It goes without saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the world of sports.
With sports and live events on pause for much of 2020, the sports marketing industry has experienced mass layoffs and tighter budgets, all while demand for strategic marketing and communications skyrocketed as brands and sports organizations carried out cause marketing campaigns — some for the first time — centered on COVID relief.
Sports marketing leaders recently shared their experiences and lessons learned this year and provided insights into how COVID will change the way brands and sports organizations engage fans and consumers in 2021 and beyond as a result.
Mark Beal – Assistant Professor of Public Relations at the Rutgers University School of Communication & Information, author and former Managing Partner at sports and entertainment marketing firm Taylor Strategy.
SAB: How has COVID changed the way sports marketers engage their audiences of fans and consumers this year?
BEAL: The pandemic has forced sports marketers to pivot and transform their approach towards consumer and fan engagement and be more innovative than ever before. If we can take any positives from the pandemic, I believe that it has expedited sports marketers to ideate new and innovative ways to engage consumers as well as avid fans with activation programs and initiatives that we may not have seen for another decade. None of us truly understands what we are potentially capable of until we are backed into a corner and that is what the pandemic did. It forced sports marketers to innovate beyond what they ever imagined.
SAB: Have the effects of COVID on the sports marketing industry been for the better or for the worse?
BEAL: In the short-term, the effects of COVID on the sports marketing industry and other sectors has been devastating. Sports came to a complete halt. Sponsors pulled back on activation budgets and many people in sports business and marketing lost their jobs. In the long-term, I believe the pandemic has transformed the way sports marketers will conduct business now and for many years to come. I believe sports business will come out of the pandemic stronger than ever and that all the lessons learned throughout the pandemic will result in more efficient and effective sports marketing and consumer engagement.
SAB: Of the ways sports marketers have had to evolve during COVID, which have staying power in 2021 and beyond?
BEAL: The pandemic forced sports marketers to shift overnight from primarily in-person experiences to virtual engagements. Virtual access, events and experiences have staying power even if the world returns to where it was prior to 2020. The pandemic forced sports marketers to ideate and activate remotely and virtually about a decade before they were scheduled to, so I believe virtual engagement adds an entirely new dimension and opportunity for sports marketers that has tremendous staying power and will complement the traditional in-person sports experience.
SAB: What sports marketing trends do you expect to see emerge in 2021?
BEAL: As per my recent columns in SportsBusiness Daily, SportBusiness and my interview with The Washington Post, I believe 2021 will be the year that sports marketers finally begin to recognize and understand the importance of Generation Z (Gen-Z) as it pertains to future sports business and marketing success.
Gen Z is the largest consumer segment in the world. They are potential sports fans, ticket buyers, apparel purchasers and loyal customers of sports sponsors, but only if sports marketers begin to prioritize this cohort in 2021 and understand that you can’t market and advertise to them like previous sports fans. You need to effectively engage them on the media channels they prefer – YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok – and on their terms. It’s one of the reasons why I credit the National Hockey League for being innovative and ahead of the other pro sports leagues in establishing a proprietary Gen Z think tank.
In my just fielded nationwide survey of Gen Zers, ages 13 to 23, 80 percent claim to be a fan of some sports. College football (27%) and college basketball (25%) are the top-ranked sports while leagues including the NFL (24%), NBA (20%) and Major League Baseball (15%) have significant work ahead of them in effectively engaging Gen Z. Gen Z told me the way that sports marketers can start to engage them is by producing and distributing significantly more content on the media channels they consume (42%), offer unique access, experience and events (27%), and create and sustain a Gen Z think tank to inform and inspire content, campaigns and fan engagement (27%). I believe that sports marketers who truly began to engage Gen Z in 2021 will be successful for many years.
Jason Bergman, Founder of MarketPryce, a two-sided marketplace for athlete marketing
SAB: How has COVID changed the way sports marketers engage their audiences of fans and consumers this year?
BERGMAN: The first thing that jumps to my mind is the shift to digital marketing and social media playing an even bigger role. Obviously that’s been the trend already, but stay-at-home orders and social distancing really accelerated it, as evidenced by a huge increase in total ecommerce sales and record highs in social media engagement.
I’d also say there’s a relatability factor that’s come in to play — no matter who we are, athlete or fan or marketer, we all have to follow the same rules. Being able to relate to an athlete is a big thing for marketing and seeing an NFL superstar FaceTime into an ESPN interview from his iPhone and accidentally mute himself is relatable, even though it isn’t necessarily perfect content.
SAB: Have the effects of COVID on the sports marketing industry been for the better or for the worse?
BERGMAN: Even with hidden perks and new opportunities, I’d have to say for the worse. The sports industry has lost so much money and layoffs have been so present — it’s difficult to say the sum of all that is positive.
That being said, it’s shown how adaptable sports marketing can be and needs to be. Marketing is all about meeting the consumers where they are, and the past year has forced us to do that in unexpected ways. Smart marketers are headed to social media during this pandemic to meet their target consumers, as social media engagement and total ecommerce are at record highs.
SAB: Of the ways sports marketers have had to evolve during COVID, which have staying power in 2021 and beyond?
BERGMAN: The flow of marketing dollars into the video game streaming industry is one that will keep up. We saw streaming take off this year with sites like Twitch, YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming all hitting record numbers. In the sports limbo months of March and April, e-sports streaming was some of the only live content available. I think it proved to those of us in sports marketing that there’s a serious audience for Esports and there still is tremendous room to grow.
SAB: What sports marketing trends do you expect to see emerge in 2021?
BERGMAN: I think it’s fair to expect some sort of pendulum swing back to a lot of live events once it’s safe for them to take place with fans in attendance. People are going to try to get in all the stuff they missed out on because of COVID like going to games, open practices, meet and greets, bars and more, so marketing will focus around that to a degree. As for when that will be in 2021, I don’t think anyone knows for sure.
Besides that, I expect an increase of endorsements in general. In addition to NCAA student athletes being able to start closing marketing deals as early as July 2021, the pandemic has caused some athletes to lose part of their salary and it would make sense for them to gravitate towards marketing partnerships to supplement some of that.
Matt Hochberg, Founder of Hochberg Sports Marketing
SAB: How has COVID changed the way sports marketers engage their audiences of fans and consumers this year?
HOCHBERG: COVID has made the connection with sports fans more personal and more authentic. Everyone was going through this together. We work with athletes, and the content coming from their feeds was no longer primarily about their on-field achievements, but it was about them being stuck at home with their families like the rest of us. Daily walks, Netflix-binging, at-home workouts – it was all extremely relatable and allowed for a deeper connection with their fans and followers.
SAB: Have the effects of COVID on the sports marketing industry been for the better or for the worse?
HOCHBERG: Overall, it has been worse. And that is because of the number of organizations within sports that have been forced to lay off and/or furlough dozens, if not hundreds of employees due to the pandemic. The people are truly what makes this industry so unique, and it has been tough to see friends and colleagues lose their jobs because of COVID.
That said, as with any terrible situation, there are silver linings we can take from it. Leagues and teams have become digital-first, which should serve them well as consumer habits continue to evolve. It is the direction we were already headed in, and COVID simply proved to be an accelerant.
Another silver lining is the rapid growth of women’s sports, such as the NWSL and WNBA. Both leagues saw record high viewership this past summer and are well-positioned to continue to expand.
SAB: Of the ways sports marketers have had to evolve during COVID, which have staying power in 2021 and beyond?
HOCHBERG: Personalization. COVID forced major extravaganzas such as the NFL Draft to dramatically modify its events. And while there was a lot of skepticism regarding how the NFL Draft would work from Roger Goodell’s basement, the event received rave reviews. The moments of families celebrating in their homes went viral and made for feel-good live television. And it showed – the NFL’s broadcast partners brought in a combined 15.6 million viewers on night No. 1, breaking the previous record of 12.4 million viewers in 2014.
I expect leagues such as the NFL and NBA to adopt some of these at-home features for future events.
SAB: What sports marketing trends do you expect to see emerge in 2021?
HOCHBERG:I hate to sound like a broken record, but I believe we are just seeing the beginning of personalization across professional sports. Everywhere you look, the content and the storytelling are becoming more personal.
Patrick Mahomes and his marketing team have crafted a social strategy focused on original content, providing his fans a unique look into his life. This allows for Mahomes to control the narrative. And earlier in November, he launched his own line of merchandise – 2PM – named after the star quarterback’s nickname.
Matisse Thybulle started a YouTube channel while in the NBA Bubble, offering the world a first-hand perspective of life in the never-before-experienced Bubble. Thybulle, a rising star on the Philadelphia 76ers, has since amassed 400,000 YouTube subscribers – more subscribers than that of all the NBA’s Atlantic Division teams combined (76ers, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, and Toronto Raptors).
In addition to athlete storytelling, leagues and sponsors will continue to be creative in their messaging and engage at-home fans. Look at Tide and the NFL. After the NFL banned player jersey swaps from taking place following games due to the pandemic, the league brought on Tide as a partner to help conduct the famed swaps and manage the new process. It now washes the jerseys, sends them by mail, and creates content around the experience.
David Artzi, Founder of DA Athlete Marketing, a full-service NFL and NBA player marketing and branding agency
SAB: How has COVID changed the way sports marketers engage their audiences of fans and consumers this year?
ARTZI: Thankfully, social media has been a massive way to reach consumers both before and during the pandemic (I think even more now during the pandemic with everyone having more downtime). I think from the brand perspective, you saw this year (and will continue to see) budgets that were planned for in-person/physical activations shift to strictly digital/social activations. This means that while pitching specific brands on behalf of players, you need to provide the brand with a larger ‘menu’ to choose from and give them creative ways to reach consumers that will stand out more on all platforms. The typical post idea of an athlete just holding up a product and smiling while tagging the brand does not hold as much value as it used to–there has to be more substance.
SAB: Have the effects of COVID on the sports marketing industry been for the better or for the worse?
ARTZI: I think it really goes both ways. On one hand, a large portion of athlete partnerships/endorsements included a physical activation aspect to it (like attending a trade show on behalf of a brand, or hosting a company sponsored meet-and-greet, etc.) so that is definitely a bummer when you bring COVID into the picture. On the other hand, the pandemic is naturally pushing us as marketers to be more creative when it comes to working with our players. Some new ideas that were thought of during the pandemic using this new creativity could become the norm for the foreseeable future.
SAB: Of the ways sports marketers have had to evolve during COVID, which have staying power in 2021 and beyond?
ARTZI: E-sports and game streaming have been huge winners, especially during the pandemic. More downtime has given people more time to find hobbies and enjoy leisure activities. Athletes that have huge passions for gaming, like Austin Ekeler (who we work with now alongside his agent, Cameron Weiss, at Dynamic Sports Group) have found ways to monetize their brand even more. Building a large audience over platforms such as Twitch can, in time, bring sponsored endorsements. The two hottest things that have gotten even bigger over covid: video games/E-Sports and sports cards. Get involved in those two whether you are an athlete or not.
SAB: What sports marketing trends do you expect to see emerge in 2021?
ARTZI: Similar to the last question, gaming is only going to get bigger. Additionally for sports marketing in general, the virtual fan ideas that the NBA (and soon others) followed was brilliant. It created a way for fans to get involved with the action from anywhere in the world. Even when things get back to normal and they do start letting fans attend events in-person, I still think that idea is here to stay.
Layton Lassiter is a public relations executive and writer covering sports marketing at Sports Agent Blog and SportsMarketingReview.com.
Twitter: @laytonlassiter Email: [email protected]