Are Brainstorms A Waste Of Time?

👋 Welcome back to Sponcon Sports, a weekly newsletter dedicated to sponsored content strategy in the sports industry!

If your team partners with Uber Eats or Expedia, take advantage of their new influencer-focused tools.

In October, Uber Eats launched Lists—curated collections by foodie influencers and users to help people discover local favorites. In September, Expedia introduced Travel Shops, allowing creators to share organized travel recommendations.

Note: Uber Eats Lists are unpaid, but Expedia creators earn commissions when followers book recommended hotels.

Not having a team-themed restaurant or travel list would be a huge miss, given the importance of food and travel to players. Player-focused custom lists can be even more effective, if those partnerships are in place, as younger fans often follow players more than teams.

Activation can be as simple as surveying players on media day to collect their favorite spots. Once live, promote the lists via traffic-optimized tactics (paid media, email, SMS, WhatsApp, etc.) to direct fans to the brands’ site or app.

PLUS UP! Capture videos of players explaining their choices (using the green screen effect for visuals), making great social native ad assets for both your team and your brand partners.

In Today’s Edition:

• Productive Brainstorm Secrets 🧠

• [Bing]X Marks The Spot For Chelsea ❌

• Lions Break Out The Corgi Cam 🐕️

🏊️ DEEP DIVE
How to Lead Brainstorms That Actually Work

Let’s face it: most brainstorms need a serious makeover.

One of the most common complaints I hear across the industry? Brainstorming sessions often fail to generate quality sponsored content ideas and can end up feeling like a waste of time.

When brainstorms don’t work, a few things can happen:

• Ideas get sold that the content team isn’t excited about.

• Partnership teams get frustrated when those ideas fall flat with partners.

• The feeling of wasted time adds to the burnout many content teams already face.

So, is brainstorming outdated, or are we just doing it wrong?

To find out, I brought back Luka Dukich, the Chicago Bulls’ VP of Content, to share his formula for a brainstorm that’s efficient, engaging, and actually delivers great ideas.

Having attended Luka’s sessions myself, I can vouch for how effective—and fun—they are.

From purposeful prep to keeping everyone engaged, Luka breaks down what it takes to run brainstorms that fuel creativity and drive results.

Note: Questions and answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

ALEX: Are brainstorms a waste of time?

LUKA: I think brainstorming is effective. I think that bad brainstorming is ubiquitous.

Brainstorming is a skill that you can work on and improve.

Companies can do better teaching people how to brainstorm. For example, a brainstorm should start before the meeting even begins, a day or two before. Whoever is running the brainstorm should send a brief to everyone so they have some time to think about things.

If you're brainstorming for a specific brand, look at what other things the brand has done or people in that field have done or other places for inspiration.

People should spend time coming up with things before they walk into that room. Part of it is magic and building off of other people's ideas. Part of it is the “yes, and” mentality, building on something in the room.

You can't expect people to show up with no prior preparation and just make a good idea.

ALEX: Let's talk about the prep. What needs to be in that brief? What information does the brainstorm leader need to supply?

LUKA: There always has to be an objective. What are we trying to achieve? And then, some background on the brand.

What is their product or service? How do they position themselves? What is the goal? What are the brand attributes? How does the brand think? What is the audience for the brand? Who are they trying to reach?

These are important things to think about because otherwise you're just guessing.

A lot of people show up to a meeting or brainstorm and say, today we'll be brainstorming ideas for this. Anyone got any ideas? Of course it's going to be choppy.

When the brainstorm is over and you have your list of ideas, it should be clear which ones you like. How are we going to make them happen? Who's responsible for them?

I'm never opposed to building into a big idea, but you have to know how to activate on it afterwards. Leaving a brainstorm with five amazing ideas is great, but if you never do them or have a plan of how to accomplish them, it's useless.

The actual most important part of a brainstorm is before and after, not during the brainstorm.

ALEX: Does mapping out activation details happen at the end of a brainstorm or does the brainstorm leader get those details after the meeting?

LUKA: Whoever's running the brainstorm and is responsible for the brief should be responsible for building this out and seeing how this works.

If you start getting tactical in a brainstorm it stops becoming a brainstorm. You almost start looking for problems.

The worst thing that happens in a brainstorm is you come up with an idea and then you start poking holes of why that idea doesn't work. That's not what a brainstorm is for.

Even if the whole the idea is riddled with problems, it's not the time to sit there and poke because that kills creativity. It kills like the flow of a brainstorm.

So, poke the holes afterwards. Come up with the ideas first and decide what from this can we pull out. You get tactical afterwards, whether that's the person running it, whether you have a smaller group, whether it's the same group, but it's just a different kind of meeting.

A brainstorm should be purely to throw ideas around and see what we can build and then we can nitpick it afterwards.

ALEX: What are the rules of a brainstorm? How should they be structured?

LUKA: A good example of this, we have Nikko Tan (Senior Manager of Digital Content) on our team, an incredible brainstormer. When he brainstormed our schedule release video last year, which was the Pokemon schedule release video, he sent a brief ahead of time, we started the meeting, he first showed a few videos of what his favorite NFL and NBA schedule release videos were.

And then he said, this is why it has Easter eggs, it's culturally relevant, it mentions things from the season. That gives people what we think we're looking for and then you open it up.

What you really want is that improv, “yes, and” mentality. It's hard to build an idea if someone keeps saying, “we can't because of this”. You’ll never end up building to anything.

Someone might have an idea that doesn't make sense or doesn't work, but still try to build on that. And you should have varying ideas.

If it’s a big group, some people might have crazy big ideas, some people might be more focused. All of them have some value to write down and then figure out which ones you want afterwards.

Once you're brainstorming, people should be comfortable throwing out ideas and go in with the mentality of not killing someone else's idea.

Even if we would never do this because of XYZ, it's not the time to do that because you want everyone in the brainstorm to feel enabled to throw ideas out.

You don't want people to be nervous that if people don't like this, they're gonna shoot me down in front of everyone.

Improv classes are great for this. I've taken improv classes, I've asked people on my team to do so and a few of them have. The exercises you do in those classes building on an idea together and really understanding how “yes, and” gets you so much further in idea building.

That's what a brainstorm should be, not be a tactical discussion. It should not be game planning.

A brainstorm should be exactly what that is: throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks.

ALEX: Should teams bring in improv groups to improve brainstorming skills?

LUKA: I think so. That mentality helps. We did that with the Bulls a few years ago. We had an improv class where it was fun and we got the messages across. Like I said at the beginning, brainstorming is a skill.

You can work on that skill. Managers are responsible for implementing that and showcasing that. Improv is an easy one because it's very similar in mentality.

Whatever it is, we should help people learn how to brainstorm because we've all been in terrible brainstorm meetings, and it's a waste of time and everyone's frustrated.

In all those meetings, you sat down without knowing what we were talking about. And then there's that uncomfortable silence. Especially if it's a virtual meeting. There's nothing worse than trying to lead a brainstorm, throwing something out and then staring at a sea of people on mute.

ALEX: What other ways can teams build that skill?

LUKA: You can make it part of team culture.

I thank my agency experience for how I learned to brainstorm. As an agency, you’re literally building your business on telling brands better ideas than the other guy. We brainstormed all the time, constantly. You learn through practice. You learn through doing.

Make it a cultural thing. Good ideas can come from a lot of different places.

There's a feeling that you get when the brainstorm is going well and you're coming up with good ideas and you're laughing or you're feeling it, that's awesome.

A lot of times, we've done brainstorms, and we don't even do all the ideas, but then we do it later for another brand or activation. That's where writing it down becomes important.

That's the other thing, have someone meticulously take notes because it's there in the moment and people think they'll remember this, but then if you've thrown across 15 ideas and you just don't remember them all, you will lose all of them.

So have that process and system, but like anything else, it's practice.

ALEX: When is the right time to call a brainstorm? Who should be involved?

LUKA: If you already know what you're going to do and then you call a brainstorm and then you do what you were going to do anyway, I think people notice that. That's what feels like a waste of time.

Sometimes it's simple. It might be your job to come up with whatever the game day post is going to be. You can just do that on your own, but if you're in a rut, you need help, or you want it to be a big idea that encompasses multiple departments and teams, a brainstorm is going to be helpful.

Bring the people who are going to be the ones executing it.

It's why with branded content it's important that the content team is the one who helps come up with the ideas because they're the ones who understand our platforms and our audiences and what people are going to respond to.

That last point is important because a lot of times in the world of content, you're reliant on multiple departments, whether it's video, design, partnerships, game entertainment, the mascot teams, etc.

You don't get to execute an idea by yourself. You need others to execute it. It can be helpful that everyone is in the room for that initial ideation and brainstorm because then they've been a part of it from the ground up and you're not going to someone telling them I need you to do this because I want this.

They feel like a part of it. Brainstorming can serve an important purpose there as well.

ALEX: Is there a certain amount of time a brainstorm should run?

LUKA: I don't think there's a magic number there.

Sometimes the brainstorm can be 10 minutes. Sometimes you want to expand on stuff and give people time to throw ideas out.

I don't think you should set [the same] time limit. Don't try to fill an hour if you've gotten what you've needed in 30 or 45 minutes. I don't think people should feel rushed or you should be leaving ideas on the table just because you only scheduled 30 minutes either.

Build enough time depending on how big the ideation is going to be.

ALEX: How do you make sure junior staff or new people are encouraged to participate in a brainstorm?

LUKA: Create that “yes, and” culture. You’re not shooting ideas down in the room.

Demonstrate that everyone's idea will be considered, and no one has that moment where they just killed my idea.

Encouraging them to come up with stuff ahead of time. You're always going to be more confident if you've thought about it ahead of time. Showcase those good brainstorm habits.

Then last, calling on them. We've definitely had some really talented people that are a little bit more introverted. As they start their careers, they're a little bit shy, but just say, “Alex, do you have any ideas? What do you think?”

Give them that space if they're not volunteering themselves. Build their confidence by asking it of them. There's a lot of ways managers can encourage people to participate, but it starts with fostering a genuinely positive brainstorm.

ALEX: What is the responsibility of the people attending the brainstorm, before, during, and after the meeting?

LUKA: Unless you're one of the people responsible for execution, I don't think you have a responsibility after. I think the brainstorm should be approached like you're helping me out by coming up with ideas.

Your responsibility is to come prepared and read the briefs. Come with ideas, always come with ideas.

If you’ve invited someone to your brainstorm, you want to hear from them. Even if the brainstorm begins and your idea is out of left field from all the other ideas, you should just throw that out.

If you didn't get to an idea or you ran out of time, it's great to follow up and share it. A brainstorm doesn't have to end after the meeting.

There is nothing worse than a bad brainstorm where no one is offering ideas. That is the worst type of meeting in the world. But there's nothing better than a brainstorm full of people who are just building off each other's ideas.

🔍 SPONCONSPIRATION
Steal These Ideas

The Golden State Warriors pulled in over 120K engagements in this edition of Clutch Plays, presented by KIA—a perfect series name for an auto brand.

It’s great to see Chelsea FC using LADbible’s Agree to Disagree format for Degen or Hodler, sponsored by BingX.

Scottish Rugby’s sponsored content with Skyscanner keeps evolving. Last year’s The Ultimate View series featured roof cam footage. This year’s The Ultimate Replay (Post 1, Post 2) brings edits reminiscent of ChrisMD’s style.

Stake F1 driver Valtteri Bottas spotlighted Kahiwa Coffee Roasters on his helmet for the São Paulo Grand Prix. The series, in collaboration with motorsport helmet brand Stilo, features custom helmet designs by pro road and gravel cyclist Tiffany Cromwell, who’s also Bottas’ partner.

Something must be in the water. For the second time in three weeks, we’re spotlighting NFL dog content. This week, the Detroit Lions strapped a camera to a Little Stumps Racing corgi to showcase a halftime activation with Pet Supplies Plus. The Corgi Cup engaged fans at Ford Field with a Vote-To-Win and live leaderboard experience.

🚨 ICYMI
What To Watch For

Non-Obvious Fan Growth: Matthew Hughes reveals 11 non-obvious ways to expand your fanbase and deepen connections with current fans [via Notice Newsletter].

Stat of the Week: Traackr’s Impact 25 Report highlights YouTube as the top social platform across generations for engaging with creator content [via Lia Haberman].

Chiefs CMO’s Playbook: Discover how Lara Krug transitioned from global brand roles at AB InBev and L’Oréal to becoming the Kansas City Chiefs' first CMO, using audience insights and creative strategies to elevate the team's brand [via Marketing Brew].

The Swift Effect Unpacked: Hilary George-Parkin examines how the NFL is building momentum from the Taylor Swift Effect through new licensing and merchandise initiatives [via Front Office Sports].

What’s Your Threads Gameplan: Mark Zuckerberg said Threads now boasts nearly 275M monthly active users and over 1M daily sign-ups.