Brace Yourselves... Fantasy Football is Coming

You have been preparing all year for this day; the day you prove to all of your friends that you are indeed superior in knowledge and skill: Fantasy Football Draft Day.  After last year's heartbreak (or success) you can finally redeem (or defend) yourself.  

Fantasy Football represents the Dungeons and Dragons equivalent for the sports fan.  With websites organizing leagues for competitors, the market research firm Ipsos estimates that 25.8 million people will compete this fantasy season.  What does this mean for the marketplace?  Ipsos believes $1.1 bullion in revenue.

ESPN, CBS, NFL, and Yahoo!'s sites comprise 76% of the fantasy marketplace and have advertisers like Volkswagon and Snickers willing to committ as much as $3 million in sponsorships on the sites.

Fantasy football competitors do not just select players and throw a team out there every week.  Oh no.  These competitors study the game and their competitions, scouring stats, potential matchups, and any article that could provide them an edge in their upcoming matchups.  This hobby/lifestyle/passion/obsession generates incredible interest and impressions on fantasy websites and sports posts.

"Our dream user that we talk about is, we get an 18-year-old kid going into college, get nine of his friends to play fantasy football, and we have them for the next 30 years," said John Diver, ESPN's senior director of product development.

According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, the demographics project that the typical fantasy player is  a college-educated professional, often a male, in his 30s or 40s with an average household income over $90,000.  Additionally, 49% of fantasy users who pay to play spend an average of $468 on league fees, subscription advice sites, and analytics apps.

Some marketers worry that Fantasy users begin to tune out these advertisements as they return to the websites over the course of the football season. Additionally, many advertisers are looking into expand into the mobile side where 25% of users access their team.  

These concerns aside, the numbers for Fantasy advertising are continuing to rise along with the anxiety levels of those playing along throughout the season!

After 10 weeks in the Digital Business Operations Department, I am finishing my internship and returning to Philadelphia for the remainder of my summer.  Thank you to everyone in the department who took the time to show me the ropes and teach me the ways of ESPN.  I could not have asked to work with a better group of people and am so honored to have had the pleasure of learning this piece of the industry.  I wish you all the best as Fantasy Football and College Football get underway and hopefully I will see you all again somewhere down the road!  

Sources

http://adage.com/article/media/fantasy-football-players-a-dream-demographic/243585/

Mobile: Holding the World in the Palm of Your Hand

Most people are probably familiar with the mythological story of the Titan Atlas who Zeus punished by forcing him to carry the world on his shoulders.   Eek.  The story is meant to impart a message more than the reality as we know it to be, but I can't help but think of how heavy the world would be on top of my shoulders!

Now, let's imagine that Atlas' world is actually a 72" TV screen and he is carrying it around because he wants to watch *insert popular TV show/sports program here* at 8pm, but has to go to a Atlas Jr.'s soccer game (sorry if I am butchering Greek Mythology by assigning him a son).  Maybe carrying this TV to the soccer game would work for Atlas, but for the rest of mere mortals with similar conflicts, 72" TVs would be quite a challenge to carry OR just fit on the subway!

Along came the mobile phone with fantastic apps such as WatchESPN, the New York Times, and Facebook, allowing us to access everything at will from the palm of our hand.  This 3-5" inch screen serves the human being better than the Titan.

We, as a society, are all about accessibility.  We want as much information as we can get WHEN we want it.  Ergo, we have the success or mobile phones with 3 and 4G capabilities.  For the first time, this demand for content WHEN we want it, in the palm of our hand, has exceeded the time that we spend with the more traditional TV broadcast.

Mobile Internet consumption has grown from 24 minutes for American in 2010 to TWO HOURS AND 21 MINUTES this year.  Most time spent with mobile is accessed on a smartphone with US Adults averaging an hour and seven minutes per day.  Tablet use measures at an hour and three minutes.

What does this new data mean for advertisers?  For advertising platforms with TV and digital options, digital sales will probably rise.  A company trying to reach the most people would use the platform most able to disseminate its message to a larger target audience.

For this reason, websites should be mobile responsive, automatically re-sizing to fit the screen on hand.  Mobile responsive screens tend to lend better to the user experience because messages are better formatted for viewing and menus are usually stacked for better accessibility.  Similarly, advertisers should have ads that respond to or were designed for these mobile screens.  Without developing a message in this format, advertisers, especially in this mobile-crazed age, will miss a large portion of their audience.

Thanks to Olivia for sending me the article!

Sources
http://mashable.com/2013/08/02/digital-media-beats-tv/
http://www.dreamwaytrading.com/prodimages/20325-DEFAULT-L.jpg
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Digital-Set-Surpass-TV-Time-Spent-with-US-Media/1010096

Smiling is Contagious: Coca-Cola

Embracing their slogan "Open Happiness," Coca-Cola's recent campaigns have focused on cracking a grin on the faces of their consumers.  Whether they are recreating their can to smile back at their customers or creating smile-activated photo booths, the soda company has shown immense dedication to garnering physical expressions of happiness from their audience.

Earlier this week, Coca-Cola held released an advertisement that featured employees smiling at the people they passed in their travels.  If people responded to the gesture and smiled back, Coke rewarded them with a soda (or a bike in some instances).  The campaign exemplified the benefits of happiness and reminded consumers why Coca-Cola has been successful reaching their markets.

Coca-Cola has a very strong brand having served the public for 127 years with products available in more than 200 countries.  The company first truly embraced this "fun" image when it released the advertisement "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" where a group of diverse young people gathered in song and expressed their love for the product.

Other popular campaigns have involved the Coca Cola Polar Bear, who resurfaces every winter time, and a number of placements have been created for the company's sports sponsorships.  Since the 1990s, Coca-Cola has been a large supporter of the Olympic Games, the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, and the NBA.  Who could forget their catchy version of K'naan's "Wavin' Flag," which was the 2010 FIFA World Cup Theme and distributed in a number of languages to reach all fans.  If this duet with K'Naan and David Bisbal doesn't leave you smiling, who knows what will!

The company now uses their majority of their advertisements across the globe to make consumers happier, whether it is by directly interacting with consumers in the street or by allowing them to watch their interactions through these advertisements on YouTube.  The company goes further than just pushing their product and relates to the consumers, showing genuine concern for their well-being.  At a time when people believe advertisements are not as effective as they once were, Coca-Cola literally reaches across the aisle to put their soda in the hands of consumers.  The company receives advertisement of the week almost every time a new campaign is released.  Anyone looking to improve a brand's image should take a long hard look at this company's strategies and observe how one becomes a force in the advertising marketplace.

Sources

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/topics/heritage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2msbfN81Gm0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6ClP6xXBHo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skl7mVCCZ3k

http://creativity-online.com/work/cocacola-happy-can/31725

http://creativity-online.com/work/cocacola-a-smile/32144

Home Field Advantage Has Its Benefits

77 years.  That's how long the English had to wait to see a man from the British Isles win Wimbledon.  Aside from the Chicago fans still waiting for the Cubs to put an end to their suffering, the British knew heartache as the host nation and seriously doubted whether they would ever see a countryman hoist the trophy.  

Murray's win over Novak Djokovic not only captivated the hearts of the English people but also the wallets of sponsors from across the world.  Going into Wimbledon, Murray's total earnings from endorsements and prize money came to around $12 million a year.  Now, Nigel Currie, director of the London-based sports marketing agency BrandRapport, estimates the new champion may be able to earn 50 million pounds or $74 million.  

How does Murray's value grow this rapidly?  First, tennis fans have the budding Djokovic-Murray rivalry.  The two have faced each other in four Grand Slam finals and have split their match ups winning two each, but Murray also defeated Djokovic in the Olympics.  With the sun setting on the Federer-Nadal rivalry, these two could be the most competitive tennis stars on the court.  Second, Murray is now both a Wimbledon and Olympic champion.  The day following his most recent victory at the All England Club, his face was plastered on the cover of almost every front page in the United Kingdom.  The final match drew 17.3 million TV viewers, close to 80% of the BBC audience.  Talk about showing support for the hometown hero!

As "Murray Mania" takes hold of the U.K., it's interesting to compare his popularity to other local heroes who played for their hometowns and how their brands took off.  As with Murray, there was a combination of success that went along with their origins, but the combination is deadly for marketers.

CAL RIPKEN JR.: the Iron Man spent his entire career with the Baltimore Orioles, the team he grew up supporting and even played for his father who managed the club.  His talent marked an important era in Orioles baseball and the city would claim him as their most important resident.  To this day, Cal Ripken jerseys still flood the stands at Camden Yards and the outpouring of hometown pride was evident in the ceremony for his statue dedication last season.  Every moment of his career showed that Ripken loves the city as much as the fans love him and for that reason his brand has endured long after his playing career ended.

DAVID FREESE: While he does not have the pedigree of the Iron Man, David Freese almost single handedly brought his home town of St. Louis the 2011 World Series.  To quote Bud Selig, "If you wrote a story like that -- a guy gets traded, comes back to his hometown, he's a hero -- if you sent that in the script, it would get thrown back in your face."  The following year, Freese's jersey ranked #12 on the list of the top-selling jerseys.  Coincidence? I think not.

  
LEBRON JAMES: Although he is no longer a hometown hero, at one point in his career LeBron was the King of Cleveland.  Times have changed drastically since he made "The Decision" and left his town star-less and feeling betrayed, but while he was there, he was easily the number one selling jersey and most prominent athlete.  Who knows, but now there is talk that LeBron might even return to his hometown.  Imagine the marketing potential!




Sources
http://adage.com/article/media/murray-s-wimbledon-win-means-74-million-endorsements/243000/
http://wapc.mlb.com/bal/play/?content_id=24549151&topic_id=8879002&c_id=bal
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120906&content_id=38013476&vkey=news_bal&c_id=bal
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7162955/hometown-boy-david-freese-mvp-world-series
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/10/david_freese_jersey_among_majo.html
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/wimbledon-final-bbc-ratings-hit-581539
http://coed.com/2011/03/30/the-9-most-impressive-streaks-in-sports-history/
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-on-baseball/21105057/cardinals-3b-david-freese-totals-vehicle-but-escapes-injury
http://live.drjays.com/index.php/2011/03/31/should-the-cleveland-cavs-retire-lebron-james-jersey/cleveland-cavaliers-v-new-york-knicks/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/prishe/2013/07/07/andy-murray-boosts-future-endorsement-earnings-ending-britains-77-year-drought-at-wimbledon/

Leave a message after the tone...

"You've reach LeBron.  Please, leave a message. BEEP."

You're hearing this right.  LeBron is now taking the calls of fans, haters, rappers, coaches, and anyone with fingers who can dial this number: 305.767.2226.

Following the Heat's 2nd consecutive NBA championship, Wieden + Kennedy have worked with Nike to provide fans the opportunity to call 2013's Most Valuable Player.  The company has gone so far as to provide an actual number for anyone interested in offering criticism, congratulations, or advice on LeBron's jump shot.

The advertisement has a number of high-powered names offering the best to LeBron.  The script reads:

Spike Lee: "Yo, LeBron, what's up? This is Spike. Congratulations. One love. I'm out!

Warren Buffet: "Hey, LeBron. It's Warren Buffet. I'm sure glad you're using that hook shot that I taught you." 

Dr. Dre: "Yo, LeBron. What up! What up! It's Dr. Dre. Hey, man. I know how tough this series was, but you did it again. Can you believe it!?" 

Mike Krzyzewski: "Hey, LeBron, it's Coach K. Wow! Two in a row!" 

Guys chanting: "MVP! MVP!" 

Phil Knight: "Hey, LeBron, Phil Knight. Fantastic year. You might really be worth all that money we pay you." 

Children: "Hey, Mr. LeBron. It's your Wheels for Ed/I Promise kids. You're our hero." 

Drake: "Yo, Bron, what's up, man. This is Drake. It's your time. I always tell you that. OVO, La Familia, four horsemen—it's love, man." 

Bill Russell: "LeBron. Bill Russell. Remember, almost anybody can win one. Welcome to the circle. [phone rings] OK, hold on a second. My other phone's ringing. It will stop in a minute."

These messages leave you wondering what would Tim Duncan, Dan Gilbert, or Cleveland fans have to say to LeBron?  Fortunately for LeBron, he never promised anyone that he would return the calls.  

AdWeek recognized this advertisement as the Ad of the Day on June 25th and described the piece as, "A personalized, engaging, fan-focused social initiative."  The spot attracts the viewer's attention with its use of celebrities and calls the public to take action, offering them the chance to talk to one of the most talented basketball players of the current era and silently pounding home the Nike motto: JUST DO IT!  

Would the campaign have worked with other NBA players?  One has to imagine that stars the likes of Kobe and possibly Carmelo could attract a good response from fans.  Say the Spurs had won, would people have been so eager to call and leave messages for Tim Duncan or Tony Parker?  Perhaps, this royal treatment is reserved for the King.  LeBron has a powerful image that always seems to attract feedback, positive and negative.

Nike has used LeBron in a number of commercials ranging from popular campaigns like this voicemail to the "What Should I Do?" advertisement.

Personally, I enjoyed Nike's LeBron-Kobe puppet commercials the best.  How things have changed since those commercials aired!

Sources:
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-nike-150681
http://creativity-online.com/work/nike-leave-a-message-for-lebron/31938

Dumb Ways to Die: Creativity Done the Aussie Way

This week marked the biggest event for advertisers following the Super Bowl: The Cannes Film Festival.  For seven days, advertisers from all over the world gather in Cannes, France for the opportunity to see which advertisements are voted as the best of the year in front of their peers.  Agencies, advertisers, and sponsors wait with bated breath to hear if their names are called to receive accolades and recognition.

This year, an Australian public service announcement took the world by storm and won for Best Integrated Campaign.  The video, “Dumb Ways to Die” was produced by the Australian Metro to encourage people to practice safe habits near train tracks.  Recognizing that the public service announcement needed a creative and catchy way to attract attention, the company created a song to stick in people’s heads while they stand on train station platforms.

How effective was the campaign?   The song, reminiscent of Train’s “50 Ways to Say Goodbye,” is ranked as the third most viral advertising campaign of all time (fourth on this list) and is the most shared PSA in history with the song available on iTunes, a website, a book, a smartphone game, interactive outdoor posters, radio advertising, and Tumblr GIFs.  At train stations in Australia, screens broadcast karaoke versions of the song.  Every piece of this campaign leads consumers to take the pledge to “not be dumb.”  Most importantly, the Melbourne Metro has recorded a 21% reduction in accidents and deaths compared to last year.

Who knew shuffling jelly beans could make such an impact?  Matt MacDonald the chief creative officer with JWT explains, "It takes what could be a gruesome and depressing message and makes it joyful and shareable and hummable and everything a great ad should be.”

Sell both of your kidney's on the Internet

For digital advertisers, this campaign represents the key notions that the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) recently outlined their research on Liquid Creativity at the Cannes Festival.  The “Mobile Manifesto” laid out broad notions for enhancing creativity and ad impact in mobile brand messaging.  While the research focused on mobile platforms, the four central notions remain applicable to all digital mediums:

1. BRANDING: Clear and persistent branding is important for building brand awareness
2. DESIGN: A striking color palette can drive ad recall, but legibility is paramount
3. MESSAGING: Short, focused messaging plays well in mobile’s small format (or for the purpose of this post, make messaging consistent with the format available)
4. RESPONSE: Consumers respond to mobile ads that give them something back

This campaign excelled in all of these areas.  Branding: the same characters and messages appeared in the songs, videos, and all other presentations.  Design: the characters were simplistic, used a broad color palette, and captured taking part in crazy actions enabling the visuals to resonate and be recalled by viewers.  Messaging: the message was emphasized again and again as the song chanted "Dumb ways to die, so many dumb ways to die" before giving an example, "[Poking] a stick at a grizzly bear” or “[Running] across the tracks between the platforms.”  Additionally, because the medium was focused largely on a YouTube video, the message could be longer and repetitive to help drive home the purpose.  Finally, response: the audience’s response was evident as views skyrocketed and so many other mediums picked up the message.

As context no longer refers solely to the advertisement on the screen, but the entire life of the targeted consumer, it is important in any message to understand 1. Where the consumer is located? 2. What the consumer is doing? and 3. What does the consumer need help with at that moment?  For this campaign, they targeted Australian citizens and specifically metro riders, the consumers were doing “dumb” things around train stations, and they needed to be aware of the consequences of their actions.  The campaign’s targeting strategy called the audience to action and the Melbourne Metro is approaching 1 million pledges on its website.  

Dumb Ways to Die

The success of this campaign lies in its integration across platforms.  With so many versions and adaptations of the song and characters, the audience can learn and share the message in a way that is most convenient for them.  Whether they are teaching the lessons in schools using the campaign’s book or humming along to the Karaoke version on the metro platform, people continue to feel the impact of these silly jelly beans.  

Can other digital advertising and marketing campaigns be as successful by using the same integrated campaign tactics?

Sources:

http://www.canneslions.com/work/2013/direct/

http://money.msn.com/now/blog--why-dumb-ways-to-die-became-a-viral-hit

http://www.iab.net/iablog/2013/06/what-works-in-mobile-walking-the-tightrope-between-consumer-research-and-creativity.html

http://www.iab.net/mobilemanifesto
http://www.google.com/think/images/dumb-ways-to-die_campaigns_02.jpg
http://www.google.com/think/images/dumb-ways-to-die_campaigns_03.jpg

Welcome!

Welcome to the 2013 edition of the Summer@ESPN blog!  For the past two summers, this blog has provided an intern’s view of the advertising/sports marketing industry during their ten weeks as an employee of the Walt Disney Company and ESPN.  Although we do not have access to continue publishing on the original blog, anyone interested in seeing opinions and perspectives of past years can visit http://espn-intern.blogspot.com/ and see the work that Jillian and Stuart compiled during their experience.

My name is Catherine and I will be the new voice for interns in the sports marketing/advertising industry and beyond as I travel throughout the ever changing world of digital advertising as a member of the Digital Ad Operations team in New York.  I am looking forward to sharing my insights with you all and following in the footsteps of the two magnificent interns who came before me.

Stay excellent!