Menu
Opinion

What a sponsor wants: Relevant activation, exclusive content

I spent a few days in Cincinnati last week, the first time I’ve been to the city. The visual of Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ball Park sitting strongly along the Ohio River when entering the city on the Brent Spence Bridge was killer, and reminded me a lot of Pittsburgh’s facility footprint. It was a short visit, but I enjoyed my time there, and wanted to share a few thoughts in cleaning out the notebook from the 2015 National Sports Forum:

> FROM BUYERS AND SELLERS: Sponsors want access to intellectual property and more exclusive content, according to the 2015 NSF Corporate & Industry Survey. The survey was an oral questionnaire of 54 top sports sponsors, as well as 50 online responses from team and event executives. It aimed to gauge sentiment from both buyers and sellers on the current sponsorship sales landscape. Ron Seaver of Seaver Marketing and Ohio University’s Jim Kahler, executive director of the Center of Sports Administration, and Norm O’Reilly, chairman of the Department of Sports Administration, presented the data. A few of the highlights that I jotted down:

When it comes to where they are spending their budget, sponsors understandably said they wanted less static branding, less hard signage, less specific-brand signage and more specific engagement programs. Sponsors indicated a need for more emotionally engaging assets.

Sponsors stressed greater activation. They plan to put more of their budget into activation programs and seek more activation ideas and programs from partners.

When it comes to where sponsors will direct their 2015 sports advertising spend — no surprise — it was social/digital, mobile, and then television, taking the top three slots.

What are the greatest threats to traditional sports sponsorships? Buyers cited cost, clutter, poor servicing, lack of activation and lack of measurement.

When asked what sport provides the “best bang for the buck,” sellers said: MLB (34 percent), NBA (13 percent), NFL (13 percent), college sports (11 percent), golf (9 percent) and MLS (6 percent). Buyers said: college sports (33 percent), NFL (25 percent), MLB (10 percent), NASCAR (10 percent), PGA Tour (8 percent) and youth amateur sports (6 percent).

When asked what they want to see in their sponsorship packages, sponsors said: marks, IP, logos, access to exclusive content, category exclusivity, social media and official product/service status.

Exclusive content is an issue I continue to watch — from the form, to access, length and distribution — and Kahler said they are exploring whether to establish a class to teach students how to develop and create content as part of their sports administration program.

> SPORTS EMPLOYMENT 3.0: In looking at what will be the biggest change in employee skill sets in sports business over the next 20 years, Palace Sports & Entertainment CEO Dennis Mannion said it will be far more specialized. “When I started in this business, it was a bonus to be a jack of all trades,” he said. “You could sell tickets, work game and venue operations, do account services, dabble in PR. Now there are four specific groups. The thinkers — CFO, financial, HR, legal and analytics. There is operations — building and venue operations, food and beverage, merchandise sales, etc. There is a big group of sellers — corporate, tickets — and a big group of creative, from production to community. Now, I feel the next CMO of organizations will come out of creative, the next CRO will come out of the revenue side, the sellers. So it will become much more specialized. But the big challenge from that is learning how to work together. Collaborate and work as a team. Every one of those groups needs to communicate and work together, despite their skill and personality differences. That will be a challenge because, unfortunately, we haven’t been taught that very well during our time in school.”

Another interesting takeaway from Mannion was the concept I continue to hear more about: customized venues. “At sports and social events, people want to hang out with people like themselves. Right now, they hang out with the six or eight people who they sit next to on a regular basis in their section,” he said. “But in the future, venues will change to afford more social space, and venues will change on a nightly basis depending on the event or the experience or the promotion.”

Plenty of team executives I’ve talked to look to the future and wish for the day when they have the ability to right-size venues nightly, with technology instantly being able to cover an upper-bowl or certain levels, making a lower bowl more intimate and exclusive.

> AROUND THE HORN: In a discussion, four panelists were asked to name the most impactful sports business executive over the last 20 years.

Mannion cited former NBA Commissioner David Stern, saying, “He was a game changer. But the person who he left to succeed him, Adam Silver, could be the greatest of all time.” Andy Dolich listed former Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley and Flyers/Comcast-Spectacor Chair Ed Snider, calling him “the most underappreciated owner in sports.” Baltimore Ravens vice president Kevin Rochlitz cited former ESPN Executive Chairman George Bodenheimer for “the way he led ESPN to transcend live sports.” Minnesota Vikings CMO Steve LaCroix cited Tampa Bay Lightning CEO Tod Leiweke: “He launched the Minnesota Wild from scratch, went to the Seahawks and changed the culture and introduced the 12th man, and now he’s with the Lightning, where he has an ownership stake. When you look at a team executive, that’s a great path.”

The same group of executives was asked: Have you ever been impressed by a young person’s résumé and email correspondence, only to be disappointed after the initial phone interview? I know I have, especially recently. That’s why comments from the Vikings’ LaCroix on a skill-set he finds lacking from today’s college graduates struck me. “I have plenty of conversations with young people, trying to pay it forward, and what I see is that many of these young people don’t have phone skills,” he said. “I’ll finish the conversation and tell them, ‘Listen, you need to improve your phone skills.’ They’ve been on email all the time, but not talking on their phone, and it’s clearly obvious.”

> KEMPNER HORORED: Artie Kempner, coordinating producer for Fox Sports Media Group, was named the recipient of the 2015 OM Foundation Award, presented by Bonner Paddock’s OM Foundation. The award celebrates someone in the sports industry who has made a difference in the lives of others. Kempner was a finalist along with Arizona Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall for his Pro-State Foundation and former MLBer Jamie Moyer for the Moyer Foundation. Kempner was cited for the work he had done in launching Autism Delaware, which helps families affected by autism. In accepting the award, Kempner stressed to the audience, “Go out and do something. ... Start small, but dream big.”

Abraham D. Madkour can be reached at amadkour@sportsbusinessjournal.com.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2015/02/16/Opinion/From-the-Executive-Editor.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2015/02/16/Opinion/From-the-Executive-Editor.aspx

CLOSE