the evolving playing field - taylor · roi, accountability, digital impact, and innovation that is...

FEATURING

Christian Alfonsi, EVP of strategic planning, Taylor

Jackson Jeyanayagam, SVP of digital strategy, Taylor

THE EVOLVING PLAYING FIELDHow digital and social media are transforming sports public relations

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“2015 WILL BE THE YEAR SPORTS MARKETERS AND PROPERTIES GET SERIOUS ABOUT ROI AND MEASUREMENT”

-Christian Alfonsi

Taylor’s top-to-bottom 2010 assessment of NASCAR ranged from the fan experience to its social strategy

THE REVOLUTION IN SPORTS PR

The single biggest recent transformation in sports PRChristian Alfonsi: Digital and social media have changed everything over the past five years. Sports PR was a very staid and predictable discipline for both sports properties and brand marketers. They had the same limited toolbox at their disposal and the same limited range of activations they could implement. Social media has put an instant global broadcasting network at the disposal of every sports fan. And we are seeing fans use that power in unprecedented ways to express their passion for a sport, for a team, for a brand.Jackson Jeyanayagam: PR has long been the facilitator between media and brands, but now it is at the center of creating stories on behalf of brands using content and experiences. Social media has definitely been the catalyst for that shift.Alfonsi: Not surprisingly, since 2009 we have seen client partners become much more sophisticated and discerning about their investment in sports programming. Brands have put a hard stop to the practice of simply being content with writing a sponsorship check. They now demand a level of ROI, accountability, digital impact, and innovation that is unprecedented in our experience.

With everything taking place now in the sports discipline, you have the ingredients for a sea change, a real once-in-a-generation revolution in sports PR.

How PR firms must adapt to compete in today’s sports-marketing environmentAlfonsi: Candidly speaking, many have not and will not. We strongly believe PR firms must fundamentally transform their entire offering, delivery model, and staff to truly create impactful activations in this new and transformed landscape.

Taylor has put brand planning at the center of its strategic process to ensure client partners get this level of brand counsel from the very first hour of an engagement with them. This has also allowed us to assume three roles that have not traditionally been part of the remit for a sports PR firm: strategic counselors; consumer trend-spotters; and what we call “digital sherpas.”

The meaning of “digital sherpas”Jeyanayagam: Social media can sometimes feel like the Himalayas of marketing, so it is essential that client partners have a guide through every step of the journey – from idea inception to execution to measuring success. Because of the dynamic nature and evolution of social media, having that partner at every step, not just at the beginning, is critical for ensuring success.

Strategic-planning approach in actionAlfonsi: One example is our landmark strategic work for NASCAR, which has been a Taylor client partner for 15 years. Spurred by declining attendance and lower sponsorship revenue during the Great Recession, NASCAR commissioned us in 2010 to take a sweeping assessment of its entire sport, focused on four key areas:

• First, the actual fan experience at NASCAR racetracks on a race day

• Second, an exploration of the vital fan segments that will be crucial for the sport’s growth. We call these “next-generation fans”

• Third, a top-to-bottom examination of NASCAR’s digital and social strategy

• Finally, an assessment of NASCAR drivers’ star power

It’s significant that at a critical moment in the history of its sport, NASCAR turned to Taylor rather than a management-consulting firm, such as a McKinsey or Bain, for this level of strategic counsel. And they were only able to do so because Taylor had already made a deep commitment to build a world-class team of strategic planners, digital strategists, and consumer-insights professionals capable of delivering this level of work.


Nike’s Jordan brand’s social- ambassador program places the focus not on fashion, but performance

THE DIGITAL SPORTS AGENCY Defining traits of a digital sports agencyJeyanayagam: A digital sports agency is channel- agnostic. It doesn’t think about the platform first, but rather the fan first. It understands how fans consume content, engage with their favorite athletes and teams, prepare for the game on social media, and when they engage with content after the game or match.

The social media habits of the fan are very different from those of the general consumer. A digital sports agency creates customized fan experiences at the right time and on the right platform.

Keys to a winning digital/social campaignJeyanayagam: While there is no one formula, we’ve found four elements that when incorporated into the strategy and creative will almost guarantee success.

First, it starts with targeted fan insights. Second, it’s about a creative, strategic content strategy. Third, it’s a micro-targeted distribution approach that incorpo-rates paid and earned. Content is not effective if it isn’t targeted to the right people. Finally, measurement and having the right KPIs to measure success properly, as well as optimize and adapt around that in real time.

That is what social media has provided. Brands that don’t take advantage of it are missing out.

Spotlight on innovative digital programsJeyanayagam: We have helped our P&G client Tide dominate the social conversation around the past two NFL Drafts by incorporating fan insights, knowing the fan, and creating custom content, delivered in real time and from credible sources – the newly drafted players. The results were such that Tide, a laundry detergent, built greater engagement than 28 of the 32 NFL teams on Twitter on draft day.

For Nike, specifically the Jordan brand, we created an always-on social-ambassador program focused on performance. Jordan is a fashion icon and a sneaker all influencers in that space wear, but performance is also vital. The program was focused on real-time content that gives exclusive access to key influencers that might not be household names, but who have influence over the brand’s core consumer. That’s how we know we’re successful. The people we target are influenced by the central figures in our campaign.

Alfonsi: It’s fascinating how IBM has leveraged digital and social media for its activation against one of the most traditional sports properties, The Masters. Leveraging a lot of its own proprietary technology in Big Data and analytics, IBM has been able to transform the experience of the fan who is following the tournament online or via social in a way that truly showcases the brand’s core equities.

Eye on the futureJeyanayagam: We have been guiding many client partners in the area of influencer marketing. The definition of influence has changed considerably over the past few years. The days of sports marketing equaling millions of dollars spent against an athlete endorsement is changing to a much more scalable model that lives on social media.

It is more important than ever to find authentic athletes and influencers on social media that create content experiences for fans. These people can drive home a message on a brand’s behalf. This area will grow over the next few years.Alfonsi: 2015 will be the year sports marketers and properties get serious about ROI and measurement. There has always been a tendency to make investment decisions in the sports sector in a very seat-of-the-pants way. It’s long been, “We need to be at the Super Bowl or The Masters because our core customer is there or because our CEO happens to like golf.”

With the money now being invested in sports so significant, often the lion’s share of a brand’s overall marketing spend, greater scrutiny is being paid to such decisions all the way up to the CEO. And C-suite executives are increasingly looking for a business- case justification to make such a major commitment of marketing dollars to the sports landscape.

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“A DIGITAL SPORTS AGENCY IS CHANNEL- AGNOSTIC. IT DOES NOT THINK ABOUT THE PLATFORM FIRST, BUT RATHER THE FAN FIRST” -Jackson Jeyanayagam

See next page for an infographic highlighting the Three Emerging Roles for sports PR firms >


THREE EMERGING ROLESIn order to be play a leadership role in the evolving sports landscape, agencies must radically transform their entire o�ering, talent mix and delivery model to embrace three new roles that have not traditionally

been part of the remit for sports public relations firms

CONSUMER TRENDSPOTTERSConsumer engagement in today’s fragmented media landscape demands that public relations

firms serve the role of ‘trendspotters,’ with a deep, current understanding of societal trends impacting consumer and fan behavior

STRATEGIC COUNSELORSSports properties and sponsor

brands should be turning to their public relations partners for

strategic counsel across the full range of their business challenges

DIGITAL SHERPASClients need sports agency partners to play the

role of “digital sherpas,” true partners and guides that can help them navigate dynamic

changes in the digital/social landscape



































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Produced by Haymarket Media

In 2014, Taylor celebrated its 30th anniversary. Since its inception in 1984, Taylor has helped to shape the role of public relations in sports. As a trusted counselor to many of the most influential consumer brand marketers in the world, including P&G, Allstate, and Diageo, Taylor has built an unparalleled legacy of developing and activating award-winning campaigns to leverage global and domestic sports sponsorships. In fact, since its launch, no agency has been on the ground supporting leading brands at more major sporting events, including every Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup, as well as the crown jewels of American sports – World Series, Super Bowl, and Daytona 500, among others.


the evolving playing field - taylor · roi, accountability, digital impact, and innovation that is...

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