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In-Depth

What story are you watching the most closely over the next days, weeks and months?

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Adam Petrick:  For me, it’s about the retail business and consumer sentiment and going back to stores and shopping. That’s the No. 1 thing, and it’s mixed around the world. It’s mixed across the States, and following that consumer sentiment and how people are behaving once they go back. We’ve seen our KPIs have shifted radically. Traffic’s down, but average transaction value is way up. So we’ll see what keeps happening and how it develops and how slowly everything recovers. And hopefully it’ll be faster than we think. But I think it’s going to come with consumer sentiment shifting, based on, who knows what? 

 

Bret Werner:  One, I’m interested to see how sponsors are going to step up and reimagine how to activate and to integrate. I think the branded Coke cup on the counter won’t cut it anymore. How are you going to fill the void of the missing fandom, of the lack of the audience in the stands, and build that enthusiasm? And it’s going to create an unbelievable amount of opportunity for the sponsors that do it right, in my view. They’re going to have to reimagine their playbook a little bit. … Who are the leaders in sports that are going to be thought leaders during this time? How are they going to solve bigger problems that are happening on the field? Because the attention is going to be bright and people trust companies more than government, and there are very few companies in the world that are more popular than the sports entities we’ve talked about today.

Chris LaPlaca:  We’ve seen a lot of innovation across the board in our industry since this all started. And I’m interested to see what elements of that innovation — how we all show up and do our jobs right now, and how our companies are doing their work — what sticks in terms of what the new normal looks like? We’re having that conversation at ESPN; I’m having it within my team. I’m just fascinated to see what the new normal is going to be based on the innovation we’ve seen in only two months.

Chris Widmaier:  Ultimately what I’m looking at is probably a little further out, but fan reaction to events. When will they be comfortable? Very similar to what Adam was saying about retail, really. Same thing, but on the stadium, arena, court, whatever you want to call it, that’s what I’m watching. When does people’s mindset change?

Barry Baum:  I’m interested in how arenas will change under these circumstances once fans can return to the building. The lack of touches, the lack of touch points, different machinery, buying food. I mean, everything is going to change. Walking into a building, I’m very interested in how that is going to turn out. As well as, once we do get back, what’s it going to be like for our part-time employees regarding being there every day like they used to be? Are they going to have the same number of people at the games, working those games, if there are not as many fans? 

Mary Scott:  The biggest thing in really, my world is brands and how they navigate sports and entertainment. So I think we’re in the heart of it now, but seeing how that’s going to manifest itself from innovative ways of storytelling, multichannel storytelling. What are these sponsorships and activations going to look like? …  And of course, how consumers and fans will adapt and embrace that.

Brett Jewkes:  A viable and widely available vaccine. Supremely confident in our industry to get sports back and to do it in a good and innovative way, and I think we will. But I think the availability of a viable vaccine will be the tipping point to get back to true normal, or whatever that may be.

Joe Favorito:  In addition to the stickiness that Chris LaPlaca talked about, how accelerated and how important will social responsibility and cause marketing become to this industry, which has been growing? And then the other thing, which will be interesting to see the reaction is, when is a hug or a high five going to be OK on the field again? Because I think we’re not really going to be totally healed until you see that happen and nobody cringes.

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