Flip the Switch by EngageMint: Recent Episodes
EngageMint
How do you turn customers into fans for life? How do you create an employee experience that makes them want to run through walls for you? In this podcast, we highlight the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, and sports business. In candid, roundtable discussions, we bring together leaders in CX, EX, and sports business to discuss ideas, trends and failures and best practices to help you create raving fans for your own organization.
Episode 002: David Millay (https://twitter.com/davidmillay) and Troy Campbell get into the science of anticipation, emo Jimmy Butler, AI for experiential marketing gone wrong, and how Portals help transform customers’ mindsets to enjoy your product more.
Want to talk to David? Email him at davidm@engagemintpartners.com
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Show Themes:
Humor in Marketing: Learn about the role of humor in marketing, with a nod to Fall Out Boy’s music video featuring Jimmy Butler.
Cultural Phenomena & Diverse Ideas: A deep dive into why embracing a variety of ideas is crucial for success, including an analysis of an event that didn’t quite hit the mark.
AI in Content Creation: A balanced discussion on the potential benefits and challenges AI presents in the realm of content creation, stressing the importance of human oversight for quality and creativity.
Barcelona’s Sportswear Line: A look at the concept of brands expanding into new territories, such as Barcelona creating its own sportswear.
The Psychology of Portals: Discover how “portals,” or transitional spaces, can set the stage for positive anticipation and transformative experiences.
Blending Science and Art: Troy discusses his unique approach that marries behavioral science with artistic expression, and why it’s effective in engaging audiences.
The Art of Ending - Portal Out: Emphasizing the significance of “portals out” or endings, in contexts ranging from amusement parks to American sports, and their impact on the overall experience.
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Links:
• Portals, a deep dive Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKacL15Mvdo
• Emo Jimmy Butler x Fallout Boy
• Portals, a written article - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/portals-how-better-begin-everything-troy-hiduke-campbell-jd32c/
• Willy’s Chocolate Experience - https://www.buzzfeed.com/aglover/glasgow-willy-wonka-event-explained
• Barcelona vs. Nike - https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomsanderson/2024/03/23/fc-barcelona-confirms-it-canceled-nike-contract-and-received-218-million-lamine-offer/?sh=45f48a2d794d
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Check Out Troy's Stuff:
• Troy's Youtube Channel, Original & Powerful Ideas, here: https://www.youtube.com/@originalandpowerfulideas
• On Your Feet (consulting): https://www.oyf.com/
• Troy’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/troy-hiduke-campbell/
• Troy’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/campbell.troy/
Connect with Host, David Millay:
Connect w/ David Millay on LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmillay/
Follow David on INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/david.millay/
Follow David Millay on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/DavidMillay
Episode 001: An introduction to the show Making the Fan w/ David Millay.
A show where we explore how brands turn casual customers into faithful fans, and employees into evangelists.
David shares his experience going through Traditions, Disney's 8-hour, new employee onboarding course, and unpacks how Disney uses Traditions to create emotional connections with employees.
This episode serves as a preview of future episodes, discussing who the show is for and the problem it seeks to solve. Helping culturally curious marketers and operators turn casual customers into faithful fans.
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Check Out David's Stuff:
• EngageMint Partners (CX consulting) - https://engagemintpartners.com/
• David’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmillay/
• David’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/david.millay/
Connect with Host, David Millay:
Connect w/ David Millay on LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmillay/
Follow David on INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/david.millay/
Follow David Millay on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/DavidMillay
Joey Coleman, one of the world's leading experts on employee experience, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to recruit top talent, bring them onboard successfully, and keep them engaged while they produce remarkable results for years to come.
Finding and keeping quality employees is one of the greatest challenges facing businesses today. With more people quitting their jobs each month than ever before and employees demanding flexibility, freedom, and advancement, companies are struggling to build a foundation with new hires that leads to long-term commitment. To effectively combat the hiring crisis and remain competitive, business owners and managers must design an employee experience program that begins on day one.
In this long-form interview, host David Millay and guest Joey unpack Joey's frameworks for retaining employees. Together, they highlight stories and principles in Joey's new book, Never Lose an Employee Again.
00:00 Introduction
6:00 Link between Customer Experience and Employee Experience
10:30 Joey's Framework for Employee Retention
13:20 All Seven Phases Overview
20:30 Phase 1: Assess
17:40 Phase 2: Accept
35:40 Phase 3: Affirm
42:20 Phase 4: Activate
47:40 Phase 5: Acclimate
55:00 Phase 6: Accomplish
1:00:00 Phase 7: Adopt
1:11:00 Phase 8: Advocate
1:14:00 Follow Joey, Get in Touch, Buy the Book
Buy "Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Retention" Here:
https://a.co/d/2NJ3pcD
SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvhP...
About Flip the Switch By EngageMint:
Flip the Switch is a weekly podcast where EngageMint Managing Pa
Connect with Host, David Millay:
Follow David Millay on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/DavidMillay
Connect w/ David Millay on LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmillay/
Augmented reality and virtual reality are transforming both the in-venue and at-home viewing experience. To understand how to incorporate these emerging technologies, we sat down with Steven King, founder and Chief Innovation Officer of University of North Carolina’s Blue Sky Innovation lab. King’s work is rooted in human-centered design and this episode hits on some of the latest projects coming out of the lab and how to effectively use human-centered design for brainstorming and change management.
2:42 “Time Space” Storytelling at The Washington Post
4:32 Human-Centered Design Methodology
10:54 Testing Before Investing
12:25 Change Has to Be Exponentially Better
17:40 Bridging In-Venue and At-Home Viewing
21:36 HoloLens Headsets
25:35 The NBA is Missing the Mark on VR Viewing
30:37 Change Management and Defining Success
35:53 Leadership’s Impact on Creativity
42:14 Key Organizational Players in Driving Change
46:53 Misconceptions
48:13 Learning About New Trends
For more information on topics covered in this episode, check out:
UNC’s Blue Sky Innovation lab: Website | LinkedIn
Connect with Steven on LinkedIn
Steven’s Go To Sources
Fortune Brainstorm Tech
Tech Crunch
On Steven’s bookshelf
The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt
It used to be fun to work in sports. But like so many other industries, responsibilities have increased, often demanding employees to achieve more with less. The result, according to Matt Huml, can be burnout, workaholism, disengagement, and resentment. In this episode, we dive deep into Matt's two most recent research projects: "The Effect of Remote Work on Family and Work Dynamics Within the Sport Industry;" and "From engaged worker to workaholic: a mediated model of athletic department employees".
2:43 Behind the Research
5:45 The Razor’s Edge Between Engaged Worker vs. Workaholic
9:02 What’s Wrong with a Team of Workaholics?
13:01 The Full Financial Impact of Turnover
20:03 Improving the Recruiting Pitch for Staff
27:45 The Extreme Sacrifices
32:05 Evaluating Extreme Sacrifices on Your Team
41:09 The Radioactive Ring Around Coaches
For more info on topics referenced in this episode:
Read the Full Versions of Matt’s research -
The Effect of Remote Work on Family and Work Dynamics in the Sports Industry
From engaged worker to workaholic: a mediated model of athletic department employees
Books highlighted -
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
Hear more about the outcomes from our workshop with Penn State
Episode 96: How to Curb the Great Resignation in Your Organization
After more than 220 undercover interviews with 12,000 employees, Clint Pulver is known as the leading authority on employee retention. In this episode, David and Clint discuss the key attributes of mentor managing and the 5 Cs of leadership that result in employees saying, “I Love it Here.”
2:24 The Undercover Millennial Program
5:49 Behind the Book “I Love It Here”
9:24 The 4 Types of Managers
17:36 Assessing Your Leadership - The 5 Cs
21:43 Leading Through Transitions - Status Interviews
25:43 Finding Purpose
27:56 Advocating vs. Developing
32:06 The Power of Purpose
34:46 Individual Needs vs. Organizational Needs
42:28 To Don’t Lists
44:23 Be A Mr. Jensen
To connect with Clint Pulver, check out his website or follow him on social:
ClintPulver.com | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube
Read Clint’s book I Love It Here
For more leadership resources, check out Clint’s masterclass
In this episode, David Millay sits down with Vanessa Ward, Vice President of Event Service for the Phoenix Suns. Before joining the Suns, Vanessa spent time at Disney, launching the Guest Experience Center, and the Chicago Cubs, overseeing the Guest and Associate Experience. Understanding that the employee experience directly impacts the guest experience, Vanessa shares tactics on communicating significant changes from event to event, making events unique for the staff and how to develop niche service programs.
3:17 Takeaways and Key Learnings from Disney
6:09 The Service Recovery Toolkit
10:42 Building a New Service Recovery Toolkit
13:25 Disney’s Guest Experience Center and Proactively Resolving Issues
20:17 Customer Satisfaction Surveys
25:50 Newsletters and Themes to Drive the Seasonal Employee Experience
33:53 Making Events in a Series Unique
39:17 “Know Before You Go” Communications
43:12 Building a Niche Service Operation
49:15 Training Throughout the Season
52:21 Taking Risks
Other podcasts referenced in this episode:
Episode 35: Personalizing the Guest Experience w/ Brian Betts (Disney’s Guest Experience Center)
Connect with Vanessa on LinkedIn or email
He’s considered a bit of a social media ‘OG’. For seven years, Preston guided players on the PGA Tour to create their own brands and communities, an effort that grew the greater PGA audience from 20 million to 60 million followers in 5 years. Now, as a co-founder of Golf Space Collective, Preston and his team guides golf properties on all things digital.
This episode hits on why building a personal brand is important, the impact that personal brand has on team and league brands or any business and why human connection is critical to form a community over an audience.
2:50 A Social Media OG, @Preston
4:33 Launching Memphis Athletics accounts
6:56 Building a Following on the PGA Tour
9:31 The Incentive to Building Player Brands
13:09 Growing Players’ Social Media Game
16:16 Putting Emphasis on Human Connection and Personal Brands
21:28 Frameworks for Personal Branding - Just Get Started
29:07 Audience vs. Community and Creating Brand Advocates
35:05 Connecting with Younger Fan Bases
38:24 The Netflix Impact & ‘First Swing’
44:38 Showing Human Emotion and Personality
For more information on the topics covered in this episode:
Netflix “First Swing” trailer
Justin Welsh’s LinkedIn course
Golf Space Collective
GSC Instagram
To connect with Preston:
Twitter | LinkedIn | Email
In the second half of this two-part episode, we’re diving into why Disney uses portals, the principles of meta-modernism and why something is “cool” with Dr. Troy Campbell. Campbell is the Chief Scientist at On Your Feet and his research and career has centered around the intersection of scientific minds and artistic hearts and how to create and capture original and powerful ideas and make amazing things.
3:29 The Importance of “Portals”
11:19 The Science of “Cool”
18:12 How to Break the Norm
23:01 Meta-Modernism
To learn more about Troy’s research on the intersection of Scientific Mind, Artistic Heart, check out:
Troy-Campbell.com
Start with Science - Netflix
Team Science: Building Better Science Activists with Insights from Disney, Marketing, and Psychological Research
Check out other topics referenced in this episode:
Metamodernist Manifesto by Luke Turner
In the first of this two-part episode with Dr. Troy Campbell, we’re breaking down the principles behind storytelling and what makes something “cool.” Campbell is the Chief Scientist at On Your Feet and his research and career has centered around the intersection of scientific minds and artistic hearts and how to create and capture original and powerful ideas and make amazing things. Part one hits on why Nike ads are simple to make and how brands like Disney borrow stories.
3:52 Troy’s Career Thesis: “Scientific Mind & Artistic Heart”
6:11 Marvel Isn’t Appealing to Everyone
10:19 Egocentrism
14:04 Nike Ads are Simple to Make
16:58 Borrowing Stories From Others
22:50 Multi-Narrative Storytelling
25:46 Defining Your Story to Tell Multi-Narrative Stories
31:20 The Destiny Narrative
To learn more about Troy’s research on the intersection of Scientific Mind, Artistic Heart, check out:
Troy-Campbell.com
Start with Science - Netflix
Team Science: Building Better Science Activists with Insights from Disney, Marketing, and Psychological Research
Previously on Flip the Switch, Brittany Hodak shared her ‘SUPER’ framework that brands can leverage to increase loyalty and fandom. With her new book, Creating Superfans coming out today (January 10), David Millay welcomes Brittany back to the show to discuss new frameworks and models that small businesses and global brands everywhere can implement to convert customers and employees into superfans.
2:29 Creating Superfans Podcast
6:53 SUPER Framework Overview
9:57 Ladder to Superfandom (Customer Apathy)
19:57 STORY framework
25:04 Getting to Know Your Customer’s Story
28:13 Digging into Customer Struggles
30:42 Pitching the Transformation
33:41 Simplifying Journey Maps
41:05 Measuring the Customer Experience (CSAT and EgR)
45:18 Prioritizing the Employee Experience
48:20 The Platinum Rule
For more from Brittany on Creating Superfans, check out:
BrittanyHodak.com
Purchase Creating Superfans: How To Turn Your Customers Into Lifelong Advocates
Listen to the Creating Superfans Podcast
Subscribe to the Creating Superfans newsletter
Brittany's Twitter | LinkedIn
Listen to Brittany’s previous appearance:
Episode 66: Cultivating SUPER Fans
When it comes to identifying your purpose or purposes, it’s all about having a clear intention for your time, your talents, your energy and your focus. What makes you happy. But more importantly, it’s about turning your purpose or purposes into something actionable and making them matter. After helping thousands find their purpose through her companies Ning and Mighty and her Community Design course, CEO and Founder of Mighty Networks Gina Bianchini joins the show to discuss the frameworks to finding purpose and manifesting it as a future story from her new book, Purpose: Design A Community & Change Your Life.
4:04 What is Purpose?
10:01 Key Insights Around Purpose
14:53 The Purpose 30 Challenge
21:58 The Intersection of Purpose and Community
27:00 How to Host a Community
33:46 Design and Scale Culture, Not Just Community or Content
37:15 Manifesting Your Future Story
43:31 Identifying Ideal Community Members
49:37 5 Elements of Community Design
56:59 Building Community within an Existing Audience
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For more on topics covered in this episode:
To purchase Purpose: Design a Community & Change Your Life, check out Purpose.co
Connect with Gina via email | Twitter | LinkedIn
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Other books referenced
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
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Join the Sports Learning Online community
Following a 20-year career at Disney, Dennis Snow identified 10 key lessons that all organizations could follow to achieve the same success in customer service and company culture. Since leaving the magic, Dennis has spent the last 23 years inspiring organizations on how to adapt those 10 lessons and apply the core service principles to their operation.
In this episode, we unpack the lessons from his two books, “Lessons from the Mouse: A Guide for Applying Disney World's Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life” and “Unleashing Excellence: The Complete Guide to Ultimate Customer Service”.
Show Notes
3:40 More Than a Summer Job
6:56 Empowering the Magic
10:33 Lessons from the Mouse
12:40 Everyone Has a Customer
13:35 Don’t Be a Customer Service Robot
19:14 Figure Out What Ticks Off Your Customers
28:01 Language Matters
35:04 Hiring vs. Coaching Empathy
37:41 Unleashing Excellence and the Service Improvement Team
41:29 Internal Improvements vs. External Training
44:38 Accountability
48:03 Drafting Job Descriptions
50:58 Onboarding and “Brag worthy” First Days
59:11 Define What the Experience Should Be
For more information on topics covered in this episode:
Connect with Dennis
Snow Associates | Email
Dennis’ books
Lessons From the Mouse: A Guide for Applying Disney World's Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life
Unleashing Excellence: The Complete Guide to Ultimate Customer Service
The baseball business is a relationship business and has the same core values as any other hospitality industry. It’s a practice that Eric Weisberg preaches as the Vice President of Fan Experience. In this episode, Eric discusses the influences roles with Disney and the Kansas City Zoo has on his career in baseball, his “Fan Host for a Day” program and how to show up for a job in the sports industry.
Show Notes
3:43 Eric’s Career Journey to Tampa
11:09 Hiring for Skill Sets over Industry Experience
13:44 Fan Host for a Day
21:02 From Negative Experience to Brand Ambassador
26:45 Reviewing the Savannah Bananas
32:12 The Tech Driving the Future MLB Fan Experience
34:27 The Effect of Promotions and Theme Days
43:07 Influencing the Fan Experience Vision Across Departments
45:45 The Best Fan Experience: Naturalization Ceremony
48:46 Breaking Into the Industry
55:46 Parting Advice: Place Emphasis on the Staff
Connect with Eric via email
Join Sports Learning Online - a cross-functional community of sports business professionals coming together to share best practices and foster professional development.
In today’s episode, we’re joined by Lisa Holladay, Chief Experience Officer at Tiger 21, a premier high wealth membership organization. Lisa has spent her career in service hospitality, with stops at Mercedes-Benz and Ritz-Carlton. By viewing customers as owners, guests or members, each of these brands have created more personal relationships, resulting in more memorable experiences.
We break down the principles that make these brands synonymous with guest experience, from their customer framework to the strategies that empower staff, encourage trust and enable transparency within the memberships.
Show Notes
3:12 Lisa’s Career “Homes”
6:00 Guests vs. Owners vs. Members
8:09 From Rational to Emotional Purchases
9:47 What is Tiger 21?
15:18 It’s the Little Things That Matter
20:38 Curating Trust and Transparency in Community
26:28 KPIs to Building a Successful Community
29:30 Recognizing Loyalty
34:16 Joshie the Giraffe and Empowering Staff
40:00 The Value of Kudos
41:28 Linking Experience to Brand Promise
46:35 Hot Take: Don't Fake It ‘til You Make It
For more on topics covered in this episode:
Tiger21
Ritz-Carlton and Joshie the Giraffe
Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn or Instagram
In today’s episode, David Millay and Katie Rudy are joined by Brooke Sellas, Digital Customer Experience Specialist and CEO of B Squared Media. With more than 15 years of marketing experience and 10 in social media management, Brooke recently authored a new book, "Conversations That Connect." We dive into several tactics and strategies from the book, demonstrating the value of social media listening to connect with, converse with and convert customers.
Show Notes
2:52 The CF Community Bar Crawl
7:12 Social Penetration Theory
8:52 Social Cliches
10:40 Getting and Giving Opinions
13:55 Sharing Brand Feelings
18:06 Embracing AI in Marketing
19:13 Demonstrating Brand Values and Personality
29:03 Conversations That Connect
31:07 Digital Customer Journey Flywheel
34:11 Attribution Models
35:31 Social Led Customer Care and Social Media Listening
40:38 Preparing for Primarily Social Media Customer Service
45:10 SEO is not dead
46:36 Acquiring New Customers through Social Listening
50:27 Social Media Manager Role Clarity
For more information on the topics that we covered today:
Read Conversations That Connect
Check out Brooke’s work at BSquared.Media
Follow Brooke on Twitter or LinkedIn
To orchestrate a compelling game day experience for all fans requires thinking more like a play caller, an offensive coordinator, rather than simply directing a run of show. In this episode, David Millay and Katie Rudy sit down with Guido D’Elia, a consultant in strategic communications and college athletics game day experience. As Penn State’s Director of Football Branding and Communications, Guido was the mastermind behind the “Penn State Whiteout”, an experiment that has resulted in one of the greatest game day experiences in college football. Through insights from the Whiteout, we unpack how to deeper engage your fans and strategies for successful change management.
Show Notes
3:47 “Offensive Coordinator” Show Calling
8:33 The Need for the Whiteout
11:30 Selling before Social Media
13:48 Communicating the Vision & Benefits in Change Management
18:26 Expanding the Whiteout Stadium-wide
20:45 Holding Back on Change
23:11 Applying the ‘Playbook’
29:11 Combating Falling Attendance Numbers
32:56 The Pain Points in the Fan Experience
37:32 The Impact of Parking
40:19 Making the Perimeter Something That Happens
45:09 Perfecting the Current Experience
47:55 The Ramp Up to Kickoff
For more information on topics covered in this episode:
ESPN College Game Day feature: The Origin of Penn State’s Whiteout
America’s favorite family outings are increasingly out of reach
GConsultsU.com
It’s 5x cheaper to retain an existing customer than acquire a new one and increasing retention by 5% can increase profits by 25 - 95%. Yet so many companies still prioritize customer acquisition over retention. In this episode, David Millay and Katie Rudy sit down with Ed Frame, CEO and Founder of Exemplify CX and discuss his 7-phase approach to Customer Longevity, converting buyers into repeat customers and brand advocates.
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Show Notes
2:35 About Exemplify and the Retention Funnel
3:59 Working Backwards - The Ideal Customer Experience
7:49 The 7 Phases of Customer Retention
11:32 Solving a Problem - Known and Unknown
16:15 Creating a Tangible “Unboxing” for Experiences
20:43 Overcoming Buyers’ Remorse
23:42 Giving Customers More
25:49 Driving Customer Loyalty
29:19 Inciting Loyalty through Social Media
32:45 The Cost of Retention vs. Acquisition
38:28 Cultivating Brand Advocates
41:08 The Value of Service Recovery
43:43 Hot Takes
46:30 Parting Advice
For more info on topics covered in this episode:
Connect with Ed on LinkedIn
Learn more about Exemplify | 7 Steps to Customer Longevity
Today’s guest is Phill Agnew, a senior product marketing manager at Buffer. After struggling as a marketer in his early career, Phill discovered behavioral science and started applying psychology principles to improve his work. From distinctiveness, social proof, primacy effect and framing, Phill developed the Science of Marketing course and The Nudge Marketing Podcast to help others understand how to boost their marketing strategy.
This episode explores key strategies to apply in each of the sales funnel phases - awareness, consideration, acquisition and retention.
Show Notes
2:42 Breaking Down the Nudge Marketing Podcast
5:08 The Framework to the Science of Marketing Course
6:58 Awareness and Countering the Sea of Sameness
13:23 Consideration and Social Proof
16:37 The Scarcity Impact
23:19 Reciprocation in Acquisition
31:59 Choice Overload and Simplifying Decision-Making
39:19 The Pratfall Effect and Highlighting Your Flaws
47:30 The Replication Crisis
49:57 Phill’s Parting Advice on Consumer Psychology
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For more on topics covered in this episode:
Follow Phill on Twitter | LinkedIn
Subscribe to the Nudge Podcast
Subscribe to Phill’s Newsletter
Check out The Science of Marketing course
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Dr. Robert Chaldini - Influence at Work
Pret a Manger’s “Random Acts of Kindness”
Sweden’s Speed Camera Lottery
@ShitLondonGuinness
In the daily grind, it’s hard to find time to work on the business when you are working in the business.
Staff retreats offer teams the opportunity to reset, reframe the operation and define goals for a new chapter.
In this episode, David Millay and Katie Rudy break down approaches to team retreats and key activities to include to break the cycle and improve your operation.
We cover:
- Defining goals of the retreats
- Establishing success metrics
- Evaluating realities of your industry
- The role of a facilitator
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To find out how we can help you reframe your staff retreat and set a new path for the year, email David or Katie for a free strategy call.
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Other topics referenced in this episode:
Greg McKeown: Where You Learned to Handle Conflict
Taking a non-traditional exploration of fandom, today’s episode features Jodi Eichler-Levine, who studies the parallels between classic religions and fan cultures. After learning of Jodi's research from her a Twitter-trending analysis on “Disney adults” or “Disney-files”, David and Jodi take a deeper dive into the principles that Disney has utilized to create evangelists of their brand and the strategies and tactics brands can adapt to their organization to inspire their own fanatics.
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Show Notes
3:52 The Foundation of Jodi’s Research
6:00 The 3 Parallels
7:28 Story
12:11 Core Memories with Disney
14:41 Transitioning Into the Story Through Theme Parks
16:00 Ritual
19:43 Creating an Environment for Individual Rituals
22:41 The Emotions of Being a Fan
25:56 Merchandise and Souvenirs as an Amulet
30:20 Community and Collective Effervescence
33:07 Creating a Environment for Community
34:33 The Magic in runDisney Races
46:52 The Diversity of Disney Fans
49:39 Journeying to Marceline, Missouri, Walt Disney’s hometown
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For more information on the topics covered in this episode:
Follow Jodi on Twitter and check out her website
Once Upon a Time - the Twitter thread that started it all
“The Gospel According to Disney” by Mark Pinsky
Disney Pin trading
Before the “driveway to driveway” customer journey begins, there’s the whole buying process. What prompted the customer to consider your brand, product or service? What motivated them to complete the purchase?
This week, we’re jumping into the psychology behind why people buy with Katelyn Bourgoin, CEO of Customer Camp. Katelyn and David hit on the journey before the journey, the four key trigger events that lead to purchases and solutions companies have created by truly listening to their customers.
Show Notes
0:00 Introduction
2:30 The Golden Nugget - Review Mining
5:54 Customer Camp Background
8:55 Marketing Takeaways from an Old School Alarm
14:21 Building Trust with New Customers
17:54 Creating “Instagrammable” moments
20:33 The Trigger Events
28:47 Understanding Who Customers Are and What They Want
35:34 Targeting Customers on Jobs to be Done
45:13 The Biggest Misunderstanding - We Aren’t Rational
For more information on topics covered in this podcast:
CustomerCamp.co
Follow Katelyn on Twitter and subscribe to her newsletter
Clay Christensen | The Theory of Jobs to be Done
Other Flip the Switch podcasts referenced -
Ep. 115: How the Savannah Bananas Create the ‘Greatest Show Possible’ w/ Jesse Cole
To design a first-class customer experience, it starts with the mindset, the stories we’re telling ourselves internally and the framework for how we’re viewing the world and aligning it with what we want to create for people around us.
In this episode, David sits down with Elizabeth Dixon, entrepreneur and business leader at Elizabeth Dixon Speaks. Elizabeth has worked for or alongside several customer-centric organizations, including her current role of Principal Lead of Strategy, Hospitality and Service Design at Chick-fil-A corporate. Combining best practices and insights from her career, Elizabeth shares the 5 key elements of a great customer experience.
From mindset, we discuss the differences between service and hospitality, customer clarity, defining what makes your organization unique and innovating to meet customer needs.
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Show Notes
3:27 Applying Strategy and Design to CX
5:03 5 Key Elements of Great Customer Experience
6:52 Elizabeth’s Career Path through Chick-fil-A
7:53 The Difference Between Service and Hospitality
15:09 Choosing Your Mindset
22:15 Recovery Situations and Broken Processes
26:15 Disney and Ritz-Carlton’s Service Recovery systems
29:55 Create Your Culture
35:19 Know Your Customer
40:24 Define Your Differentiator
43:20 Pursue Innovation
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For more info on the topics covered in this episode, check out:
ElizabethDixonSpeaks.com
Connect with Elizabeth on Instagram or LinkedIn
The Power of Customer Experience: 5 Elements to Make an Impact
A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger
Our first three-peat on the show, we welcome back Jesse Cole, owner of the Savannah Bananas. In previous episodes, David and Jesse have jammed and brainstormed, but in this show, we unpack the Bananas’ 5-E-Framework that has propelled their Fans First model into a global phenomenon. What the Bananas lack in detailed processes and metrics, they make up for in intentionality, in-depth knowledge of their product and fans and the impression they leave through every step of the in-person and virtual experience.
Show Notes
4:04 Fans First: The Savannah Bananas Story
5:08 Capturing the World’s Attention
10:47 Balancing Attention and Intention
12:49 The 5 E Framework
13:16 Eliminate Friction - What Hurts the Most
20:01 Make the Small Bets
21:52 Entertain Always - How You View Things is How You Do Things
23:43 The Last Impression
29:34 Experiment Constantly
33:11 Collecting Data and Feedback
35:48 Undercover Fans
38:11 Engage Deeply
45:19 Empowering Action
49:23 “The First Fan is Yourself”
Want more from Jesse Cole and the Savannah Bananas?
Books:Fans First: Change The Game, Break the Rules & Create an Unforgettable Experience
Find Your Yellow Tux: How to Be Successful By Standing Out
Connect with Jesse: Twitter | LinkedIn
FindYourYellowTux.com | Business Done Differently Podcast
Follow the Savannah Bananas: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube
Check out Jesse’s other appearances on Flip the Switch:
Episode 14: Fans First
Episode 44: A Culture of Experimentation and Innovation
Customer service training shouldn't be something you have to do, but something you get to do, to empower the event staffs that serve your fans and represent your brand.
In this episode, David Millay and Katie Rudy break down the the key components, resources and best practices to running a more captivating training.
We cover:
- In-person vs. virtual formats
- Training mindsets
- Inspirational vs. instructional content
- Who should be invited and ideal activities for different sized-groups
Inspired to transform your training? Get started with this event staff service training toolkit, chock full of the components to include, event checklists and email templates.
Similar to the passion fans have for Disney, young kids and adults alike have deep emotional connections with LEGO. In this week’s episode, James Gregson, creative director for LEGO Group’s internal creative agency, breaks down the content strategies that elicits that fandom and helps “inspire the builders of tomorrow.”
The conversation covers the product partnerships and user-generated content that LEGO utilizes to strengthen relationships and bring new fans into the ecosystem and the creative process James’ team employs to build campaigns.
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Show Notes
2:34 From Social Strategy to Full Content Strategy
5:37 Creating Impactful Content
8:20 Designing Content for Niche Audiences
10:07 Using Content to Attract New Fans
16:02 Defining Success in Campaigns
20:05 Campaigns with Unexpected Results
24:30 Encouraging Play within Adults
28:07 Crowdsourcing New Product Ideas
33:17 Creator and Influencer Partnerships
37:50 LEGO’s Brainstorming Process
45:18 Parting Advice
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For more on topics covered in this episode:
View LEGO Content on Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | LEGO Ideas
LEGO Fans’ Product Ideas
LEGO Collaborations: Target | Adidas All-Star
Carolina Panthers’ 2022 Schedule Release
Episode 105: Storytelling and Personifying a Brand Voice w/ Amie Kiehn
Connect with James on Twitter and LinkedIn
The terms “customer-focused” and “customer-centric” are often used interchangeably, but there are distinct differences from how an organization is culturally structured to how they serve their customers.
In this week’s episode, Annette Franz joins David Millay to discuss her latest book, “Built to Win: Designing a Customer-Centric Culture that Drives Value for Your Business” and the 10 principles to become a more customer-centric organization.
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Show Notes
2:20 Customer-Focused vs. Customer-Centric Organizations
4:37 Where Customer-Focused Organizations Fall Short
8:05 Making the Flip to Being Customer-Centric
13:35 The 10 Principles of Customer-Centric Organizations
22:12 Emphasizing Principle 1: Culture is the foundation (core values + behaviors)
27:06 Emphasizing Principle 2: Leadership commitment and alignment are critical to success
31:46 Emphasizing Principle 3: Employee experience - employees must be put more first
35:15 The Importance of Servant Leadership
40:57 Aligning Product Offerings with Customer Wants - What Problem Are You Solving?
45:33 Customer Acquisition vs. Customer Retention and NPS
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For more on the topics we covered in today’s episode:
Check out Annette’s books -
Customer Understanding: Three Ways to Put the "Customer" in Customer Experience (and at the Heart of Your Business)
Built to Win: Designing a Customer-Centric Culture that Drives Value for Your Business
From Built to Win - 10 Principles That Ensure Customer-Centricity
- Culture is the foundation (core values + behaviors)
- Leadership commitment and alignment are critical to success.
- Employee experience: employees must be put more first
- People come before products.
- People come before profits.
- People come before metrics.
- Customer understanding is the cornerstone.
- Governance bridges organizational gaps.
- Outside-in thinking and doing vs. inside-out thinking and doing are core.
- The Platinum Rule over the Golden Rule. Dr. Tony Alessandra’s Platinum Rule Concept - Treat others the way they want to be treated.
Everybody Matters by Bob Chapman
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
CX-Journey.com
Connect with Annette on Twitter or LinkedIn
Nick Lawson, Co-Founder and CEO of SQWAD rejoins the podcast to discuss the current state of the digital space, sponsorship activations and fan engagement. With much to cover, we split this conversation into two episodes. Listen to the first episode here.
In part two, we jump back into the conversation with David Millay and Nick discussing the problems with sponsorship and the deep dive that SQWAD has done to solve them. This episode features strategies and tactics to help organizations and sponsors develop successful campaigns that meet the four steps of awareness, engagement, action and retargeting.
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Show Notes
0:00 Introduction
2:00 The Problems with Sponsorship
6:34 Best Practices in Sponsorship Retargeting
16:02 Cracking YouTube for Views
21:33 Building Fans Through YouTube Highlights
24:36 Engaging Sponsors in NFTs
30:24 Repurposing Stadiums into Digital Playgrounds
34:16 Connecting with Fans Outside of the Stands
37:34 Augmented Reality vs. Virtual Reality
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For more info on the topics covered in this episode:
Nick’s Other Flip the Switch Appearances -
Episode 17: Sponsorship that Engages, Not Distracts
Episode 110: Driving Deeper Engagement Through Digital Activations (Part One) w/ Nick Lawson
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Episode 27: Merging Physical & Digital Worlds w/ Javier Martinez Garcia
SQWAD | Twitter | LinkedIn
Reimagined Football Challenge
Dunkin’ Coffee Race
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Connect with Nick on Twitter or LinkedIn
Nick Lawson, Co-Founder and CEO of SQWAD, joined David Millay on Flip the Switch on March 1, 2020 to discuss the role of digital activations in sports sponsorship. Just two weeks after, that episode became a playbook as sports leagues and teams turned to digital and virtual platforms to engage brands and fans throughout the pandemic.
Two years later, we invited Nick back to discuss the current state of the digital space, sponsorship activations and fan engagement. With much to cover, we split this conversation into two episodes.
Show Notes
0:00 Introduction
4:30 “Reimagine Football” Challenge Win
7:09 SQWAD’s FanTile Activation Tool
14:47 The Context of Sponsorship - Goodwill vs. Efficiency
22:42 In-Venue Promotions and the Overall Fan Experience
28:47 Ads and Sponsorship That Resonates
41:03 Identifying the Sponsors’ Goals
For more info on the topics covered in this episode:
Nick’s First Appearance - Episode 17: Sponsorship that Engages, Not Distracts
SQWAD | Twitter | LinkedIn
Reimagined Football Challenge
Dunkin’ Coffee Race
Connect with Nick on Twitter or LinkedIn
In today’s episode, David is joined by Len Perna, Chairman and CEO of TurnkeyZRG. Having managed more than 1,400 executive searches, from coaches to middle management to executive leaders, Len shares how his talent advisory firm aligns clients on strategy and cultural fit with the current marketplace, the key attributes they look for in leaders and the “Moneyball” methodology they use to evaluate candidates.
Show Notes
2:54 Evolution of TurnkeyZRG
5:02 Solving People Problems
6:55 Integrating a New Leader in the Culture
9:14 Identifying Candidates to Fit Future Cultures
10:36 The Key Leadership Attribute: Self-Awareness
16:23 Importance of Role Clarity
20:42 Hiring Internal vs. External Candidates
23:31 Evolving Leadership Skill Sets
27:09 Executive Search Interview Structure
32:40 A Placement That Didn’t Work
36:23 Making Calculated Out-of-the-Box Hires
40:48 Building the Future Front Office / Athletic Department
44:39 Capturing TurnkeyZRG’s Attention During Searches
48:00 Len’s Parting Advice
For more on topics covered during this episode:
TurnkeyZRG
MarketCast
Brimstone Consulting
Walking the Talk | 6 Archetypes of Culture
Connect with Len via email
Salary increases and rewards have their place, but to inspire connection and tenure with your employees requires more. In this episode, David Millay and Dr. Scott Rigby, Founder and CEO of Immersyve and MotivationWorks, dive into self-determination theory, employees’ three basic needs and the obstacles employers must overcome to motivate their teams long-term.
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Show Notes
2:41 Background on Immersyve
4:35 Self-Determination Theory
6:33 Motivation Myths
10:00 The Need to Believe
14:12 The Need to Belong
15:21 The Need to Succeed
17:10 Connecting Purpose to Individual Tasks
22:34 Obstacles to Creating a Space of Belonging
28:49 Overcoming Challenges to Succeed
30:53 Promotions vs. Skill Growth
33:38 The Fundamental Shift in Employee Engagement
38:59 Motivating Employees Working Remotely
42:09 “ROW” Workplaces
44:03 Countering Arguments Against Reward Structures
47:32 Rewards vs. Recognition
51:15 Scott’s Billboard
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For more information on the topics covered in this episode:
Immersyve
How to Stop Engagement Benchmarks from Hurting Employee Engagement
Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader by John Rossman
Connect with Scott via email or on LinkedIn | Twitter
The power of community emerges when companies embrace the directional relationship members form not just with their brand, but with other members. In this episode, Christina Garnett, senior marketing manager for offline community and advocacy at HubSpot, joins David to talk about the magic of tapping into common passions and making your fans the hero of the story.
Show Notes2:21 Community vs. Audience
4:47 The Road to HubSpot
8:59 Gleaning Community Insights from Gary V
11:54 Bored Ape’s Country Club
13:59 The HubFans Community
15:20 The Hierarchy of Community Needs
18:44 Showing Raw Emotions
24:29 Categorizing and Rewarding HubSpot Fans
27:38 HubSpot Inbound Correspondents
31:48 Turning Internal Needs into External Opportunities
35:26 Bringing Your Fans Closer
39:41 Magic of Social Listening
43:14 The Little Moments That Matter
44:14 Ask Your Fans What They Want
For more about topics covered in this episode:
HubSpot CRM Platform
HubFans: HubSpot’s Advocacy Program
Christina’s Hierarchy of Community Needs
Connect with Christina on Twitter
In the last two years, individuals have challenged the traditional scripts of career paths, a factor contributing to the Great Resignation. On today’s episode, we sit down with Paul Millerd, a solopreneur and author of “The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story for Work and Life.” Since leaving his corporate consulting career, Paul has studied the concepts behind burnout, work-life balance and the economic impact on the current job market.
This episode provides insight to employees willing to leave full-time jobs to explore and experiment and how you might be able to retain them and increase their value to your organization.
Show Notes
3:02 Background to “The Pathless Path”
4:41 Wonder vs. Comfort
8:22 Conquering Fears
10:00 The Economic Reasons Why “It’s Not Worth It”
14:06 What is Work?
17:39 The True Cause of Burnout
21:06 Purpose is Personal
26:19 Defining “Enough”
31:10 The “Script of Success”
33:09 Defining Success in Creative Work
38:08 Rewriting the Script as Leaders
42:39 Defining Output
44:44 Paul’s Billboard
For more on the topics we covered in this episode:
Learn more about Paul’s journey and research -
Book: The Pathless Path
Podcast: Reimagine Work
Writing: Think Boundless
Connect with Paul on LinkedIn or Twitter
Google’s 80/20 rule
In this episode, we are joined by Amie Kiehn, Social Leader and Head of Community for Gondola. During Amie’s time with the Carolina Panthers, she cultivated a brand personality across their social media platforms with a voice known for its wit and snark. Rather than just focusing on events, Amie and her team connected with fans by listening to the community and experimenting with creative content and comments on other viral posts.
We cover everything from brand personas, content calendars (or lack thereof), understanding the creative process and "work-life balance."
Show Notes
3:56 Punking Her Way Into Social Media
8:31 Humanizing the Panthers’ Social Voice
13:16 Prioritizing Social Content and Saying No
17:15 What Content Calendar?
19:49 Just Try It!
32:43 Misunderstood Aspects of the Creative World
35:08 Content Creators are Your Brand Ambassadors
40:28 That Elusive “Work-Life Balance”
46:32 Parting Advice: Managing Creatives
For more on info on topics covered in this show:
Carolina Panthers social media (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok)
Gondola - Show Off the Content You Make
Connect with Amie on Twitter | LinkedIn
Shout out to Neil Larson, Detroit Lions (Twitter | LinkedIn)
It’s not every day we are turning to global debt collection companies for inspiration. Today’s episode features InDebted CEO Josh Foreman. Josh had a vision for creating a customer-centric debt collection agency and the organization has more than 2,000 5-star reviews on Google. While we dig into some of the strategies and tactics that led to those reviews, this conversation largely focuses on the employee experience. In September 2021, InDebted moved to a 4-day, 32-hour work week. We provide a full roadmap for implementing the asynchronous work schedule in your organization.
Show Notes
2:51 Background on InDebted
4:39 Meeting Your Customers Where They Are
5:52 Staying Up on Consumer Trends
7:23 Giving a Debt Collector Positive Reviews?
9:38 Leveraging Technology to Deliver Customer Service
11:42 Differentiating InDebted’s Employee Experience
14:15 Piloting the 32-Hour Work Week
16:37 Countering the “Decreased Productivity” Argument
18:39 Setting Company Goals
21:43 Asynchronous Work
24:24 Balancing 32 Hours and Getting the Job Done
28:21 Pulse Checks
33:14 The Great Attraction
37:47 Remote Working Stipends
42:41 Parting Advice
For more information on topics covered in this episode:
About InDebted
Connect with Josh on LinkedIn
Loom: Async Video Messaging
To become the digital leader and business disruptor Amazon is today, the company has firmly operated on 14 leadership principles. First and foremost, they are driven by customer obsession.
This week, we are joined by John Rossman, managing partner of Rossman Partners, author and keynote speaker. John spent nearly four years as an Amazon executive, responsible for launching and scaling the merchant integration team and Amazon Marketplace business, which accounts for more than 50% of all units sold on Amazon.com. Since leaving, he has helped organizations understand the strategies and core principles that propelled Amazon to success.
Before you think “this isn’t applicable, I don’t have Amazon’s staff or budget", the tangible tactics can be applied to help businesses of all sizes excel.
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Show Notes:
2:44 Background to John’s Books
6:02 Debunking the “I’m Not Amazon” myth
9:14 5 Primary Lenses to Apply Digital Frameworks
12:09 Speed vs. Agility
14:44 Applying Amazon’s Leadership Principles to Decision Making
17:33 Customer Obsession
18:09 Are Right, A Lot
20:18 One-Way Doors vs. Two-Way Doors
21:12 Have a Backbone, Disagree and Commit
24:04 “Best Customer Service is No Customer Service”
28:55 The Empty Chair at the Table
32:21 Amazon Prime is a Loyalty Program that Doesn’t Feel Like One
34:49 Dive Deep
38:48 Amazon’s Annual Planning Process
43:55 Achievable vs. Stretch Goals
45:09 Deliver Results
46:33 Uncontrollable Outputs vs. Controllable Inputs
49:21 Objectives and Key Results
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For more info on topics covered in this episode:
John’s Books
The Amazon Way on IoT: 10 Principles for Every Leader from the World's Leading Internet of Things Strategies
Think Like Amazon: 50 ½ Ideas to Become a Digital Leader
The Amazon Way: Amazon’s 14 Leadership Principles
Subscribe to John’s newsletter - The Digital Leader Newsletter and check out his website, The Amazon Way
Connect with John via email
Other Books Recommended by John:
Measure What Matters by John Doerr
OKRs vs. KPIs
Recently, we hit 100 episodes of Flip the Switch. In this bonus edition, David Millay and Katie Rudy issue superlative awards to their favorite takeaways and break down the trends, experiments, and leadership lessons that have influenced their work with EngageMint.
We’re a little off on some numbers in the episode but we have them all linked here
Most Fun:
Jesse Cole - Ep. 14 Fans First | Ep. 44 A Culture of Experimentation
Rachel Jacobson - Ep. 65 High Speed, High Tech and High Growth
Taught Us the Most:
Peter Sorckoff - Ep. 82 Studying the Subconscious and Emotions of Fandom
Nick Lawson - Ep. 17 Sponsorship that Engages, not Distracts
Most Nervous to Record:
Scott O’Neil - Ep. 88 Being Present, Authentic and Intentional
Quint Studer - Ep. 34 From Patient Experience to Fan Experience
Jared Spataro - Ep. 38 Modern Work and Digital Experiences
Lee Cockerell - Ep. 55 Leadership Lessons from a Disney Legend
Most Personal Episodes:
Mike Millay - Ep. 30 The Business Behind ESPN Wide World of Sports Part One | Ep. 31 Part Two
Rob Temple and Rick Jones - Ep. 59 Finding the Right Sponsorships for YOUR Fans
Most Underrated Episode (seriously, listen to this one!)
Steph Smith - Ep. 50 Designing Effective Remote Work Teams
Single Frameworks That Impacted Us the Most:
Think of Stadiums Like “Town Halls” - Nick Sautner Ep. 72 Enhancing Stadium Experiences Beyond Game Day
“What Would Joy Do?” - Steven Van Bellegham Ep. 48 The Future of Customer Experience
“Premium service doesn’t always require a premium price” - Barry Jacobson Ep. 25 Premium Service vs. Customer Service
“The shortest customer service speech” - Shep Hyken Ep. 56 Amaze Your Customers and Fans
Advice That Sticks Out That We Don’t Do:
“Drive in Silence” - Troy Dannen Ep. 80 - College Leaders | Leading with Conviction and Empathy
Write Thank You Notes - Jesse Cole
Episode We’ve Talked About the Most:
Zoe Scaman - Ep. 57 How Fandom is Evolving
When we think about the fan experience today, it’s not just about their experience at a live event but how they interact directly and indirectly, how they engage and connect with your brand emotionally 24/7.
This episode, we are joined by rising star Zhaneé Anderson from the University of Texas creative team. Throughout the conversation, David and Zhaneé touch on creating for different brands and audiences, developing emotional engaging stories and infusing personal styles into content.
Show Notes
3:12 Learning About a Brand’s Voice and Audience
8:01 Balancing the Workload and Time Management
9:44 Managing Content for the UT Brand vs. Individual Teams
12:45 Creating Content for Specific Audiences
15:43 Everything’s Content
18:35 Providing Access through Social
21:59 Striking Compromises and Deciding What’s Feasible
23:50 Emotion > Quality Content
26:57 Using Content to Drive Real Conversations
35:23 Infusing Personal Creativity into Content
39:15 Moving Beyond The “Intern Running Social Media”
41:31 Zhanee’s Billboard
For more information on topics covered this episode:
Check out some of Zhanee’s work:
Texas’ Real Conversations - Black History Month
Texas Women’s Soccer: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Connect with Zhaneé on Twitter | LinkedIn
Our other Longhorn podcast:
Ep. 2 - How Emotional Connections Lead to Economic Outcomes w/ Drew Martin
Want more from EngageMint? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.
A perfect fit for our 100th episode, guest Joe Moglia brings best practices and leadership insights from a unique career in football and the private sector. Joe spent 16 years as a coach, became a business leader for Merrill Lynch and TD Ameritrade and served as CEO of TD Ameritrade for 7 years, before heading back to the football field to be head coach at Coastal Carolina. He currently holds the titles of Chair of Athletics and Executive Director for Football for Coastal Carolina. This episode covers his “BAM” leadership philosophy, the current state of college athletics and how it can better align with the business world.
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Show Notes
4:02 What is an Executive Director for Football?
6:23 Joe’s “BAM” philosophy
9:16 Enforcing Standards & Accountability
16:28 Providing the Right Incentives
19:20 Creating Non-Traditional Incentives
21:56 Operating the NCAA like Corporate America
30:38 Designing a new Athletic Department
34:23 Responsibilities vs. Titles
37:55 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations
39:55 Adapting Leadership Styles to Learning Styles
47:26 Prioritizing Workloads
52:10 Joe’s Favorite Mentors
55:31 Learning from Failure
58:54 Joe’s Billboard
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For more leadership insights from Joe Moglia, visit Moglia.com and check out his books:
Coach Yourself to Success: Winning the Investment Game
The Perimeter Attack Offense: The Key to Winning Football
Connect with Joe on Twitter or LinkedIn
It’s Super Bowl week and 70,000 fans will fill SoFi Stadium for that “bucket list” experience. The average sports fan may not witness a World Series, College Football Playoff or Super Bowl in person. In this episode, David Millay and Katie Rudy discuss some of their favorite sporting events and how a focus on hospitality, premium spaces, concessions offerings and pregame shows can turn an ordinary game into an extraordinary experience.
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Have a topic you want us to go in on? Reach out to us on Twitter @DavidMillay or @Katie_Rudy
This College Leaders segment of Flip the Switch features Paris Buchanan, Assistant AD for Marketing and Fan Experience for Ole Miss Athletics. Through one football season with minimal crowds, Ole Miss realized not only how much they value their home field advantage, but how to connect with Rebel fans that aren’t viewing the games in person. Paris, David Millay and Katie Rudy dive into the data driving their digital activations, in-season changes and planning for future seasons.
Show Notes
2:25 The “Home Team” virtual experience
5:22 Balancing the in-person and virtual fan experiences
6:33 Differentiating the Ole Miss brand
7:52 Creating a social voice
11:50 Turnkey tailgates and personalized game days with REVEL XP
14:27 Bringing “The Grove” inside
16:20 What if money was no object…
20:54 Sources of inspiration
24:07 In-season data collection and reaction
29:08 The brainstorm for 2022 football
35:46 The “bedroom to kitchen to sofa” experience
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Reach out to Paris via email or connect on LinkedIn or Twitter
For more info on topics covered this episode:
New game plan for Ole Miss fans
Football Game Day Experiences | REVEL XP
Ole Miss Partners: FanMaker | Low6
Ole Miss in-season concessions changes
Carolina Panthers’ Mixed Reality Panther
Planning for next season? Check out some of these tools to lead more effective brainstorms:
Impact Feasibility Matrix
Ep. 97: The Basics for Better Brainstorms
We’ve all been in those brainstorming sessions that consisted of more than a few blank stares or had a number of great ideas with no action steps to actually implement them. In this episode, David Millay and Katie Rudy share some of their favorite resources and best practices to conduct an effective individual or team brainstorm session.
We cover:
- Myths of Brainstorming
- Setting the stage and framework for the brainstorm
- Provocative prompting and challenging the status quo
- Defining success and following through on new ideas
Have a topic you want us to go in on? Reach out to us on Twitter @DavidMillay or @Katie_Rudy
Additional info on topics referenced in this episode:
IDEO U | 7 Simple Rules for Brainstorming
Mural: a digital, virtual collaboration tool
Understanding the 10 Types of Innovation
Thread: 6 Things Kids Know By Heart That Adults Forgot
Forbes: 9 Simple Tips for Leading Brilliant Brainstorms
The Great Resignation is affecting every industry and every organization. In collaboration with our partners at Penn State, the EngageMint team recently led a management retreat to discuss the trends and solutions to turn the "Great Attrition" into the "Great Attraction".
A more unorthodox episode, David Millay and Katie Rudy host a round table discussion with Christina Gatehouse, Assistant AD for Human Resources at Penn State to share key takeaways from the retreat.
We break down the most surprising data trends in our research, the impressionable action steps from the retreat and how you could conduct a similar session in your organization.
Additional EngageMint Podcast Episodes referencedLeadership Lessons from a Disney Legend w/ Lee Cockerell
Resources for Learning MoreMcKinsey: How companies can turn the Great Attrition into the Great AttractionEngageMint: Understanding the Great Resignation and What You Can Do About It
In this episode, Kathy Burrows, president and owner of Sold Out Seating, joins David to discuss strategies and tactics to shift from selling tickets to selling experiences. Selling an experience doesn’t mean selling the pomp and circumstance and atmosphere around the game, but delivering a game day experience that fits each customer. To implement that shift, Kathy and David dive into new benchmarks, how to develop and mentor sales staff and how to personalize an event experience for different segments.
Show Notes
2:40 From Nursing to Founding Sold Out Seating
6:19 Applying Care Plans to Sales Strategies
7:46 Throwing Out the ‘100 Calls a Day’ Metric
12:52 Coaching Leaders to Coach Sales Staff
16:33 Holding Effective 1-on-1 Meetings
19:40 Shifting Mindsets from Service Staff to Sales Staff
24:28 Handling Customer Complaints
25:18 Offering Different Experiences for Different Customer Segments
30:02 Combating Staff Limitations
34:20 Embracing Tech to Drive Business and Customer Experience
41:00 Building a Part-Time Sales Team
46:46 Kathy’s Favorite Sales Tactics
Want more from Kathy? Check out her blog or books:
Potato Chip Ticket Sales
Potato Chip Leadership Skills
Connect with Kathy on LinkedIn and Twitter
This episode is all about NFT's and why our host, David Millay, spent $13k on a single NFT.
It's a much more casual episode than usual with holidays upon us, and we invited some of David's friends from his Disney days to unpack why the hell he would make such an investment.
We end up discussing the potential utility of an NFT, future potential use cases, and their potential role in fandom and the sports & entertainment industry.
Special thanks to Martin Graham and Jerome Scherwin for joining us!
Additional EngageMint Podcast Episodes on NFTs
$208k for a Lebron Replay? NFT’s explained
How Fandom is Evolving w/ Zoe Scaman
All about NFT’s and Miami’s Canesvault
Resources for Learning More
NFT Now
NFT Case Studies
What is an NFT?
What is a DAO?
Mentioned in the Episode
CloneX NFT project
RTFKT Homepage
Why did Nike buy RTFKT?
RTFKT’s AR shoe project (Phygital)
3lau’s Music NFT’s explained
The Constitution DAO story and struggles
DAO buys Wu-Tang album for $4milOpensea.io
NBA Top Shot
Dapper Labs
Recur
Good Twitter follows in NFT space
@jarroddicker
@zoescaman
@mattmedved
@ballmatthew
@cdixon
Chief Experience Composer and Best-Selling Author Joey Coleman joins David to talk about how to “Never Lose a Customer Again.” In this episode, Joey breaks down the 8 phases of the customer and employee experience from his book: Assess, Admit, Affirm, Activate, Acclimate, Accomplish, Adopt and Advocate. Organizations often focus on a couple, but paying attention to all eight sequentially leads to retention, additional sales and referrals.
Show Notes
4:01 Get Straight As from Your Customers - the 8 Phases
11:50 Applying the 8 Phases to Different Customer Journeys
14:23 Fostering the Experience for the First Time Customer
18:41 Use Your CRM Tools to Tailor Your Communication
22:53 Investigate, Observe and Ask
27:30 Peel Back the Curtain and Share Survey Data
33:11 Ignite Relationships with Current Customers
38:23 Get Straight As from Your Employees
48:32 Joey’s Savannah Bananas Experience
For more insights from Joey, check out:
JoeyColeman.com
Never Lose a Customer Again
Listen to Joey’s podcast with fellow FTS guest Dan Gingiss - Experience This!
Connect with Joey on LinkedIn | Twitter
Bonus: Notre Dame and National Signing Day 2021
Learn more about the Savannah Bananas’ experience from owner Jesse Cole:
Ep. 14 - Fans First
Ep. 44 - A Culture of Experimentation and Innovation
The “Great Resignation” or “Great Migration” has incited a movement by employees to find roles where they feel valued and appreciated. But not everyone wants to be recognized or shown appreciation in the same way. In this episode, David sits down with Dr. Paul White, author of “The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace”, to talk about how to show appreciation for your staff in ways that are meaningful to them.
Show Notes
2:55 Refocusing on Employee Engagement
5:18 The Great Resignation or the Great Migration?
6:26 Recognize the Person, Not Just Their Work
8:41 Foundation for 5 Languages of Appreciation book
10:14 Words of Affirmation
12:39 Quality Time
13:55 Acts of Service
15:28 Tangible Gifts
17:28 Physical Touch
18:58 Learning Your Team’s Desired Language of Appreciation
21:33 Appreciation is NOT the Same as Recognition
24:08 The Correlation Between Profitability and Appreciation
26:19 Encouraging Appreciation Among Colleagues
28:24 Financial Impact of Replacing Employees
32:02 Generational Preferences in Recognition
35:21 3 Priority Groups to Recognize
36:47 Recognizing Underperforming Staff
42:59 Counter Opinions in Appreciation
45:15 Creative Demonstrations of Appreciation
For more on topics covered in this episode:
5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace by Dr. Paul White and Dr. Gary Chapman
Appreciation @ Work | Blog
The 5 Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman
True Cost of Replacing an Employee
Want more from Dr. White?
Connect via Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Dr. White LinkedIn
Email yesdrpaul@gmail.com with subject “Flip the Switch” to receive a free copy of Expanded Motivating By Appreciation report ($25 value) and a discount code to purchase the Appreciation evaluation.
This week on Flip the Switch, we are joined by Paula Courtney, CEO of the Verde Group. Partnering with many Fortune 100 companies, the Verde Group brings unique methods to studying consumer behavior and improving the customer experience. Rather than asking “How was your experience?” Paula and her team probe for customer dissatisfaction. Their research has demonstrated that innovating off of points of friction and restoring consumer confidence have a greater financial impact on organizations. This episode dives into the five key elements of consumer choice, knowing your customer and maintaining their loyalty.
Show Notes
3:13 The “Re-Imagined Consumer” and their Revised Personal Purpose
6:43 The 5 Key Elements to Consumer Choice
11:36 Identifying Moments that Matter in the Experience
15:12 Factors that Influence Net Promoter Scores
17:28 Creating Actionable Insights > Measuring Attitudes
19:29 The Impact of Negative Experiences on the Bottom Line
24:06 Studying the “Wow” Factor
26:05 How Do You Want to Receive Customer Support?
28:22 The Only Currency That Matters
33:08 Unique Service Recovery Tools
36:21 The Customer Super Agent
40:54 Recognize, Not Reward Your Loyal Customers
44:54 Paula’s Billboard
For more info on topics covered in this episode, check out:
The Verde Group
Verde Group Studies and White Papers
Consumers Aren’t Feeling the Love, Here’s How to Change That
Exploring the Loyalty / CX Connection
The Great Payoff of Delivering Wow!
The Reimagined Consumer
Connect with Paula via Twitter or LinkedIn and follow the Verde Group for more insights (Twitter | LinkedIn)
In this episode, David sits down with Shawn McIntosh, Charlotte FC’s Chief Fan Officer, the first role of its kind in any professional league. Throughout the conversation, Shawn shares his strategies and tactics for building relationships with Charlotte FC supporters and community leaders and bringing that voice to the table in internal club meetings.
Show Notes3:06 What is a Chief Fan Officer?
4:25 Sharing the fans’ voice with Charlotte FC’s senior leaders
7:29 Shawn’s background and fit for the Chief Fan Officer role
10:12 Bridging the gap between fan desires and business operations
12:39 Charlotte FC’s interview experience
15:46 Expectations of Charlotte FC’s corporate partners
17:54 Defining success and the vision for the Chief Fan Officer role
20:31 The Charlotte FC match day experience
23:05 Seeking inspiration outside of soccer
25:21 Incorporating the Charlotte culture into match day
29:13 Embracing transient cultures
31:26 Charlotte FC’s org chart and meeting routine
34:37 Engaging with Charlotte FC supporters
38:48 Trusting supporters with behind-the-scenes conversations
42:35 Fostering supporter to supporter connections
46:45 Charlotte FC’s Year One KPIs
50:55 Transparent conversations with staff and building culture
56:25 Shawn’s parting advice
For the latest news on Charlotte FC, follow them on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Connect with Shawn via email or on Twitter
This College Leaders segment features Bryan Blair, Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Operating Officer at Washington State University. In the four years that Bryan and his team have been in Pullman, they’ve worked to build a culture that highlights and celebrates what is unique about Wazzou. Bryan and David hit on hiring coaches and staff that are cultural fits, embracing your identity and taking risks to move college athletics forward.
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Show Notes
2:31 Balancing Performance and Culture in Coaching Hires
6:21 Marrying a Coach’s Culture with the Department Culture
8:17 Defining Cultural “Fit”
11:25 Weaving Your Core Values Into Your Operation
13:56 Capturing What Works and Infusing a New Culture
15:25 Ingraining Your Purpose Statement in the Organization
16:28 Rallying Your Team Behind Your Mission
18:35 Embracing What Makes You Unique
25:41 Leaning Into NIL
29:23 Equipping Your Team for Success
38:30 Bryan’s Billboard
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For more on topics mentioned in this episode:
Washington State’s Strategic Plan
The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger
How is the Culture in Your Kingdom? - Listen to this Flip the Switch episode for more from Dan Cockerell
Connect with Bryan on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email!
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This episode features industry legend Scott O’Neil. In his most recent role, Scott was the CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, overseeing the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia 76ers. Prior to that, he held positions of Senior Vice President of the NBA’s Team Marketing and Business Operations division and President of Madison Square Garden Sports.
Throughout the podcast, Scott charmed us with stories as he and David dive into a number of insights that influenced his career and became the foundation for his new book, “Be Where Your Feet Are: Seven Principles to Keep You Present, Grounded and Thriving.”
Show Notes
3:23 Putting Life in Perspective from Mozambique
7:31 Scott’s Favorite Insight - “Assume Positive Intent”
10:11 Instilling Positive Intent into Your Culture
17:06 Balancing Accountability and “The Best Work Environment”
18:58 How to Fire Someone Gracefully
21:28 Millennials’ Social Contract
24:25 Creating a Hybrid Work Environment
26:19 Building Culture and Connections in a Hybrid Work Environment
29:01 Defining the “Greatest Place to Work”
30:14 The Thin Line Between Work and Home
34:38 Developing Staff Personally and Professionally
39:01 You Can’t Manage for the Masses
40:25 Maintaining An Attitude of Gratitude When the Team Isn’t Winning
48:54 Parting Advice
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For More on Topics Referenced in This Episode:
For more insights on being present, passionate and intentional, grab Scott's book: Be Where Your Feet Are
Ted Lasso | Leadership Lessons from Ted Lasso
Connect with Scott on LinkedIn or Twitter
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This week we're joined by Jamie Pollard, Director of Athletics at Iowa State University. Since his arrival in 2005, he has re-imagined almost every facet of the department, leading the Cyclones to records in attendance and ticket sales and academic scores and some of their highest finishes in the Learfield Directors' Cup. His leadership extends throughout the industry as he was recently named NACDA President of the Year for 2021-22. In this episode, Jamie and David break down how Iowa State approaches its fan experience by "speaking the fans' love language" In this episode, Jamie and David break down how Iowa State approaches its fan experience by "speaking the fans' love language" and Jamie's entrepreneur-like leadership mentality.
Show Notes
2:31 Breaking the Football Season Ticket Record
3:53 Building a “Fans First” Experience at Jack Trice Stadium
7:13 Identifying What Fits Your Fan Base
15:53 The Role of NACDA and NACDA President
24:20 Opportunities for the new Big 12
28:50 Leaders Who’ve Impacted Jamie
32:03 Managing Work / Life Priorities
36:17 High Points and Low Points as a Leader
39:03 Learning from an Apparent Failure
42:18 Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
45:42 Creating Impactful Meetings
47:56 Empowering Your Staff - 50/50 Decision Making
Connect with Jamie via email or follow him on Twitter
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This week, we sat down with Rhett Hobart, Associate AD for Fan Experience and Brand Development at Wake Forest University. Since he joined the Demon Deacons in April 2020, Rhett and his team have launched their “Welcome to Deactown” brand campaign, introduced new in-game experiences for the greater college football fan and debuted a co-branded beer, Deacon Brew, all to create the “Best Fan Experience in North Carolina.” In this episode, we go deep into strategies and tactics for engaging your fan base and building a true community.
Show Notes
2:31 Crafting Deacon Brew
3:19 Behind the Partnership with R&D Brewing
5:51 The Tough Conversations
7:42 Capitalizing on Your Biggest Sampling Opportunity
11:51 New Branded Revenue Streams
16:03 Welcome to “Deactown”
20:21 The Financial Buy-in to a Branding Campaign
23:44 Takeaways from a Long-Term Branding Campaign
27:30 Creating an Experience for Any College Sports Fan
31:15 Wake’s Digital Student Engagement Strategy
34:25 Transforming the Student Tailgate Experience
38:15 Wake’s New Football and Basketball Ticket Model
42:54 From “Season Ticket Holder” to “Season Ticket Member”
45:42 The Deacon Virtual Season Ticket
53:02 Book Recommendations
54:08 “Bumping the Lamp”
57:57 Parting Advice
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For more info on topics covered in this episode:
Deacon Brew
Wake Forest Football Ticket Plans
FanMaker app
Rhett’s Book Recommendations
Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromiseby Horst Schulze
Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Serviceby the Disney Institute
Connect with Rhett via email or Twitter
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This week, we welcome Kentucky’s Mitch Barnhart to the show. After 20 years as UK's Athletic Director, Mitch has produced one of the largest leadership trees with more than six former associates now holding Division 1 athletic director positions. In this episode, Mitch shares his passion for equipping people to launch people and guiding his organization with a true servant heart and integrity.
Show Notes
3:25 Countering Today’s Labor Staffing Challenges - The Kentucky “Blue Coats”
7:41 Right-Sizing Your Venues
10:03 Diversifying Your Fan Base
11:41 Navigating the Changing College Landscape
17:00 Find the Balance
19:10 Most Impactful Leader & Leadership Styles
22:11 Creating a Growth Mindset Culture
26:49 Equip People to Launch People
31:19 Foundational Leadership Moments
39:21 Generational Leadership
43:18 Challenges of Reactionary Decision Making
46:59 Importance of Family First
52:34 Show Appreciation for Your Staff
54:25 Mitch’s Billboard
Connect with Mitch via email or follow him on Twitter
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This episode of Flip the Switch features Customer Experience Coach, Keynote Speaker and Author Dan Gingiss. Dan's latest book, "The Experience Maker," comes out today, featuring his "WISE" framework and stories from 20 years of experience working with brands, including McDonald's, Discover and Humana. Throughout the episode, Dan and David discuss simple, yet remarkable ways to enhance your engagement with your customers.
Show Notes
2:26 The Experiences Customers Want to Talk About
4:20 The Framework for Becoming "WISE"
6:45 Be “Witty”
12:05 Genuine Social Media Interactions - The Green Skittles Story
14:29 The Leaky Bucket - Pay Attention to Your Existing Customers
17:35 Applying Fan Concepts to Other Industries
21:41 It’s All About the Little Fixes
23:44 Be “Immersive”
25:50 What Do You Own and What Can You Influence?
29:32 Be “Shareable”
33:50 Meeting Customer Expectations Consistently
39:08 Be “Extraordinary”
45:13 Dan’s Billboard
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For more great stories on delivering a spectacular customer experience, check out Dan’s new book: The Experience Maker: How To Create Remarkable Experiences That Your Customers Can’t Wait To Share
Connect with Dan to share your feedback on the book or ask any customer experience questions:
Email | Twitter | LinkedIn | DanGingiss.com
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Joining us on today's episode is Eric Nichols, the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Marketing and Branding/Chief Marketing Officer at the University of South Carolina. Nichols oversees Marketing, Digital and Social Media, and the University band and spirit programs as well as serving as the primary liaison for Licensing, merchandise sales, and outsourced entities including Learfield for multimedia rights and Learfield Ticket Solutions for outbound sales.
Eric and David discuss innovation around customer and employee experience within college athletics. From some of the changes South Carolina has been working on over the pandemic and are now launching this year at their football stadium, to renovated club areas and utilizing data and KPIs for your staff, Eric breaks down all the way in which he looks to innovate the college athletics space for his team.
Show Notes
3:07 New Club Spaces at Gamecock Football Games
10:08 The South Carolina Tailgate Experience
13:04 Beer Caves and Convenient Store Concession Stands
17:17 How to Scale Empathy
19:22 Using Data to Increase Staffing and Resources
26:21 Setting KPIs and a Vision for Your Staff
31:43 Lessons from South Carolina Culture Surveys
35:10 Facilitating Teamwork and Rewarding Your Employees
37:12 Deepening Connections with Gamecock Fans
41:53 Bridging the Ticketing and Licensing Spending Gap
44:56 Eric’s Billboard
For more information on topics covered in this episode:
Connect with Eric on Twitter or LinkedIn
South Carolina's Tailgating Experience
The "Cockabooses"
The 2001 Club
The Cockaboose Club
The Horseshoe Club
The Traditions Club
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Today’s episode is all about appealing to the emotional side of fandom with Peter Sorckoff. What started as a career in a therapeutic environment has evolved into 20 plus years of understanding the human subconscious impact on fandom. Peter leveraged those insights to create immersive marketing and branding experiences for major brands in the NBA, the MLB and NHL, most notably as the Chief Creative Officer and EVP of Brand for the Atlanta Hawks. Now, Peter is applying similar concepts to other industries, including aviation and retail, through his company, Seer.
This podcast goes in-depth on building experiences based on the instinctual - and sometimes irrational - aspects of fandom.
Show Notes
6:28 Change Management and Inspiring Cultural Transformation
9:55 Appealing to the Millennial Audience - the Birth of “Swipe Right” Night
15:07 The Story Behind the Kiss Cam and Teddy Bear Toss
15:51 Deliberate Decision Making through Strategy not Tactics
19:10 Challenging “Transactional” Marketing
21:18 Being “Kind” to the Customer
23:41 The Elephant and the Rider
27:55 The Three Fundamentals of Fandom
33:26 Applying the Social Psycho Structure of Fandom to Other Industries
35:34 Segmenting People by Instinctual Orientation
38:08 Customer Personas and Emotional Segmentation in Aviation
43:11 The Next Big Metamorphosis Coming in Transportation
46:50 Peter’s Learning Journey
For more information on topics covered in this episode:
Connect with Peter via email or Twitter
Check out SEER to learn more about fandoms
If you want more from Peter, reach out and let David know.
Peter’s Learning JourneyThe Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler
Stealing Fire by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal
Bold by Steven Kotler and Peter Diamandis
The Future is Faster Than You Think by Steven Kotler and Peter Diamandis
The Story of the Kiss Cam and Teddy Bear Toss
Episode 260 - Peter Sorckoff on fans and brands in sports | Sports Geek with Sean Callanan
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Michael Thompson joins David for this week’s College Leaders podcast. After nine years at Ole Miss, Michael reunited with Ross Bjork at Texas A&M in October of 2019 as the Deputy Athletics Director for External Relations and Business Development. His innovative leadership has led to appointments as the 2020-21 NACMA President and membership in the SEC’s fan experience working group. His team also won the 2019 NACDA Technology Innovation Award.
Counting down the days to football at Kyle Field, Michael shares his framework for keeping the 12th Man traditions sacred while employing data and new technology to evolve and innovate game day and carrying that through to other sports.
Show Notes
6:06 What’s new for 2021 Texas A&M Football?
8:57 Creative Planning for Staffing Challenges
13:54 Celebrating The 100th Season of the 12th Man
19:18 Balancing Traditions with New Innovations
23:55 If Money Was No Object...Investments to Enhance Customer Experience
27:03 Defined Social Spaces in Stadiums
30:27 Diving into NFTs and the Blockchain
33:43 Cracking the Code on Season Ticket Usage
38:43 The Flexible ‘Gig ‘Em Pass’
39:33 Understanding Your Different Customers
43:30 The “FOMO” Factor
46:48 On Michael’s Bookshelf
50:56 When “No” Presents a Better Opportunity
56:36 Best Investment Under $100
57:59 Practicing Intermittent Fasting
1:01:53 Michael’s Billboard
For more information on topics discussed in today’s episode:
Flexible Gig ‘em Pass
On Michael’s Bookshelf
Pappy Land by Wright Thompson
Endurance | Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition by Dennis Perkins
Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta by Richard Grant
On David's BookshelfForged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times by Nancy Koehn
Connect with Michael on LinkedIn or Twitter
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In our latest College Leaders podcast, we are joined by Troy Dannen, Ben Weiner Director of Athletics at Tulane University, to discuss leadership and guiding Tulane through turbulent times. Five years into his tenure, he’s revamped his senior management, increased fundraising and enhanced the student-athlete and fan experiences. He’s a recognized leader in college athletics, recently named to the newly established NCAA Constitution Committee, representing all Group of 5 schools.
Less than 24 hours before we recorded the podcast, Tulane announced its mask and vaccination policy in conjunction with the City of New Orleans. Throughout the episode, Troy shares his framework for scenario planning and decision making.
Show Notes
6:09 Managing Through Tulane’s 2021 COVID-19 Vaccine policy
11:12 Serving on the NCAA Constitution Committee
16:36 Greatest Investments under $100
18:35 Learning from Failure
22:59 The Importance of Empathy
27:17 The “Sound of Silence” and Scenario Planning
30:23 You Don’t Lead Everyone the Same
35:16 The Art of a Graceful “No” and Delegation
38:02 Incorporating Other Impactful Leadership Styles
41:14 Making a Convincing Argument - Takeaways as a Referee
49:37 What is your edge?
For more information on topics covered in this episode:
Bite Away mosquito repellent
Connect with Troy on Twitter------ Today’s episode was sponsored by CheckdIn**. Delivering training digitally to better equip your staff for game day.
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In this episode, David is joined by Greg Turner to dive in to the differences in fandoms and live events between China and the West. What started as a summer internship for Greg has evolved into a 20-year career in China, moving from agencies to live events and venue management, before establishing his own company, Shenzhen High Performance Event Management.
Compared to most of our fan bases that have existed for decades, live events have only been a regular part of the Chinese culture for the last 20 years. Throughout this podcast, Greg shares a number of applicable lessons on educating and engaging fans and bringing new audiences in to sporting events.
Show Notes
5:38 From Canada to China - Greg’s Path to Shenzhen High Performance Event Management
9:46 The Introduction of Live Events in China
12:14 “How to Be a Fan”
15:35 Integrating into Chinese Markets - Case Studies from the NBA and UFC
22:14 “Authentically Disney, Distinctly Chinese”
24:31 The Evolution of Chinese Fandom and Fan Experiences
27:17 Community First, Commercialization Second
30:46 Digital Strategies Driving Engagement - Key Opinion Leader (KOL) Influence
40:04 Professionalizing the Chinese Soccer League and Chinese Basketball Association
43:04 Opportunities for Growth in Both Markets
46:30 “Buying a Ticket 101”
47:59 Understanding Your Fan For more information on the topics covered in this episode:Key Terms Referenced - Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and Key Opinion Consumers (KOCs)Other Flip the Switch podcasts on Fandom - How Fandom is Evolving with Zoe Scaman
Connect with Greg via email or LinkedIn
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The University of Miami became the first college athletic department to break into the NFT space, announcing the new CanesVault this week that will officially open on August 16. In this episode, Dan Boyd, Miami's Senior Associate AD for Sales and Marketing and Jon Parise, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of GigLabs, Miami's NFT partner, join David to discuss the strategies and behind-the-scenes conversations leading to this innovative launch.
Show Notes
7:16 Building the Hurricanes Legacy
9:13 Breaking into the NFT Game
11:13 Miami’s Partnerships with Gig Labs and Black Madre
14:20 Maintaining Ownership to Drive Incremental Revenue
19:42 The Brainstorming Process
23:00 Leveraging the Brands’ Full Intellectual Property
24:37 Other Model NFT collections
26:03 Infinite Objects and Rare Rooms
31:34 Arguments Against NFTs
34:40 Appealing to the Global Fan Base
39:05 Why buy a Miami Hurricanes’ NFT?
43:57 Defining CanesVault Key Holders
48:18 Relationship Between Season Ticket Members and Key Holders
51:46 Understanding Smart Contracts
54:24 Fostering Community and NFTs as Status Symbols
For more info on topics covered this episode:
Check out the Miami Hurricanes’ Canes Vault | CanesVault Twitter
GigLabs | Rare Rooms
Infinite Objects
Other NFT collections: Cryptopunks | Bored Ape Yacht Club
Connect with Dan via email or LinkedIn
Connect with Jon via email or LinkedIn
For other Flip the Switch episodes on NFTs, check out:
Episode 58: $208K for a LeBron Replay? NFTs explained
Episode 62: NIL & NFTs w/ Luka Garza
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This week’s special College Leaders segment features Rick George, Athletic Director at University of Colorado. Rick had a rather unorthodox path to the big chair, taking on roles with the PGA Champions Tour and the Texas Rangers’ Front Office, before returning to the collegiate industry with Colorado in 2013. Throughout this episode, Rick and David discuss Colorado’s strategic plans, its "RAPID" core values and the importance of incremental revenue generation.
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Show Notes
(2:56) The Path Less Traveled to the Big Chair
(6:49) Erasing “Dark” Days & Creating “Folsom Field Events”
(10:15) Rebranding the Texas Rangers & Revenue Generation
(13:54) Colorado’s Strategic Plan & Core Values
(21:42) Frameworks for Leading through Change
(24:17) Building Your Team
(27:45) Core Factors in Conference Realignment
(30:44) The NIL Impact on College Athletics
(35:40) Colorado’s Relationship with SportsBet
(39:29) Leaders Who Have Impacted Rick
(41:46) Learning From Failure
(45:44) Providing Constructive Feedback --
Connect with Rick via email or on Twitter
For more info on topics covered this episode:
Bob Beaudine - Power of Who
Colorado's Strategic Plans: 2014-17 | 2018 - 20 | 2021 - 23
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This week’s episode strays from our usual podcast pattern. David is joined by Justin Doherty, Wisconsin's Senior Associate AD for External Communications and member of EngageMint's tribe. Outside of his roles in brand communications, marketing, video services and facility branding, Justin has authored four books on Wisconsin history. David and Justin have embarked on a 25-book challenge and share some of their top hits and reading strategies in this bonus episode.
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Show Notes
4:14 Diving in to Justin’s Books
6:03 Reading vs. Writing Note Taking
13:46 The 2021 25-Book Challenge
20:16 Intentional Reading Strategies
30:19 Most Recommended Books
35:31 Most Impactful Books
39:01 Building Your Own 25-Book Challenge
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For more info on topics covered this episode:
Seth Godin - altMBA program
Tim Ferriss - Scientific Speed Reading
Recommended by Justin:
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Glory Days by L. Jon Wertheim
Recommended by David:
A Memory of Light, Wheel of Time (Book 14) by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
The Four-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
Authored by Justin:
Tales from the Wisconsin Badgers Sideline: A Collection of the Greatest Badgers Stories Ever Told
The Wisconsin Football Vault
with Pat Richter and Vince Sweeney
The Dayne Game: Ron Dayne and the Greatest Day in Wisconsin Football History
What It Means to Be a Badger: Barry Alvarez and Wisconsin's Greatest Players
Connect with Justin on Twitter
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In our latest podcast, David sits down with John Kosner. After 20 years at ESPN, where he transformed its digital media strategy, John co-founded Micromanagement Ventures with former NBA Commissioner David Stern. John currently leads Kosner Media, where he invests in and advises sports tech companies focused on sports media, sports betting and gambling and player development.
This episode covers all things sports tech, truth speaking and leadership and the future of sports broadcasting. --
Show Notes
(4:00) Forming Micromanagement Ventures with David Stern
(15:04) Importance of Humor in the Workplace
(18:11) Assembling the Right Team Around the Right Purpose
(21:51) Trust is the Essence of Every Human Relationship
(25:35) The NBA Trade Machine and Taking ESPN Digital
(32:35) Learn from TikTok, Instagram and Twitch
(34:53) Static Personalization vs. Modern Personalization
(36:55) John’s Advisory Work
(43:34) The Adrenaline Factor in Viewing Sports
(50:32) Overcoming Complacency --
For more information on the topics covered this episode:
Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christianson
The Adrenaline Factor by John Kosner
Check out more from Kosner Media
Connect with John on Twitter or LinkedIn
--
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A long-time sports executive, Rick Burton brings a breadth of experience and insights to this week’s podcast. After roles in brand management with Miller Lite, a stint as commissioner of the National Basketball League in Australia and Chief Marketing Officer for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Rick has spent the last 12 years at Syracuse University as the David B. Falk Professor of Sport Management and Faculty Athletics Representative. He's also co-authored three books and contributes regularly to Sports Business Journal, as well as Sportico and Sports Business.
This episode goes deep on all of Rick’s specialties - sports marketing sponsorship, the Tokyo Olympics, organizational management and leadership and ESports.
Show Notes
(4:11) The Digital, Global and 24/7/365 Economies
(5:23) An Impactful Career
(9:29) Rick’s Inspirations
(12:46) Emerging Leaders - Skating to Where the Puck is Going
(15:40) Proactive vs. Reactive Leadership and Exploring New Trends
(18:43) Content Consumption - Are You Scuba Diving or Jet Skiing?
(22:58) What to Expect from the Tokyo Olympic Games
(28:16) The Role of Faculty Athletics Representative
(33:20) The NIL Impact
(39:22) Shifting Traditional College Athletics Mindsets
(43:36) Traditional Sports Diversifying into Digital Worlds
(50:24) Moore’s Law of Digital Transformation
(53:38) The Mission of Athletic Departments
(55:09) Rick’s Billboard of Advice
For more information on the topics covered this episode:
Moore’s Law
Replika.ai
Ready Player One
Connect with Rick via email or on Twitter
Read more from Rick
Forever Orange: The Story of Syracuse University
20 Secrets to Success for NCAA Student-Athletes Who Won’t Go Pro
The Sport Business Handbook: Insights From 100+ Leaders Who Shaped 50 Years of the Industry
Sports Business Unplugged: Leadership Challenges from the World of Sports
Sportico Guest Columns | Other Recent Publications
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Flip the Switch is all about uncovering the latest trends in sports and entertainment and the experiments organizations are running. Working alongside college athletic departments has inspired a new series: Flip the Switch - College Leaders. Joining David on the show will be senior leaders who are transforming the industry and implementing those trends and experiments.
Our first guest of the series is DeWayne Peevy, Vice President and Director of Athletics at DePaul University. Peevy became AD in September of 2020, after 12 years at Kentucky, including the last 7 as Deputy AD.
In this episode, DeWayne shares his experience from the first 10 months in the role, lessons from his past that have influenced his leadership style today and the vision he has for DePaul, recently announced through the department’s new "Dream Big" strategic plan.
Show Notes:
(6:41) The First Ten Months
(7:50) Building the Bigger University Brand
(10:47) NIL & Launching Legacy
(17:22) The 5 Pillars of DePaul’s Strategic Plan
(21:50) Challenging Your Team to Meet Your Vision
(31:18) What Would I Want My Leader to Do?
(37:26) Learning through Adversity - Biggest Lessons in DeWayne’s Career
(45:16) Building the Circle of Trust and Transparency
(55:41) DeWayne’s Billboard of Advice
Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko7tG2-7E3A
For more information on the topics covered this episode:
DePaul's Strategic Plan
LEGACY - An Immersive Entrepreneurship & Brand Development Program
Connect with DeWayne on Twitter or LinkedIn
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Our guest this week is Nick Sautner, CEO of Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. A worldwide leader in sports and entertainment, Eden Park was the first venue to host a sporting event and a concert at full capacity since the pandemic and has won a number of recent global awards, including the Product Innovation Award for "Staydium Glamping". Sautner has also been recognized as EVANZ Supreme Person of the Year and TheStadiumBusiness Global Executive of the Year. Throughout this episode, Sautner shares his framework for Eden Park's strategic plan, his "town hall vs. cathedral" mentality and monetizing the venue to create more participative events and experiences.
Show Notes
(4:38) Escapism and importance of returning to operation
(5:38) Hosting the world’s first capacity sporting event and concert
(8:42) Pre-COVID vs. Post-COVID Operational Changes
(14:50) Relay communication like a coaching game plan
(17:25) Communicating the game plan throughout all organization levels
(22:17) Driving Strategic Plans & Creating "Instagrammable" Experiences
(29:23) Instilling an Entrepreneurial Culture
(31:16) “People Describe Stadiums As Cathedrals..Think of Them More Like Town Halls”
(35:29) Cultivating a Culture of Utilization and Collaboration
(39:31) The Idea Factory
(42:19) 3 Beneficiaries for Successful Events
(45:23) Hot Take: Design Flaws of Stadiums
(49:53) Nick’s Mantras
Additional NotesVisit Eden Park | Experiences | Partnerships
Connect with Nick on LinkedIn or via email--
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This week, we welcome Kevin Gober, Senior Director of Arena Employee Experience and Learning & Development for the Atlanta Hawks, back to the podcast. A recurring guest on the show, Kevin shares his takeaways from welcoming fans back to venues and gets candid on the staffing challenges that State Farm Arena has faced.
For venues across the country preparing for a return to full capacity, this episode dives deep into the programs Kevin and State Farm Arena are putting in place to grow their staff, create an employee referral program and develop the leadership skills of their current team.
Show Notes
4:33 Crawl, Walk, Run - Embracing Capacity Changes
11:30 One Culture, One Team, One Purpose - Build Your Team Through a Central Hiring Fair
17:38 Creating an Employee Referral Program
21:55 State Farm Arena’s New Leadership Growth Series
31:47 Measuring the Impact of Staff Development
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For our second Flip the Switch Live episode, we are joined by Dan Gale of Leona Marketing Group and Tim Rebich of Varsity Partners. Sharing their perspectives as third-parties in the college athletics space, this episode is more idea-based than best practices focused. Dan, Tim and David forecast where college athletics is headed and the impacts NIL and multimedia sponsorship will have on the industry.
Show Notes
10:28 - Introducing Dan Gale and Tim Rebich
17:09 - Embracing NIL and Fair Market Value
22:49 - Creating Endemic Brand Experiences
28:08 - Changing Landscape for Multimedia Rights
36:31 - Brand Loyalty and Brand Value Alignment
40:13 - Redefining Corporate Sponsorship Assets
49:57 - Building Trust as a Third-Party Operator
56:32 - Shifting Mindsets in College Athletics
1:01:43 - Parting Advice
Connect with Dan on LinkedIn
Follow Dan on Twitter
Visit Leona Marketing Group's Website
Connect with Tim on LinkedIn
Follow Tim on Twitter
Follow Varsity Partners
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Our latest episode features Jen Rottenberg, Chief Marketing Officer for Fan Controlled Football (FCF). Just as it sounds, this new professional league gave the fans the ability to select everything from team names, colors and logos to the plays that were called on the field during the game. To make that all happen, data is at the heart of everything FCF does, attracting four uniques audiences and crafting every aspect of the game for active broadcast viewing, as opposed to the traditional emphasis on the in-person experience.
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Show Notes
(4:31) Breaking Down Fan Controlled Football - “Madden in Real Life”
(6:17) The Four Fan Controlled Football Audiences
(10:16) The Viewing Experience on Twitch
(14:29) The Shift from Passive Consumption to Active Participation
(19:35) If Something Sucks, We’ll Change It...If Something’s Awesome, We Can Make It Better
(23:47) The Leadership Balance of Relinquishing Control
(27:36) The Gamification of Fan Engagement - Fan IQ, Badges and Sponsorship Activation
(37:30) Idea Creation & Prioritization
(41:56) The In-Person Viewer vs. the Broadcast Viewer
(47:30) What’s Next for Season Two?
Follow Fan Controlled Football
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitch
Connect with Jen
Email | LinkedIn
This week's guest is Mike Farrell, Assistant AD for Broadcasting and Video Production at University of Maryland. As part of Maryland's 75-year Terrapin Club "Reinvented" campaign, Mike and his team created Terrapin Club +. Often referred to as "Netflix for Terps", the subscription service is the first of its kind in college athletics and features five shows to create additional value for Terrapin Club members and share the stories of Maryland current and former student-athletes.
We go in-depth on content strategies and deepening ties with your tribes in this episode.
6:30 Terrapin Club “Reinvented” and Terrapin Club +
8:17 Creating Membership Value Over Donor Programs
11:10 Biggest Production Surprises and Challenges
14:56 The Student-Athlete Perspective
16:30 Content Strategy and Distribution Strategy
25:06 Authenticity vs. Production Quality
28:08 Diving in on the Terrapin Club + Five Series
38:11 The NIL Impact
43:30 Measuring Success
47:46 Maryland’s Sources of Inspiration
50:24 Rapid Fire Questions
Books Inspiring Mike
A Life-Changing Perspective
Mike’s Billboard
SLIGHT CORRECTION - Since the launch of Terrapin Club +, the Terrapin Club has seen a 100% year-over-year growth, rather than the 100% growth mentioned in the show.
Check out Terrapin Club+ | YouTube
Follow MikeTwitter | Instagram
Additional ReferencesErrol Morris Documentaries
Michael’s Favorite BooksThis is Not a T-Shirtby Bobby HundredsWinning the Story Wars by Jonah SachsTrue Storyby Ty Montague
Shout out to all those who produce and support Terrapin Club +
Haley Timple, Jonah Haas, Tony Price, Jarred Belman, John Bartman, Josh Clayton, Alex Gross, Thomas Mason, Jason Yellin, Patrick Fischer, Taylor Smyth, Jordan Looby, Brian Ullmann, Carrie Blankenship, Kendall Butters, Jake Rose, Andy Wray, Alex Grant
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Today’s episode was sponsored by CheckdIn. Know exactly who’s working in your venue.
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Today’s guest is Jason Fox. After 6 years in the NFL with the Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins, Jason launched EarBuds in 2018. What started as a platform to facilitate consumers and fans being able to listen to the same playlists as their favorite athletes in real-time has morphed into a new social listening experience through EarBuds’ partnerships with Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora and Spotify.
This episode covers everything from sports tech, data, exclusive fan experiences, entrepreneurship and digital social engagement.
Show Notes
5:26 The Genesis of EarBuds
7:23 Personalizing the Listening Experience in Real Time
9:07 Expanding Fandoms and Creating Community through Music
12:25 What’s Best for the End User? Uniting the Major Music Players
16:27 Greatest Lessons in Launching EarBuds
19:17 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome in Entrepreneurship
23:26 EarBuds’ Partnership with Fan Controlled Football
25:13 Digging Deep into Data and Unexpected Audiences
35:47 What’s Next for EarBuds
39:08 Digital Engagement and Social Tokens
46:12 Jason’s Billboard
Find out more about EarBuds Music
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Connect with Jason
Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn
Today’s episode was sponsored by CheckdIn. Know exactly who’s working in your venue.
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Joining the show this week is Brittany Hodak. Recently named Chief Experience Officer at Experience.com, Brittany shares her frameworks that organizations can adopt to cultivate super fans and experiences. Prior to joining Experience.com, Brittany co-founded a marketing and collectibles company ZinePak (later named The Superfan Company), which was featured on Shark Tank and earned one of the highest valuations in show history. She exited in 2019 to focus full-time on speaking and consulting with organizations to harness the passion within fans.
David and Brittany set their rivalry aside to dive in to Brittany's SUPER strategy and focusing on real-time data to perfect customer and employee experience.
6:03 MGo(Baby)Blue - Coach Harbaugh Converts a Razorback
13:22 The ZinePak/Superfan Company Takeaways
19:02 The Future of Collectibles
22:32 Brittany’s SUPER strategy
26:39 What is special about your story?
28:10 Fostering Future Fans & Connecting to Kids
31:08 Tailoring Campaigns to Niche Audiences
33:47 Overcoming Apathetic Fans
42:53 Personalizing Customer and Employee Experiences with Experience.com
46:53 The Uber Way - Data in Real Time
Additional Resources
BrittanyHodak.com
Experience.com
Beach Boys’ 50th Anniversary Collectible | Dolly Parton’s Pure & Simple Album
Dolly's Imagination Library
More from Brittany
The ABCs of Creating Superfans
The Superfans System
The Superfan W.A.V.E. eBook
Connect with Brittany
Brittany@experience.com
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn
Today’s episode was sponsored by CheckdIn. Know exactly who’s working in your venue.
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Rachel Jacobson is the President of the Drone Racing League. After 21 years in the NBA, her last role being VP of Global Business Development, and a brief stint in the private sector, Rachel was named president of DRL just one year ago.
DRL is a technology company first and the decisions they make from a business, employee and customer experience standpoint are all from a technology perspective, because of the outreach it enables with both traditional and non-traditional sports fans who have embraced their organization.
We touch on everything from leadership and culture, to making decisions that serve the holistic customer and bringing new fans into their ecosystem.
Show Notes
6:34 Lessons from a 21-Year NBA Career
9:57 It’s All About YOUR People
12:44 Encouraging a Culture of High Performance
14:58 Accountability and Transparency in Leadership
15:40 Hustle in Sports vs. Hustle in Entrepreneurship
20:36 What is the Drone Racing League?
25:14 Appealing to Younger Fans through STEM
28:35 Bringing Multigenerational Fans into the DRL Ecosystem
36:26 DRL’s Player-to-Pilot Training Program
40:42 Aligning Mentality and Markets in Corporate Partnerships
46:49 Rapid Fire Questions
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Additional NotesDrone Racing LeagueDRL AcademyT-Mobile 5G DronePlaystation Drone Racing Simulator
Follow DRL: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | LinkedIn
Connect with Rachel: LinkedIn | TwitterToday’s episode was sponsored by CheckdIn. Know exactly who’s working in your venue.
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Jim Cavale is the Founder and CEO of INFLCR. With NIL legislation set to go into effect this summer, college athletic departments face so many unknowns. Jim and his team recently launched INFLCR Verified and INFLCR Plus, initiatives to help athletic departments and student-athletes proactively prepare for this change and provide them the tools to capitalize on their brand power and voice.
This episode covers everything from leadership and building a company, to NIL legislation and empowering student-athletes to better build their brands.
Jim Cavale Show Notes
4:20 Giving Athletes a Better Brand and Voice - Genesis of INFLCR
6:32 Leveraging Relationships and Forging Connections
10:37 Evolution of INFLCR and Partnership with Teamworks
21:31 Inception of INFLCR Verified
27:43 Building an Internal Creative Agency
30:44 From “Athlete Brand Building” to “Name Image Likeness”
33:10 Performers, Producers and Players
37:36 Combating Legislation Paralysis
40:25 Four Domains of Personal Balance
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Additional ReferencesINFLCR | INFLCR Verified | INFLCR Plus Wake Up Warrior
Connect with JimFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn
Today's episode is all about turning fans into customers and customers into fans. David sits down with internationally-known author, advisor, educator and speaker David Meerman Scott. Scott co-wrote his latest book, Fanocracy: Turning Fans Into Customers and Customers into Fans, with his daughter Reiko Scott. Fanocracy unearths the science behind building emotional connections in your tribe and marketing lessons learned from fandoms outside of sports, including the Grateful Dead. The show takes a deep dive on applying those lessons to cultivating stronger experiences and relationships with your fanbase.
Show Notes
3:16 Defining Fandom
6:15 A Family Affair - co-authoring “Fanocracy: Turning Customers into Fans and Fans into Customers” with Reiko Scott
9:47 The Individualization of Fandom
13:56 Combatting the Polarization of Social Media
15:23 What Else is There? Building Fandoms Outside of Social Media
21:45 Implementation of Fan Engagement in “Social Spaces”
24:25 Lessons from K-Pop and Growing Rabid Fans
26:41 The Power of K-Pop Fan Bases
29:36 Making Fans Feel Like Insiders
31:40 The Original Social Network
37:04 The Mentality and Psyche of MLS Support Groups
39:29 Utilizing Fandom to Create Emotional Connections
43:25 Rapid Fire Questions
- Bad Advice
- Sharing success stories
- David’s billboard: “Educate and inform, instead of interrupt and sell.”
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Additional Resources
Fanocracy.com | Fanocracy: Turning Fans Into Customers and Customers Into Fans
DavidMeermanScott.com
Other Books by David Meerman Scott
The New Rules of Marketing and PR
Standout Virtual Events
The New Rules of Sales and Service
Marketing the Moon
Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead
Real-Time Marketing and PR
Eyeball Wars
World Wide Rave
Connect with David and Reiko on Twitter
Today’s episode was sponsored by CheckdIn. Know exactly who’s working in your venue.
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In today's episode, David is joined by Luka Garza, starting center for the Iowa Hawkeyes, AP College Basketball Player of the Year, and winner of the 2021 Naismith Trophy. They discuss name, image, and likeness, the launch of Luka's new NFT company LukaGarzaNFTGroup.ioand how Luka hopes to provide opportunities for college athletes to monetize their brand, and the importance of college athletes being able to control their own brand.
Show Notes:
5:11 Digital Engagement Fan Support during 2020-21
6:56 Breaking into the NFT game
10:11 The Experiential Component of NFTs
11:02 The Role of NFTs in NIL
13:38 Launch of LukaGarzaNFT.io
15:10 Takeaways from Luka’s first NFT
17:44 Future partners of LukaGarzaNFTgroup.io
19:16 Leveraging partnerships to boost student-athlete brands
20:45 The student-athlete perspective on NIL
22:54 Turning NIL from a Zero-Sum game to a Win-Win situation
Additional Notes:
Follow Luka Garza -
LukaGarzaNFTGroup.io | Instagram | Twitter
For More Great Iowa Sports related content, follow these guys:@davecreagh
@ChiPeoplesChamp
Today’s episode was sponsored by CheckdIn. Know exactly who’s working in your venue.
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Shoutout to these single episode Executive Producers:
Dave Creagh
Jerry Scherwin
Dave Johnson
Zach Gatton
Today’s guest is Ed Vincent, Founder and CEO of FestivalPass. Ed and his team are trying to reinvent the model for accessing live events and how we go about deciding what events to go to as consumers. FestivalPass is the first festival and live event subscription marketplace that provides access to music, film, food and wine, tech and innovation, sports and entertainment and more. His data-driven background is trying to help shape the future of the live events industry.
Show Notes
4:32 The Building of FestivalPass
7:50 Lessons Learned from MoviePass
9:24 Utilizing Credit Systems for Dynamic Pricing\
13:55 The Vision for FestivalPass
15:08 Bringing Sports onto the FestivalPass platform - Brokering Deals with Ticket Providers
20:25 Creating Value and Understanding Behaviors in Subscription Models
26:35 Future Outlook on Live Events
28:33 Understanding Consumer Confidence in Getting Back to “Normal”
30:28 The Strategy of FestivalPass Post-Pandemic
35:41 Criteria for Analyzing Failed Ideas
38:13 Evaluating Core Principles for Implementing Ideas in New Industries
40:43 New Trends in the Live Events Space
44:30 Importance of Building the Infrastructure to Meet the Business Demand
46:42 Applying Design Thinking to Your Business
Additional References
ClassPass
Design Sprint by Jake Knapp
Jake Knapp: Design Thinking Explained
IDEO Design Thinking
Contact Ed
FestivalPass | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | SnapChat
Today’s episode is all about Guest Service vs. Guest Experience and Designing Customer Experiences in New Venues
On this episode, David sits down with Kameron Durham, Vice President of Guest Experience for the entire entertainment footprint of Hollywood Park, including SoFi Stadium, the brand new home of the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers. Prior to this role, he was the Director of Guest Services for the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres. In its first year, SoFi Stadium did not host any fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In lieu of guests, they re-thought customer experience and service as stakeholder experience and service, focusing on the employees and players and those who are expected to deliver magical moments for fans. Show Notes
6:34 Transactional Guest Services vs. Proactive Guest Experiences
9:58 Mindsets and Skill Sets Changes
11:52 Evolution of Staffing - Investing In and Empowering Employees with the San Diego Padres
15:42 Hiring Authentic People for Your Mission
22:25 SoFi Stadium / Hollywood Park - Bringing a $5 Billion Project to Life
27:30 Creating the Strategy, Knowledge, Tools and Rewards for Enhancing the Employee Experience
33:31 Measuring Success of Guest Experience
38:20 Incorporating Third-Party Partners into the Family
41:46 Building an Employee Incentive/Reward Program
44:20 Impactful Technology Enhancements for Guest Experience
47:45 Putting the Customer at the Center of Decision Making
50:48 Connecting Work, Live and Play in Hollywood Park
53:41 Rapid Fire Questions
Connect with Kameron on LinkedIn.
Today’s episode was sponsored by CheckdIn. Know exactly who’s working in your venue.
In today's episode, David sits down with two industry legends Rob Temple,
Chief Executive Officer at FishBait Solutions, LLC and Rick Jones, Captain, Creative Director and Shareholder at FishBait Solutions, LLC. When combining Rick's creative mind for amazing corporate sponsorship ideas and insights and Rob's previous 20-year experience as ESPN's Senior Vice President of Sports Marketing the two bring a powerhouse of knowledge into this episode. The three get into sponsorships and how to find the right corporate partners to connect with your unique fans.
Show Notes
6:30 The Evolution and New Vision of FishBait Solutions
13:35 Appealing to the Next Generation of Fans
15:44 Looking Backward vs. Looking Forward for Solutions
17:20 Takeaways from the NFL’s new TV agreement
20:00 The 7Cs of Relationships
21:51 Aligning and Future Proofing Contracts
25:56 What Does Success Look Like? - Solving Problems and Creating Partnerships
31:03 Who Do Your Fans Trust Now?
32:16 Creating Joy That Unites
34:30 Favorite Brand Activation and Partnership Stories
(Rob) Fearless Pursuit of New Activations
(Rick) Knowing Your Brand and Your Community
41:39 Understanding the Macro of the Customer
43:01 Most Challenging Project & Key Lessons Learned - NASCAR - Rob
47:53 Creating Derivative & Niche Programming Content
52:25 5-Year-Plans to 5-Month-Plans and Planning for First to Market
54:39 Most Challenging Project & Key Lessons Learned - Mascot Hall of Fame - Rick
57:26 The Tallest Pygmy
58:46 Rapid Fire Questions
Additional Notes
Book Recommendations
“Grant” by Ron Chernow“The Pursuit of Wow” by Tom Peters“Leadershift” by John Maxwell“Know What You’re For” by Jeff Henderson
Follow FishBait SolutionsFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn
Connect with Rob Temple | Rick Jones
Today’s episode was sponsored by CheckdIn. Know exactly who’s working in your venue.
Our guest today is Jesse Schwarz, who set an NBA Top Shot record earlier this year, paying $208k for a replay of a LeBron James dunk. If that makes no sense to you, don't worry, we've got you covered in this episode.
Today's episode is a little out of the ordinary, where we dive deep into non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs have been all the rage in 2021, but if you still don't understand them, Jesse and I try to break it down in this episode. It's not your standard explanation of NFTs, as we try to unpack how you and your sports & entertainment organization can use NFTs to drive more revenue and deeper engage your fans.
Today’s guest has been one of my favorite follows on Twitter over the past year, Zoe Scaman. Zoe runs her own strategy studio in the UK, called Bodacious.
At Bodcacious, one of Zoe’s bigger projects she’s working on right now is with Luka Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks, and Mark Cuban Experiments, or MCX for short. We’ll dive into this a ton in this episode.
Before Bodacious, Zoe was the Global Head of Strategy for the Ridley Scott Creative Group. If you look at her career, you’ll see she’s dabbled in so many different areas, working for international brands, as well as agencies of all sizes. That’s given her a really wide range of things she’s interested in, and she has an uncanny ability to connect insights from one industry into another. This makes us love her, obviously, because that’s what we focus so much of our time on in this show.
For today, we’re really going to be diving deep into Fandom. And no it should be no surprise, that much of how fandom is changing today is based on the evolution of the creator economy. If you’re not familiar with the creator economy, have no fear, we do some definition setting in the episode.
Show Notes:
7:32 Fandom vs. fans with an affinity
9:51 FazeClan and the birth of amateur content creation
14:00 Breaking down fandom levels with Marvel Cinematic Universe
19:17 The strategies for developing content for various audiences
23:13 The NBA exemplifying cultural crossovers
25:40 Examining the adjacent cultural genres to sports
30:05 Takeaways from MCX and the NBA
34:55 Monetizing experimentation in your organization
38:30 Reaching the Gen Z audience
42:56 Building a content creation team
44:56 Creating content for niche audiences
48:40 Lessons learned from Ocean Spray
53:03 NFTs and the impact on collectibles Where to Reach Zoe:Twitter: @zoescaman
Subscribe to Zoe's Email Newsletter
Articles:
From Frameworks to Flywheels
Faze Clan, Fandom and the New Brand Flywheel
FaZe Clan - Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Bleacher Report’s Game of Zones
Adjacent Content - @LeagueFits | @BRKicks
Building a bulldog’s brand with Ju-Ju Smith-Schuster
Team JuJu merch
Juventus Fan Tokens
Dallas Mavericks’ Roll up with MCX
@MC_X
The Ocean Spray story
Kings of Leon NFT album
This episode is brought to you by:CheckdIn.appKnow exactly who’s working in your venue.
Our guest today is Shep Hyken, a customer service and experience expert and the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations. Shep works with companies and organizations that want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. His articles have been read in hundreds of publications, and he is the author of "Amaze Every Customer Every Time," "Moments of Magic," "The Loyal Customer," "The Cult of the Customer" and "The Amazement Revolution."
Shep, KG, and David cover everything from designing an organization's purpose to how customer service has changed for the future due to the pandemic.
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Show Notes:
(07:53) Learning customer service at age 12
(11:02) “Without customers, you don’t have a business”
(15:25) Marketing creates repeat customers; loyalty is a connection
(18:49) Crafting genuine and transparent mission statements
(21:46) Purpose statements in practice - lessons from the Ritz-Carlton and Disney
(26:05) Creating mission statements that clearly articulate your values
(29:51) Shep’s Six Simple Steps to Create a Customer Service Culture
(31:52) Unpacking Step #3: Train It
(37:16) The shortest customer service speech in the world
(39:13) “I’ll Be Back - How to Get Customers to Come Back Again and Again” - Shep’s next book
(43:55) Looking outside your industry for inspiration
(45:15) Customer service is not a department, it’s a philosophy
(47:23) Rapid Fire Questions
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Additional Notes:
Purchase Shep’s Books
- I’ll Be Back: How to Get Customers to Come Back Again and Again
- The Convenience Revolution
- Amaze Every Customer Every Time
- The Amazement Revolution
- The Cult of the Customer
- Moments of Magic
- The Loyal Customer
- Be Amazing or Go Home
Shep’s Book Recommendations:
The Effortless Experience by Matt Dixon
The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore
How to Connect with Shep:
https://hyken.com/
Shep’s Customer Service newsletter
Shep TV on YouTube
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Today’s episode was sponsored by CheckdIn. Know exactly who’s working in your venue.
Our guest today is with Disney Parks & Resorts legend, Lee Cockerell. In this episode, we focus on leadership, customer service, and time management,
Lee Cockerell retired as the Executive Vice President of Operations for the WALT DISNEY WORLD® Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, a position he held for ten years. His responsibilities encompassed a diverse mix of operations, which included 20 resort hotels with over 24,000 Guest rooms, 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, 5 golf courses, a shopping village & nighttime entertainment complex (Downtown Disney, now Disney Springs), the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and the ancillary operations support functions.
Leadership Lessons from Disney Legend Lee Cockerell
1:02 The legendary Main Street windows and the story behind Lee’s window
5:35 The Main Street Diary - Lee’s consistent communication strategy with all Walt Disney World® cast members
9:13 The 8-minute podcast
12:15 Disney’s Chain of Excellence & how you get results
17:39 Talent is the name of the game
22:39 The behaviors and characteristics of successful leaders at Disney
24:05 The leadership test and building complementary teams
28:14 Lee’s Legacy - Disney Great Leader Strategies & Creating Magic
30:50 From what to how - implementing Disney Great Leader Strategies
35:39 Leading through external pressures on the organization
40:33 Lee’s top three leadership strategies
43:00 Balancing and managing your time
45:50 Deciding what to delegate
48:29 Rapid fire round
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ADDITIONAL NOTES
Lee’s Book Recommendations
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
Good to Great by Jim Collins
Having Difficult Conversations by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen
Learn from Lee
LeeCockerell.com
Morning Time Magic time management planner
Cockerell Academy
Creating Disney Magic podcast
Lee’s Books - Creating Magic, The Customer Rules, Time Management Magic and Career Magic
Connect with Lee
Other References mentioned
Join David and KG as they chat with guest Simon T. Bailey, a motivational speaker, author, and life coach. Simon's content revolves around purpose, leadership, and inspiration. David and KG get into Simon's experiences through these lenses and how it ties into customer service.
Show Notes:
(5:26) Making Organizations Sizzle: The Power of Leadership, Culture, and Consistency
(6:52) Culture is not the Mission and Vision statement on the website; it’s what lives in the head and hearts of those doing the work
(8:35) How leaders can instill culture and care into an organization
(9:45) Marrying top leaders’ goals with the goals of customer-facing employees
(12:21) From performance reviews to career investment discussions - Demonstrating genuine care for teams
(15:31) Eliminate the employee survey; Create pulse surveys instead
(19:31) Be the SPARK in your organization
(24:37) Infusing the SPARK in your organization - Identify a champion and chase consistency
(25:14) It’s not Kool-Aid, it’s Culture - Lessons learned from the Ritz-Carlton
(33:17) Say Yes, Now What’s the Question? Simon’s Journey from Days Inn to the Ritz-Carlton
(36:15) Adapting SPARK principles vs. adopting SPARK principles - build your own purpose
(41:21) Facts Tell, Stories Sell
(44:38) Leading in the remote era - embrace gratitude and the at-home life
(47:31) Corporations don’t have ideas, people do. Tap into the brilliance in your organization.
Additional Notes:
Connect with Simon T. Bailey and invite him to speak at your organization
https://www.instagram.com/simontbailey/
https://www.facebook.com/BrilliantSimonT
https://twitter.com/simontbailey
https://www.linkedin.com/in/simontbailey/
Simon’s Books:
Success is an Inside Job
Release Your Brilliance
Shift Your Brilliance
Releasing Leadership Brilliance
Brilliant Living: 31 Insights to Creating an Awesome Life
Find Your Spark
Pulse Surveys:
https://www.tinypulse.com/
https://www.cultureamp.com/
In today's episode, David sits down with guest Jeremy Parker, Co-Founder and CEO at Swag.com. With the attitude of learning as you go and reinventing your space, Jeremy discusses his journey in founding Swag.com and the ideas and concepts behind customer pain points.
(4:41)Defining “Swag”
(5:50)Jeremy’s journey from film major to Swag.com
(9:11)The challenges of the licensing landscape in college athletics
(11:44)How could we reinvent the collegiate licensing business?
(14:35)Just get it out the door - launch the product and learn
(17:17)Differentiating the product buying experience
(23:15)Prioritizing feature upgrades based on customer feedback
(25:00)Removing barriers from the check-out process
(27:44)Behind the domain “Swag.com”
(31:50)Swag.com’s pandemic pivot - the focus on distribution
(34:58)Where is the promotional industry going?
(41:23)Quality over quantity - make products that resonate rather than walking billboards
(47:39)You never know until you try
(50:47)Giving customers confidence in the e-Commerce buying process
Additional References:
Tees and Tats and Mark Cuban Chatbots mentioned
- Intercom
- Hubspot
- SatisfiLabs
Connect with Jeremy:https://swag.com/
Email: jeremy@swag.com
LinkedIn: Jeremy Parker
On today's episode, David and KG are joined by guest Elisa Padilla, former Senior Vice President, Creative Strategy & Partnership Marketing for Roc Nation, and former Senior Vice President of Marketing for the Miami Marlins. Elisa, David, and KG talk about customer-centric marketing and how the way you lead and the perspectives you shift allow you to achieve it more successfully.
Show Notes:
(06:52) Infusing the Jay-Z “Star” mentality from “Street to Seat”
(10:51) Walking the walk over and over again - creating sensory experiences in Barclays Center
(14:28) Refining the customer journey experience for personas and current trends
(16:55) Apple’s obsession with details
(21:53) Changing perspectives to change processes
(24:06) The 360 degree approach to the customer experience
(28:20) Reflecting the town culture in the game day experience
(29:40) The hybrid model of engagement - evoking emotion to drive action
(33:38) Leveraging digital revenue streams and expanding the fandom
(39:11) Monetizing the storyline - lessons learned from Trapital and Drake
(41:00) Takeaways from Roc Nation Unified
(43:55) Flipping the narrative - “KickItByEP“
(52:05) The Disney Influence on Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment
(53:50) Elisa’s Friday Leaders Walk
(59:20) Lead with empathy and compassion
Additional Resources:
Dan Runcie - Drake’s Best Year
KickItByEP
Elisa’s favorite episode - KickItByEP with Katrina Palanca
Where to Reach the Guest:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisa-padilla/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/eprican?s=20
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kickitbyep/?hl=en
Our favorite clips from our Top 5 most popular episodes.
Today, we're celebrating hitting our 50th episode! We couldn't have done this without all of you and we can't thank you all enough. To celebrate, we're taking a look back at our top 5 most listened to episodes. Counting down from #5, we'll listen back on great moments from each episode on the list. Hope you all enjoy!
Show Notes:
(02:15) #5 - Access vs ownership applied to season tickets; Bringing subscriptions to sports
(11:40) #4 - Servant leadership and prioritizing your time
(22:57) #3 - How Disney and Carnival Cruise Line used customer journey maps to improve their businesses.
(34:51) #2 - Empowering and equipping your employees to make decisions and take action
(44:00) #1 - Leading with experience first and using the question "what if" to innovate
In today's episode, Steph Smith, Head of Trends.co at the Hustle and Founder of Integral Labs, joins the show. Steph and David discuss the ideas and insights of how to build a more effective team in both a remote work or hybrid environment.
Show Notes:
(6:54) The bell curve of giving and taking - amplifying giving in remote work
(10:54) How to encourage giving behavior
(15:50) What benefits can organizations now offer to entice the best talent?
(18:05) Applying the “First Principles” to your business and employee experience
(21:34) The new wave of benefits to offer employees
(25:05) Replacing the water cooler - how to generate the personal and professional relationships in a virtual setting
(27:27) Replicating an office environment with co-working spaces
(30:54) Defining success - the importance of metrics-driven assessments
(32:50) Algorithms to live by and the Nash equilibrium
(35:50) Game theory & working backward from the ideal outcome
(40:07) Personal user manuals - learn about your people upfront
(49:24) Being versatile in a leadership role
(47:53) Trends in remote work - what’s next?
(52:05) What’s coming? - The Biotech boom
For more information on topics referenced during the show:
EngageMint's "71-Tips to Navigate a Virtual Work Culture" Ebook
Get $100 off Trends with our referral code:
First-principles thinking
Game theory
Give and Take by Adam Grant
Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths
Steph Smith’s Personal User Manual Where to reach the guest:Steph's LinkedIn
Steph's personal Website
Steph's Twitter @stephsmithio
In today's episode, KG and David chat with Adam Polansky, the Group Director of Innovation at Octagon, a one of the world's biggest sports marketing agencies.
They discuss how we can use technology to innovate and ultimately create better experiences for fans and employees.
**Show Notes:
(3:55)** What is Octagon? How does the Innovation team fit within the organization structure?
(5:40) What is innovation? How does Octagon define it?
(7:20) The meaning of fandom and sharing that with Octagon’s clients
(10:25) Creating the spiritual home for fans
(13:20) Capitalizing on the intersection of sports and technology
(16:20) Octagon in Action - Bringing the Home Depot’s College Game Day sponsorship to life during the 2020 football season
(18:40) Behind the scenes - Octagon’s brainstorming sessions
(23:45) Lifestyle Marketing - from inception to rollout
(28:28) The “non-sexy” side of problem solving
(32:45) How might we create something new with virtual capabilities?
(39:50) If we repurpose something from the past, is that innovative?
(42:15) Zoe Scaman’s “The Rollout” - Capitalizing on an existing event for a virtual experience
(44:20) The innovation waiting to be brought to life
(46:25) Selling the pitch - getting companies to push the boundaries
(51:34) The art of interactive storytelling
(55:44) The top technologies driving innovation
Referenced During the Show:
Dallas Mavericks'"Rollup"
Ghostbusters Experience at Madame Tussauds
MSCHF
Chartr.co
Where to Reach Adam:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aspolanskyTwitter:a_polansk
https://www.octagon.com/
Steven Van Bellegham is a best-selling author and an international keynote speaker, largely focused on the future customer experience. He’s given keynotes in over 40 countries, and he’s worked with some of the biggest companies in the world, from Google to Mercedes Benz.
Steven is the author of multiple international bestselling books including ‘The Conversation Manager’, ‘When Digital Becomes Human’, ‘Customers the Day after Tomorrow’, ‘The Offer You Can’t Refuse’ and a futuristic technology thriller called Eternal, which we discuss at the beginning of the episode.
To preview what this episode is about, I’m going to steal this from his website’s About page: “Steven believes in a bright future where companies play the long-term game with their customers. His passion is spreading ideas about the future of customer experience. Steven believes in the combination of common sense, new technologies, an empathic human touch, playing the long-term game and taking your social responsibility to win the hearts and business of customers over and over again.”
If that’s up your alley, you’re gonna love this episode.
Show Notes
(5:30) Getting to know Steven Van Belleghem
(9:00) Reinventing a global business during the COVID-19 pandemic
(12:00) The balance of technology and in-person engagement on business
(17:45) How do you add value at the exact right moment without being intrusive?
(21:30) Taking a commodity and making it an ecosystem
(22:00) How subscription models change markets
(25:00) Building a sponsorship community with Club Brugge
(29:30) Creating ethical guidelines for dealing with emotions
(30:08) Your why should be where you are going, not where you’ve been
(38:15) Magical moments curated by Disney
(43:15) What would Joy do? (Lessons learned from Disney’s Inside Out)
(47:15) Setting policies that will serve the greatest number of fans
(52:30) The downsides of technology - removing the human element
(54:30) It’s not about knowing what customers want, but how they want it
Additional Resources
https://www.stevenvanbelleghem.com/
E-book "From CX to XC" Where to Reach Steven:Twitter: @StevenVBeYoutube: Steven's Channel
Today's guest is Kami Testa, Guest Experience Program Director of the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury. Kevin Gober and Kami dive into how to drive change in your organization, the process of hiring a large team of employees all at once, training your staff, and how mindsets impact actions.
Kami's unique background with the Walt Disney Company has helped her bring fresh insights to the NBA's Phoenix franchises. Before the NBA and WNBA, Kami held a wide array of roles with different parts of the Walt Disney Company. She's spent time as a Facilitator for Disney Institute; a Training Manager for Disney Cruise Line; she's been a Traditions facilitator (training Cast Members on their first day at Disney); she's worked in premium sales for Adventures by Disney (the company's travel planning agency); and more.
Show Notes
(7:00) Kami Testa Intro and Background
(9:30) Parallels of Guest Experience and Employee Experience - The Disney “Chain of Excellence”
(14:30) Lessons from the Phoenix Suns’ Virtual Hiring Fair
(16:00) Hiring for Attitude vs. Aptitude
(17:30) Shaking Up the Interview Process
(18:30) Training the Hiring Managers - Getting Your Staff on Board to Your Vision
(20:40) Disney Insights - Skills-Based Recruitment is Fatally Flawed
(22:00) Challenges of Virtual Training / On-boarding
(27:00) Discovering Talent - Outlining Opportunities for Growth for Part-Time Staff
(30:00) Cultural Overall of Changing the Phoenix Suns’ Game Day Staff Uniforms
(34:30) How to Change Your Staff’s Perspective Beyond “Job Description”
(39:00) The Suns’ Vision for the Future
(46:00) How to Formulate a Culture Committee
(49:30) Tools for Balancing Your Team’s Mental Health
Jonathan Daniels, Co-Founder and Director of CX Brussels, joins us on today's episode as we go over the various steps of the "ICON Process" from his book The Customer Experience Playbook. Consisting of Initiate, Co-Create, Operationalize, and Nourish, David and Jonathan breakdown a customer experience transformation to its core and show how these fundamental CX steps can be leveraged as a growth strategy for your business.
Time Stamps:
(4:45) Who is Jonathan and CX Brussels?
(7:47) Trends in CX conversations outside of the U.S.
(12:15) Digital transformations and the transitions in between
(16:10) The Customer Experience Playbook - ICON Process
Initiate
(19:50) Keys of a governance structure for customer centricity
(22:48) Power of the voice of the customer and ROI
(26:45) The importance of detailed goals to become customer-centric
Co-Creation
(30:37) Focusing on co-creation after measurement of CX growth
(33:33) Incorporating employees in co-creation is necessary
Operationalize
(36:40) Making sure to operationalize and add standards
Nourish
(39:52) Reinvesting and implementing changes and improvements to your CX transformation
(42:19) The toughest aspect of the ICON process
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
The Customer Experience Playbook by Jonathan DanielsCX Centric - https://cx-centric.com/ CX Conversations - https://www.cx-centric-training.com/conversations **Where To Reach the Guest:
LinkedIn - Jonathan Daniels Twitter - @mrdansoultions Email - jonathan@cx-centric.com**
David Millay and Kevin Gober are back with another Jam Session as they discuss ways to create your own value and finding ways to bring that value to your organization. With Covid changing the working environment and structure, David and KG get into adapting your skillset to fit in any situation and learning universal ways to lead during the pandemic.
Time Stamps:
(2:00) What it’s like for sports to be back but not able to be in the building
(4:30) Worries of making an impact in your organization during Covid-19
(6:00) Find a way to bring value - the importance of acquiring new skill sets
(8:50) Kevin’s retail experience & demonstrating versatility
(11:00) Adapting the principles of sports business to other industries
(14:40) Different strategies of energizing your team as a leader
(17:47) Speaking from the heart vs. speaking from a script
(20:44) How should you be leading in these times?
(22:12) Inside the relaunch of events at State Farm Arena - Crawl, Walk, Run Mentality
(32:38) Recruiting and hiring in the midst of social distancing
(37:37) Enhancing your skill sets to be ready for the next opportunity
(40:06) Re-imagining the onboarding process - creating a mentoring buddy system
(42:49) Acknowledging and caring for the mental health of employees in this time
(47:59) How can we create better workplace cultures with hybrid work schedules?
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
New Orleans Pelicans Virtual Career Event
This week's episode is another jam session with Kevin Gober, and we're joined by Jesse Cole.
Jesse is the owner of the Savannah Bananas and Fans First Entertainment. He's one of the most innovative sports execs in the industry, and his insights from running his baseball team will inspire you to try some of your own experiments.
**Time Stamps:
(6:50)** Taking big risks and experimenting: Example of FansGiving - Learnings, not failures
(11:10) How to learn and debrief after events that have wins and losses
(13:25) Inside the Savannah Bananas’ Think Tank and creative process
(15:54) The Importance of Experience and Experiments
(16:50) What should you start doing, stop doing, and continue doing?
(19:17) How to become a 24/7 brand and stay relevant
(22:23) Sports teams focusing on what they can control and regaining it
(24:40) The 5 Stages of a venue or live event
(25:38) What can you take from outside your industry?
(30:08) Growing the culture of an organization
(32:03) Cultivating a younger fan base
(34:54) Re-envisioning the season ticket membership for Gen Z
(37:40) How do you keep fans coming back game after game?
(39:24) The Savannah Bananas’ interview process
(40:59) The employee culture at State Farm Arena
(44:43) Knowing what you won’t be and how to adapt
(51:40) Reflections on 2020 - What to start, stop, and continue
**Time Stamps:
(5:50)** Dan’s background / What is Trapital?
(12:32) Sports and Hip-Hop: “We want to be them, they want to be us”
(13:12) How artists have engaged fans without live events
(17:55) Example of how music can scale into sports and entertainment
(24:37) Creative models to replace revenue
(26:05) Key partnerships for at-home entertainment
(29:52) "Name-Image-Likeness" Parallels
(31:40) Disruptions in the music industry
(34:17) Framework for analyzing business models
(37:52) The role that music videos have had in revenue generation for the music industry
(44:08) Modern-day lessons from music business leaders
(47:19) Generating Passion vs. Influence
(50:46) If Dan were the Athletics Director for a day...
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:Harvard Business School case study on Beyonce
Ben Thompson Business Model
Michael and Janet Jackson Scream Music Video
Where to Reach the Guest:Trapital Newsletter
Email - info [at] trapital.co
LinkedIn - Dan Runcie
Twitter - @RuncieDan
In today's episode, David and Kevin talk with Drew Berst about the combination of digital and physical experiences and how to infuse that in your customer experience. How will stadiums utilize their space going forward? With many stadiums transforming and restructuring their format, how can you maintain the culture and tradition while also keeping with the times and adapting to new experiences? With covid accelerating the demand and structure of sports, how can you balance this all?
**Time Stamps:
2:55** - Who is Drew Berst?
3:43 - How Raiders are utilizing their 3D printed stadium torch
7:00 - Understanding what history tells us about short term and long term
8:10 - Covid's biggest fear; people are afraid of people
10:10 - When sports come back you need to offer a new experience
11:14 - Covid is accelerating certain demands in sports
12:51 - What are the positives and innovations of Covid?
13:50 - If sports become more premium, where does that leave the nosebleed fans?
15:53 - How State Farm Arena and the Atlanta Hawks balance the average and premium fans
18:47 - Experience is the center of attention at venues
20:40 - How to optimize the stadium and atmosphere at limited capacity
23:40 - How to approach older stadiums for restructuring and layout while keeping the culture and tradition
27:20 - What does the conversation with executives look like when redesigning traditional stadiums?
30:20 - The success of Dimensional Innovations
32:18 - The Masters and NBA Bubble infusing digital with physical experiences
34:06 - Digital experiences are here to stay
35:27 - How the NHL has approached their season
37:30 - The digitization of experiences from Dimensional Innovations
42:03 - Emotional connections are at the heart of the experience
43:00 - Digitization of consumer experiences
44:30 - How will clients return to communication? Who will stay digital?
45:24 - Future of sponsorships and fan experiences
49:28 - What data needs to be gathered and measured along with what you do with it is changing
50:59 - checking in employees at stadiums is still a hassle; Engagemint's solution to that: CheckdIn
54:08 - Where can you find more from Drew?
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Dimensional Innovations
Dimensional Innovation's Project with The Raiders
The Master's allowing fans to order food favorites from Augusta National
The NBA Bubble Digital Fan Experience
CheckdIn by Engagemint
Where to Reach the Guest:
Email - dberst@dimin.com
Twitter - @drewberst
LinkedIn - Drew Berst
This episode is a little bit of a throwback. It's a conversation from the end of July, but we're airing it now, 3-4 months later. It still holds up tremendously well, as our guest's message on service and reinvention is timeless.
Our guest today is Brandon Steiner and he's been in the sports marketing business longer than I've been alive. Literally. Brandon was the founder and former CEO of Steiner Sports, which is now owned by Fanatics. Steiner Sports started out as an effort to pair up athletes with businesses, trying to attract customers; classic sports marketing.
Before long though, the company got into what Brandon is primarily known for, memorabilia. In 2005, Brandon partnered with the Yankees to create Yankees-Steiner collectibles, where Brandon had the rights to license and market a wide variety of game-used items from bats to baseballs, you name it.
From there, he built similar deals with national brands, like the Cowboys, Notre Dame, Madison Square Garden, and many more iconic sports brands. He built a memorabilia empire, creating relationships with thousands of athletes and helping fans get their hands on exclusive items and experiences. Steiner Sports is now owned by Fanatics and Brandon is on a new journey.
Brandon is currently the founder and CEO of CollectibleXchange and The Steiner Agency. We're going to talk about both of those ventures, among other things. We take a couple of minutes to get going, but pretty quickly we jump into a ton of different topics.
The biggest themes of the episode really revolve around entrepreneurship and how sports and entertainment organizations can ultimately become more entrepreneurial, which is incredibly important right now in this time of the pandemic where everybody's reinventing. And innovation is key. Brandon is in his sixties now, and starting a second career.
Brandon stresses that it's never too late for an organization or an individual to learn new skills and start new journeys. We talk about lessons learned from his parents, and we dive into customer service lessons that he's picked up from serving millions and millions of customers over the years.
Brandon Steiner's Content:Brandon Steiner's Books
Podcast and Blog
Contact Brandon
Brandon's LinkedIn
Brandon's Twitter
Brandon's Companies:CollectibleXchange
The Steiner Agency
In the second episode of our new format with Kevin Gober, Kevin and David get into the importance of leadership and structure that top-level executives need to be taking during the ever-adapting covid and digital age. With an overarching framework of leaders establishing, operationalizing, and sustaining the values and vision by which organizations thrive, David and Kevin discuss leaders' responsibility to help our employees in the emotional & mental, relational, physical, financial, purposeful, and employable spectrums. From employee journey maps to improving meeting tactics, this episode gets into the ins and out of running an organization in the new digital era.
Time Stamps:
00:00 - What’s on the top of the mind?
2:00 - Organization principles for leaders
3:50 - Leader behaviors and processes 5:52 - Having courageous conversations
8:45 - How does EngageMint foster innovation with clients?
9:50 - Journey mapping with EngageMint 10:54 - Creating service blueprints 13:48 - Helping the organization see the true behind-the-scenes impact
15:45 - The building process of State Farm Arena 16:53 - Atlanta Hawks innovation of day-to-day meetings
20:27 - Importance of note-taking and tangible actions from meetings
21:28 - Playbook - Rules of Engagement for Meetings 24:37 - Ramp up meetings - meetings to discuss all functions to get ready to open doors 25:44 - Fans in venues for NBA? - tipping off Dec. 22
28:34 - State Farm Arena - using the venue for polling; now flipping to get ready for basketball
29:30 - Deeper dive into Kevin’s role of “Chief Experience Officer” for Atlanta Hawks 31:50 - Employees want to know what are you going to do to protect me and keep me safe in a covid space? 33:09 - Discussion on trust in the workplace, from excess Zoom meetings to “prove” you are “working from home” to accepting employees will now get their work done 34:11 - KG talking about strategies Atlanta Hawks' owners have used to have the backs of employees during the pandemic 37:58 - Easy ways for leaders to be present now that we’re digital 39:15 - Big things grab headlines. Little things drive culture.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:Jared Spataro Podcast Episode
71 Tips: How to Build Virtual Culture
Kevin Gober, the Senior Director of Arena Employee Experience and Learning & Development for the Atlanta Hawks, joined us for today's episode.
For context, we recorded this episode on November 1, before the US election.
We got tons of positive feedback on the episode we did earlier this year with Kevin, so we brought KG back to talk about what's on his mind. Not our typical interview format, Kevin and I brainstormed different ideas we are working on; we discussed trends we're thinking about; and we shared obstacles we're stuck on.
We're experimenting here with this new format, so please send me any feedback on Twitter - @davidmillay or on LinkedIn.
Enjoy!
Our guest for this session is Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft. Jared oversees Microsoft 365, including Microsoft Teams, as well as the company’s focus on Modern Work.
Obviously, the different elements of Microsoft 365 are deeply embedded in all of our daily work, from Outlook to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and more. His team has tremendous insight into the data behind how we’re using these tools, allowing his team to see trends before others see them. As a result, Jared and his team have been spending more and more time reimagining the future of work. And this is where we’ll spend the majority of our discussion.
Overseeing Microsoft Teams, Jared’s team played a huge role in the NBA bubble, as their Teams “Together Mode” allowed for the NBA to create virtual fans at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. We discuss Microsoft’s broader activities in the sports & entertainment and live events industries, where properties everywhere are having to place a more intentional focus on the digital experiences they provide their fans. It’s here that our group found some particularly interesting insights.
Like many of our guests on this show, Jared’s experience is not limited to just sports & entertainment. He’s seeing trends from all industries around the world, and that insight can help us think differently than our peers, to better engage our fans and our employees.
Time Stamps:
7:25 - Sporting leagues adapting to digital technology
8:15 - Digitization and the NFL
12:15 - Creating digital experiences for fans around the world
14:15 - Asynchronous and synchronous transformations
16:05 - Application of Microsoft Teams "together mode" to the NBA and NFL
18:52 - Trends of physical proximity oriented spending being reallocated to digital budgets
24:40 - How to combat change-resistant people
28:45 - The role of humans in technology advancement
32:29 - The pandemic's acceleration of technology
35:00 - Future of Work: Microsoft's 7 principles
39:39 - What will the new "normal" be after Covid-19?
48:55 - How Microsoft runs meetings
53:24 - Blending digital and physical
Microsoft Teams Resources and Implementations:
Microsoft Teams
NBA Bubble virtual fans experience
Microsoft Teams Together Mode
Future of Work: Seven ways we’re empowering every person and every organization to thrive in a new world of work
Microsoft Teams Planner
Microsoft Power Automate
RealWear
Where to Reach the Guest:
Connect on Twitter @jared_spataro
Connect on LinkedIn
Today’s episode is a little different than usual. This episode is the edited audio from one of our Fireside Chats, something that our invite-only community has access too.
Our subject matter experts for the chat were Brad Wurthman, Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Operations at Virginia Tech and Chris Grosse, Assistant Athletics Director for Marketing at Penn State University.
Brad and Chris both lead teams responsible for the fan experiences at their famous sporting venues. On a normal football Saturday, their 65k+ stadiums literally shake the ground from screaming fans. But this year, neither stadium will host fans due to the pandemic. So we brought them in to discuss their plans for engaging fans virtually.
In these Fireside Chats, it’s not just me and the guests. There are tons of other leaders on the platform, where they can chime in, ask questions or add their two cents. So when you hear other voices on this episode, don’t be surprised. If you'd like to join the waitlist to attend future chats and ask your own questions, feel free to sign-up here.
**Time Stamps:
6:00** - Replacing stadium experiences for fans at home
15:00 - Creating alternate revenue sources
20:00 - Changes in key metrics during COVID
22:00 - Penn State’s content strategy for virtual fans
24:50 - Keeping fans engaged with sponsors at home
32:00 - Implementing fan cardboard cutouts
39:28 - Activating user-generated content
45:25 - Turning tailgating to “homegating”
48:10 - Sports subscription boxes
53:10 - Biggest skill sets needed on a team for the future
VT & PSU Virtual Fan Engagement Plans:Virginia Tech's Plan
Penn State's Plan
**Where to Reach the Guests:
Brad WurthmanConnect on Twitter:@wurthmanConnect on LinkedIn Chris Grosse:Connect on Twitter: @Chris_GrosseConnect on LinkedIn: Rachel MydoshConnect on Twitter:@rachel_mydoshConnect on LinkedIn:
Stephen Buetel:**Connect on Twitter:@stephenbeutelConnect on LinkedIn:
Pim Koondel:
Connect on LinkedIn
The Deputy Athletics Director for UCF, one of the most innovative, creative, organizations in college athletics, joins us today. In his daily responsibilities, Scott has oversight of all external units, including Brand Advancement, Strategic Communications and Video Services, as well as being heavily involved in revenue generation.
In a time right now where revenue is tight for all sports and live event organizations, we all need new ideas to engage our audience, our followers and our fans. And Scott’s been a key leader in an organization that has done a 180 in the last few years.
On January 1, 2018, Danny White, UCF’s Athletic Director, declared UCF the National Champions after a 13-0 undefeated season, despite not getting a chance to compete for the official national championship. Even before that public declaration of rebellion against the status quo, UCF had created an internal culture of innovation, one that challenged traditions and focused on engaging their young fan base and employees.
When you’re not a traditional superpower in your market, the success UCF has had is hard to achieve. They got there by taking risks, experimenting, and ultimately creating and sustaining a culture of innovation.
All the headlines usually go to massive capital investments in experiences like tailgating in a lazy river, or putting a beach in the stadium. But those headlines are the result of a 100 little things that have been done to foster a culture of creativity and innovation. Things like changing department names and role titles, the experience and demographics of your staff members, the metrics people are held accountable too, and more.
If you’re a smaller player in your market trying to make waves and topple the big guys, this episode is for you. And honestly, if you are the big guy thinking you can’t get any better cuz you’re already at the top? You’re gonna get toppled by the organizations that think like Scott and UCF. If you’re not innovating, you’re dying.
Our guest today is Brian Betts, a 22+ year Disney Cast member and former executive. By trade, Brian is an industrial engineer, so this episode is going to have an analytical and methodical approach towards improving customer experience.
In his career at Disney, Brian did everything from helping launch Disney Cruise Line and Disney’s Fast Pass, to overseeing experience insights within My Magic+, Disney’s mobile app and connected ecosystem. Throughout Brian’s career, he’s used analytics to optimize the guest experience, managing multi-billion dollar annual capital investments, including the development of new attractions and experiences. As part of his last role as Vice President of Planning and Development, he was part of the commercial team with oversight of long-term planning and revenue generation initiatives. Check out his Linkedin page for more info, he’s just got too prolific an experience to share it all here.
Two of the major projects Brian was involved in his later years that we dive into: First, using data and predictive analytics to proactively recover guest service opportunities in real time. Second, using the data gained from Disney’s My Magic+ initiative to create greater personalization for the guest. Brian goes into detail on how they used analytics to help equip front-line Cast Members with “superpowers” to deliver better guest experiences.
Even if you don’t have a billion dollar budget for customer experience, there are tons of principles and takeaways from this conversation you can apply to your own organization.
We’re joined today by the legendary Quint Studer. Quint is a philanthropist, an entrepreneur, and an expert in delivering quality experiences, for customers and employees. He’s the co-owner of the double-A baseball team, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, and the founder of the healthcare consulting group, the Studer Group.
In Quint’s approach to patient experience and fan experience, it all starts with the employee experience. We'll spend the episode discussing what you can do to better engage your employees so that they can better engage your customers.
Time Stamps
0:20 - Intro 8:45 - Why does Quint live in Pensacola? 11:00 - Quint’s philosophy on driving great customer experience 17:45 - The most important people on your team to train 20:00 - Internal systems and processes that help drive CX 24:00 - Leadership is an inside job 27:00 - Leading metrics vs Lagging metrics 32:00 - Impact of retaining employees 36:30 - Strategies to engage your frontline employees 42:40 - Emotional bank accounts 44:30 - Re-purposing employees roles during the pandemic 47:20 - How the Blue Wahoo’s larger purpose drives real action
If you enjoy the episode and want to learn more from Quint, here are some great resources Quint has available
Books & BlogQuint's Leadership Blog
The Busy Leader's Handbook
Hardwiring Excellence: Purpose, Worthwhile Work, Making a Difference
Results that Last
More books by Quint
Referenced in the EpisodeHCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems)
The Busy Leaders Handbook
The Kid is Hot Tonite by Loverboy
Baptist Healthcare
Pensacola Vibrant Community Blueprint
Mark Clement - hospital CEO
Press Ganey
E-Myth Revisited
SOG’s & SOP’s
"Rounding"
Cleveland Clinic
Switch by Chip & Dan Heath
Net Promoter Score
Steven Covey
Our guest today is Drew Bedard, the Vice President of Marketing at Bristol Motor Speedway and Kentucky Speedway.
On July 15, 2020, Bristol Motor Speedway hosted the NASCAR All-Star Race. The event had almost 30k fans in attendance, the largest attended event in the US since COVID cancelled sports in March 2020.
As sports & entertainment venues across the US prepare to reopen, I thought it would be good for you all to hear from Drew, who’s actually done it. I think that qualifies him as the closest thing to an expert as we’ve got in this world of operating events post-COVID.
In the conversation today, we’ll talk about his lessons learned, what he and his team might have done differently, we’ll cover what made them successful and we’ll dive in on specific tools and tactics they used, from project management software to communication methods used with fans.
Follow along Drew's journey or message him on Twitter or Instagram: @drewbedard
Marketing that Works with by Drew Bedard (Drew's own podcast)
Email Drew at: drewbedard@gmail.com
Mentioned in the Episode:
CUE Audio (light and sound integration)
Basecamp (Project management tool)
Trello (Project management tool)
Asana (Project management tool)
FanThreeSixty (customer data platform)
Fans First w/ Jesse Cole (Podcast Episode)
Build Your Brand & Build More Fans w/ Adam White (Podcast Episode)
Magic Spoon (adult version of kids Cereal)
Shady Rays (polarized sunglasses)
Books Drew has gifted the most:
War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson
Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
Today’s guest is Mike Crawford, the President and CEO at Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company. Previous to his current role, Mike held a number of leadership roles with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts and The Walt Disney Company.
At 4 Seasons, he was the President of Asia Pacific and then Portfolio Management around the world. While at the Walt Disney Company, he spent the majority of his time focused internationally. In his last role, he was the lead executive in charge of Shanghai Disneyland, including the resorts, hotels, retail, dining and entertainment district.
Based on Mike's background, you can see the growth strategies powering Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company. Throughout the episode, we discuss Mike's lessons learned from those companies and how he is adapting those insights to the sports & entertainment world.
If the company name sounds familiar but you can’t put your finger on it, Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company is the larger organization built around the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Rather than just a place to gather and celebrate the past, the organization is honoring the past and inspiring the future. By leveraging the brand and familiarity of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Mike and his team are building a massive entertainment and media destination to immerse customers.
One of the key takeaways from the episode is the way they're using their real estate to diversify revenue streams, creating retail, dining, hospitality, healthcare, commercial, even residential verticals.
Mike and his team are maniacally focused on building community among sports fans. Not just in-person or on-site, but digitally and year round. This comes through their focus on creating unique content and governing themselves like a true entertainment company. They’re diving deeper into esports and in June, they acquired the first-ever professional fantasy football league.
There are tons of valuable nuggets throughout our conversation that should shift your mindset and approach on how to build your own brand. I hope our conversation inspires new immersive ways to engage your customers and create experiences for your employees that help them buy into your vision.
This is second half of a two-part interview with Mike Millay. This part of the interview dives deeper into the behind-the-scenes stories at ESPN Wide World of Sports and explores Mike's own revelations as leader at Disney.
Mike is the longest tenured executive in ESPN Wide World of Sports' history. He's also my Dad and a Senior Partner at EngageMint, so this was a special episode for me.
The MLS kicked off it’s first game last week, and NBA players are now in the “bubble” on Disney property. As ESPN Wide World of Sports is the epicenter of major league pro sports in America right now, I know there are lots of questions from our listeners and from the general public that we sought to answer here.
For some quick background on ESPN Wide World of Sports, it opened in March 1997, and each year, over 300,000+ unique athletes compete there. It’s a 250+ acre sports complex right in the middle of Walt Disney World property, including a 7,500 seat baseball stadium, a 5,000 seat multi-purpose arena, a smaller 70,000 square foot foot arena, twelve full size soccer fields, four multi-purpose fields, four professional baseball fields, six softball fields, a tennis complex, a track and field complex, a cross country course, and more.
The complex is huge in size, and in revenue. From a financial perspective, it was about a $100 million NET revenue business driver for the Mouse when Mike was there.
Mike left ESPN Wide World of Sports about 5 years ago, while some of the stats may have changed, most of the business strategy remains the same.
Today, Mike owns a number of different companies in the sports industry, but for the purposes of the podcast, we stick to ESPN Wide World of Sports. If you're interested in seeing what Mike is up to now, feel free to visit his companies' respective websites.
- EngageMint (customer & employee experience design firm)
- 3D Institute (award winning content and frameworks for the coaching community)
- Clancy's Sports Properties (strategic consulting for organizations in sports tourism, sports complexes, and youth sports)
Mike can be reached via email at mikem@engagemintpartners.com
To connect with Mike on LinkedIn, click here
This is first half of a two-part interview with Mike Millay. This part of the sheds light on the business model powering ESPN Wide World of Sports and explores how the cultures of Disney and competitive sports merged.
Our guest today is Mike Millay, the longest tenured executive in ESPN Wide World of Sports' history. He's also my Dad and a Senior Partner at EngageMint, so this was a special episode for me.
The MLS kicked off it’s first game on Wednesday, and NBA players are now in the “bubble” on Disney property. As ESPN Wide World of Sports is the epicenter of major league pro sports in America right now, I know there are lots of questions from our listeners and from the general public that we sought to answer here.
For some quick background on ESPN Wide World of Sports, it opened in March 1997, and each year, over 300,000+ unique athletes compete there. It’s a 250+ acre sports complex right in the middle of Walt Disney World property, including a 7,500 seat baseball stadium, a 5,000 seat multi-purpose arena, a smaller 70,000 square foot foot arena, twelve full size soccer fields, four multi-purpose fields, four professional baseball fields, six softball fields, a tennis complex, a track and field complex, a cross country course, and more.
The complex is huge in size, and in revenue. From a financial perspective, it was about a $100 million NET revenue business driver for the Mouse when Mike was there.
Mike left ESPN Wide World of Sports about 5 years ago, while some of the stats may have changed, most of the business strategy remains the same.
Today, Mike owns a number of different companies in the sports industry, but for the purposes of the podcast, we stick to ESPN Wide World of Sports. If you're interested in seeing what Mike is up to now, feel free to visit his companies' respective websites.
- EngageMint (customer & employee experience design firm)
- 3D Institute (award winning content and frameworks for the coaching community)
- Clancy's Sports Properties (strategic consulting for organizations in sports tourism, sports complexes, and youth sports)
Mike can be reached via email at mikem@engagemintpartners.com
To connect with Mike on LinkedIn, click here
Statistic correction We say in the interview that EWWS is the largest sports complex in the world, but there are now a handful of bigger complexes, such as the National Sports Center in Blaine, MN.
Our guest today is Jahaan Blake, founder of The J. Blake Group.
We'll cover two main topics in this epsisode.
- Creating infrastructure behind the scenes that allow your front-line staff to create genuine moments of connections with fans
- The importance of coaching in leadership
We spend much of the episode discussing her prior roles that led her to start her own company, primarily her roles in the MLB. Jahaan and I first met when I was with Disney Institute and Jahaan was with the Chicago Cubs, as she and her were revamping their customer service program. We’ll go into more detail on that program in the episode.
Before working at the Cubs as the Director of Fan Experiences, she worked at the LA Dogers as the Director of Fan Hospitality. And her first role and longest tenure with one team in Major League Baseball was with the Boston Red Sox, where her last role was as the Manager of Fan Services and Entertainment.
Engage with Jahaan on Instagram: @jahaanblake
Connect with Jahaan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jahaanblake/
Jahaan's new podcast, A Game of Her Own: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/game-of-her-own/id1506816919
Our guest today is Kevin Gober, the Sr. Director of Employee & Guest Experience for the Atlanta Hawks.
Kevin and I worked together for a long time at Disney Institute, on what we informally called "the sports crew." Kevin was on the content and facilitation side of the organization, leading and designing massive customer service trainings, whether it be for 10,000 volunteers at the Super Bowl, or for different teams in the NBA.
Prior to Disney Institute, Kevin worked a variety of roles in the Parks & Resort operations. Most notably, Kevin was the head of Magic Kingdom's Emporium, the largest gift and souvenir shop in the Magic Kingdom park.
After Kevin left Disney Institute in 2014, he's gone on to hold roles with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Miami Heat. For the last two years, leading the Hawk's efforts to enhance the experiences they create for the people they serve
We get into a few topics of interest here:
- Establishing cultural guidelines and standards from which everything else flows
- Revamping the hiring process, including that of third-party vendors
- Creating consistent training processes to make sure all employees are on the same page
- Building an intentional rewards and recognition program with all staff, third-party and full time
- How the Hawks provide professional development and non-traditional communication
Today’s guest is Javier Martinez Garcia, a Senior Advisor for Manchester City F.C and former Disney executive.
We get into a number of topics, here are just a few:
1) How to get your senior leadership team aligned around a customer-centric strategy
2) Fan experience vs. match-day experience
3) Making business decisions built around your unique brand promise
4) How physical and digital worlds merge to create 24/7 experiences for your customer
5) The future of fan experiences in post-COVID19 world
Javier has held a number of executive roles in Europe for the Walt Disney Company.
Back in 2008-2009, he was the Chairman Disney’s Local Management Board in the Iberia region. In that role he was in charge of the development and execution of Walt Disney Company´s 5 Year Growth Plan for Iberian region.
He was the head of marketing and sales for Disney Parks and Resorts in France, Netherlands, Belgium.
And he was the Managing Director of Retail and Consumer Products for the Iberia region.
After Disney, Javier went to work with Athletico Madrid. For four years, Javier helped Athletico blow up as their Global Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer and Fan Experience Director. With his lead, Athletico grew 400% in sponsorships, added an extra 14M global followers, and launched an Indian sister team, if you will. One of the most visible things he and his team did was develop and open a brand new 68,000 seat stadium
Javier left Athletico at the end of 2017, and has been advising with a few different organizations, from sports tech organizations like Microsoft’s Global Sports Innovation Center to Manchester City Soccer Club.
We cover an array of topics, as we usually do, but we really spend alot of time on two main points. First, we talk about building a senior level strategy and brand that’s focused on engaging the customer.
But as we get deeper into the conversation, we really spend alot of time on how to engage the customer 24/7. It’s something our team at EngageMint has been focusing on. For many sports & entertainment organizations, the majority of revenue comes from matchday or gameday revenue. But if you’re only making money a limited number of days per year, you can only get so good at it. And if you’re capped by the number of people that can fit into your venue, you’re limited as to the amount of revenue you can generate.
When you look at the model of the big European football clubs, especially Manchester City, their revenue streams and growth strategies are far more diversified than your average American pro sports team or college athletics department. And certainly, their audience is more global. Which presents a whole other source of challenges, like how do you create emotionally engaging customer experiences for a fan that might never come to your venue?
Moon Javaid, the Vice President of Strategy and Analytics for the San Francisco 49ers, joins us.
We discuss two main topics on this episode:
- How the 49ers are measuring their customer experience.
- We cover specific tools, implementation strategies, and business outcomes
- How the 49ers approach creating incremental and non-traditional revenue
- 49ers Fit - health & fitness centers owned by the 49ers
- Elevate Sports & Entertainment - consulting and advisory partners
- Horizon Summit - premier sports business, technology and analytics conference
The overarching theme of this conversation is that customer drives how the 49ers approach innovation. But in order to have effective customer-driven innovation, you can’t rely on a handful of emails from a few outspoken fans. You’ve got to have real, diverse data.
To follow along Moon's journey:
Moon's LinkedIn
Moon's Email: moon@elevatesportsventures.com
We sat down with Barry Jacobson this week to talk about the difference between customer service and premium service.
In Barry's 30+ years a Disney Cast Member, he oversaw some of the most premium experiences Walt Disney World had to offer. From the convention centers and catering to Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings, to his last role as head of Disney's Golden Oak-- a community of luxury, custom, single-family homes on Walt Disney World Resort property.
In addition to his time at Disney, he took a 1 year hiatus in the middle to help Legends and the Dallas Cowboys open AT&T stadium. In his year in Dallas, Barry served as the VP of Special Events creating once-in-a-lifetime experiences for private group events. He led a team of 3 Directors, 40 full time employees and 500 team members for game day activity, responsible for serving the 364 suites and all club-level facilities.
Even at Disney, Barry was known for the incredible service experiences he provided for some of the highest spenders on property. Barry shed some light on these keys to providing incredible premium service.
- Premium service is customized and personalized
- Premium service is about anticipating desires
- Premium service is about being the "go-to" knowledge holder and relationship owner, in all sorts of areas that have nothing to do with your job function, i.e. know who the best barber in town is, build relationships with the local theater for show tickets, etc.
Visit Barry's company page or contact him via LinkedIn
Jill Marchick, the Vice President of Customer Insights and Engagement for the Indiana Pacers, joins us on today's episode.
This is an especially relevant episode if your organization is considering putting a survey out or gathering information for how your customers feel about your organization and returning to events. And it’s even more important that you listen if you’re feeling lost about what to do with that information once you collect it.
Jill and her team at Pacers Sports and Entertainment sent out one of the most comprehensive fan insights survey I've seen during this crisis. But prior to working for the Pacers organization, Jill's experience comes from outside the sports industry.
A former executive and director with massive brands like Starbucks, Hershey, Nestle, and McDonald's, Jill understands how to get to the deeper goals and motivations of customers and employees. And she's with us today to share her methodologies and approaches to gathering those insights.
In today’s episode, we’re going outside the sports & entertainment industry. We’ll be talking about designing an entire business around customers’ deepest needs. Hopefully the wildly different context will give you new inspiration to become more customer-centric in your own organization.
Today’s guest is the CEO of a solar-agriculture company, based in Kenya. So while I do the usual and try to connect the dots for you, I want you to focus on the underlying principles we talk about and less about the details.
Our guest today is Samir Ibrahim, the co-founder and CEO of Sun Culture. He’s also been one of my best friends since I was ten years old.
Samir and his co-founder launched Sun Culture 8 years ago, built entirely around the needs, goals, and motivations of one of the most under served populations in the world. They provide products and services that solve the biggest daily challenges for the world’s 570 million smallholder farming households. More specifically, they make it easier and more efficient for small farmers in underdeveloped countries to get more water, quicker. This allows the farmers to farm more effectively, allowing them to produce more food for their families, and more food to sell.
But they don't market their widgets, or product features. They sell “independence.”
They’ve been so successful over the years because they are completely customer-centric as opposed to product-centric. That’s allowed them to get into a ton of other services as well, like working with the banks and the government to allow for better access to financial services.
And it’s partly the reason why SunCulture has been featured by TED, the Financial times, the Economist, BBC, and more. They’re partners with Microsoft, Shell Foundation, MIT, and EDF.
Among some of Samir’s personal accolades, he’s been named Forbes 30 under 30, a Top Conscious Business Leader by Conscious Company Magazine, and many more.
Today’s episode focuses on leadership during crisis. Our guest is Doug Thornton, the EVP of ASM Global. Doug oversees all Arena, Stadia and Theaters worldwide, directing the operations and financial performance of this division.
We tackle questions like “how do you acknowledge your fears and anxieties without letting them weigh you down” and “how do inspire confidence in your team when you yourself don’t know what the future holds.”
We’ll also get into some deeper conversations about planning your operations for the future.
Who is Doug and what makes him equipped to talk about leading through crisis?
- He's the guy who oversaw the more than $336 million in renovations at the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina.
- He's the guy who served as the state's lead negotiator in lease talks with the Saints that led to the current long-term deal.
- He's the guy who first mentioned creating Champions Square, the entertainment district outside of the Dome.
- He's the guy who began clandestine talks with the Hornets back in 1999 that eventually led to the NBA franchise relocating from Charlotte to New Orleans in 2002.
- If that’s not enough, during his watch, the SuperDome has hosted multiple Super Bowls, Final Fours, Wrestlemania, BCS & CFP championships, NBA & WNBA All-Star Games, Republican National Conventions, and more.
Safe to say, this is not the first crisis Doug has led through. And while this pandemic is unlike anything we’ve seen, there are lessons from Doug’s past experiences that you can apply to the challenges you’re facing today.
Our guest today is Justin Schneider. He’s the founder and CEO for Wolf & Shepherd, a rising footwear brand making high-end, performance dress shoes.
We wanted to have Justin on the show for a few reasons.
1) He was a former student-athlete himself. And he shares how that experience has impacted his approach to live after sports.
2) His insights around storytelling, innovation and creating experiences that customers love are super applicable to sports & entertainment and live events.
3) I’m ready to see some variety in shoe-wear in our industry. I know people love those Cole Haan's, but I’m ready for the next evolution of footwear in our industry.
One more thing before we jump into our conversation with Justin. He surprised me at the end and offered a promo code for any of our listeners.
If you decide to buy a Wolf & Shepherd shoes while we’re quarantined, you can enter the code "engagemint25" and and get 25% your order. Act quick, because this code only lasts til we get out of quarantine, or until June 1... whichever comes first.
Wolf & Shepherd website
Additional Resources mentioned in the Show:How Success Happens podcast episode with Justin Schneider
Playing to Win by AG Lafley, Roger Martin
Duncan Wardle, the former Head of Creativity & Innovation at the Walt Disney Company, now helps organizations around the world embed a culture of innovation into their DNA.
In our industries, we’re running from one to event to the next, and it’s easy to say “we are too busy to think.” This episode with Duncan will provide you ways to start thinking differently.
In his 30+ years at Disney, Duncan built a toolbox of creativity skills and techniques to help others turn on their innovation "light switch." He's here to share those tools with us today.
Since leaving the Walt Disney Company a few years ago, Duncan spends his time challenging organizations to re-develop the creativity skills we all had when we were little. He’s worked with some mega companies around the world to teach these tools, from the NBA (which we’ll get into) to Ford, Johnson and Johnson, Apple, and more.
When we prepped for this conversation, Duncan and I both felt like this topic was more needed than ever in our current business reality. Creativity and Innovation are no longer nice to have. The tools we talk about today are going to be essential for you to think your way out of this mess, and go from barely surviving to thriving.
As a senior leader, coming into a new organization can be hard. You want to understand the current culture. You want to get to know the people. You want to assess the organization's strengths and opportunities. You want to put your own stamp on "the way we do things around here" in the least intrusive way possible.
Those plans can quickly go awry when you're forced to deal with unprecedented crisis right out of the gate. Our guest today, Laird Veatch, was faced with exactly that.
Five weeks into his role as the Athletic Director of University of Memphis, Laird lead his team through a high-profile case with the NCAA and one of his star student-athletes. And now, 6 months later, CoVID-19 has disrupted all ways of working. With all athletics events cancelled, communication lines disrupted, and revenue sources run dry, Laird is faced with new challenges leading new team.
So we wanted to check-in with him to see how we was handling everything. Turns out, Laird provides some great insight for leaders within a new organization, and for leading during times of crisis.
Subscription models - seems like almost every industry and product has one. Except for live sports & events. But what if...
In this episode, we're rethinking the entire business model of ticketing and access to sports & events. Our guest, Chris Giles, was the COO of the Oakland Athletics, where they created a first-of-its-kind membership model called A's Access. The program debuted in 2019 and has had smashing success according to a number of different metrics, from revenue growth to number of members to customer satisfaction.
Instead of selling ownership of an individual seat for a season, what if we sold access to the stadium and certain perks associated with it? And we could play with, test and adjust the perks as time goes on? It's certainly a model that caters more to the Millennial and Gen Z consumption patterns, but where does that leave more traditional fans? Could your ticketing software even process such a change? What other roadblocks did Chris and his team face when trying out this massive change to "the way we've always done it"? If you want to explore a change like this, where would you even start?
These are the questions we set out to answer with Chris on today's episode.
After his experience with the A's, Chris founded Greenfield Sports Group and is helping progressive sports properties navigate these new waters of changing fan behaviors and expectations.
Follow or connect with Chris
Chris' Twitter: @chrisgiles01
Chris' LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophergiles/
Follow or connect with Greenfield SportsTwitter: @greenfieldsptsLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/greenfield-sports-group/
Additional Resources mentioned in the episode:
"Subscribed" by Tien Tzuo
Nick Lawson, the CEO of SQWAD sits down with us to talk about the future state of sponsorship in sports. Nick's company works with sports properties around the world to help them sell more sponsorship through digital contests. What kind of contests? Could be trivia games on your team app, digital scratch and win games, or supplementing live mascot contests with a digital component. Nick is leading the shift in sports sponsorship to create ads that people actually want to see, and better yet, participate in.
For those of you new to the sponsorship game, this is an eye opening look at the changing world that could impact you indirectly in your role. For sponsorship and corporate partnership veterans, Nick addresses a lot of your concerns and provides some strategies and tactics you can start using today.
Disney's Magic Band. Carnival's OceanMedallion. Our guest today was behind both industry leading tools that enabled massive experience ecosystem transformations.
Forrester defines a customer experience ecosystem as “the web of relations among all aspects of a company - including its customers, employees, partners and operating environment - that determine the quality of the customer experience.”
As you can imagine, building a seamless experience ecosystem is no easy task. Our guest today, Michael Jungen, has been a key senior leader on two massive experience ecosytem builds. With both Disney's Parks & Resorts and Carnival Cruise Line, Michael led the strategy and implementation of two iconic, industry leading ventures. At Disney, "My Disney Experience" and the "Magic Band." At Carnival, it was "MedallionClass" and "OceanMedallion." Both projects were multi-year, highly complex initiatives involving thousands of touchpoints and 9-10 figure investments.
With that type of experience, safe to say, listening to Michael's viewpoints and stories and advice will help you think differently about your own organization's customer journey.
For Episode 15 of Flip the Switch, we take a journey w/ our guest, Dan Cockerell, the former Vice President of Magic Kingdom. The episode’s larger theme is around leading your team and your organization with a human touch. We explore Dan’s involvement and influential role in running the Magic Kingdom theme park; we cover how to build rapport with your employees and develop a good culture; and we get an inside look on selecting the right talent.
If you’re passionate about becoming a great leader and creating magical guest and employee experiences, you won’t want to miss this episode.
To get in touch with Dan, check out his website https://dancockerell.com/
For more from Dan, subscribe to his weekly news article; “Food for Thought”. https://dancockerell.com/media-appearances/
SHOW NOTES
· [4:10] Leveraging your relationships
· [5:10] Dan’s background
· [8:30] How to build rapport with your employees
· [12:00] Prioritizing tasks
· [16:00] Prioritizing your time as a leader
· [18:37] The Eisenhower Matrix
· [22:05] Dan's new book, “How is the Culture in Your Kingdom"
· [28:40] Selecting the right talent
· [32:40] Selecting the wrong talent
· [36:42] Evolving culture
· [39:30] Utilizing technology for culture creation
· [41:36] Leading using incentives
· [46:07] An effective 1:1 meeting with your employees
· [48:46] Looking back, leadership lessons learned from the Walt Disney Company
· [52:30] Game changing tools
· [56:34] The fictional character Dan would love to work for
· [58:30] Advice for young leaders
Our guest today, Jesse Cole, is the Founder of Fans First Entertainment, Author of Find Your Yellow Tux and Owner of the Savannah Bananas, who have sold out every game for 88 straight games and has a wait-list for tickets in the thousands.
How do they do it? Well, simply by being the most fan-centric organization in sports. The Bananas take it being customer-centric to the extreme. Jesse famously says about his ballpark, “it’s a circus and a baseball game breaks out.”
In this episode we go under the hood of the Bananas organization to find out some of the systems, processes, and mindsets that help Jesse and his team stay so fan-centric. Because if a collegiate summer-league baseball team can consistently sell-out a venue, that's an organization all of us can learn from.
Josh Brooks, Deputy AD at Georiga Athletics and Shane Todd, Franchise Operator at Chick-Fil-A in Athens, GA join us.
The theme of today's episode explores the differences between product innovations vs. strategy innovations and how they impact your business. As you're thinking about investing time, energy and resources to improve your business, there's a temptation for us in sports to think that a new sexy product-type innovation, like a jumbotron or is going to be the enhancement that moves the needle from a customer experience perspective. But often, it's the non-sexy strategy innovations, like a grab & go concession stand, that really have the most impact for investment. In today's episode, both Josh and Shane lead organizations who are really enhancing customer experience through strategy innovations.
Today’s guest is Frank Supovitz, who’s been changing and shaping the sports & events industries for over 30 years. We discuss planning an event that wows your customers, and all that goes into the prep of a massive live event.
Frank is imminently qualified to discuss this topic, as he was the SVP of Events for the NFL from 2005 to 2014, overseeing the massive growth of the Super Bowl, NFL Draft and London games. Before his time with the NFL, Frank led the NHL’s event group for 13 years, responsible for the NHL All-Star Weekend and Stanley Cup. Together with the Edmonton Oilers, he developed the first NHL outdoor game in 2003, the forerunner to the highly successful NHL Winter Classic.
In 2014, Frank left the NFL to start Fast Traffic Events & Entertainment, an innovative consulting and management company serving sports & entertainment clients all around the world. Fast Traffic was an integral contributor to the development team for the Rooftop at Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport in New York City, winner of the Pollstar Award for Best New Concert Venue of 2018. Frank is the producer of the pre-race show for the Indy 500, which was honored in 2016 as Best Sports Event of the year by Sports Business Journal. He also recently produced the Major League Soccer All-Star Skills Challenge this past summer at ESPN Wide World of Sports.
If you enjoy this episode and want to hear more about, I highly encourage you go check out his new book, What to Do When Things Go Wrong. If reading’s not your thing, 1) Shame on you, make it your thing. 2) If you’re more of an auditory learner, go get the audio book- it's out now. In Frank’s newest book, You’ll learn why things go wrong, how to best go about preventing crisis, and how to fix them when they happen anyway.
We join Adam White, CEO of Front Office Sports, at his office in NYC. You might be thinking, "I don't work for a media company, what can I learn from this?" The stories and strategies Adam shares in this podcast are applicable to anyone building a brand. If you're trying to build a passionate audience or a customer base, you'll gain tons of insight from Adam who's building his company through the power of brand and beginning to monetize the fandom.
Adam takes us behind the scenes of Front Office Sports to share insights around their business and growth strategy. He discusses the things FOS struggle with internally as they grow. And if you work for a sports property, he shares actionable strategies, tips, and best practices that you can take back to your organization. Enjoy!
Mike Bohn, Director of Athletics for University of Cincinnati joins us. UC and Mike are hyper focused on increasing the "intensity of interest" for their brand in the Cincinnati community, creating deeper relationships with more people.
UC has created some incredible experiences for fans on game day that run counter to what many other athletic departments are doing. We talk about the decision making behind some of these enhancements, like the premium Truly sponsored rooftop experience. We discuss the renovations to Fifth-Third Arena, UC's new state-of-the-art basketball arena. We go behind the scenes and talk about the impact MLS team FC Cincinnati has had on the athletics department and community, and what's it like having a tenant of that magnitude use your facilities. Enjoy!
While out in San Diego, we sat down with Carl Thomas and Reid Carr at Red Door Interactive's HQ. Carl Thomas, the former CRO of Hookit, and Reid Carr, the CEO of Red Door Interactive, go deep on creating and inspiring care.
Both Carl and Reid have a long history in the B2B space of working with both major brands and corporate sponsors, as well as sports properties. So we sought out to answer three questions-
- What do their employees care about?
- What do major brands care about?
- What does the end customer care about?
Enjoy this wide ranging conversation with Carl and Reid!
We take a journey w/ our guest, Erin Sheehan, Senior Director of Guest Experience for the San Diego Padres. This episode's larger theme is around creating a guest experience strategy for sporting events. We explore Erin's involvement and influential role in opening the Atlanta Braves' Suntrust Park and The Battery entertainment district; we cover her lessons learned as the Director of Fan Experience for the College Football Hall of Fame and Chick-Fil-A Fan Experience; and we get caught up on all the projects she's been working on with San Diego Padres, including renovating the framework behind the Padres' service culture.
If you're passionate about creating and operationalizing a service culture and guest experience, you won't want to miss this episode.
Working in the sports & entertainment industry, there are few events that you can host without the support of other people/organizations. For most all other events, you need that support to execute all the facets that make an event successful. Whether it be working with a company that provides temporary labor for your ushers, or working with surrounding hotels who impact your guest's overall experience, often you must work with partners not under your direct control. If there isn’t leverage in the relationship, how do you get everyone to march to the same drumbeat? How do you lead through influence instead of power? To explore this question, we welcome Linda Logan and John Page to the show.
Linda Logan is the Executive Director of Columbus Sports Commission which she helped to create in 2002. A trailblazer in sports business, Linda has led the Sport Commission to book over 600 events generating over half a billion in visitor spending. Some of the highlights include NCAA men’s basketball tournaments, Presidential debates, UN summits, and the 2018 Women’s Final Four in Columbus. She’s one of the most well respected sports commission execs in the country.
John Page, our second guest, works closely with Linda as the General Manager of the Greater Columbus Convention Center. He is a 20 year SMG veteran, the last 6 of which he has been in Columbus. He manages the venue’s daily operations, stakeholder relationships and business development. One of the biggest projects he’s led in recent years was the guiding the facility through its award-winning 22-month, $140 million expansion and renovation.
On this episode of Flip the Switch, we really focus on the topic of leading with influence, instead of power. Both of our guests have to work with hundreds of leaders and businesses outside of their control to put on the events that they host, so I wanted to explore some of the strategies and tactics they use to be successful.
Is a hot dog a sandwich? Why does that even matter? It matters a great deal to Chris Grosse, Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing for Penn State Athletics. If you follow him on Twitter, you'll know these are the types of questions that get Chris fired up, out of the box questions that no one else is thinking of. Think of the hot dog question as an exercise for him to flex his muscles when it actually comes time to creating one-of-kind experiences for students and fans. In this episode, Chris goes into detail as to how his creative ideas and experiences have brought him major success and praise nationwide for his innovative execution of unique gameday experiences. We unpack his creative process with his team, and explore how some of his greatest hits (such as Millennial Day at Georgetown) came to life. We talk about why he would go to work for Phil Dunphy from Modern Family and we discuss the differences between innovating in a small athletic department versus one of the nation's largest departments. Join us for this wild ride.
For more hot takes from Chris, follow him on Twitter, @Chris_Grosse
Matt Difebo, the original founder of now Learfield IMG Ticket Solutions, joins us on the podcast to discuss lessons learned throughout his journey. While at UCF Athletics, Matt identified an opportunity to better serve fans trying to buy tickets, and realized he could turn that opportunity into a business, helping athletic departments sell more tickets to their events, more effectively. Matt was one of the inventors of the outsourced tickets sales model, and shares many of the ups and downs leading that thriving organization.
With younger generations demanding more from a brand, it is no longer just about who has the best product on the field. Telling compelling stories that create emotional connections are more important than ever to win over the hearts and wallets of your fans. In this episode, Rick Jones, one of the most successful sports marketers in the college athletics industry, discusses how using sponsorships can build up or destroy your brand promise. Rick and David dive into elements of fan experience and sponsorship such as cause marketing, using other people's money and the state of marketing in college athletics.
If you work for or lead an organization that puts on events, this episode is for you. Kevin Weickel, the former Tournament Director of the PGA TOUR's Disney Classic, and Mike Millay, one of the founding executives at ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, join us. These two former Disney executives reflect back on their time running one of the largest golf resorts in the country and the busiest sports complex in the US. Creating and running an event at Disney comes with a whole new set of expectations, and these guys cover it all: from how to create deeper engagement with your event volunteers, to the impact of recognition done right, how to get other stakeholders in your organization to care about your event and what Disney executives do during the actual event. Please enjoy this wide-ranging conversation to find out what great Disney leaders know.
Guest:
Drew Martin, Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs, University of Texas Athletics.
Drew and David dive deep into the University of Texas's refreshed approach to football gameday. Focused on creating emotional connections for fans, Texas created pregame-mega festivities Bevo Blvd and Longhorn City Limits in 2018 to great praise from the fan-base. By creating new gameday experiences, Drew and his team are beginning to change fan behaviors, providing more reasons for a typically late-arriving fan base to show up to campus earlier and engage with their brand for a longer period of time. Drew goes behind the scenes to talk about how certain deals were made, how they worked on changing the mindset internally within the athletics department, and the impact these customer-focused changes are having on the bottom line.
Guests: Rob Kelly, Senior Associate Athletics Director of Media & Brand for Notre Dame Athletics; Kevin Doyle, Strategy Manager (Travel/Hospitality) for Deloitte Consulting.
This episode goes behind the scenes of Notre Dame Athletics' journey to become more customer-centric. We explore everything from how ND re-positioned their ticket pricing strategy, to how they managed large scale change in an athletics department where tradition is heavily valued. Kevin provides insight into similarities and differences between his current, large hospitality clients and athletic departments, while Rob shines light on what it's like to be a senior leader charged with leading customer-journey improvements in a values-oriented culture.
A mash-up of advice and stories from innovators in Customer Experience and Employee Experience. Executives from the sports & entertainment industry join forces with leaders from world-class B2C and B2B companies to discuss all the challenges and hurdles they face in their business. On each episode of Flip the Switch, host David Millay -- Managing Partner of EngageMint -- leads wide-ranging conversations with guests, exploring similarities, differences, vulnerable failures, smashing successes, and behind-the-scenes stories to help you lead your own business. The round-table format of Flip the Switch creates a conversation unlike your traditional interviews, allowing for hilarious stories, riffing, and unexpected "light-bulb" moments. Guests on Flip the Switch have included leaders from The Walt Disney Company, PGA, University of Notre Dame Athletics, Deloitte Consulting, University of Texas Athletics, and many more. If you're on a journey to enhance your employee engagement and turn your customers into raving fans, this podcast is for you.