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ANALYTICS’ ROLE IN INJURY PREVENTION S T R AT E G Y
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2017 NEEDS TO SEE A CHANGE IN SMARTWATCHES Smartwatches have had a considerable amount of hype surrounding them in the past few years, but after struggling, they need to kick on in 2017 /10
'WE LOOK AT SOCIAL AS PART OF OUR OVERALL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE' We talked basketball and audience data with Meg Ryan, Senior Director of Marketing Strategy for the Atlanta Hawks / 21
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sports Analytics innovation summit march 8 & 9 melbourne
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ISSUE 24
EDITOR’S LETTER Welcome to the 24th Edition of the Sports Performance & Tech Magazine
As I write this editor’s letter the world is looking to the US. On Sunday February 5 the Patriots will play the Falcons in Super Bowl 51, by the time this magazine is released the world will know the score, but the eyes of the world will remain firmly fixed on the US for other reasons. That is of course the controversial administration change over the past 3 months that has seen the US and the world become as divided along political lines as any time in living memory. There has been shouting matches online, across bars and even at family dinner tables that seem difficult to overcome. However, we have seen in the past that sport is one of the most powerful forces in the world when bringing people together and with the biggest sporting event in the
world taking place during this time of unprecedented change in the US, perhaps we can look to it to help calm the huge tensions we are seeing. This isn’t simply a wish though, there have been numerous studies, books and articles surrounding the ability for sport to replace direct conflict. For instance, think about the national pride that surrounds an international competition like the World Cup football or Olympics and how it can bind everyone together. Even the losing teams all pull together - even if it is to criticize their team’s performances and athletes. It can create euphoria for everyone associated with the team involved, fuelling patriotism and togetherness.
have seen its power in the past and with the biggest event only days away, hopefully it can help. If you are interested in contributing, please contact me at ghill@theiegroup.com
George Hill managing editor
A single sporting event is unlikely to cure all of the issues that the US and the world are currently facing, but we
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contents 6 | ‘SPORT IS UNIQUE IN ITS ABILITY TO GENERATE AND LEVERAGE EMOTION’
We sat down with Adam Karg, Senior Lecturer and Course Director at Deakin University 10 | 2017 NEEDS TO SEE A CHANGE IN SMARTWATCHES
Smartwatches have had a considerable amount of hype surrounding them in the past few years, but after struggling, they need to kick on in 2017
18 | SHAPING ANALYTICS IN RUGBY
Rugby is a team sport that lends itself to analytics and data like few others and some are taking advantage more than others 21 | ‘WE LOOK AT SOCIAL AS PART OF OUR OVERALL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE’
We talked basketball and audience data with Meg Ryan, Senior Director of Marketing Strategy for the Atlanta Hawks
13 | ANALYTICS’ ROLE IN INJURY PREVENTION
Player injury can cost teams points, money and reputation, but physios now have predictive analytics to help in the battle 15 | HOW ADVANCED METRICS ARE PERMEATING THE WORLD OF FOOTBALL
Jason Gordon investigates how data is impacting the way the NFL operates despite the relatively slow pace of uptake amongst teams
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managing editor george hill
| assistant editor charlie sammonds | creative director nathan wood
contributors meg rimmer, charlie sammonds, jason gordon, alex collis, alex lane
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‘SPORT IS UNIQUE IN ITS ABILITY TO GENERATE AND LEVERAGE EMOTION’ Meg Rimmer | Organizer, Sports Analytics Innovation Summit, Melbourne
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DR ADAM KARG IS A COURSE DIRECTOR IN THE Sport Management Program and member of the Centre for Sport Research at Deakin University. He is engaged in a wide range of research activities with national and state sporting organisations, governing bodies, sport technology start-ups and more than 45 professional sports teams. Through this work, he has developed as one of the country’s leading researchers on sport fan equity, focussed on services related to satisfaction, engagement and loyalty. Dr Karg has published articles in international peer-reviewed journals, is a co-author of multiple textbooks and has presented research findings at national and international conferences. Ahead of his presentation at the Sports Analytics Innovation Summit this March 8 & 9 in Melbourne, we sat down with Adam to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing a burgeoning industry.
How did you get started in your career? I had a background and interest in sport management and marketing and particularly in research. I undertook my PhD in Sport Organisation Design while building extensive experience working on fan and customer equity research projects with a number of professional leagues and teams (our team has now worked with over 45 professional teams in major sports in Australia). Over time, the volume of data we collected from these projects naturally led to both an interest in using more analytics-driven tools to manage data and drive insights but also an opportunity to assist teams and organisations better utilise the data they were collecting.
What, in your view, were the defining sports analytics trends of last year? For teams and governing organisations, we definitely saw a greater interest and understanding of what predictive analytics might offer sport marketing domains. Analysis of unstructured data (predominantly forms of open or text data) started to emerge for us as a key opportunity to simplify insights and add value via volumes of mass data.
In Australia, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence technologies have started to be used by sport organisations to aid consumer experiences, starting the next phase of analytics opportunities. Academically, the growth and interest in data and business analytics as a career path also gained significant traction in 2016.
MOST VITAL IS BALANCING AN APPROACH THAT BOTH CONFIRMS LOGICAL OR KNOWN PATTERNS With the incredible amount of data available to analytics teams in modern sport, how can analysts identify which metrics are important? There is some important background here around the use of quality data, valid cases and investing in the right
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the core sport product. Winning and losing strongly influence attitudes and behaviours – but is an area marketers have little impact over. Understanding the impact of on-field performance, and associated halo effects is vital in sport consumer behaviour. Large scale, longitudinal data and analytics is one way that teams can understand the role of on field performance when looking to predict behaviours and interpret results and research.
expertise and techniques. Often a danger can be working on poor or limited data which impact results, and resultant strategies. Using data mining and predictive modelling approaches can manage extraordinary numbers of variables – so volume of data presents less of an issue than in the past. Likewise, open text and composite metrics become more relevant here to add value to current modelling. Most vital is balancing an approach that both confirms logical or known patterns (i.e; the variables we’d expect or know are important), but also combines exploratory techniques to uncover hidden or less obvious patterns and metrics that can assist marketers. Above all, one size does not fit all (i.e; not all fans or markets behave the same) therefore adopting non-specified models or insights from other contexts can be dangerous.
Do you think there is a danger fans could begin to feel like a commodity? Can personalization ease this? Yes and yes. Commodification of the consumer and consumer experience is an issue, particularly as fan bases grow, where automation of messages is over-utilised and where organisations (deliberately or otherwise) start to service levels of fans differently based on their perceived ‘value’ they offer the organisation. There is less excuse (and less forgiveness) than ever for receiving an email or message that is poorly targeted, but it still happens. The challenge of personalisation, particularly for teams with large fan bases, is around the balance between efficiency and personalised approaches. To what extent can (or should) an organisation create 75,000 or more different experiences for its season ticket holders? Thankfully, analytics, and perhaps most vitally data management /8
COMMODIFICATION OF THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE IS AN ISSUE, PARTICULARLY AS FAN BASES GROW platforms, provide better opportunities than ever to segment consumer bases, and personalise offers and experiences to add value. This requires a few levels to strategy including comprehensive planning and evaluation stages to aid targeting and messaging, and to better understand consumers as individuals. Building trust and strengthening relationships is vital here as well, to an extent where consumers are happy to exchange data and information, so an organisation can ultimately better serve them.
The unique aspects of sport also creates a significant opportunity. Sport is unique in its ability to generate and leverage emotion, involvement and uncommon loyalty. This is positive as it allows higher levels of engagement that many other products and industries, and as such, potential to capture more data and build deeper relationships. Finally, sport organisations or teams individually remain by definition small to medium organisations that can lack experience or resourcing to build analytics capacity. Here, collaborations with other teams, organisations or institutes can provide mutual benefits. Within a university environment I’ve seen, setup and worked on projects where collaborative approaches can be a great way to work in tandem to drive the industry and knowledge forward.
What are you most looking forward to about In terms of customer - i.e. the conference`? fan - analytics, what are Above all and as with all Sport Analytics conferences - here and the challenges unique to abroad - it’s just great see the range the sports industry? of data collection and analysis The main challenges translate from two areas; the unique aspects of sport and realistic capacity of sport organisations – which largely remain small and medium organisations in Australia. Relative to teams and leagues, the core challenge unique to sport is the lack of control marketers have over
techniques used in both on-field contexts as well as those related to the business of sport in the same place. Exploring how the industry is evolving and opportunities for collaboration are key in growing Sport Analytics as a domain.
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needs to see a
change in smartwatches Charlie Sammonds Deputy Editor
THE SMARTWATCH, AS A SECOND SCREEN device, hasn’t quite taken off. Between June and September last year, 2.7 million units were shipped, 51% down on the same period in 2015, and there is a sense that most people who find smartwatches appealing will have already bought one. It’s a product that doesn’t really seem to know what it is - is the Apple Watch a useful personal assistant or, as put by Steve Wozniak himself, a ‘luxury fitness brand’?
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Understandably, the idea of reading a news article on your wrist or talking into it like character from a sci-fi movie isn’t interesting to large portions of the market. All new technologies take time to feel natural, but equally some never properly take hold. There’s a danger that, like Google Glass, a smartwatch with all the functionality of the Apple Watch is one of those products that’s exciting in theory but flops on contact with the market.
for example, are functions that are arguably better placed on the wrist than in the pocket. And perhaps to declare the smartwatch dead is to perhaps deny it time to grow. Many have pointed to the relatively slow burn of the smartphone before its explosion at the hands of Apple. It’s not uncommon for new technologies to take some time finding their feet, and the hype around smartwatches set them up to disappoint before they even fully materialized.
2017 will see Android Wear 2.0 rolled When Pebble was sold to Fitbit and all out in a host of hybrid smartwatches but dismantled in 2016, some viewed it and many smartwatch manufacturers as a death knell for the smartwatch. The are adding functionality to their new products offer largely the same features products. Interestingly, all of Wearable’s as the smartphone, and customers picks for the are clearly finding smartwatches to it difficult to justify watch in 2017 are having a secondary Between relatively traditional piece of very similar in form. They have tech on their wrist. June and faces, often The technology is September last year, round with standard digital still one that’s very or analogue time much in its infancy, 2.7 million units displays in the and it’s here that the were shipped, 51% foreground and smartwatch needs just a suggestion of to reconsider its down on the same further functionality. purpose. Watches period in 2015 The way developers are, first and and designers foremost, a fashion are approaching Android Wear 2.0, item, and a less-is-more approach though, would suggest that increased could see the products appeal to the traditionalists as well as the tech fanatics. functionality is the most likely road many will go down. In a marketplace that could The initial success of Pebble, and the benefit from easily usable, genuinely lasting appeal of Fitbit, stems in my view useful smartwatches with limited but from simplicity. Users want a device selective functionality, a new influx of that looks slick, will track fitness data gimmicks seems unnecessary. and show notifications. Scrawling text 2017 is a big year in the development of messages is gimmicky and it will take the smartwatch. Some predict it’ll take far more time than the smartwatch can off when Android 2.0 comes into play, afford for it to seem more convenient and others fear overcomplicating the than simply taking out a phone. When devices will switch consumers off. Hybrid smartwatches become independent smartwatches are a middle ground from smartphones and start being able that could appeal to the mass market. to take calls or emails themselves then Perhaps the notion of the wrist-worn perhaps they will seem less arbitrary - as computer should be left to the tech long as they require tethering, for many a enthusiasts. smartphone will suffice. There are additional functionalities that could be useful, though. Electronic payment and intelligent GPS visualization,
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Analytics’ Role In Injury Prevention Meg Rimmer Organizer, Sports Analytics Innovation Summit
injury prevention is one of the key challenges facing coaching teams across sports
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AS PROFESSIONAL SPORT HAS DEVELOPED, THE PHYSICAL
demands put on athletes has skyrocketed. Gone are the days of the half-time cigarette, or the professional footballer being found in the pub with supporters after a particularly inspiring win. The pace and ferocity of sport has intensified, and today’s athletes are held up to the highest standards of fitness. Keeping a squad of players free from injury and fatigue can be the difference between success and failure at the highest level. Because of this, injury prevention is one of the key challenges facing coaching teams across sports. Ahead of his presentation at the Sports Analytics Innovation Summit this March 8 - 9 in Melbourne, we spoke to Port Adelaide FC’s HighPerformance Manager, Dr Darren Burgess, about the analytics industry’s focus on injury prevention. On the key trends in sports analytics of 2016, Burgess said: ‘Definitely injury prediction. Whether we have got it right or not is another question but that has been the main focus.’ This focus is made possible by improvements to tracking devices and the identification of which metrics can actually make a difference with regard to fitness. Companies like Catapult - an Australian manufacturer of data collecting wearables in sport - have grown at an incredible rate thanks to professional sports’ desperation to collect as much information about their athletes as possible.
Where traditional methods are primarily reactive, predictive analytics gives physio teams the information they need to anticipate when an athlete is at risk of injury / 14
Despite the improvements, Burgess is still skeptical as to whether the industry is currently equipped to handle the incredible influx of data. ‘Physically, I don’t think we can just yet. We have a very basic grasp on things but I think physically at the moment we’re relying on more art than science until the technology becomes more accurate.’ And it’s becoming more accurate all the time. As it does, it will continue to be the job of analytics teams to translate the data collected into actionable insights, and ultimately to prevent injury problems before they arise.
Where traditional methods are primarily reactive, predictive analytics gives physio teams the information they need to anticipate when an athlete is at risk of injury and adjust their workload accordingly. ‘I think we can identify trends that ‘may’ lead to injuries with analytics,’ Burgess said. ‘Collecting robust data over a long period of time enables us to make some useful assumptions about what activities may both help or hinder the management of injuries.’ Players in the NFL, Rugby Union, and the AFL have been wearing RFID trackers - ordinarily placed between the shoulder blades - for some time now, devices that monitor everything from the force of impact to heart rates. From this information, which is collected during both training and competitive matches, analytics teams can identify trends that increase the risk of injury and act accordingly. As with all analytics in sport, though, adoption takes time. For a coach to rest a seemingly fit player because the data suggests a heightened injury risk requires faith in the numbers, which can only be built over time. The numbers are persuasive enough, though. Catapult and Kitman Labs, a competitor, report that the teams using their tech see a 20-33% reduction in injury rates, a huge improvement in an industry of fine margins. Darren Burgess’ work at Port Adelaide is paving the way in terms of data usage in injury prevention, and other teams will follow suit quickly if they aren’t already.
How Advanced Metrics Are Permeating The World Of Football Jason Gordon Journalist, USS Sports Machine Published on 01/12/2017
Jason Gordon Journalist, USS Sports Machine
ADVANCED METRICS AND STATISTICS ARE PERMEATING
the world of professional football. The pace isn’t anywhere close to as fast as baseball had been acclimated or as fast as basketball is currently advancing. Football people are famously pig-headed and oldschool in nature. However, football is consistently moving into the next generation of analytics. Some of these new stats are just for show: things we, as football fans, could never previously have known but don’t add to our knowledge of
the game all that much outside of general curiosity. We aren’t all scouts and defensive coordinators who need to know how often the New England Patriots run the ball off right guard. It is interesting but has limited use to a casual fan. Other numbers are far different. They are also fascinating, yet do a great job of showing why some teams are really good and others are not. Beyond point differential, it is hard to know what translates to real-life wins. Something that does tell us real-life information is TD/(TO+P).
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when it has the ball, an opponent cannot afford to fall very far behind. A couple of failed possessions against the Falcons and suddenly the game falls completely out of reach. They score seven (or six) points nearly as often as they fail on a drive. That is a scary proposition for a team that may only convert touchdowns 40 or 50 percent of the time.
Developed by Football Perspective, one of the clearest representations of effective offensive football is obtained by measuring a team’s TD/(TO+P) ratio: touchdowns scored compared to total turnovers and punts. Essentially, this stat tells us which offenses convert the most valuable scores as often as they give the ball back to the opponent. Football fans will realize this is hard work. Even the best teams are forced to give the ball back over more often than they find the end zone. In 2016, no team reached a 1-to-1 ratio. However, one team came incredibly close. The Atlanta Falcons paced the league in TD/(TO+P), and it was not even close! A 100 percent mark would mean a team registers exactly as many touchdowns as those combined turnovers. Atlanta finished at 98 percent; no other team in the NFL even topped 70 percent. So when you look into the MVP candidates, Matt Ryan’s numbers obviously pop off the page, but so do Tom Brady’s and Aaron Rodgers’ But when you bring analytics into to picture, it becomes increasingly clear that Ryan is most deserving of the MVP award. The implications of such a metric are obvious. Atlanta is so brutally efficient / 16
We aren’t all scouts and defensive coordinators who need to know how often the New England Patriots run the ball off right guard
When thinking of effective offenses moving through the rest of the postseason, Atlanta should have a huge edge against the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle struggled through the regular season, ranking around league average in TD/(TO+P). It will have to hope for another Thomas Rawls breakout to carry a scoring punch in the divisional round of the playoffs. The same goes for New England against the Houston Texans. New England has a massive edge in offensive efficiency through scoring touchdowns...even if Houston knows which direction the Patriots like to run the ball. Sources - http://www.nflsavant.com/team. php?ddlTeams=NE - https://mobile.twitter.com/fbgchase/ status/8185507... - http://rukkus.com/blog/nfl-mvp-candidates/ - http://www.espn.com/nfl/scoreboard/_/ year/2016/seasontype/3/week/2
Want to contribute?
channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/authors contact ghill@theiegroup.com / 17
ShapingAnalytics in Rugby
Alex Collis | Sports Analytics Commentator
COMPARED TO THE OBVIOUS FORMATIONAL DIVERSITY of sports like football and soccer, the nuances of rugby’s tactics are less clear to the uneducated eye. The nature of the game dictates that teams line up with eight forwards and seven backs. These units line up in a one-to-one reflection of their opponents, meaning the real tactical battle lies in playing style rather than formational change.
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In this sense, rugby is more a sport of marginal gains than football or soccer - both sports in which formational overhaul can drastically affect the outcome of a competition. It’s not so much a sport where a single moment of brilliance can determine a result; it’s one where a relatively clear winner often emerges gradually over the course of the 80 minutes. Because anomalous results are less likely and success is more directly tied to performance, improvements made through analytics-driven decisions are more easy to quantify.
WE’VE TALKED SO MUCH ABOUT BIG DATA IN ANALYTICS CONFERENCES, BUT YOU ALMOST GET THE SENSE WE’RE GETTING BACK TO BASICS, THAT SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL For example, a longer kicking game snatches territory, territory traditionally yields points. Therefore, a team that commits to kicking long for territory should, in theory, see more points. This may be a simplistic view, but it’s an example of one of a plethora of decisions on style a coach has to make to affect a sport without formational fluidity. Rather than lining up in a particular fashion, rugby teams are forced to alter the specifics of their playing styles to counter threats or exploit weakness.
Bill Gerrard, who came into the sport by his own admission ‘as a complete outsider with absolutely no background whatsoever in rugby union,’ became an important figure in the Saracens RFC analytics team. With an initial background in economics, Gerrard came to sport with the skills to pull apart data and work it into actionable insights, for which he has been lauded in the sporting world. Referring often to the ‘evidence based approach’ made possible through analytics, Gerrard is an expert at identivfying important metrics and turning these into KPIs for teams to work towards improving. For Gerrard, the work he does ’combines the coaches’ experience and intuitions with video analysis and data analysis as part of that - helping us to inform decision on training priorities, on team selection, on tactics, and longer term on player recruitment and player retention issues.’ In an industry struggling to make sense of the multitude of data it now collects, Gerrard’s approach is refreshing. Rather than scanning reams of passing data to identify patterns and hope to uncover insight, for example, Gerrard first establishes what it is the team are specifically trying to achieve. Once he has this, he can identify the metrics that influence these goals and, from these, form KPIs. ‘If it isn’t going to influence decisions, don’t waste your time and resources getting the data and analyzing it. You’re wasting your time.’ The notion that analytics must fundamentally be focused on impact, on changing behavior, underpins Gerrard’s approach to the practise.
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‘We’ve talked so much about big data in analytics conferences, but you almost get the sense we’re getting back to basics, that small is beautiful,’ he said. ‘It’s that expert, detailed knowledge and data on our individual players, within the context of what it is that we’re trying to do within our organization.’ Essentially, context is key. The more you have, the less variety of data you need. Big data is effective in providing a background and identifying generic trends and patterns, but it has to be integrated with small data to provide the why. ‘You need causality. More and more, big data is about correlation, not causation. It’s interesting and useful to know what the correlations are, and indeed you can make a business plan if you’re Amazon or Facebook on that. But coaches, sport scientists, teams, and athletes can’t. They need the small data.’ So rugby is a sport of fine margins. Small tweaks to playing style can have a major impact on results. It’s fitting, then, that analytics teams should focus on small data to inform decision making, as well as the vast seas of big data they otherwise identify trends within. For Gerrard, the sport will reach a point where the coach’s bench responds to analytics in real-time. It’s up to people like Gerrard and his team, however, to ensure that the insights available are both valuable and actionable for the decision makers.
A TEAM THAT COMMITS TO KICKING LONG FOR TERRITORY SHOULD, IN THEORY, SEE MORE POINTS See Bill speaking at our Sports Analytics Innovation Summit in London on April 5 & 6. / 20
‘We Look At Social As Part Of Our Overall Customer Experience’ We sat down with Meg Ryan, Senior Director of Marketing Strategy for the Atlanta Hawks
Rose Johnstone | Sports Business Commentator
MEG RYAN IS THE SENIOR DIRECTOR, Marketing Strategy for the Atlanta Hawks. In this role, she is responsible for advertising, promotions, digital, social, marketing analytics and insights, unifying consumer facing marketing messages and all direct response channels for the Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena. She has received awards from Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report and other publications for leading the top sports social media account. Ahead of her presentation at the Digital Marketing Innovation Summit this March 21 & 22 in New York, we sat down with Meg to talk all things digital marketing.
We’ve talked so much about big data in analytics conferences, but you almost get the sense we’re getting back to basics, that small is beautiful
What social media platforms do you find most useful and how are you measuring your success? The success of a social media platform is based on the content. Our goal is to maximize fan engagement by providing the right content for the platform. With that said, we don’t have a preferred platform. Once we identify the message/ content that we would like to publish, we then distribute the content on the channel that will have the best response. For example, we know that our fans are more likely to purchase tickets through Facebook. If there is an opportunity to push a special ticket offer, then we will select Facebook for that message. / 21
How does your output across the different social media platforms differ and why? Our output varies from channel to channel. We know that fans consume content differently based on the platform, and we always start with the fan experience in mind. With that in mind, we vary our content based on how our fans interact with the platform, and the type of content that performs best on that platform. Our plans for each channel take into account: type of content (i.e. video, text, photo, etc), subject of content, time of day, frequency of post, desired result, and amplification. We do not look at our channels in silos. Instead, we look at social as part of our overall customer experience. This helps us identify opportunities to co-promote content or reward fans with unique content on a specific platform.
Why has content marketing seen such growth in recent years? How are you capitalizing on this? Content marketing is growing due to the change in how consumers interact with brands and advertising, which is driven by changing technology and distribution platforms. Content marketing isn’t a new concept. Brands have been integrating their products in content for decades. The opportunity is now in the distribution. Brands are no longer limited to linear distribution channels. We have an opportunity to leverage multiple channels in an easy and inexpensive way that gives brands an opportunity to build a rapport and relationship with customers. These relationships are invaluable for brands.
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WATCH TODAYS
What advice would you give to brands just beginning their content marketing journey? The advice that I would give to brands just beginning their journey is to be authentic and fan-first. Fans will sniff out inauthentic content. Know your brand and know who you want your brand to be, and stay true to that course. Secondly, the content that a brand publishes should drive engagement and fan interest. Build content with your fans in mind and track your successes and failures. MATCHES
TICKETS
How do you maintain brand loyalty and meaningful engagement in the overcrowded digital space? Authenticity. We build content that is true to our brand. We work very closely with our corporate partnership team to build co-branded content that is fan-first and true to our brand. By sticking to our brand and focusing on the fan, we provide value to our fans and partners.
How crucial is the role that data plays in your decisionmaking? Data is central to all of our decisionmaking, but we are not handicapped by the lack of data if a decision needs to be made. Specifically, we use data to optimize our current campaigns, pivot on under-performing creative, and test. Our business moves very quickly, and we need to be as agile as possible with our marketing campaigns.
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