon. She also won gold in the high jump at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, setting a new outdoor personal best of 2.05m. Her achievement represented the first athletics gold medal in the Olympic Games for a Belgian woman, and only the second medal of any color. Following a break in her athletic career in which she gave birth to two daughters, she returned to competition at the 2012 Olympic Games in London where she placed 5th in the high jump. She also finished in the top 3 in every Diamond League Meeting in which she participated in 2012. Tia is represented by an agency whose main objective is to add value to its clients within the world of sports, media and entertainment Tia’s agency also represents more than 60 Belgian and international athletes in different sports including several high profiles athletes. What & How? An agency helps the athletes in their everyday life and provides high-level expertise on a wide range of technical matters, allowing the athletes to fully focus on their training and competitions. Trust plays a big role in such relationships which why carefully choosing an adapted agent/agency is absolutely essential. The key values in the partnership between Tia and her agency are: - A clear and direct communication - Mutual respect and understanding - A full commitment from both sides An agency provides a wide range of services and expertises to Tia: - Marketing - Legal & Properties - Finance & Administration - Press & Public Relations MARKETING Sponsorship is usually part of the marketing aspect of the partnership. Companies see the value in being associated to Tia’s positive and successful image. Tia is a brand ambassador which implies appearing in print campaigns, radio campaigns and other appearances as a guest or event ambassador at the brand’s events. Tia also associates herself with national athletics events and makes use of her name and image for merchandising and licensing of various products. She also promotes the brands/products through interviews, her personal website, tweets and posts on social INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE Château de Vidy, 1007 Lausanne, Switzerland, Tel. +41 21 621 6111 / Fax +41 21 621 6216 / www.olympic.org media sites, outside of Olympic Games. Any contact Tia has with commercial brands or events is always made through her agency. In addition, Tia is involved in charity projects, being an ambassador for a non-profit organisation active in socio-economically disadvantaged areas in South Africa. LEGAL & PROPERTIES Her agency ensures her name and image are protected. This protection might include the agency having to take legal action should there be abuse of Tia’s name or image and in order to guarantee the exclusivity granted to official partners. Actions are sometimes also taken against cyber-squatting and “name grabbing” on the internet. Her agency, being the intermediary between partners and Tia negotiates the contracts but is not a signing party. The contract is always concluded between Tia’s company (which manages her personality rights) and the third party, the partner. Contracts specify Tia’s engagement: amount and duration of appearances and photo shoots taking into consideration her training and competition schedule, field of exclusivity and possible restrictions. Finally, the agency has an experienced legal department that offers Tia expertise and advice in a wide range of legal issues. FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION The career of a professional athlete like Tia can be uncertain and depends on many different and variable elements. An agency also plays a key role in assisting the athlete to plan his or her career as well as the future, through communication and practical realisation of personal decisions and objectives. For example, Tia worked for the agency during her first pregnancy and started “In Tia’s steps”, a project which promotes athletics to young children and invites them to try out the different disciplines. In addition, the agency assists Tia with her daily administrative tasks. On the financial side, her agency provides in-depth analysis and advice on her financial situation such as investments, insurance, saving plans, retirement planning and tax declarations. The agency also handles the accountancy of Tia’s management company, that they jointly created. PRESS & PUBLIC RELATIONS Tia’s agency provides expertise in public relations and dealing with the media. It assists her in developing a PR strategy and organises press conferences and press releases for big announcements (pregnancy, comeback, Olympic Games participation and ambitions, etc...). Tia has an official website, which contains multimedia content such as news, pictures, results, partnerships, sponsors. She also has very popular social media accounts. Thanks to the strong network she established with the press and media, she is a regular guest on TV shows. Her agency acts as the first and only contact for the press, protecting Tia’s image and integrity while respecting her training schedule and her athlete career as a whole. INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE Château de Vidy, 1007 Lausanne, Switzerland, Tel. +41 21 621 6111 / Fax +41 21 621 6216 / www.olympic.org .