Hey, y’all!
I’ll be in Milwaukee this week teaching my applied brand management class to my executive MBA students at the Kelley School of Business.
Let me know if you are in town.
How do y’all like the new newsletter format?
I’m working through a backlog of stuff the last week or two of the summer since I managed to take off most of the summer…
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To the Tickets!
I’ve got a few thoughts on this…let’s do a list:
- This is a great brand partnership because SoFi and its teams bring the stadium and the content to the partnership. Vivid Seats brings a different kind of marketing and brand power to the relationship. The additions elevate the entire partnership. (Maybe I’ll teach this in my brand management class?!)
- Reaching new audiences and/or getting people into the top of the funnel is a key to long-term brand building. SoFi, the Rams, and the Chargers will benefit long-term because they will be able to introduce more people to their products and experiences.
- Product: this is a new way of distributing the product…breaking tickets out into a specific Vivid Seats customer section with entertainment that’s a new distribution and product method. I’d like to see the research on this because in most cases there is some pretty strong crossover from one market segment to another.
- Geoff Lester talks about “differentiation”. The key here is relative differentiation against the alternatives that people are considering instead of going to a Chargers’ game.
- “Best-in-class” undersells the experience…this is my hill to die on. These events are world-class and SoFi is a world-class venue. These are some of the most impressive events in the world! Don’t back down y’all.
While I’m here:
I don’t trust most economic studies put out that justify building stadiums, etc., but this Taylor Swift impact in LA seems legit.
$320 M for 6 shows as the impact to the LA area seems light.
So I’ll be more likely to buy this analysis.
ESPN is losing strategic power and their business is shrinking.
If you look at the numbers, a league would be hard-pressed to buy into the idea of taking equity in the ESPN business as a way to move forward into the future.
Again, what are the non-customers doing?
Rutgers to the Big Ten hasn’t been a success:
I was much drawn to the point about Rutgers having a new plan each year.
A lesson I teach is that you have to have a through line in your strategy. The tactics might change, but the ambition doesn’t change often…
This is a pretty rich article.
The Athletic is now part of your New York Times subscription, but I can share a pass if someone needs it.
Aubrey Bergauer posts about serving customers in the arts:
The replies prove her point.
What do you think? Let me know by hitting reply.
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