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

Watching The Masters last week, I couldn’t help but notice it's mostly logo-free.

IBM, AT&T, and Mercedes-Benz aren't on the course, but they're on the TV broadcast, the event's site, and app.

The good news for those brands is the clean, best-in-class experience at Augusta National carriers over to the event’s digital channels.

One idea I’ll be saving is the rotating, clickable logo in the top-right corner of their website and app.

Every 30 seconds, it flips from IBM to AT&T to Mercedes-Benz.

Typically, this placement is offered using a static logo for a website or app’s presenting sponsor. If traffic is strong on your website or app, moving to a rotational model is worth considering, especially if you’re trying to be more purposeful with the number of banner ads on these channels.

Not only will this increase available inventory for your website and app, but also, you can preserve the placement in a presenter’s package by providing them with a higher percentage of that inventory.

In Today’s Edition:

• Unveiling My Offseason Planning Playbook 📖

• Arsenal Rings In Winning Sponcon With Hotels.com 🛎️

• My Favorite NFL Schedule Prediction Contest 🔮

🏊️ DEEP DIVE
Guide: My Offseason Planning Playbook

With game days crossed off the calendar, the offseason emerges as the prime time to gear up your organization for success in the upcoming regular season.

Miss the mark here, and you'll feel like you're constantly playing catch-up throughout the year.

Today, I'm cracking open the offseason playbook I used at MSG, steering us through planning assets for about 50 partners spread across two teams—the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers.

A well-structured offseason plan will:

• Reveal fresh sponsorship opportunities

• Weed out and replace underperforming inventory

• Offer guidance on vague contractual assets like TBD custom content series or a group of social posts yet to be defined

• Customize partnership assets to align with brands' current business objectives

• Minimize in-season requests for new ideas and clarifications on asset execution

• Elevate decision-making backed by data

• Enhance inter-departmental communication

Most importantly, it'll grant you the luxury of actually savoring your offseason (yes, taking some time off!) despite the fact that these days, offseasons don't often equate to downtime. From Drafts to Schedule Releases, Summer Tours, and Training Camps, sports have become a year-round affair.

As we delve into this exercise, let's operate under the assumption that you're employed by an NBA or NHL team with an offseason stretching from April through August.

Current Partner Audit

Timing: Mid-March - one month before the regular season wraps up.

While you might be knee-deep in playoff preparations, this step is crucial right now, especially if playoff duties threaten to push back your offseason planning. This phase lays the groundwork for much of your offseason strategy.

Here's how to tackle the current partner audit:

1. Arrange meetings with your partnerships activation team.

2. Review each contractual asset meticulously, ensuring accurate documentation in your sold inventory records.

3. Delve into performance highlights and setbacks to pinpoint any assets partners may wish to adjust or replace. This is where discussions on TBD Custom Content and TBD posts come into play.

4. Gauge the status of potential renewals to ascertain if any inventory will become available.

5. Identify partners ripe for offseason upsells (e.g., free agency, summer league, schedule release, etc.)

Two key actions must result from this audit:

1. Should a partner opt to replace an asset, the activation team must gather pertinent details to brief the content and creative teams during their end-of-year reporting meetings. Pose these eight questions and establish a deadline for submitting these briefs to the content team.

2. Attend the content and creative team's weekly meeting, presenting a list of forthcoming asset changes for the upcoming season so they can begin devising solutions. Also, inform them of the partner brief deadline and arrange a brainstorming session.

Develop A Work Back Plan

Timing: Mid-March to Mid-April

This offseason planning process aims to lock in all current and new partners' inventory well in advance of the season—approximately one month prior (or earlier if they're involved in media day).

Schedule a meeting with your creative team to align on this deadline. Bear in mind that they'll be assisting every department in the run-up to the season, so standard timelines might need adjustments.

Likewise, coordinate with the individual overseeing your preseason media day. Planning deadlines tend to be earlier due to the multitude of logistics involved in space layout and optimizing players' schedules.

Once deadlines are set, work backward from those dates to establish checkpoints for each phase of this process.

Remember to account for partner reviews, which can be time-consuming, especially considering vacation schedules. We can save expedited reviews for in-season deliverables if needed.

In this scenario, partner reviews are slated for July through early September.

Data Gathering

Timing: May and June - can be pushed up in a non-playoff season

One of the most effective elements to incorporate into new business pitches, current partner upsells, or discussions about replacing a sponsorship series is estimated results.

As you evaluate existing inventory, pull data from your preferred tagging software and integrate those results into your inventory lists (both sold and available).

Note: Your activation team may have already gathered data from your sold inventory, so be sure to touch base with them to avoid redundant efforts.

Review Existing Inventory

Timing: May and June - can be pushed up in a non-playoff season

While awaiting current partner content briefs, schedule a meeting with your content, creative, and marketing teams.

The objective is to reassess all approved, available inventory to ensure alignment with each opportunity for the new season.

Specifically, focus on:

• Cadence: How frequently will content be published?

• Channels: Where will the content be showcased?

• Brand integration: How will your partner be featured in the content?

This phase of the offseason planning process accommodates changes in social channel algorithms or insights gleaned from the previous season's performance.

For instance, if you discover that X is saturated with game day sponsorship content, you might opt to exclude it from the list of available inventory.

Likewise, if Mic'd Up content proved successful but running it 12 times per season taxed the video team excessively, you might consider reducing the frequency to a more manageable level.

These details must be confirmed swiftly as they must be incorporated into all pitches for the upcoming season.

This period is the peak season for your partnerships sales team. Partnerships typically don't materialize swiftly, so ideas need to be prepared early in the offseason to allow ample time for negotiation.

Create New Inventory

Timing: June and July

Your partner briefs have been submitted and are ready for delivery to your content team.

Also, now is an ideal moment to inform the content team about any priority brand categories identified by the partnerships teams for more proactive ideation.

For instance, if the travel and automotive categories are key focuses for new business, the content team needs to be aware so they can develop new ideas tailored to these brands.

The content team should convene to brainstorm new inventory or tweak existing inventory in line with the partners' objectives.

Additionally, this is the opportune time for your content team to present all new ideas that can be added to the available inventory list. These may include:

• Fresh content series aligned with the strategy for the upcoming season.

• Previously unsponsored content from the last season that performed well and is now open for sponsorship.

• Any sponsorship opportunities scheduled to be filmed during a team's preseason media day.

Note: Preseason media days typically require commitments well in advance of the shoots. It's crucial to send these ideas to both new and existing partners as early as possible in the offseason.

Share Ideas Across Departments

Timing: June and July

Expanding your inventory list is imperative, but to truly elevate your game, consider bundling items to craft comprehensive campaigns for your partners.

The most effective way to unearth these opportunities is by sharing your inventory across departments. Here's a case in point:

During my time at MSG, the New York Rangers were featuring a game preview in their mobile app.

As a standalone offering, it faced challenges. Its reach was confined to push notifications, and the audience size wasn't substantial enough to attract sponsorship.

We collaborated with the social team, who agreed to link the game preview via Instagram Stories for every game.

Subsequently, the marketing team suggested integrating these assets with a presenting sponsorship of our game preview emails sent to home game attendees.

In essence, we transformed a single asset into a comprehensive game preview package. Not only did we secure sponsorship for the 2023 playoffs, but it also carried over to the entire 2024 season.

Offseason to Preseason

As you transition to the preseason, there's a checklist of essential tasks that require attention. You can access a sample checklist in the Timely Tips section of this newsletter's inaugural edition.

The Takeaway

The offseason is the prime opportunity to strategize and set your organization up for success in the upcoming season.

By meticulously planning assets, aligning with partners' goals, and leveraging data-backed decision-making, you can minimize in-season challenges and enhance overall performance.

Make the most of this time to streamline processes and maximize opportunities for success in the season ahead.

💼 CASE STUDY
Sponsored Content of the Week

In October, Arsenal and Hotels.com announced a new, multi-year partnership, officially designating the brand as the exclusive hotel partner for both the men’s and women’s teams.

As part of the deal, Hotels.com would create custom content featuring Arsenal players to deepen the brand’s connection with the football community.

We got our first glimpse of that content last week.

Hotels.com featured forwards Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, and defenseman Ben White in the brand’s 11th episode of their social series, Perfect 10 on-the-go.

In these videos, celebrity guests are asked 10 questions focused on the world of hotels.

This post was shared on both Hotels.com and Arsenal’s Instagram pages using the collaboration tool, with Arsenal additionally publishing it on their Facebook page.

The episode generated 1.4 million views, surpassing the average (985K views) by 42% and ranking as the second-highest viewed episode to date, falling just behind Busy Philipps' episode with 1.5 million views.

Notably, this marked the first instance of Hotels.com leveraging the collab tool with their guests, achieving its most significant impact by tapping into Arsenal’s highly engaged audience.

With 67.3K engagements, this episode set an all-time high, surpassing the average (6.1K engagements) by a staggering 1003%. Plus, its 4.8% engagement rate outperformed the average (0.7% ER) by 586%.

Why It Works

Content of this nature, where players freely express their opinions and preferences on a specific brand category, is highly sought after in sports partnerships, particularly within the realms of travel and fashion.

The key to its success lies in granting players the freedom to respond authentically. This is achieved by pitching such concepts to brand marketplaces rather than individual brands.

In the case of "Perfect 10," its resonance with Arsenal fans stemmed from the players’ ability to candidly share their hotel experiences without constraint.

Had this series been conducted with Hilton, for instance, responses would have been limited to that brand, prohibiting any mention of competitors.

Consider the ninth question, where Reiss reveals his bucket list hotel as the Equinox in New York City. Under a Hilton-sponsored scenario, such an answer would remain undisclosed.

Fans possess a keen eye for authenticity; any hint of an ad would swiftly be detected, resulting in a dismissive swipe past the post.

Other Details Worth Noting

Not every partner-led content series suits team channels, but this one succeeded by allowing players’ personalities to shine freely. The use of red as a primary brand color by both partners ensured the video seamlessly blended into Arsenal’s feeds.

Additionally, I appreciate the inclusion of the bell—it’s a subtle yet memorable touch that I’ll keep in mind for future hotel category partnerships.

The Takeaway

Authenticity is paramount in content partnerships to keep your audience engaged, especially when a concept is partner-led.

Collaborating with brand marketplaces instead of individual brands allows for more genuine interactions and resonates better with fans.

By fostering this authenticity, content can generate significant views and engagement, driving brand awareness and connection within the community.

🔍 SPONCONSPIRATION
Steal These Ideas

Reel Meals from the New York Knicks and Doordash is a series to check out! Jalen Brunson and Monica McNutt sat down for a three-part conversation breaking down his MVP-worthy game film from this season.

Speaking of retrospective content, The Baltimore Ravens and Miller Lite rolled out an Untold Stories series on YouTube which thus far has featured Ray Lewis and Bart Scott.

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ Predict The Schedule Contest presented by Dream Finders Homes has been my favorite user experience for this type of activation.

Sponsoring pregame injury updates is quite common among brands. I love the approach taken by the Chicago White Sox, who have turned it into a positive by having Physicians Immediate Care sponsor hype graphics for players returning from the injured list.

John Deere made a splash with the launch of its TikTok account, featuring San Francisco 49ers duo Brock Purdy and Colton McKivitz, along with numerous other sports stars.

🚨 ICYMI
What To Watch For

Women in Sports Technology: Manchester United and TeamViewer launched SheSportTech, an initiative encouraging more women to move into a role in sports technology. On their new website, you can apply for a grant of up to €1,500 towards pursuing a relevant training course or certification in sports tech and will also be paired with a mentor from Man U who will provide advice, guidance, and support based on their own career experiences.

Should Your Team Be On Airchat: This exchange between Jack Appleby and John-Stephen Stansel best describes my POV on whether you should add this to your digital channel mix.

TikTok Comment Strategy: Nathan Jun Poekert shares why brands need to be active in TikTok comments. If you’re running sponsored content on TikTok, share this with your partners and remind them to join the conversation in the comments.

First Player-Run TikTok Account: The Women’s Rugby League launched the first player-run TikTok account (@womensrugbyleague) where players from across the national pyramid will share their own content to give fans an insight into the life of a Rugby League player both on and off the pitch.

Unsilence The Crowd: ICYMI, Dawid Prokopowicz breaks down the story behind Newcastle United’s viral post tied to the club’s Unilsence The Crowd campaign where Sela donated its player shirt and pitch-side branding to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People.

Creator’s Corner: Your team needs to replicate this small business program the Minnesota Twins are activating in partnership with U.S. Bank.