Fan loyalty is at the forefront of every team’s objectives. Loyalty is defined as “having or showing complete and constant support of someone or something.” Teams build loyalty in many ways: social media, events, player appearances and, of course, winning. Season ticket holders are a prime example of fan loyalty. They are the super fans.
Building loyalty with corporate partners presents a bigger challenge. They aren’t the super fans. In fact, they may not live in your city, or state, and could be fans of another team. So the question is: How do you create fan loyalty with corporate partners?
Listen
Listening is important in all aspects of life: school, work, relationships (trust me on this one). When it comes to corporate development, both sales and activation, listening builds the foundation for loyalty. What are your partners telling you? What is important to them? What are they hoping to get out of the partnership? How do they measure ROI? Who is their target audience? At the same time it is equally important for you to ask the right questions to assist in uncovering these answers.
“Partnerships that stand out are with teams that take the time to understand our needs and the needs of our brands. We work together to create programs in and out of the game day experience and we make sure that our programs make sense for both parties. We are simply not filling a round hole with a square peg.” – Doug Mraw, Anheuser-Busch
Understand their business
In corporate development you are not only working for your team, you are working for your client. Your client’s goals are your goals. Understanding the client’s industry will help you to accomplish this.
Do research on the company and stay up-to-date on industry news. I have found that social media is one of the best ways to stay informed. Follow your client and others in the industry on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. You’ll be surprised how much you can learn about the client as well as be in the forefront of industry news. Is there a platform they are focusing on? For example, how can you build off of State Farm’s “assist” platform? Is there a new product they are pushing in the market? Anheuser-Busch’s big push of their new brand, Montejo is another great example. Understanding their business will help you bring new ideas to the table and make a huge impact on your client.
Creativity
Now for the fun part! Use the information you gathered to come up with creative and unique activations. Be creative and stand out from what other teams are doing to separate you from their other partners. Always be sure to keep their goals and objectives in mind.
“We created a monthly newsletter for one of my biggest clients. We wanted to keep both the client and us as an organization engaged together throughout the season. Recapping their involvement with SSE each month reinforces our commitment to each other’s goals. The newsletter also makes it easy for their company as a whole to be looped in on what they’re doing with us throughout the season.” – Ashley DelValle, Partnership Activation, San Antonio Spurs
Relate
It is easier to sell and retain clients with whom you have a close relationship. Meet with your clients face to face on a consistent basis. Find out what is important to them personally. Do they have kids? Pets? When are their birthdays? Surprise them by remembering this information. If a birthday is coming up, send gift. Stop by the office with breakfast, cupcakes, or team gear on game days. It will make them feel important and make a big impact! If they aren’t local, call them on their birthdays or mail them gifts. Get creative! Go above and beyond!
ROI
At the end of the day, what your client is looking for is a return on investment. How this is measured will vary on the client. It could be growth in sales, brand awareness, capturing leads, driving traffic to their website, and much more. Customer surveys are a great way to capture this information. Do fans recognize the partner as a sponsor of the team? Are your team’s fans more likely than non-fans to be aware of, consider, buy from, or visit the website of the partner?How does that make the fan feel towards the partner? Are they more likely to recommend to a family member or friend? If you can give your client the return on investment, you’re going to have a good shot at increasing loyalty and building a successful partnership.
The ongoing conversation is how to integrate the second screen into the sports industry. More and more, fans spurn attending games to watch events from the comfort of their own homes. As teams and leagues seek to increase revenue, the time has come to fully integrate the second screen into the stadium.
In order to fully integrate the second screen into the stadium experience, stadiums must present fans with seamless Internet connectivity. The data usage at some of the sporting world’s biggest events demonstrates the reliance fans have on the second screen, even while they’re inside of a stadium attending an event.
The Super Bowl of data usage
At the 2014 Super Bowl, fans used 3.2 terabytes of data. This amounted to fans uploading over five photos per second onto Instagram throughout the game. More recently, at the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, fans used 6.34 terabytes of data–nearly double the amount of data that Super Bowl attendees used! This amount of data corresponds to 18.1 million social media posts with photos being sent during the game held at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium.
In order to attract fans to events, teams and venues must have reliable Wi-Fi connectivity. In fact, in a recent survey of 3,000 college students and young professionals, Cisco found that one in every three believes that the Internet is as important as air, water, food and shelter!
What teams and corporate partners must ask themselves is: If one of the most important parts of the game experience is what fans are holding in their hands, how can we build our brand and improve our bottom lines by providing reliable Internet connectivity?
Finding partners
One way teams and venues can maximize revenue by providing reliable Internet connectivity is to partner with corporate sponsors to provide or upgrade connectivity. This year, the Dallas Cowboys did just that when the team partnered with AT&T to fully upgrade AT&T Stadium’s connectivity to maximum potential. Doing so ensured that fans attending the College Football Playoff National Championship Game wouldn’t hit any snags when posting on social media during the game. Fans attending games at AT&T Stadium can access mobile devices with exactly the same reliability they get at home.
Other teams have likewise made seamless connectivity a priority in their venues. One team that has also successfully done so through a corporate partnership is the Seattle Seahawks. In October 2014, the Seahawks announced that along with Verizon, they would make significant enhancements to CenturyLink Field’s Wi-Fi network by having Extreme Networks install high-density Wi-Fi and Purview analytics systems.
Given that every team needs to maximize connectivity capacity to ensure fans connected to the second screen continue to attend games, it’s critical that teams look for sponsorship partners to help provide connectivity upgrades. Sponsors can serve not only the important role of helping pay for the upgrade costs, but can also help publicize the improvements through their networks.
Corporations should be attracted to the possibility of partnering with a team for a connectivity upgrade, because of the goodwill created among fans–if the partnership is strategically articulated in a campaign that links the WiFi provision for the team’s fans with the providing sponsor. Every digitally savvy fan will celebrate a corporate partner who ensures seamless communication on their social media channels while attending a game.
In the digital age, robust connectivity should be one of the top priorities for every team. As teams look to cut costs and create revenue streams, it becomes apparent that partnering with sponsors for the upgrades provides the best solution for making robust connectivity a reality.
Over my years at American Airlines I was fortunate to be part of some great brand activation campaigns. The following is a list of my favorite sports and entertainment marketing activations and other moments in general (in no particular order), followed by how partnerships can adopt some of the same ideas.
1. Up In The Air starring George Clooney (2009)
Since the S3 Report tends to lean more towards sports I wanted to lead with an entertainment example that will always have a special place in my heart. This is the project I use as an example to help educate internal departments and employees about the power of entertainment marketing for customers and employees. From start to finish, this was a total 360 integrated marketing example that included product integration, digital promotions for a variety of internal departments, inflight content, TV advertising, customer and employee engagement.
In the film, George Clooney plays the role of a business traveler that lives on the road. He is a miles junkie that has mastered the art of packing, living out of a suitcase and navigating his way through security and airline lounges. Since we got in on the ground floor of the production, we worked with the filmmakers to ensure American’s brand and messaging were seamlessly woven into the script and on the set. Director Jason Reitman’s aim was to make everything as authentic as possible, so a lot of the items seen in the film were either provided by American or made to look like exact replicas.
As the film prepped for release we executed a number of promotions for AA.com, AAdvantage and the Admirals Clubs. We held special screenings and were also able to get employees engaged by assisting with filming and attending special screenings in a variety of markets. American received positive publicity around the film and customer engagement was at an all-time high because our best customers could relate to Clooney’s character’s passion for travel. To this day, customers still ask if we will ever create a special card for those that reach 10 million miles, and what better way to get brand association with one of Hollywood’s most beloved actors?
Not every brand can be a part of a feature movie, but what partners can do is take a 360 integrated marketing viewpoint to sponsorships rather than single-event promotions. We supplemented the movie with an integrated promotion beyond the branding play:
2. Disney’s Planes (2013)
When Disney decided to give Planes a theatrical release instead of putting it straight to DVD, we saw an opportunity to create an integrated marketing program for customers and employees. For this project Disney did something groundbreaking – they created a special Planes character for American named Tripp. Tripp makes a cameo in the film and we incorporated Tripp and other Planes characters into a TV spot that was utilized in owned and paid channels throughout the promotional period. Since the film was airplane specific, activations were created for digital, inflight, airports and at air shows. Customers, employees and aviation buffs (and their families!) were thrilled with the film and excited that American had its own character that showed off the company’s new logo and livery.
The insight here is that we were able to activate the brand among children and their parents interested in the movie.We are so often geared to the short term. What are you doing to build long term brand affinity?
3. Takeoff featuring Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion (2014)
This is a great example of the brand finding a way to align company messaging with a franchise and individual athletes both in and outside of a title deal like we have with the American Airlines Center.
American is in the midst of receiving a large number of new aircraft, and to help promote the new 777-300ER, the team put together a special promotion for Mavs fans featuring top players Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion. Both players were filmed on a set in a real first-class, lie-flat seat, which was used in a special environment featuring videos of the players talking about the new aircraft and a special photo area was installed at American Airlines Center. In the photo area, fans could be digitally superimposed in a picture showing them fist bumping one of the two players. Fans could immediately email their photo or share to their favorite social networking site.
The name of the game in sponsorship activation is engagement. How are you physically, tangibly engaging customers to interact with your brand in a way that creates user generated content?
4. A321T Campaign and Hologram Activation (2014)
In early 2014 American took delivery of its first Airbus 321-Transcontinental aircraft to fly transcon routes JFK-LAX-JFK and JFK-SFO-JFK. These new aircraft make American the only airline with three-class service with fully lie-flat seats in both Business and First Class. These routes are heavily traveled by Hollywood’s elite, so in order to help promote the new aircraft, American put together an integrated advertising campaign that feature actors Neil Patrick Harris, Juliana Marguiles, Grace Kelly and Gregory Peck. Since American was the first to invent transcon service in 1953, the campaign focused on its modern-day reinvention.
American incorporated some activations into the campaign. The first was in conjunction with The Hollywood Reporter’s lounge at the Sundance Film Festival and centered around educating Hollywood A-listers about the new product. Another innovative activation was a hologram setup at airports served by the A321T which allowed for customers to take a 3D interactive tour of the new aircraft. American was the first airline to utilize the hologram technology that was well-received by employees and customers alike.
Tapping into the history of the brand often connects with consumers in a deeply emotional way and exploring new technologies connects in a dynamic way that draws attention and engagement.
5. American Airlines Center vs. American Airlines Arena (2006 and 2011)
Who doesn’t love a little publicity? The NBA Finals in 2006 and 2011 featured both of American’s namesake buildings, which in itself became something for everyone to talk about. There were multiple articles that debated the value of coverage American would receive during the Finals, and American’s employees in both cities proudly displayed their colors and entertained a friendly rivalry. In this case American benefited by global publicity and TV coverage as well as an opportunity for employee engagement. The series currently sits at 1-1, and both times the winner closed out the series in Game 6 on the road.
The pros/cons of engaging in title deals are worthwhile, but the real issue is how can you stay top-of-mind and engage a critical segment (upscale frequent flyers) in your primary DMAs? If you think about a place where the majority of your key segments are apt to pay attention every year, that sounds like a good place to be.
6. Great Ticket Giveaway (2006)
This one technically occurred a few months before I started at American but I had the privilege of working on it from the Mavs’ side. This was a coup for American because who doesn’t want a free airline ticket? American’s intent was to show some love for Dallas by giving everyone in attendance a free flight, and the fans and media ate it up. This is a great example of how a brand can benefit by aligning with a popular sports franchise. Team popularity was at a high and it turned out to be the first season the Mavs advanced to the NBA Finals.
The objective for these types of brand activations is to work hand-in-hand with the property and media to maximize publicity. And, since Mavericks season ticket holders are likely frequent fliers, we reinforced their loyalty to the brand. What are you doing to reward your loyal customers?
Up, Up, and Away!
I consider all of these favorites for a variety of reasons, but the one thing that ties them together is that they are all integrated campaigns based on whatever American’s business objectives were at the time of execution. Do you remember any of these or see anything missing from my list? Please feel free to share your comments here!
Juventus, la Vecchia Signora of Italian football, may be one of the most established brands in Italy, but she recently showed the sort of innovative approach to earned media that many newer, more agile brands could only sit back and admire. Using a multi-platform approach to social media, Juventus ran a competition to design a vast choreography within the stadium during the heated match with fellow soccer grandees Inter Milan.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foKIndrO6Uc
Users uploaded their suggestions via a Facebook app for a placard-based design to be rehearsed and performed by the Juve faithful as the teams took to the pitch. The app received:
3122 suggestions,
over 4000 registered users,
290,000 views, and
over 18,000 users voted for their favourite submission online using the #LoveJu hashtag.
This hashtag is itself a superbly crafted example of digital interactivity, a homophonic pun that is simple and appealing, and works on a platform where English is still the most used language.
During the game, the interactivity continued, as tweets using #LoveJu were displayed on the stadium’s massive screens. Many events now have this form of interactivity and it surely cannot be long before most stadiums in Europe follow suit, with the appropriate levels of screening, obviously.
“This was a great initiative, yet another example of Juventus’ modernity and innovative thinking. A number of clubs are embracing social media in Italy and doing a really good job at engaging with their support. The other clubs that spring to mind are Milan, Roma, Fiorentina and Parma with Inter and Napoli probably a touch behind though not by much. To return to the #LoveJu initiative, though it looked great and was a real success, I do think fan choreography is at its best when it’s spontaneous and designed by the supporters rather than the club.” ~ James Horncastle[/dropshadowbox]
Proper planning
Juventus’ initiative was over three months in the planning. They have had a digital department for two and a half years, which is longer than many clubs in Europe. I asked whether there were plans to follow up the choreography event and was told, perhaps a little cagily, that “it’s something that could perhaps be considered, but we view this particular event as more of a one-off”. Of course, with the app already produced and the hashtag well established, the nuts and bolts of such an initiative are in place, so any reactivation would be fairly straightforward. Indeed, one might ask why, given its undoubted success, it would not be something that the club would commit to. I suspect that it is an example of comms smoke and mirrors, rather than a genuine likelihood that it was a one-off.
Connecting the dots for sponsors
The Juventus spokesman I spoke with stated that “one of the aims of our social media initiatives is to give visibility to our sponsors.” Of course, this is achieved by repeated visual exposure to the shirt and its sponsor, Jeep. Beyond this, though, and the obvious positive brand association with a widely covered and ground breaking social media initiative, it is difficult to see any immediate, tangible benefit accrued by sponsors.
The predominant benefit for sponsors, anyway, is visual earned media and positive association for fans of the club with that brand. So, in that respect, something which is globally reported and talked about as a viral event achieves that aim. Nonetheless, I suspect that clubs and sponsors are working hard to maximize the earned media potential of social media engagement.
Building the digital fan base
The Juventus spokesman told me that social media is for the club is about:
building a closer relationship with our fans and football aficionados,
understanding their needs and opinions, and
gaining and reaching out to new international fans worldwide.
The digital age has spawned what I like to call the digital fan, someone who may live on the other side of the world, but who feels part of the supporting community and lives that support as part of a connected web of fans, using platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to participate in the supporter experience.
Before you might have been able to buy a club shirt and watch the occasional game on television, but now clubs can generate and drive support and engagement with social media. Fans feel actively part of the community through chat rooms, forums, and other online discussion platforms. Games can be watched on a wide array of satellite channels or live streams online. A digital fan can be almost as engaged as a season ticket holder who sits in the stands every week, and may even be more knowledgeable and active in their online life.
The #LoveJu choreography initiative was clearly designed to tap into this digital fan base and did so, registering interest from all corners of the globe. It is important for the digital fan to feel connected and so the participation rates for effectively planned events are high. Since this captive market puts itself forward to be part of an event, what sponsor wouldn’t want a piece of that action?
Opportunities for global brand partnerships
More and more events of this nature will be coming from clubs with a global fan base. Global clubs and brands may partner to activate on each other’s websites and feed back into the clubs’ other communication channels to increase visibility and brand engagement. The potential is too big to ignore; where the Old Lady of Turin has led, others will surely follow.
In recent times, PowerPoint presentations WERE considered trend setting and innovative. But, as we all know we live in a rapidly changing technology driven world. What was once standard is now being quickly replaced by anything digital teams can get their hands on.
Digital budgets are one of the fastest growing line items in franchise budgets. The standards are rapidly changing for how teams want to PITCH and go after sponsorship dollars. This is really why Sportsdigita decided to help teams in the sports sponsorship space with the creation of the Digideck platform.
After leaving the Tampa Bay Lightning and starting Sportsdigita, I have seen a growing trend of teams, venues and leagues wanting to do m
ore with their branding, story and presentation decks. With two years in the making, we’ve basically built an entire company on teams wanting to better present themselves and be more creative in going after sponsorship dollars. And now, we’ve provided them with an innovative vehicle to do just that.
The need for strategic integration
Organizations already have all the assets, inventory and history. We help them strategize and put it all under one interactive digital umbrella. This kind of integration forces a team or venue to rethink what they have done for so long and really hone in on the story they are trying to tell and why someone should partner with them.
“The Digideck platform provides an innovative solution for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment,” said Christy Grady, Vice President of Partnership Marketing. “The Digideck provides a dynamic solution for telling the Kroenke Sports & Entertainment story to our prospects and current partners. We are able to provide significant insight into each of our team’s brands and potential partnership opportunities giving people a true sense of just how powerful it can be to partner with multiple KSE properties across different platforms.”
No more flying solo
At first, the strategic process can seem overwhelming, but once our partners immerse themselves in the process and start to understand the end goal and see the finished product – it all becomes worth it. The complete Digideck provides a highly branded unified message that is presented the same way by all salespeople with a blessing from the entire organization. The days of the lone salesperson recreating each and every deck by cutting and pasting logos themselves with possibly outdated branding is now a thing of the past.
The Digideck is a very cutting edge leading interactive alternative to traditional presentations. It’s a first-of-its-kind digital platform that allows for the inclusion of award-winning design, video, motion graphics, analytics and 360-degree game day panoramas of in-venue sponsor inventory using our own groundbreaking logo integration technology.
Leading the way to sponsorship revenue
The Digideck is now used in every major pro league with 60-plus professional teams, including the Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Stars, NASCAR, Cleveland Indians, San Diego Chargers, Minnesota Timberwolves, San Jose Sharks, Dallas Mavericks, and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. These clients take advantage of the many features of the Digideck shown below (click on picture to pause).
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If you are interested in bringing your partnership inventory and story to life, feel free to explore further on our website or contact us HERE for more information.
Fans today demand access to a second screen experience to stay connected during the game, rather than just sit there and watch the entire event. So how can organizations respond to this trend with a changing viewing audience? They need some fresh legs: Young adults who bring an innovative, creative energy to the sports industry.
With kids coming out of college looking for their first job in sports, the market for sales men and women has gone up. Most organizations are beginning to see the value in recruiting college grads to bring a new perspective to the sports world in ticket sales, sponsorship activation, and CRM. Lynn Wittenburg, SVP of Marketing at the Tampa Bay Lightning, said, “Most sports organizations are looking to reach a younger audience, so [young adults] usually have great ideas on how to get more young people engaged and coming to games.”
As soon-to-be college grads completing majors in this field we have the opportunity to bring “fresh legs” and fresh ideas to the sports industry for three reasons.
Mobility
First, young adults are mobile. We should not be averse to moving away from home to begin a career. Besides, industry stats tell us that we can expect to change jobs/organizations/employers many times. If we want to seize the opportunities, we can’t afford to have an emotional attachment to a given place. Instead, we breed a “front-runner” mentality that maximizes potential instead of settling for what’s comfortable.
Technology
Young adults accept technology as part of everyday life. Immediate gratification/access to information is desired, if not required. This generation feeds on new content on a frequent basis to maintain interest and to connect with others. Younger people are more adept at multi-tasking and dealing with a broad range of inputs and managing despite distractions. Whereas older individuals may require peace and quiet to work, the younger set can easily incorporate new technology and interruptions and move ahead. This is where we have some of the greatest opportunities to stand out.
Katie Morgan, Director of CRM and Corporate Services at the American Airlines Center, said, “College grads need to improve on new technology once they get into their job. Step up and take the lead.”
Selling the Experience
The game is the focal point but is marketed more for experience and atmosphere rather than a sporting event. Even inside the stadium or arena, the presentation is chock full of pulsating music, cheerleaders, dancers, pyrotechnics, and gigantic video screens. Some people come just to see the in-venue charades rather than the actual gameplay. Compared to traditionalists, college students know that the experience of going to a game has become just as important as the event itself.
Overall, young adults in the sports industry can bring new life and a new approach to sales, sponsorships, and CRM. We enjoy the ever-changing atmosphere of sports and we want others to experience the same thrill we do as we start a career in sports.
Bill Boyce has been a great friend and leader in the Baylor S3 community since the launch of the the Dallas Mavericks D-league team in Frisco. The Baylor S3 program selected Bill as one of our Chevrolet S3 Outstanding Board Members in 2012. We’re excited for him and certainly agree the League made an excellent selection!
Below is the press release from the NBA.
TEXAS LEGENDS PRESIDENT BILL BOYCE NAMED
2013 NBA DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE TEAM EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR
NEW YORK, June 12, 2013 – Texas Legends President Bill Boyce was today named the 2013 NBA Development League Team Executive of the Year, it was announced by NBA D-League President Dan Reed. The NBA Development League Team Executive of the Year is determined by peer voting and teams are not allowed to vote for themselves.
“On behalf of the NBA D-League, I’m pleased to honor Bill Boyce with the Team Executive of the Year Award in recognition of the Legends’ impressive season in Frisco,” said Reed. “Bill’s energetic and creative leadership in all areas of the business – ranging from innovative marketing partnerships, outstanding in-game entertainment, and deep community outreach in the Frisco area – has helped shaped the organization into one of the best in the league.”
Under Boyce’s leadership, the Legends entered into an historic marketing partnership with the state of Veracruz, Mexico, that was highlighted by “Veracruz Incomparable” being prominently featured on the front of the Legends jersey. The new multi-year agreement makes the historic state of Veracruz the first non-team city to have its name and slogan prominently featured on the jersey of a professional sports team. As presenting partner of the Legends, the team’s home arena is now called the “Veracruz Court at Dr Pepper Arena” with the Veracruz logo displayed on center court. Additionally, Veracruz receives significant in-arena signage and television exposure throughout the Legends’ market through the team’s family of local television networks.
Boyce also was recognized for the team’s strong community presence, including its extensive local TV rights deals, which ensure that all Legends games are broadcast locally through a state-of-the-art, mobile production trailer. In addition, he also helped create innovative theme jersey nights to benefit local charities and entertaining game presentations, which have set new standards for the NBA D-League.
“It is a great honor to be named NBA Development League Executive of the Year,” said Boyce. “This award doesn’t represent one individual but the entire Legends family, including our players, coaches, business team, and, of course, our dedicated owners – Donnie Nelson, Evan Wyly, Sonny Xiao, and Eduardo Najera.”
Previous winners of the award are David Higdon (Bakersfield, 2012), Bert Garcia (Rio Grande Valley Vipers, 2011) and Jon Jennings (Maine Red Claws, 2010).
NBA Development League
The NBA Development League is the NBA’s official minor league, preparing players, coaches, officials, trainers, and front-office staff for the NBA while acting as the league’s research and development laboratory. Featuring 17 teams with direct affiliations to NBA franchises, the league offers professional basketball at an affordable price in a fun, family-friendly atmosphere. Thirty percent of players in the NBA at the end of the 2012-13 season boasted NBA D-League experience. In fostering the league’s connection to the community, its teams, players and staff promote health and wellness, support local needs and interests, and assist in educational development through NBA D-League Cares programs. Fans can watch all NBA D-League games on nbadleague.com
A Christmas Story is one of my favorite classic holiday movies, an opinion likely shared by many of you given how it seems to run 24/7 on TBS during the Christmas season.
As my family gathers around the Christmas tree each year we laugh at the great story about Ralphie, a young boy growing up in the ’40’s who dreams of owning a Red Rider BB gun. One of my favorite quotes is a very well known part of the movie, when Ralphie learns an important lesson in life. After working hard to break a secret code that turned out to be a promotion for the product Ovaltine, Ralphie learned that many things we want in life aren’t always “free.”
How did Ralphie react when his “prize” for cracking the code is a commercial? In case you don’t know or forgot, here’s what happened.
Ralphie’s response is an important take away. How do fans react to a “Crummy Commercial” during a sporting event or live show? Pretty much the same way.
What do fans expect?
Fans pay top dollar from their discretionary income to enjoy an event live and in-person. They don’t expect commercial interruptions.
Sherry Cassidy, Vice President of Public Relations at InTouch Credit Union, echoes the philosophy of the Legends,
“The goal for our partnership with the Texas Legends is to maximize a fan’s experience at the game by providing additional games and entertainment, contests, & interaction with the players. They make fans a part of the experience, not just a spectator. It’s important that there are a variety of activities going on during the game… such as the High Five Tunnel, and Fan of the Game, the bounce houses, etc. Being a part of this experience, we create a fun-filled safe environment where parents feel comfortable letting children participate in the activities throughout the arena while they enjoy watching the game.”
Drive by passion
We produced a great season long promotion with FIAT to enhance fan experience and connect fans with a sponsor in a very positive way. A lucky fan received a FIAT 500 during the final home game of the season. Fans entered at each home game for the opportunity to be selected as a finalist to win the car. Fans waited in anticipation each game to see if they were selected as a finalist, keeping them engaged with the promotion and the sponsor during the course of the season. With each finalist invited back to the final home game, they lined up and tried their chance at winning the car. With about 4 finalists to go….we had a winner!
See the video of the giveaway and the fan engagement with the promotion:
The Legends also increased their fan experience on TV broadcasts through a social media platform allowing fans to make a play suggestion to the head coach. The coach then selects a minimum of one play per quarter with recognition to the fan whose who submitted the play.
Director of Broadcasting for the Legends, Kyle Judkins adds, “Fans have the opportunity to interact with our broadcast and have a real impact on the outcome of the game. This is such a powerful way to connect a fan with a sponsor with a positive association with the brand in an elevated experience.”
No Ralphie Moments
When a fan has a positive experience with a team they are likely to return more often. When they have a positive experience with a sponsor, they are more likely to try or adopt that brand.
I’m sure we all have had situations where our fans felt like Ralphie. To avoid those in the future, the steps to build partnerships to mutually benefit the sponsor, team and fan are pretty simple:
Remember activation means action. Try to find ways for fans to take action.
Don’t disappoint fans (and sponsors) by running another “crummy commercial” during games.
Develop a creative marketing program to enhance fan experience and engagement with both sponsor and team.
I’m obviously not a big fan of blind, asset-based proposals where it is apparent that the property has no understanding of our brand and what we’re trying to accomplish. We get hundreds of these a week.
Most of those salespeople seem more concerned about how we can bring value to their pocketbook than how their property can bring value to UPS – almost a transactional relationship.
The fact that they don’t take the time to research and understand our business during the pitch process tells us a lot about how they’d likely be as a potential partner.
Instead, tailor the proposal to meet sponsor goals. Don’t make the sponsor work too hard. The words “opportunity to do ‘X’” should never make it into a proposal. The sponsor already knows that; they’re looking for solutions, not more stuff to do.
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In this age of branded content, properties offer rights to marks to enhance the ability to create brand context. New digital signage offers better image and really “pops.” The property’s social media accounts offer scale to create potential value. All of this is true.
But these are assets not answers.
Brands seek solutions. Too often, properties continue trying to sell assets. Failing to convert assets into answers short circuits client meetings and loses sales.
Properties must take a good look in the mirror and ask the tough question: “Do we take an answers or assets approach to selling?”
Don’t make an asset out of yourself
Of course, most will respond “answers.” The reality lies in your “go to” presentation approach. Does your typical presentation:
Outline the broad demographics of your fan base–without customizing to the client’s primary target?
Highlight new digital signage–without considering the client’s communication objectives?
Feature the volume of followers or likes–without discussing the real value to each specific client?
An assets approach focuses on the needs and benefits of the property. An answers approach focuses on the needs of the brand and how to integrate assets into a plan to lift the brand.
The answers approach
An answers approach addresses three primary questions brands contemplate during a presentation:
1. Does this property enable us to communicate with our primary target market? If you’re speaking to the client and don’t know and understand their primary target, the client hears the same thing Charlie Brown heard from his teacher: “Wa, Wa, Wa.” The starting block of any partnership provides this answer–does the property deliver the brand’s target market? Offering little or no convincing data you deliver a sizable piece of this target means little or no chance of closing a deal. For example, that huge millennial audience you deliver through social media is simply an unrelated asset if the brand’s target is baby boomers.
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2. How does our target market consume the content and experiences this property offers? Are the content & experiences consistent with our brand marketing strategy and approach? Brands want to integrate not interrupt. Where and how is the brand’s target market investing time and passion? Integrate with context rather than interrupt with contests. Touting contests is an assets approach. Discussing context is an answers approach.
Context: Context refers to how the target engages the brand via the property. Is it at home in front of the television? On site at events? Online with social media or website content? In-store buying merchandise? Sharing the engagement context confirms the target is a significant part of your fan base. You show you understand which assets will engage the target in line with the brand’s strategy.
3.How will this property motivate my target market to ultimately think, feel, and act differently about our brand? Brands invest in sponsorships for generally one of four reasons: To build brand awareness, impact brand perception, sell product(s)/service(s) or generate/drive leads. Properties must determine which objective(s) brands are trying to achieve.
It’s especially important to a company in the technology sector like ours that properties take the time to understand our business needs, goals and objectives before proposing anything.
We will often encourage pre-proposal calls to discuss those things in order to avoid wasting time on a “packaged” proposal.
It can be even more frustrating in a renewal scenario where a property doesn’t check in to ask about current business direction. Things move and evolve quickly in our category and we need properties that acknowledge that fact and respond accordingly.[/dropshadowbox]
Benefits of the Answers Approach
Brands come to properties because they have questions. An answers approach:
shows initiative,
drives meaningful conversation,
enhances the productivity of a meeting, and
enables a property to present an opportunity to positively impact their business.
Assets might grab attention and really “pop.” Answers uncork potential. So find a brand and go “pop” some questions.
