An exclusive interview with Ben Fertic, WTC

By Megan Hamilton

Ben Fertic began racing the relatively new Ironman event in the mid-80s while running his own IT business. Then in 1999 he was asked to be the CEO of the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), something he has relished ever since. In an exclusive interview with Business Management Ben discusses the similarities between taking part in Ironman and the business of running the WTC, overcoming challenges like the Ironman Access program, competing and marketing a relatively new event like Ironman and the WTC plans to encourage children to be more active by competing.

BM: How did you get into Ironman to begin with, and how that has transferred into you becoming a CEO of the WTC?

I watched Julie Moss in '82, and from that moment I knew that I wanted to race in Ironman. I watched it with my brother, who is very driven, and he did a race in '84, and my brother is a double amputee, and he was like, "If I can do this, you can do this." And I knew he was right, and wanted to compete, and I did. I started racing in '85, and for years raced and raced and raced, never, ever contemplating the fact that what really for me was a lifestyle could also evolve into a career.

And so I started consulting for Ironman a couple of years later, beginning in 1998, and they tried to hire me about a year later. I turned them down, which I think is interesting, because you'd think you'd be driven completely toward your passion of what you do as your lifestyle, and I didn't do it at first blush, at first glance.

And so about a year later I decided to sell that business, and they still put another offer in front of me, and said, "Hey, we really want you to come over," and I decided to do it. And that was essentially the end of 1999.

BM: What was your reasons for turning them down in the first place? Did you want to keep your lifestyle separate from your business work? Is that what it was? Or could you just explain that decision?

Yeah. I had a solid business. It took me several years to build. And it was a consulting business, so I had 20 really solid clients. And when you own your own business and you're entrepreneurial in nature, it's a hard thing to go from one paycheck to many paychecks, because of the customer base. And I think it's even harder to go the reverse way, to go back to one paycheck.

But when I looked at Ironman and I really evaluated the opportunity of Ironman and the brand and the company, I realized that there was just so much potential in the brand of Ironman and what could be done at the company and in triathlon in general, and then combined with the fact that it was my passion from a lifestyle standpoint, it just seemed like at that point, it seemed like an obvious fit.

So since you've been hit over the head by the WTC, and since you've been the CEO, have you noticed or could you touch upon any of the similarities between competing in an Ironman and the similarities in the skills that are needed for running a business successfully?

I think there's a lot. Just start with the basics. One is in business or in Ironman you've got to set the goal of getting something accomplished. And so at some point, you've got to make your mind up that this is the goal that we're going to go do.

You have to have a tremendous amount of planning. Ironman is the same way; you plan out your nutritional schedules, you plan out your workout schedules, you plan out every instance of the event. Just like Ironman, in business, there's a lot of hard work in trying to achieve your goal, building infrastructure in your business or building your base fitness level for Ironman.

And then there's always the culmination of looking back at completing goal[s]. And for Ironman, that's a finish line, and for business, it's whatever particular project or partnership or whatever you were working on, and what the goal was, and you measure whether you completed it or not. I think that's one of the reasons why Ironman kind of aspires to a certain individual. I mean, we have a thing called the CEO Challenge where CEOs and executives race. It's called the Executive Challenge Race.

BM: It actually touches on one of the questions I wanted to ask you, and obviously, a triathlon is an event for winners, both physically, and it seems financially as well. I just wanted to ask you about the correlation between that, and obviously you understand it, and just to touch up on that a little bit more.

Yeah. I think something that's interesting about triathlon is that, I study a lot of other sporting events in the world, and look at how they engage their fan base or their participatory base or how they use the media. And there's something unique about triathlon in particular, Ironman in general, in that in Ironman, everybody - everyone - athletes come back to the line to see the last person finish.

Which is a very unique thing, because it's not just about the person who wins, but about every person who crosses that line.

BM: That would probably surprise a lot of people, because maybe people who are not working or competing within the sport might see these type of athletes as completely driven and quite self-focused.

Yeah. And I think it's related to the fact that A, as an Ironman athlete, each person that crosses that line has their own story of why they're there, and what they did to get there, and you know how hard they worked to cross the line. So there's an immediate connection. It's almost like you're part of a club in some respects.

And then also just the sense of accomplishment and setting a big goal for yourself, and going out and doing this. I think that translates in the sport of triathlon. I don't think it just translates in respect to specifically Ironman. I mean, we started to do an even series called 5150, which is a shorter distance, and as people are thinking about doing the sport and getting into the sport of triathlon, they're overcoming obstacles, whether they're not a very good swimmer, or they've never cycled for long periods of time, or whatever it is. And they have a sense of accomplishment of just absolutely finishing the event. And I think in general in the sport of triathlon, that kind of internal drive to accomplish something that you didn't think you could possibly do, and now here you're doing it, it kind of transcends the entire sport.

BM: Could I just touch upon expanding beyond elite athletes, then? So in order to encourage people who, as you say, perhaps aren't so strong on one of the events, or perhaps aren't very strong at any of them, how do reach out to these people who maybe see competing in a triathlon as way beyond their capabilities?

Yeah. I think the sport of triathlon's really young. The first Ironman was run in 1978. Our governing body in the US I don't even think was founded until I think mid-to-late 80s. So in general, you've got a very young sport that people are starting to try out for the first time. I mean, I think it's very much the way probably marathon was back in the very early 80s to late 70s. Where people used to talk about the marathon elite, I don't think you would certainly say that today, and I think that's where Ironman and in general the sport of triathlon is, and the fact that it's a very young sport, and of course, at first you get, especially back in the early 80s, really high end endurance athletes that came to participate in the sport.

But now worldwide, our numbers are growing greater than - I'm not sure of our exact number. Probably 250,000 to 300,000 people that are competing in our events.

So then you're starting to reach numbers that pull from all demographics and all age groups, combined with that we've had - we've had, you know, a brand expansion for Ironman 70.3, and then of course our new 5150 series, that enables more and more participation on various levels. It's not just the ultra-elite person who's going to just race Ironman, but it's people that are at various fitness levels that can engage in one of our brands.

BM: Can you just explain a little bit behind the thinking about this new event, and also how you're hoping that the Ironman events in general can look to gain more airtime against other sports? Because to me, it doesn't strike me as much of a spectator sport at the moment. Is that something that you're looking to change?

Yeah. I think it's definitely something that we're looking to change. Right now in our professional system we have about 800 pros that are registered worldwide in our system, and with Ironman, it's always difficult - I mean, one's event's tough. You know, to race three or four or five events a year is extremely difficult. And at that level, at a professional level, it's pretty taxing to the body.

And so with the advent of 5150, we've built a platform in that professional athletes can almost race every weekend, and they can certainly race every other weekend without any issue at all. And 70.3 proved that already. We had professionals that were racing, could race that at least once a month if they wanted in that series.

And so when you have that kind of repetition, you're able to do all kinds of unique things within the brands and within the framework of our professional ranks, such as world ranking points, having point series races, and then also when you talk about the shorter distances, you're able to adapt those story lines to a TV format. In some cases, that can even be shown live, because a lot of these athletes can well run under two hours, an hour 40 or less, which obviously is very adaptable to TV.

It's really an expansion of the brand to include more people and bring them into the system. And then it's also an expansion that allows professional athletes to race more.

And I think over time, we develop more airtime, you know, towards that, and also develop these athletes as what we would consider household names.

BM: So you talked about the brand a little bit there, so I just wanted to touch upon that a little bit more, and also ask you how you've built partnerships in order to grow the brand, because I read that you've brought in sponsors such as Ford, Unilever, Timex, people like that. So how did you do that, and what kind of benefit has that brought to the brand and to the sport in general?

Well we're just like any other kind of franchise, like the NFL or major league baseball and the like. Are critical important, both from the co-promotional opportunities of the event itself, and the marketing of the event itself. But, you know, our pitch is pretty simple. We've got a very loyal user and fan base and volunteer base, and we like to do very long-term deals that we have kind of alignment of goals.

So in Ford's case, I mean, obviously they were looking to introduce products, and they were looking ultimately to get people into their cars, and test drive them, and showcase their products and what they've got going on at Ford. And ultimately, they want to sell vehicles.

And so we approach it from trying to figure out ways that we can impact Ford's business. In Ford's case, obviously the brand is so unbelievably well-known, for them, it's not about an exposure thing. It's about an exposure to a particular product. So we take that angle for any sponsor, for that matter, and say - ask some fairly simple questions on how we can help drive their business, how - what are the goals they're trying to look for the partnership, and that's really one of the of the ways that we've been successful. And we've had a lot of sponsors over ten plus years, and Ford I think is now - they're already at five, and we just re-signed for another two years. So they're going to seven years as a sponsor. And in the sports world, having sponsors for ten plus years says something about a brand and about an organization, that ultimately we're there to service our clients.

BM: I just wanted to ask if I could ask you about the Ironman Access program that as been in the news recently. When I read about what the actual program was before the criticism, to me, it seemed like a good idea. It seemed like it made sense. And then obviously you've come in for this criticism, but I just wanted to ask you two things. You dealt with it swiftly and effectively. You listened and responded. So first of all, how important was it to make such a swift decision on the Access program? And also, could you understand the criticism you were receiving at the time?

Yeah. You know, I think one of the things that I think I'm most proud of at this company is that we do respond and we do listen, and our decision cycle is very, very fast. And so that when something like that arises, and we realize that there's an issue, we are quick to respond. And I think that is critically important for any business on how long that circle is of kind of feedback, analysis, planning, and then responsive action. And for us, obviously, as we demonstrated, was very, very quick. And we addressed it, and addressed it in what I considered was a very personal way. And so I think it's critically important. We understood the criticisms from the effect that A, we made a mistake in how we launched the program. We made a mistake in the construction of the program. And most importantly, I think, we made a mistake in communicating the program, and as to what we really wanted to accomplish. We have an incredibly loyal fan base. Ironman in itself is one of the only brands in the world that people tattoo their bodies with our mark. And so we are very respectful of the brand and the user base. They're our core audience, and we try to do things that only make their experience better.

There are registration systems, and we're looking at every angle we can. But we would like to try to figure out ways to equitably distribute slots so that you have a shot at registering without traveling to an event location twice to race once.

BM: That's what made sense to me, that - in order to make it more egalitarian, you would obviously have this program in place. But there has been criticism. So what have you learned in terms of registration and logistics, moving forward? And do you have anything else in the pipeline coming up, any other enhancements that may make it more so to what you were trying to achieve in the first place?

Yeah. We're talking about a lot of events. And a lot of our events are sold out for 2011. So we've got some time to try to make adjustments. And we're still analyzing that. I don't know the answer. We don't have the answer right now.

Now the honest thing is we don't have the answer, and we're going to have to try to figure out a way to address those kind of specific issues. And maybe there's not an easy, clean way to do it, but we're going to try. And that's the part of the company - we never stop trying to improve. I mean, we have an internal thing, what we call the pursuit of excellence, and excellence is always fleeting. And sometimes you trip up and you have to get back up and keep on trying. But we never stop analyzing the user experience, how people register, what they see when they walk into an event, what they do when they register at the event. I mean, we just never stop trying to improve it. And sometimes we make a mistake and sometimes we get it right. That process is never ending, and for us, it'll never stop.

BM: I just want to talk a little bit now about the future of the WTC and the triathlon in general. One of your questions that I've seen online before was a big challenge of overcrowded communities - basically finding enough space in order to stretch your legs for 138 miles. That was quite a depressing thought. Have you found that that situation has worsened in recent years?

I don't think it's worsened. I think - you know, I think in some respects, I mean, I think cities are maybe - with the economic downturn, cities are a little more responsive, because, you know, we are bringing in thousands of athletes, and having the economic impact, and we're a positive influence for the city. It's not like a concert, that can have some negative consequences. I mean, our athletes are cycling around the community, they're running around the community, and it's a very positive lifestyle.

And so that's probably helped us. But I think any time you're blocking streets off and you're inconveniencing people you've got to be respectful of that, and that you have to be a good neighbor and a good community member. We work very, very hard with all the local municipalities, whether it's fire or rescue or the local hospitals, or just depending upon what road or what - the parks and recreation services, or depending upon the agency that we're interfacing with, to really be mindful of how impactful the event is, and what kind of impact it has on the residents of the community.

We've got a lot of programs that we run year round in the community that are associated with the event, like our Ironman Foundation program for the support of local community charities and things like that, that we're not just coming in on one day and tying up everything, and tying up traffic, and then just leaving - we want to be a positive influence year round.

And that's one of the kind of strategic goals of - as a business for us, that in every way we can we make a positive impact on the community.

BM: Could you just finish up by explaining the overall vision and overview of the WTC and the Ironman brand for 2011 and moving forward?

Sure. I think for WTC, it's about creating events that have a specific user experience that is not just about the day, but helps people develop a health and wellness lifestyle. Our goal is regardless of your fitness level, that you have an event that you can come participate in, and then ultimately progress in, so that maybe now you're racing a sprint event, or maybe one of our 5150 events, but as your fitness level increases, you might think about doing an Ironman 70.3. You might think about one day dreaming of doing an Ironman, and maybe even qualifying for Hawaii.

But all of that is a health and wellness lifestyle that's based upon balance, it's based upon fitness and well-being. And so events that we can fit that premise, and triathlon is a very, very social - as you can tell by our Facebook and Ironman Access, it's a very, very social community. And that's great, and that's what we built a brand on and built an experience on, which is one of the reasons why a lot of people and most of the athletes show up for the last person to cross the line - I think that's the core foundations of the company.

BM: Just two final points as well, Iron Kid and Iron Girl. Could you just also touch upon those two as well?

Iron Kids is an event series that we launched a couple of years ago, and we've been building, slowly building a base, like we always do. I think this next year the schedule's jumped up to 28 events in the US alone, and we've got some international events we're rolling out as well.

I don't think it's any shock to anybody that there's a massive obesity epidemic going on in youth right now within the US, and in a lot of other countries. And so we tried to build something that was fun, that was goal-oriented, and that introduced kids at a young age to kind of this triathlon lifestyle. And we're dedicated to it. I mean, I think it's incredibly positive. Obviously the distances are scaled down for the kids, and they're not Ironman distances, but nonetheless, it's a triathlon, and it's something that they can feel proud of when they cross the line, and it gets them thinking about having a goal and going out and competing in something and finishing it.

Iron Girl is a little different. Iron Girl is an event series of triathlons, duathlons, and we're introducing half-marathons this coming year. I think it's the largest women only participatory event series in the United States. So I think we've got close to 30,000 women competing in the series in 2011. And so the concept of that is completely in line with the concept of the other brands, which is empowering women to a healthy lifestyle.