The scene takes place on the premises of the team . 15 handpicked subscribers among 1,200 postulants are installed on pretty small comfortable chairs. They expect, as the CEO of the group Marie-Odile Amaury who made the trip for the occasion, a star: Tony Parker, TP for intimates. The quadruple NBA champion, winner of Euro Basket in 2013 is the guest of honor of this exceptional meeting that offers the newspaper to his diligent readers, to read Tuesday of the columns of the newspaper. "For them it's a bit of a dream come true," says Jérôme Cazadieu, the editorial director. "There is a kind of emotion, almost carnal relationship with the sportsman".
Tutelage of rigor
A dream that quickly took the turn of a discussion between friends, where the customary way of speaking gave way to familiarity and jokes. Gauthier, 30 years old and a basketball fan since a young age, "grew up with Parker". This friendly and informal tone pleased this subscriber, happy to meet "a French basketball personality". "It's a real pleasure to be able to interact with him in such an intimate format." And this type of appointment is becoming more and more a weapon of loyalty for the media. In addition to meeting a champion, subscribers visit locals and meet journalists who make the newspaper and the site. "The team is the link between my daily life and the sporting world," explains Gauthier, who was able to discuss with basketball writers that he is used to reading.
The highlights of @tonyparker's meeting with L'Équipe readers
The former leader of the Spurs and the Blues has offered vibrant moments of sharing to fifteen readers, captivated by his aura and his naturalness: http://t.co/bUarSl2Oh8pic.twitter.com/CIf6n9IuXu
"Subscribers are enthusiasts who want to meet people whom they have admired in their sports career," explains Valentin Jubert, the head of the L'Equipe group's subscriptions. Except that the lucky ones are rare. Of the 260,000 subscribers, 1,200 answered a small questionnaire that served as a cast, and only about fifteen subscribers were chosen. "We wanted passionate people, that's the salt of this meeting, people who know Tony Parker from Insep until his retirement," says Valentin Jubert. The basketball player is also not the first to play the game. He succeeds a legend of athletics, Carl Lewis. And the footballer Didier Drogba should soon complete this list. The team hopes to invite next year a thousand subscribers to this kind of meetings, against fifty this year. This is to say how much the media intends to invest this sector.
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To convince top athletes to meet readers, the newspaper can count on the sprawling network of its journalists, who have forged strong relationships with some stars. Tony Parker, "we've been following him since he was fifteen," argues Jérome Cazadieu. "Athletes know us, they know that coming here they will not be trapped by a format that they do not like." Besides, the former star of the San Antonio Spurs does it well. " L'Equipe is the biggest newspaper in France, I have always had a special relationship with them and they have always supported me," says Tony Parker. The team's basketball journalist, David Loriot, led the meeting. It was he who collaborated with Tony Parker for the writing of his autobiography, Beyond All My Dreams (Solar), published in early November.