1) What more do we know about NBA Europe?
The NBA roadshow hit Europe this past week, and, like a British university provost on a tour of the Far East, drumming up business was the name of the game. After match-ups between the Grizzlies and the Magic in Berlin and at London’s O2 Arena, the league leadership, in lockstep with FIBA, invited a couple of hundred powerbrokers down to a swanky central London hotel to give them the prospectus. And while the detail of the structure of the league was already known, putting names to the faces of potentially interested parties was instructive. David and I discussed the meeting on the latest episode of the Worth Knowing podcast (before we tackled the equally pressing question of why all new sports stadiums now look like banks), and this piece in the Athletic has detail on all the runners and riders who may well be looking at stumping up the proposed $1billion franchise fee for a seat at the NBA’s new table.
2) Who pays the highest salaries in sport?
It’ll be the lawyers and the finance folks that service sport, of course, but on the rights holder side, I’d wager it would be one of the biggest teams in one of the biggest US major leagues. Perhaps unsurprisingly, IOC director salaries seem to be on the vigorous side of healthy too.
3) Do you need to be in Davos?
The rise in prominence of the likes of the World Economic Forum in Davos and the Cannes Festival of Marketing on the radar of sport’s most senior powerbrokers is a development that an organisation like ours at Leaders has to keep a close eye on. As sport finds ways to develop the sphere of its influence, or at least finds ways to develop how it defines the sphere of its influence outwards - from physical activity to entertainment product, to media entity, cultural zeitgeist shaper, business driver and political tool – its leaders increasingly like the idea of being needed at the top tables of politics and business. I’m sure there’s probably a bit of peacocking involved too. Rubbing shoulders with Trump et al in the Swiss ski resort this week were the likes of David Beckham, Gianni Infantino and Alex Rodriguez. Authentic Brands CEO Jamie Salter was there, so was Amanda Staveley, and Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds, who, alongside Matt Damon, announced the electric motorsport series had become the first B Corp certified sport. Manchester United’s executive leadership have been going for years; so too has McLaren F1 CEO Zak Brown. Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan was there this year with his sponsors from Carlsberg. Belgian Pro League CEO Lorin Parys was there with a beer partner too, extolling the virtues of Belgian breweries with his country’s Prime Minister. US Ski & Snowboard CEO Sophie Goldschmidt was warming up for the Winter Olympics with a stop-off in Davos too. To answer the question, though, do you need to be in Davos? Honestly, probably not.
4) Who’s got the best package in sport?
Michael Cohen and former Whistle international MD Jeff Nathenson are worth reading on the media rights packaging trends they foresee this year. Eight good ones in here, including athlete distribution as a formal, contracted layer.
5) What's the Australian Open's weakness?
Alongside the Masters, the AO is the sports marketing cognoscenti darling. Excelling and still improving in everything from player relations to broadcast innovation, fan experience to partner integration, the AO even seems to be best in class at industry comms. We’re in the midst of a B2B blitz of horn tooting even as the ‘Happy Slam’ plays out. Much of it justified, no doubt. Here’s CEO Craig Tiley on the success of the much lauded Opening Week. Here’s Head of Media Rights Alfonso Medina on the updated content offering coming out of Melbourne. And here’s AO Ventures investing into Padel Haus on the eve of the tournament. And here’s sponsorship expert Ricardo Fort spreading the message (and stoking the testimonials in the comments). Crowds of 100,000 within the grounds are testament to the work the AO team continue to put in to iterate the experience. If you had to nitpick, you might ask ‘is there a point at which the tournament is simply too successful, too big, too busy for its own good?’ I’m there next week and I’ll report back.
6) Is the podcast industry eating itself?
Yes.
7) Is there a worse word than ‘sportainment’?
As far as ungainly portmanteaus go, it’s level-pegging with ‘fashiontainment’, which is what former Paramount exec Pam Kaufman has just been hired to do in her new role as Chief Entertainment Officer at Gap. Her brief will cover music, television, film, sports, gaming, consumer products, and cultural collaborations. Another notable marketing hire for sports folks to keep tabs on: Asad Ayaz has just been named as Disney’s first Chief Marketing and Brand Officer. His aegis will extend across Disney Entertainment, Disney Experiences, and ESPN.
8) Does personalisation exist?
I listened to an excellent episode of the Uncensored CMO podcast in which Mark Ritson gave another outing to one of his pet theories: personalisation (in marketing or any other digital experience really) does not and cannot exist. There aren’t a lot of people who question the principle of personalisation as a product development, marketing or media goal these days, but perhaps there should be. It reminded me of this fantastic piece from a few years ago, and why ‘creative impersonalisation at scale’ – aka making things so good that they will resonate with many different types of people – is so important.
9) What’s the most nostalgic smell in sport?
For me, it’s a delicate blend of mown grass, urinal cake and frying burgers. I was therefore drawn to this lovely piece on the burger vans outside Old Trafford. F&B at sport has come a long, long way.
