TO BE LOVED, BE PREPARED TO BE LOATHED

In 1999 Floyd Mayweather was trying to renegotiate his deal with HBO

Lou DiBella the head of boxing at the network made him an offer

‘If we walk through Times Square and ten people recognise you, I’ll renegotiate’

The deal remained as it was

From 1996 to 2006 Floyd Mayweather was the best boxer in the world

He won titles in 3 weight divisions

Those who knew about boxing, knew he was great

But no else one cared

Often booed and worse rarely recognised

This is the era in which Mayweather was known as Pretty Boy Floyd

He was politer and tried to appeal to the boxing traditionalists

His craft was respected, but his appeal limited

Then Mayweather realised something

Boxing doesn’t reward you for being respected

Boxing rewards polarisation, love and hate are the two forces at play

Mayweather figured this out and embraced it

That’s when he changed his name

Pretty Boy Floyd was gone, Money Mayweather had arrived

He was brash, outspoken and intentionally controversial 

But most importantly he stopped trying to appeal to everyone

He realised there was an untapped young, black, urban boxing audience out there

And he made himself their champ

He also embraced the fact that this pissed off a lot of traditional boxing fans

It strengthened his position as the idol of this new fanbase

Up to 2006 Pretty Boy Floyd earned around $40m 

Since 2006 Money Mayweather has taken his earnings up to a $1Billion

He is one of the five highest earning athletes in history

A big part of this was embracing the fact that he alienated others

Because it strengthened his bond with those who loved him

In marketing just like boxing the middle ground is the enemy

The land of the uninteresting and the unnoticed

Every brand wants to be loved

But very few are willing to do what it takes

To risk the ire of the other side

If you want to be loved, you have to be prepared to be loathed

That’s the Money May way