Seth Jacobs joined CAA Sports in late 2012 to help build the agency’s sports consulting practice. He previously worked in leadership positions with Momentum and GroupM ESP. With that perspective of more than 15 years in the industry, he sees how brands, now more than ever, are focused not just on sports or entertainment, but on pop culture.
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Ultimately what the brands hire us to do is to market through pop culture to the consumer audiences, so as a consumer you are not just thinking, ‘I just care about sports,’ or ‘I just care about music.’ You don’t necessarily separate those things. It’s all a part of pop culture and it’s all about the things that you, as a consumer, are passionate about.”
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Photos by: CAA
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What he does: Half of my job is real client service and real strategic consultation for clients, investing in the world of sports and entertainment. And then the other half of my job is helping this new group we have started within CAA Sports, which is CAA Sports Consulting, to floor-plan and grow the business. We consult with brands about how to invest in sports; how to maximize the investments they make in sports; how to actually activate the partnerships they have; how to measure the results they have.
How it works: Sometimes it can be through the simple act and announcement and PR of associating yourself with another great brand, like the U.S. Open or like Madison Square Garden or the Super Bowl. That can play itself out within an actual ad or PR announcement. And more and more, trying to combine the kind of live event and experiential world with social media, so that you can actually interact with consumers one-on-one and in a real direct way, and also get the multiplier effect.
Two trends he’s watching: TV rights deals in general: There has been talk over the past couple of years and rumors about new and additional players getting involved, like a Google or something like that, which would fundamentally change the landscape. Will that happen and will those TV rights deals continue to grow and expand? And I am very interested to see what will happen with the new college football championship.
