Voice of the Brand Sports, Chicago July 9-10, 2013 -Side Smirk moderated a roundtable of top level sports marketing executives from brands, teams, leagues and media -These are our takeaways of current marketing initiatives in the sports realm as well as marketing in general

1. SIDE SMIRKABLE THOUGHTS
V I E W F R O M T H E R O U N D T A B L E S
www.sidesmirk.com
www.voiceofthebrand.com

2. VOICE OF THE BRAND, SPORTS
WHO
WHAT
WHERE
WHEN
Top level marketing executives from brands,
teams, leagues and media
Chicago
July 9-10, 2013
Moderated roundtable discussions on current
and relevant sports marketing topics and
initiatives
The following is an overview of our takeaways from the
event… to request more information or a meeting,
please contact us at research@sidesmirk.com.

3. LETTING FANS OWN YOUR BRAND
An engagement “sweet spot” exists and can be difficult to define:
• How these two items work together is the key for successful and meaningful
engagement
Listening to your customers plays a crucial role in finding this sweet spot and
maintaining their trust.
• Ongoing and cumulative feedback is key
Discussions were led by top level executives from:
WHAT
BRANDS
WANT TO SAY
WHAT
CONSUMERS
WANT TO
HEAR
 Anheuser Busch
 Nascar
 Mead Johnson
 State Farm
 Chicago Bears
 Detroit Lions
 Denver Broncos
 LPGA
 United Healthcare
 Marriott
 Hershey’s
 Turner Sports
 Detroit Red Wings
 Major League Gaming
 Arena Football
 WaveJet
 Minor League Baseball

4. LETTING FANS OWN YOUR BRAND
Ultimately, the fans do own your brand (for the most part!).
• However, it’s your job as the brand to provide guidelines for positioning
• Listen, react, use and steer the conversation to the extent that that is
possible (and try not to over-react to every snippet of negativity)
Consumers are naturally distrusting so it is also your job to humanize the
brand.
• If you’re relevant and authentic, consumers will respond, engage and tell you
what they think
Make sure to be clear and consistent in your brand messaging.
• Not all sports are alike and not all fans are alike
• Make it easy to engage
Discussions were led by top level executives from:
 Anheuser Busch
 Nascar
 Mead Johnson
 State Farm
 Chicago Bears
 Detroit Lions
 Denver Broncos
 LPGA
 United Healthcare
 Marriott
 Hershey’s
 Turner Sports
 Detroit Red Wings
 Major League Gaming
 Arena Football
 WaveJet
 Minor League Baseball

5. UTILIZING SPORTS CONTENT FOR FAN CONVERSATIONS
Fans literally thirst for sports content.
• Satisfying this thirst and keeping fans talking should be the number one
motivator for teams and brands
The conversation can’t entirely be controlled (and shouldn’t be).
• Controlling the conversation limits transparency and authenticity
Let’s think about this on the flip side instead.
• Utilizing fan content for sports conversations
Discussions were led by top level executives from:
 Anheuser Busch
 Nascar
 Mead Johnson
 State Farm
 Chicago Bears
 Detroit Lions
 Denver Broncos
 LPGA
 United Healthcare
 Marriott
 Hershey’s
 Turner Sports
 Detroit Red Wings
 Major League Gaming
 Arena Football
 WaveJet
 Minor League Baseball

6. The key to engaging sports fans is to also make the
content about them.
• Keep it simple as people love taking pictures of
themselves and sharing (at games, events, etc.)
• Concentrate on a small, engaged fan base
Be immediate.
• Piggyback off of the photos and videos that are being
shared in real-time
• Amplify this fan content which increases engagement
exponentially
Tie in incentives
• Teams and brands can easily offer fans reasons to
engage via tickets, food, products, etc.
UTILIZING SPORTS CONTENT FOR FAN CONVERSATIONS
Discussions were led by top level executives from:
 Anheuser Busch
 Nascar
 Mead Johnson
 State Farm
 Chicago Bears
 Detroit Lions
 Denver Broncos
 LPGA
 United Healthcare
 Marriott
 Hershey’s
 Turner Sports
 Detroit Red Wings
 Major League Gaming
 Arena Football
 WaveJet
 Minor League Baseball

7. SPONSORSHIP + INNOVATION = PARTNERSHIP
How do you go beyond traditional sponsorship
partnerships and models?
• Community involvement and causes
• Bringing partners together for a greater outcome
Creativity comes from…
• A collaborative process between teams and
sponsors
• Transparency among partners
• Passion
• Going after demographics that make sense (e.g.
the military and the NFL)
Discussions were led by top level executives from:
 Anheuser Busch
 Nascar
 Mead Johnson
 State Farm
 Chicago Bears
 Detroit Lions
 Denver Broncos
 LPGA
 United Healthcare
 Marriott
 Hershey’s
 Turner Sports
 Detroit Red Wings
 Major League Gaming
 Arena Football
 WaveJet
 Minor League Baseball

8. SPONSORSHIP + INNOVATION = PARTNERSHIP
When thinking about B2B and how events are used as incentives for sales
forces, you need to go beyond just tickets to games.
• Create “can’t buy” experiences that are hard to replicate and have a
“bragability factor”
An example of an innovative partnership and one that involved fans…
• Sprint partnered with Nascar earlier this year to sponsor their own race,
which the format was then decided by fans:
The Sprint Unlimited at Daytona
• This also included involvement with FOX and SiriusXM
for broadcasting
Discussions were led by top level executives from:
 Anheuser Busch
 Nascar
 Mead Johnson
 State Farm
 Chicago Bears
 Detroit Lions
 Denver Broncos
 LPGA
 United Healthcare
 Marriott
 Hershey’s
 Turner Sports
 Detroit Red Wings
 Major League Gaming
 Arena Football
 WaveJet
 Minor League Baseball

9. YOUR BRAND AS THE SPORTS SECTION
How do you connect with fans when it’s relevant?
• Getting the right message to the right person seems to be the most critical
Developing long term brand messaging and staying ahead of the curve, is also
very important.
• Timing obviously depends on the industry and partnership, however brands
can also take advantage of lesser known events, holidays and occasions to
make sure their message bubbles to the top
A brand that has consistently been a part of the Sports
Section is Red Bull:
• Red Bull Media House
• Red Bull Newsroom
• Red Bulletin
Discussions were led by top level executives from:
 Anheuser Busch
 Nascar
 Mead Johnson
 State Farm
 Chicago Bears
 Detroit Lions
 Denver Broncos
 LPGA
 United Healthcare
 Marriott
 Hershey’s
 Turner Sports
 Detroit Red Wings
 Major League Gaming
 Arena Football
 WaveJet
 Minor League Baseball

10. DELIVERING SPORTS CONTENT
There are obviously many ways to deliver sports content
when fans are not in attendance at a live event (thus why
attendance at live events has gone down in recent years):
• Livestream, YouTube, email, user-generated content,
Instagram, organic, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, Vine, etc.
• And this includes various forms of content, on top of
video
So then, how can you enhance the live event?
• Incorporate all the replays
• Add announcer commentary
• Allow for an easy screen-to-live experience
• Incorporate more fun facts (about players and teams) and
not just stats
Discussions were led by top level executives from:
 Anheuser Busch
 Nascar
 Mead Johnson
 State Farm
 Chicago Bears
 Detroit Lions
 Denver Broncos
 LPGA
 United Healthcare
 Marriott
 Hershey’s
 Turner Sports
 Detroit Red Wings
 Major League Gaming
 Arena Football
 WaveJet
 Minor League Baseball

11. DELIVERING SPORTS CONTENT
There is value in partnering with smaller, unique brands.
• The value in niche products is access to influencers and increased word of
mouth
Enhancing the TV experience means enhancing the dual screen experience.
• For example, when watching Golf on television, one app allowed a viewer to
pick a player to follow on their tablet (instead of following the leaders or
whoever is being televised, i.e. only Tiger Woods)
Discussions were led by top level executives from:
 Anheuser Busch
 Nascar
 Mead Johnson
 State Farm
 Chicago Bears
 Detroit Lions
 Denver Broncos
 LPGA
 United Healthcare
 Marriott
 Hershey’s
 Turner Sports
 Detroit Red Wings
 Major League Gaming
 Arena Football
 WaveJet
 Minor League Baseball

12. CAPITALIZING ON FAN PASSION
Sports are engaging by nature.
• But how do you attract and maintain a profitable, younger fan
base?
Get the athletes out of their comfort zone (i.e. see the individual in
front of the team).
• Similar to how you can’t control the fan content, loosen up the
reigns on the athletes (to the extent that you can as a team or
sponsor)
• People connect with people, fans connect with athletes
Clever advertising is of course effective, as well as simply
providing access.
• Unbundling of cable and paying for what you watch (e.g. YES
Network for Yankee baseball)
Discussions were led by top level executives from:
 Anheuser Busch
 Nascar
 Mead Johnson
 State Farm
 Chicago Bears
 Detroit Lions
 Denver Broncos
 LPGA
 United Healthcare
 Marriott
 Hershey’s
 Turner Sports
 Detroit Red Wings
 Major League Gaming
 Arena Football
 WaveJet
 Minor League Baseball

13. ABOUT SIDE SMIRK
Side Smirk is a market strategy firm based in New York City. Our
team has over 32 (combined) years of research and strategy
experience across a variety of industries, products, services and
brands.
Companies include P&G, Delsey, Campbell’s, Jose Cuervo,
Nickelodeon, Hallmark, JP Morgan, Yahoo!, Dick’s Sporting Goods,
Lambda Legal and Peet’s Coffee among many others.
Here at Side Smirk we specialize in online and mobile research,
usability testing, real-time research and social recruiting -- a la
carte and by subscription.

14. ABOUT VOICE OF THE BRAND
Voice of the Brand is a closed door (no press!), senior-level,
invitation-only, workshop-style event that brings together
brand marketers to network, knowledge share and discuss
potential partnerships.
Only 100 executives are present at each Voice of the Brand event.
This intimate environment allows for an open exchange of ideas
and the formation of true business connections.

15. THANK YOU!
F O R Q U E S T I O N S O R T O R E Q U E S T A
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