I’m looking forward to SBJ Tech Week in a few days. It’s always hard to be away from my wife and his two-year-old child (he’s so precious, in my opinion), but it’s great to see people I’m in regular contact with and meet new people. I’m looking forward to doing it.
A high-profile session? “Authoring Change: Catalyzing Organizational Growth Through Technology” features a one-on-one conversation with SBJ colleague Joe Lemire and NFL SVP and CIO Gary Brantley. I’m very interested in the way Mr. Brantley talks about leadership, so I’d like to hear more from him.
NBA ID was born out of an overhaul of the league’s mobile app for the 2022-23 season. Since then, the free global membership program has become a superhighway of opportunity for the NBA to deliver fan experiences both at venues and at home around the world.
At the recent SBJ Live “NBA ID: Rewarding Being a Fan,” a certain sentiment was woven throughout. It’s not the fans’ responsibility to participate in the league. Quite the opposite is true.
Hope Tannenbaum, NBA Vice President of Membership, defined fan engagement as “a two-way relationship and interaction.” That vision is realized with the customizability of the app, featuring various benefits such as ticket sales promotions and partnership offers, as well as activities that the app can offer.
“We knew that fans enjoy the game of basketball in many different ways,” Tannenbaum said. “And NBA ID allows us to recognize and celebrate all the different ways our fans choose to be a fan.”
Tannenbaum said that as the league progressed through the research stages of NBA ID, it realized that fans appreciate the opportunity to share their opinions and have an influence. That was on full display during the recent NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis. The league allowed fans to vote on the shooting order of the Stephen Curry-Sabrina Ionescu showdown (Ionescu went first), participated in the All-Star Celebrity Game MVP vote, and voted on the sneakers Jayson Tatum wore during the All-Star Game. I chose. .
Tannenbaum said the league’s membership nearly doubled during the voting period.
According to Jody Rausch, that kind of effort can be huge. Rausch serves as Vice President and Managing Director of Concentrix/Loyalty Solutions, where he specializes in Journey Fans. Such efforts, she noted, help transform transactional loyalty into emotional loyalty. She says the emphasis on the former has been a persistent flaw in loyalty programs over the past few decades. While NBA ID’s voting mechanism may sound simple, Rausch feels that these types of activations begin to train emotional engagement.
“Emotional connection leads to advocacy, which in this case is like a massive fandom,” Rausch said. “And a lot of it is finding ways to involve people.”
Building these connections can also be facilitated by rewards. Since the majority of NBA fans won’t be watching games in person, Tannenbaum believes that physical and digital gifts, as well as “physical” gifts (a mix of digital and physical) are appropriate. He mentioned a frequent conversation in the NBA about how finding a combination can give them something. Try, even if you don’t know you are. “It recognizes that you’re logged into the NBA ID app, or it could be your favorite team’s app,” Rausch said. “…I’m going to acknowledge you even if you didn’t know I was paying attention and paying attention. But I want to say thank you for engaging with us on X, Y, and Z.” I want to.”
Emily Rudin, Oracle’s vice president of strategy and growth and loyalty products, added that to make all of this happen, the infrastructure must be strong and flexible. “Technology needs to support that, be agile and flexible, but also remember that the program you design today is not the program that will be successful tomorrow.”
Jay Prasad, CEO of Relo Metrics, has suggestions and insights for team sponsors and brands advertising for next year’s Super Bowl and beyond.
What’s the point? Creativity goes a long way. His company, which uses computer vision to track brands’ media value through broadcasts, social media channels, and streams through his Relo Census product, recently released its Super Bowl LVIII report. Incredibly clear (and physically huge) examples of Las Vegas creativity are found at the Sphere and the Pyramids of Luxor.
Prasad said it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find space around traditional stadiums and arenas, much less the nation’s premier sporting event. ” he told SBJ.
For Verizon (a league sponsor since 2010), Relo estimates that approximately 12 seconds of Sphere exposure with broadcast graphics equates to $2.5 million in sponsor media value. BetMGM’s pyramid wrap brought in about $1 million, part of his $5 million generated for the casino from the CBS broadcast.
Not all Super Bowl cities have the eye-catching glamor of the Vegas Strip. But incorporating landmarks in both physical and augmented reality spaces should be on your brand’s mind.
Prasad also suggests that potential participants will need to be even more prepared to jump at the moment, as there are few spots for local and regional sponsors near Super Bowl teams’ venues. It’s as easy as preparing your social posts, pairing top players with local advertising partners, and maximizing the value of those relationships. So when Patrick Mahomes throws a sidearm touchdown to Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, that sponsored scoring drive post connects the value of the Super Bowl to those community partners.
“We have to be able to leverage physical space, virtual space and social space to do that.” [while] It is driven by performance data,” Prasad said. “So you know what to do, so you don’t just have to guess or try to do everything at once.”
Relo Metrics (formerly GumGum Sports) has been publishing Super Bowl reports every year since 2018. The company has more than 150 partnerships with rights holders and leagues (including MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL and NHL). Other interesting findings from SB LVIII include:
- Nike far outperformed all other brands, earning $171.1 million in sponsored media value. This accounted for 60% of his total in-game brand exposure.
- Rounding out the top five brands in the game were Apple Music ($22.5 million), State Farm ($16.1 million), Allegiant ($7.3 million), and Bud Light ($5.8 million).
- Naturally, this is a different variation from the top five tracked by Vision Insights. VI rates the in-game action and compares it to his 30-second commercial spot rates in the guidelines. Relo Metrics also incorporates guideline numbers into the larger formula.
- Timing is critical. The brand featured on Allegiant Stadium’s LED board increased his screen time by 48% in the second half. Those boards were on camera for 72 seconds as the Chiefs were putting together a move to tie the game in the fourth quarter.
Creatively utilizing existing structures such as The Sphere is one way brands can stand out at big events
SBJ published a detailed primer this week in preparation for SBJ Tech Week, which will be held in New York City in a few days. Here are important links.
At Tuesday night’s Sports Business Awards: Technology ceremony, SBJ will recognize 10 of our most innovative sports technology companies: Genius Sports, Infinite Athlete, Kitman Labs, OnePlan, Peak AI, Pramana Labs, Springbok Analytics , Support, Videocities, WSC Sports.
Eight awards will also be presented during the evening (seven category winners and one overall sports technology award winner). All finalists can be found below.
I have already heard from several people, and if you are planning to go, I would love to meet you. Please send me a note. I will reserve some time for you. I’m looking forward to many coffee parties. Even if you end Tech Week with a caffeine-induced jitters, it means your schedule worked.