If anyone thinks that the federal government, the anti-doping authorities, and the media have made an example out of the person who many consider to be architect of the largest anabolic steroid scandal in sports history, think again.
Victor Conte (owner of BALCO) bought a new silver Bentley Continental GT this year, his SNAC business is bringing in $300,000 a month, and some of his best customers are still major league baseball players.
I’ve recently discussed the role of the media and particularly the contextual internet ads from Google as having a big role in his success. Victor Conte attests to the power of contextual ads in the July 2007 issue of Muscular Development magazine:
It’s just incredible the attention BALCO is still getting. You can’t believe who calls me for interviews almost every day. And I’m making the most of it! Not only can I pick who interview me, but I have a marketing program where I can tap into keyword searches so that anytime anytime someone Googles ‘Barry Bonds,’ or ‘BALCO,’ or ‘baseball,’ or Jason Giambi or Marion Jones – or a ton of other keywords related to BALCO – an ad for SNAC pops up right next to the article…
Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning (SNAC) sales have increased 20% from 2006; Conte expects sales to improve even more in 2008.
Now that the worst of the consequences for my actions are behind me, I can openly say that the enormous publicity BALCO has received is great for my business… ZMA sales are stronger than ever. In fact, my entire SNAC System nutritional product line is doing better than ever before. I can’t even imagine what someone would have to pay for the type of international exposure my products have received…
Conte also acknowledges the role of the media in his success; no doubt the display of contextual ads featuring SNAC on CNN.com, NYTimes.com and USAToday.com contributed.
Of course, I would like to thank the media! They have basically turned BALCO into a household name. I now realize that I would never have received the international publicity without all of the adversity, pain and suffering that came with it…
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.