What I Like… With Ravens Senior VP Dennis Mannion

Ravens' Dennis Mannion

In our continuing series, SportsBusiness Daily/SportsBusiness Journal asks top sports execs for their thoughts, ideas, aspirations and likes.  Today, Ravens Senior VP/Business Ventures DENNIS MANNION.

 
About my job: I love the perfect balance between creativity and organization. I especially like building and maintaining a high achieving collaborative team which includes all team disciplines.

A business deal I admire: The Ravens M&T Bank deal is a work of art. It is creative and flexible. The way it is constructed allows for true partnership and hits both organizations’ annual targets for market share and revenue growth.

A story that bears watching: The NFL Network’s merger with NFL.com and team Web sites. You will see unprecedented creativity and inside access.

An insight: Converged media is useless without converged promotion and interactivity with consumers.

An influential person in my career: I have been blessed: Among them are my dad, RON SHAPIRO, DICK CASS (Ravens), DAVID MONTGOMERY (Phillies), PIERRE LACROIX (Avalanche), STEVE BISCIOTTI (Ravens’ owner), ART MODELL (Ravens’ owner), and OZZIE NEWSOME (Ravens’ GM).

An out-of-the-box idea: I am intrigued by the movement toward paperless tickets.

A timeless idea: Love all. Serve all.

A marketing idea: I love the communal aspect of “Ravenstown.” It essentially paints the town purple.

An ad campaign: Too many to state! I will go with Nike’s “Just Do It.” It nailed all aspects of their brand!

A business solution: Using team sites as a central nervous system for the individual team’s branded content. All content distribution should radiate to other mediums via the web.

A strategy: Maximizing the communal and informational aspects of the web by developing niche affinity clubs and sub-brands.

A brand: Harley Davidson: They nail every branding rule, especially lifestyle involvement.

A trend: Maximizing the consumer’s opportunity to self-program their entertainment: “Their time. Their way.”

An innovation: Using fan-base segmentation to allow for both active and passive fan participation.

A business decision: Promoting a new way of maximizing efficiency and teamwork by insisting on initiative, collaboration and accountability.

A pro league or team sports and/or business initiative: I love the NFL Network. The surface has only been scratched!

A college sports and/or business initiative: Aggregating multiple team marking rights under a central source. Examples include Host Communications and Learfield.

A college conference or team sports and/or business initiative: The Ravens’ “Key Marketing Properties” -- rolling out this fall!

A decision-maker: ROGER GOODELL

A competitor’s idea: Denver Nuggets’ remixed music (combing techno and classic rock).

An idea or invention I wish I had thought of: Video imaging on TV during live sports events.

A fantasy job: Mine!

People: Love them all!

Players: The many that go hard everyday -- RAY LEWIS especially.

Teams: Phillies, Avalanche, Nuggets and Ravens

Music: Rock

Books: Anything that makes me better (I read seven books a month).

Authors: Ron Shapiro, JACK CANFIELD, JIM LOEHR, OG MANDINO

Idea: HDTV

Gadget: IPOD

Chore: Stringing a fishing line

Hobbies: Reading, speaking, writing

Trips: Virgin Islands, Hawaii

Movie: “The Departed”

TV show: “The Sopranos” (Need to find a new one).

Concerts: U2

Artist: None in particular

Food: Northern Italian and shellfish

Dessert: Ben & Jerry’s

Drink: Grey Goose

Scent: Pinaud

Vacation spots: Colorado and New Hampshire

Cars: BMW M series

Aftershave: Brooks Brothers

Singer: Dave Mathews

Quote: “Be a fountain, not a drain.”

Miscellaneous: Go hard or go home. Focus, don’t fold. Be committed, not just involved. Will power over won’t power. Contribute, don’t contaminate. Warriors act and fools react!