Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

People and Pop Culture

Plugged In: Jeff Urban

The former Gatorade, PepsiCo and Gannett executive is now co-founder of youth sports content startup The Whistle, which is scheduled for a late-September launch. He talks about making the transition from the established world of corporate sports marketing to an unproven new venture focused on today’s kids.

Photo by: DOUGLAS GORENSTEIN
This idea is so big and with so much opportunity. Our biggest challenge is making sure we come out with the right voice and a fresh perspective for kids. It’s all about putting kids in control of their sports media.


On the value proposition of the The Whistle:
We offer kids an entertaining and authentic sports media experience, and the ability to personalize their experience and share it with their friends. … We offer parents a media experience for their kids that provides engaging sports media content, and a positive focus on sports without scandals or inappropriate adult advertising. … We offer our league, nonprofit and sponsor partners access to kids and parents in a positive, entertaining and values-driven way.

On working with properties such as the NFL and USOC, and earning their trust: It’s about the idea and our mission. Who doesn’t want to do right by kids and deliver them a great sports experience? The pillars of what sports can deliver to kids are so clear: good sportsmanship, critical thinking, a solid foundation of fitness and nutrition. Those ideals resonate across properties, and our mission is to deliver them where kids spend almost a third of each day: on screens.

On developing a startup brand versus a mature entity such as Gatorade: So different, but certainly leaning on many of the marketing tenets from that great brand. Know the customer. Be laser-focused on delivering them what they want. Learn and iterate quickly.

On defining success for The Whistle: We build a brand and experience where kids want to come, engage, personalize and share their sports experiences across a wide variety of sports when and where they want it.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

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/2012/08/20/People-and-Pop-Culture/Plugged-In.aspx

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

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2012/08/20/People-and-Pop-Culture/Plugged-In.aspx

CLOSE