Jesus Signed My Bible

It’s easy to come up with a headline that will draw someone into a website or click through a spam email.

For an autograph collector, the phrase “the world’s largest autograph show” is a must-visit or at the very least worth having a look at. That’s what the guys at Autographica show seem to think.

So, I logged on to their website on www.autographica.co.uk where I’m told that I’ll be meeting Hollywood legends, astronauts & more. Great news for an autograph collector!

Now that they got me dying of curiosity to see who’ll be at the show, I can’t wait to see the guests.

As I scroll down their home page it takes me 2 secs to learn that curiosity killed the cat! Autographica’s guests are the likes of George Baker, Ray Lonnen and a few pilots who served during the Battle of Britain. I’d be happier to get an autograph from Samuel Wurzelbacher aka Joe-the-Plumber!

Where are the Hollywood legends? And the astronauts?

I feel deceived. But I decide to go deeper on this matter and wonder: who on earth falls into such things?

I used to say, collect whatever interests you. Whilst that might be true, a bit of good taste and common sense wouldn’t cause any harm, would it?

Whether autograph collecting is becoming bigger or not, I don’t know. But I do know that today’s autograph collector is increasingly demanding and technology savvy.

That means that autograph collecting has moved from flee markets to the virtual arena.

Today’s collector shops for an iPhone at Amazon and simultaneously browses the web for that signed photograph he’s been looking for.

Whilst at Amazon he’ll get an enjoyable customer experience, this technology-enabled collector would expect online autograph retailers to provide the same. After all this decade is rapidly coming to an end and internet businesses have been around for 20 years now.

Sadly, it hardly could be a more daunting experience.

Inaccurate information, potentially unreliable dealers and too many promises of authenticity, to name a few leave Joe-the-Collector confused.

And rightfully so. In this environment, Joe scrutinises the first few dealers he comes across. He looks for a dealer who’s knowledgeable, one that he feels he can trust, one whose home page gets his attention and teases him to read on, one that tells him more about his hobby… after all, autographs are Joe’s passion and he expects the same passion from who’s selling them to him.

For Joe’s disappointment such dealer can hardly be found.

Autograph retailers are used to information-limited clients but as an ever growing percent of the population gains access to the internet, where information is one click away such stereotype no longer exists.

Both in the real and in the virtual world, first impressions count (an awful lot), so why do autograph dealers insist in projecting an amateurish and unprofessional image of the business?

Sounds like a business opportunity to me…

Best,

PG

Has Tiger Stopped Roaring?

As Tiger's reputation and likeliness is thrown down the hole, concerned collectors and investors start roaring out loud. 

Last week has been a delight for sensationalist media. Tiger's mistresses keep surfacing on the papers and one wonders who'll be next - and how many more! It's been way better than watching the Spurs beating Wigan by 9-1.

Woods just made golf interesting!

But while the world focuses on Woods private life, collectors and investors wonder what will happen to the value of his autographs.

I couldn't help noticing that the very first thing that stands out on Tiger's website is a scan of his signature. Once you click on it, you're directed to an announcement where he says that he'll be staying away from the courses for god-knows-how-long. 

Tiger's rebranding has just started but it's too late to affect positively the value of his autographs - the damage has been done. 

A few days ago a photo signed by Woods was auctioned by a fundraiser in the US. They were expecting it to fetch in excess of £1,000 but it sold for £200.

Until then, Woods' autographs were probably the most sought after for a living person. Now, there’s uncertainty in the air.

A sure fire is that, when the bonanza comes Tiger will try to regain his reputation and will do everything he (and his fortune) can to make his fans fall in love for him again.

So where will he start?

“It has to be Oprah” says the publicity guru Dave Kirvin to ESPN. According to him women are the most disgusted with the whole situation and to win over them, he needs to win over Oprah. If he does so, then he wins over America and the world.

What about the crowds that queue to see him in action?

Here’s where it gets muddy. Tiger’s not been the nicest sports icon when it comes to people skills. He hasn’t need to – a spotless life, a perfect sportsman, he was just too good!

As everything in life, when it seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t!

Now that push comes to shovel, some say that he’ll change his attitude towards fans in a bid to get closer and more transparent. Whilst that sounds like a pretty good strategy it’ll also mean that instead of snubbing autograph seekers waiting for him after every round he might as well spend 10 min to stop and sign.

Wait a moment… 10 min?!

Indeed, if he does that it means that he’ll sign at least 10 times more than he does now!

Great news for collectors, bad news for investors!

For the first, if you still fancy the man (and I honestly don’t see any reason why not, after all he remains a great sportsman) it’ll be a wonderful opportunity to get a piece of his handwriting for an affordable sum of money.

For the latter, “Houston, we have a problem”. Investors paid an other-worldly amount of money to obtain Tiger’s rare autographs expecting to sell it back to the market with an also other-worldly profit. That doesn’t seem it’s going to happen, so dear investor if you don’t need the money you’ll be better off keeping hold of it. After all, if he managed to be on the top for so long, he might as well be able to return to the spotlight.

Woods situation just goes to show how volatile prices can be in the autograph market.

Investors have been scurrying around to get what they used to consider the next big thing autographwise. The problem with “next big things” in this context is that they are alive and therefore subject to see their reputation tarnished.

Is it worth the risk?

Best,

PG