75 years in and still growing – Krista Olson, LPGA

This transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

Sean Callanan (00:01.485)
Very happy to welcome Krista Olson. She's the VP of Marketing at the Ladies Professional Golf Association, otherwise known as the LPGA. Krista, welcome to the podcast.

Krista (00:11.054)
Thank you for having me, I appreciate it.

Sean Callanan (00:13.599)
not a problem at all. I always start asking people how they got their start in the world of sports business. What about yourself? How did you get your first gig in the of sports?

Krista (00:24.588)
Yeah, kind of an interesting trajectory. I went to George Washington University in DC and I was a biology major. I was looking to go into sports medicine and got about halfway through and I like, I don't know if this is still for me, but had grown up playing sport, always very passionate about the game and wanted to stay in it. So I started kind of exploring what sport business and management would look like and kind of followed along that path. So.

started working in the GW Athletic Department and then made my way up to Boston for grad school and then had the pleasure to work for New England Sports Network during my time in grad school with Nesson. And then my first sport team gig was in professional lacrosse. So very interesting place to start.

Sean Callanan (01:10.701)
Okay.

That was at the Boston Blazers.

Krista (01:16.406)
Yes, National Lacrosse League. Really interesting space at the time. Tim Armstrong, who now owns Flowcode and at the time was the CEO of AOL, owned the team. And he had started this as an expansion team in the league. And, you know, it was very kind of startup, you know, rough and tumble, trying to figure out how we can make a mark in Boston. So it was a great first experience.

Amazing access to the VPs across the garden and the Celtics and Bruins and learned so much starting out there and was able to kind of run the gamut, you will, in terms of marketing, PR, game entertainment, team operations, kind of you name it. You know, we're about a 20 something person staff and was able to learn right on the fly just how you start out in a, in a sports team. So it was amazing. Kind of first, first gig to get going.

Sean Callanan (02:12.299)
It is a common theme, a common thread with a lot of guests where they have either those startup teams or those minor league teams where they do get to put on multiple hats, some in marketing, some in operations, like you said, some in ops, start to learn the people in the different stadiums and sort of give you that broad breadth. Do think that gave you some good grounding of what you do need for marketing and sort of the wrangling of people and everything you have to do in the world of marketing?

Krista (02:22.978)
Ahem.

Krista (02:39.47)
Yeah, absolutely. mean, I was in my early twenties and, you know, learning how to manage a P at L that early and really being a part of everything. Like I was again, like sitting next to the head coach and learning how he would manage the team to our team president and our GM. And I think it's both kind of that, that business acumen to, to learn all of those things. But then also again, we had some amazing resources in Boston to lean on it with the TD family and.

how do we do ticketing? How do you do retail? How do you make a, a mark in a sport, a market that's very saturated and with a lean, lean budget. so a lot of things, especially from a marketing perspective to be able to be kind of thrown in and, be super creative against all those different things. And, certainly I think that was instrumental to how I moved into the job with the 49ers. And, I think, you know, a lot of kind of tactical, but.

strategic things that I've kind of carried on through my career. So it was quite the first experience, I would say, but I loved it. And I'm very close still with many of the team members I had there, which was incredibly instrumental, I think, to just my career and keeping in touch with all of them. As you know, it's a very small sport world that we're all in and you keep those connections, hopefully throughout your life.

Sean Callanan (04:04.705)
Absolutely. As you mentioned there, you then moved to the 49ers at a really exciting time when they were moving from candlestick to Levi in a marketing role. So what was that like? One, moving to the other side of the country, but also, there's not too many opportunities that you get to work with the team as they go through that transition.

Krista (04:24.238)
Yeah, absolutely. I I always kind of say that, especially in my career, that was we were kind of magic in a bottle in a lot of sense. We had all these perfect timings across Coach Harbaugh at the time in the run that the team had. We had back to back NFC championships. We received the funding for Levi's Stadium. We were able to win Super Bowl 50 as part of that whole process and just

I think just an incredible time to be a part of closing such a historic place with the 49ers is such a historic brand. Their fans are incredibly avid and passionate. And there's just something so special about the Bay and all the things that the 49ers mean to the people there and all over the world. So my first day was the day the lockout started with the NFL that summer. So that was already kind of an exciting time to start. And then

you know, we were able to perform incredibly well in the field, which I was not a part of in any way, but from a brand perspective, you definitely get to leverage all of that exciting, you know, juice and be able to kind of figure out how you pull all that together. And then a really fun time in Silicon Valley, all of the social media outlets were starting or growing, like Instagram was just starting as I was out there. So how do you test that? How do you start that player content?

Sean Callanan (05:42.551)
Yeah.

Krista (05:49.134)
How did we close Candlestick with this very impactful way, which was really fun to be a part of and then have this very historic moment with Levi's Stadium, a $1.3 billion building, one of the first to have mobile ticketing, huge restaurant, this beautiful museum. So just these really, I think, iconic brand to then be able to hopefully impact that with a building was…

Uh, just an incredible thing to be a part of. again, just really talented and creative people just pushing how, um, sport business now is, I think in a lot of sense. And I, you know, I think I learned so much from, from the people around me and, and a lot of people that are still there kind of driving forward the 49ers is I think one of the best brands, um, across the world. So.

Sean Callanan (06:41.945)
Yeah, I mean, it was an amazing, amazing time, like you said, especially in that part of the world, but then also globally with all of the social networks really exploding in the world of sports. You know, you would have been working with Scott Kegley at the time and he was doing a bunch of stuff in that, in that space with the 49ers at that time. And then, you know, the same, the Gold State Warriors sort of being at the epicenter of it, but then everyone using it from a marketer point of view.

Krista (06:56.51)
Yeah, yes, yep, same team.

Sean Callanan (07:09.815)
it just opened up a whole bunch of different options for you as a marketer to reach different things. How did you sort of tackle that explosion of channels? Cause you would have been going, you know, from, you know, legacy media and traditional channels and out of home and all the stuff that you did, sort of the traditions of marketing to, he's these, he's these new channels.

Krista (07:30.05)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think those were the fun day to day that Scott and several others, we all talked about. was like, okay, well, let's test this on Instagram. Like, how does this work on Facebook? And that kind of interesting mix too of how do you open a building? Like you're telling a story within a story. And so that was really interesting to kind of figure out how you bring something new to life to a group of fans that…

again, very invested Superbowl wins there at Candlestick Park. And I think that balance that we tried to do, and I think we grew exponentially in terms of staff, especially on the video side, the storytelling side, game entertainment, to be able to bring in more people. think when Scott and I started, think we were a team of six or seven at most. We had one video intern, Mike Horton, who now runs Slade and Eric Stark and…

Sean Callanan (08:17.975)
Yeah.

Krista (08:24.97)
just some really talented guys. And so I like, again, to kind of see the trajectory of everybody along the way was really exciting. I think also, you know, the impact of mobile ticketing and the app that we launched, again, I think was really transformative to the fan experience, how you order from your seat, which now is a little bit more commonplace. At the time, it was very hard to test and, you know, poke holes in and say, okay, this works, this doesn't. How do you communicate to a fan that

Sean Callanan (08:42.189)
Yep.

Krista (08:53.346)
by the way, we're not going to have these hard tickets anymore. You're going to have to move the this. What does that mean? And now again, it's just kind of common nature, I think, for a lot of people. So it's, it is, it's that interesting. Yeah.

Sean Callanan (09:02.489)
And I think a big part of that, and it's a big part of the marketing mix now, is also educating the fan. And you would have went through that because you would have had years of fans going to the same spot in Candlestick, knowing where they're going to park, knowing where they're going to get their beer and their hot dog and those kinds of things too. I don't know, now our stadium is over here and you'll have so many first time experiences. I think that's so much more of the marketing mix these days with either new stadiums or new facilities or

Krista (09:10.595)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (09:31.809)
you are welcoming new fans. Do you think that's something, and I think the 49ers did lead the way with, I remember the Geek Squad that was going around helping people, how to use the app. Yeah.

Krista (09:39.502)
Yes, yeah, our Nine-Nerds. Yeah, Nine-Nerds. Yeah, we came up with that logo and that was really fun. Yeah, I mean, I think that's the thing is like a lot of things. You know, I think that's what made it special. We were all kind of in the same place, team included, to have something. You close together and then open together. You you're going to have things that don't work, but I think it was a matter of us all coming together and, you know, having that moment and…

to live and say, okay, this is our new space and this is how we're gonna have it come to life. think one of the most amazing things, I think, at the foundation of a lot of this and now that again, is the power of a lot of teams and leagues across the country and the world is just the data and the things that we were able to do with SAP and others to really set that infrastructure to understand like, this is how long to your point.

It takes to go door to door. This is how long it takes you to get through a line. This is how long it takes you to get through a retail space and all the things that are there. So then you could really understand like Krista interacts with the Niners this way and Sean interacts this way. And this is how you can tailor communication and content. it was just, think one again, that we are all kind of like chipping in at different parts to all make the same goal. And that's, you know, a really unique space to, to be a part of and.

incredibly thankful and proud of the work that we all did together to make it what it is now. And obviously they've continued on exponentially on and off the field, which is awesome to see.

Sean Callanan (11:20.729)
Absolutely. So then you went again, cross country again, you went west coast to east coast, over to the over to the Wizards work with monumental sports and entertainment, you know, going from west coast back to east coast, but then also NFL to NBA. What are some of the similarity and differences sort of changing, changing both coasts, but also leagues?

Krista (11:23.148)
Yeah, yeah, yep.

Krista (11:29.155)
Yeah.

Krista (11:40.802)
Yeah, absolutely. well, I'm originally from Connecticut, so it was nice to, and I went to school in DC. So it was nice to be back on the East coast and be closer to some friends and family I hadn't seen in a long time. you know, I think the NBA and NFL are always kind of pushing each other to not in a one-up way, but just like, how do you continue to innovate? And I think that with, with Adam and, Timbo and just all the people within all the teams across the country are all really.

passionate and like inspired by one another. And I think that was a big part of my excitement to join the NBA. You know, I grew up a Celtics fan, love basketball. And, you know, I was excited to be a part of Monaco sports. think Ted, very similar to Niners also has that spirit and, you know, just constant drive. Like what else can we doing? How else can we be interacting with fans? How else can we be

amplifying our player stories and the brands that are a part of the MSC family. And so, you know, again, I think that was a fun opportunity to be a part of the City Edition Nike collaboration. That all started when I was there. So we moved from Adidas to Nike, being a big part of that. Youth basketball was another big part of my fan engagement responsibilities. so growing that department.

Sean Callanan (12:55.811)
Okay.

Krista (13:07.99)
and how kind of fans interact with a very transient environment was really interesting and challenging to be a part of. Just really makes you kind of think a lot as to how you communicate with fans and when the team's not necessarily the best on the court, how do you kind of create that place to be moment? And so that was a lot of our kind of interesting charge. I'd say too, we…

had a couple of players from different countries and having different Twitter accounts. And we had Rui, who's now in the Lakers, but he's Japanese. And so that was a big, really interesting part of our day-to-day, was figure out how you have that as part of your content and pull that together and into life. So that was a fun one. It's definitely a good challenge. And again, some amazing people I worked with that I still talk to.

every day across, especially now with playoffs going on. So it's fun.

Sean Callanan (14:04.857)
No, exactly. mean, the thing, mean, one of the big shifts would have been the cadence of the games where the, know, the NFL's, you know, home game schedule is, know, nearly everything's advanced. It's, even though they keep expanding games, there's still a finite amount of games. And then you're going to a, you know, 41 home game season and you know, there's more inventory and, and it's a bit more of a diverse mix of you've got to get, you know, what does group marketing look like? And like you said, how do you, how do you transition fan and youth marketing to

Krista (14:13.612)
Yeah.

Krista (14:22.04)
Yeah.

Krista (14:28.504)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (14:32.099)
to bring more cheeks in the seats, we say, was that something that was sort of a big part of your role at the Wizards?

Krista (14:39.148)
Yeah, absolutely. I think how I sort of describe to people is like the NFL every single week is to them, it's a Super Bowl. Like you have like everything kind of built out from a thematic standpoint. Every single kind of drum beat across it is very programmatic. You have fanfare and you are making that impact to I think one.

the dollar amount for a ticket, what that fan is probably only coming to one game a season unless they're a season ticket holder or have a higher affluence. And so I think you want to make that experience, not saying you wouldn't for the NBA, but you want to make that as impactful as possible. I think what's interesting about baseball and basketball and hockey is you do have a lot more of that and you have to be a lot more strategic about.

okay, we're going to do groups for this particular thing, or we're going to have promotional nights around this player and this night and these theme nights. And that's a lot more of that puzzle piecing that you're, you know, you're working against. And, you know, I think we were always incredibly data-driven in football, but I think it's a different type of mindset because you have to also think to your point of like, well, now it's on a Tuesday or Wednesday night and DC, I mean,

the number of things that would happen, as you can imagine. And the time I was there was really fascinating. So you have to be like, okay, well, the president's doing this, or this is happening at the Capitol, or this is happening at the museums down here. And that's in every market, but it's really interesting. You have to really be incredibly thoughtful and knowledgeable about the market that you're working in and the audience that you're talking to in the same way. And DC, again, like very transient.

getting people in and out of the city is different than some others. So it's, it's that those all things, those all tie together as you know, and it's important to be just strategic and super communicative about how that comes to life for a fan. So you wanna ensure they have the best time possible and then be able to come back game after game.

Sean Callanan (16:46.081)
Yeah, especially the way that stadiums have transformed. It's not just, you know, here's 15,000 seats and they're all equal or relatively equal. It's this part of the stadium is a high end part of the stadium and it's got this certain fan. yes, here's the bleachers and that's a different marketing campaign. So it's not a one size fits all. You obviously got to connect it all, but different marketing efforts will sell at different parts of the stadium. And I think that's the bit that's both exciting, but also challenging as a sports marketer these days.

Krista (16:53.282)
there.

Krista (17:13.614)
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, DC was great in that we launched a college rush program. Just a great audience mix of collegiate students. And that was one for us super successful, low ticket, get something either Chick-fil-A or like a gift with purchase. And again, it's the audience mix you want from, you know, a crowd coming to a game for first time. And that's incredibly different than

having a guest in the Etihad Lounge, that's the most VIP place in the building. And so that balance is to your point very, it's challenging, but it's fun. Cause then you get to think through the creative mix and the messaging and where that comes to life back to our original thing with social media, Trish will out of home. You have to pull all those pieces together, which is what I love too. It's great. It's good.

Sean Callanan (18:07.164)
Absolutely. A lot of times we were talking people about their career they've either come from or swapped between team side and agency side and post the wizard you sort of went agency side with Red Peak. What were some of the things you learned like not being on the team side, not looking after P &L and not having a single client. What did you learn in that role?

Krista (18:13.891)
Thank

Krista (18:19.395)
Yeah.

Krista (18:24.514)
You

Krista (18:29.262)
Yeah, absolutely. I think that was a big part, honestly, of joining Redpeg. was, you know, I loved team life, had enjoyed all the experiences I had. But to your point, I had always been the client. And just as I wanted to grow as a marketer, I was looking for opportunities that I think allowed me to flip that coin and learn how to speak to a client. And how do you pitch and pull those things together? And Redpeg.

an amazing experiential agency, a little small shop in Alexandria, but working with huge clients with Capital One, Geico, Niantic, who run all the Pokemon events, and then a lot in the beer, wine, spirit space. So, you know, had some really interesting experiences just to be able to, again, like carry, and that also was COVID. So how does digital come to life with a Geico, you know, having huge year-round tours with NASCAR and MLB?

How does that come to life in the digital space? They worked a lot with CMA in the country music space. We did a lot with like a Geico green room, which was all digital based. And we did this really amazing show that people could watch the Opry on their computer during COVID and interact and still be able to have that fandom. So just a really interesting place, I think for me, like kind of switch my mindset and say like, okay, well, how do I…

focuses towards this CPG client or this auto client or this beer wine spirit client. And so I, you know, I love my time there. was again, just a really good challenge for me, honestly, like to push me in a different space and had the opportunity to build a digital marketing team out with creative and a web developer and just a nice little squad of people that were just all super invested in growing.

the business and being able to bring really amazing creative and strategy to the clients that we.

Sean Callanan (20:27.513)
Terrific. So now you are at the LPGA. What's your key role and responsibilities? What's under your remit at the LPGA?

Krista (20:39.202)
Yeah, absolutely. So I have actually, I'm the first ever VP here. They've not had a full marketing department kind of built out within the league association. And so, you know, was recruited here and have had the opportunity to build this team out. I oversee all things brand and creative, retail marketing, and all things fan strategy and engagement. So

And event marketing. So have been really building out the team over there. I've almost here for two years, have built, been building that group out. And, you know, I think for the LPGA, we're really in this amazing place where, you know, we are celebrating our 75th anniversary this season, you know, very storied history, the longest tenured women's sport organization in the world. And, you know, now we have the opportunity, I think, to have this full, our comps.

team under our CMO, Meshwara, and we built out our business intelligence team. And so, you know, to have the opportunity to be a part of that and really think through where we want to take the next 75, 95, 105 years of the LPGA. That was a really exciting challenge and opportunity for me to join here and have been kind of building up this. And, you know, I think the 75th anniversary of this season has been really fun to

learned so much about our past and how we carry those stories through and now how do we tell kind of this next tenure of amazing athletes across the space.

Sean Callanan (22:15.801)
So you said they're the 75th year, obviously, LPGA 75 is a big milestone from a digital point of view. That's something that you've really focused on and made a big campaign around with lpga75.com being launched.

Krista (22:17.179)
Thank

Krista (22:31.916)
Yes, yes, we launched at the start of our season. The exciting part about golf is we're all the time. So you can play pretty much all over the world. So we started back in January with the unveil of the campaign and have been carrying that through very much in the digital and social space. But also we have this amazing LPGA mobile experience that we have at some select events across the tour.

So we've hosted that at the Ford Championship back in March. We are at the Chevron Championship, our first major last weekend. And our next stop will be at KPMG, which is at the end of June, another major PGA Championship. So very excited about that. And that is very focused against like fan experience, retail, have been doing some really fun capsules.

We just will be, we soft launched a fun capsule with peanuts last weekend. We'll be carrying that through into e-comm early next month and then have been working with 4Roll. I have a couple other capsules as part of that. So very excited kind of about the growth of our retail marketing and just onsite presence. How do we come to life in a tournament space? What does that mean? How do we really…

you know, I think elevate what the LPGA tournament experience is. And that's definitely something we're very much, you know, working and building towards.

Sean Callanan (24:00.387)
So one of the things I noticed in looking at different leagues, you've been in the NFL, the NBA, and now the LPGA, and you sort of spoke about the support and the camaraderie of all the teams and what they did to push one another. The NBA has got that really good model, the team bow with everyone pushing it. But LPGA is you don't have teams there that are under that pace. You've got tournaments and you've got athletes, and they're all sort of doing a bit of their own thing, but they're all driving the same direction. How have you sort of…

Yeah, how does that work and what's that structure like and how do you get that most of, know, biggest bang for your buck from a digital point of view, from a marketing point of view, getting all of those parts of the work together.

Krista (24:41.932)
Yeah, absolutely. So I would say that's probably one of our other big charges. We do have a new VP of tournament business. He's been here about the same time I have. I think that's a big part of kind of our conversation state of day is along with our VP of comms and our content team. think we're constantly trying to build strong relationships across our players.

And you'll see, you know, just the overarching media consumption for us has grown exponentially in the last few seasons. And I think that investment in content and the people creating the content and that's across any tournament. We have select events that are fully owned and operated by the LPGA. We have our majors and then we have tournaments that we, you know, we work with, you know, Excel sports and Outlier. And so I think that's where we're trying really to look at.

the tournament space and the tour as a whole, how does it make sense for our players? Does the travel make sense? Does the content that comes with it, does the experience, is it consistent? And so that's where we're really looking at it holistically to be able to elevate the experience for the player, the pay equity related to that, the experience for the fan. What does that mean? Are we going to the best courses or are we providing them the best experience on site? And then if you can't come to an event or you live in

a place across the world, how are we coming to life for you on our social channels? and in broadcast. I think like those things are the, kind of steady, drumpy on a day to day. you know, when we're on national TV and on national broadcast, people are tuning in exponentially. So how do we continue to ensure that women's golf is showing up in that space as much as possible? Because as everybody knows, the investment in women's sport is huge and the growth has been.

exponential, it's on us to continue to push that and push our partners to invest in and on us to continue that content build. And I think that's get the things out to our fans there. They want to watch, they want to watch Nelly quarter. They want to watch, you know, Charlie Hall and engage with their, with their content. So how can we also provide those opportunities for them to be, you know, easy and as streamlined as possible.

Sean Callanan (26:59.993)
And I guess your charge is to do your best to capture as much of that data as possible, whether that's someone that's going to a course that or someone that's tuning in or someone that's following the stories on social is that again, when you sort of came in to the LPGA, you sort of started looking at that data picture and sort of saying, what do we know about our fans now? But what's that big unknown, which is a great opportunity because you know that they're out there.

Krista (27:26.764)
Yeah, absolutely. We hadn't had a standard or centralized ticket partnership. So we signed with Seakey two years ago and that's been a huge part of that. think again, to your point of knowing who our fans are, who's coming, it was kind of this kind of parsed effort a little bit across tournaments more so because it was out of necessity to get a ticket to get a fan there. And again, I think there's the knowledge base and buy-in I think from

the league to be able to provide that to the tournaments and vice versa just hadn't necessarily been there in full before. And so I think for us, the investment in that partnership and Seakeek and us to be able to do that for our tournaments is incredibly impactful.

All of us now are constantly looking at our BI debt power BI and looking at real time data and being able to say, okay, this is working well or hey, we need to do another push towards this. We've had incredible investment from, you know, I think our board into all of the outlets that we have across our channel. So we just relaunched our website back in September with LPGA.com. So that was in partnership with Hero now part of huge.

We have a new app also in association with that. And so I think that's been an amazing place to be able to kind of find our fans and learn from them how and when they're interacting with us. Paid advertising, again, hadn't necessarily been a very large strategic part of the process here. So again, building that out with my team and again, being able to really build those customer funnels and push notifications and

Customized emails and all the things. Again, kind of basics, but very impactful, very quickly here, because we can now see all of those important data points. And I think not just our fans are appreciating them, our partners are appreciating those insights and our players are appreciating them. Like I think they see the investment that our teams are making to get them out there and to get their play out there and highlight them more. think, you know, it's the…

Krista (29:36.706)
the experience of the fan that people want to be able to interact with and how do you customize that? And then it's also how are we storytelling our players as strongly as possible. So it's a really fun place to be and how do we kind of build this in the right way? So we're setting the LPGA up for future success and hopefully even more exponential growth. That's our day to day.

Sean Callanan (30:01.433)
Absolutely. I mean, it does show the the importance of getting that foundation right and being able to say, I know, you know, I starting I'm starting to know, you know, who my fans are, what they're doing, what they like, what they what they what they don't like. I want to touch on the players because there's a lot of similarities with tennis. I spoke to Rashida Warren at the at the women's players Association. And one of the things is, is, you know, you love to tell the story of the athletes, but

Krista (30:06.55)
Absolutely.

Krista (30:22.944)
mm-hmm yeah yeah

Sean Callanan (30:29.335)
It's not like you're at the 49ers or the Wizards where you have a media day and all the players come in and you get to do a bunch of a bunch of great content. How do you juggle that piece of you want to be telling the athlete stories, but you know, they're in a year round sport that they're going to tournaments all the time. How do you sort of one build the trust with the players to be able to say, Hey, we're here to help build your brand, you know, rising tide, rising boats lift all tides. How do you how do you manage that? Because that's you know, the

Krista (30:33.646)
Yes, yeah, yeah.

Krista (30:53.784)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (30:57.067)
In the end, the stories are coming from the athletes and the athletes are the stories. How do you better connect with the athletes?

Krista (31:01.464)
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think we use that rising tides statement pretty much every day here. Yeah, I think that, I mean, that's all about relationships. And I think that's a big part of sports. know, the car wash mentality is it when we get to have here often, but I think it is that relationship building and the investment in people is as important of being in front office as it is with the players. And I think our team has done

an incredible job just building a lot of, just connection points across the agents as well. And just showing like, this isn't like putting you on social to like, I think there's sometimes hesitancy and there is, a little bit more of a conservative nature, I would say in golf and in comparison to some other teams, just in terms of putting yourself out there and especially women's golf, I think it's, it's just very polished in a great way, but also a little bit sometimes like.

We just clap and then you, you, that's how excited you are. And I, and I think it's great to see somebody really authentic and celebrating should be excited. You just want a couple million dollars. you know, I think that's where we're just trying. It's the, investment in media training. It's the investment in the relationship with their teams and just really understanding, similar tennis. mean, I think.

being a golfer is incredibly challenging. Like you're booking your own things, you're traveling all over the world. Like it's a lot of time. And so to come over the top and say, okay, you have to do all of these appearances or you have to do all these things for a partner. That's a lot, think explaining the why to a player and then showing them on the other side, like this performed really well. Like fans love you. This like, if we give them a little bit more, they'll give a lot more. And I think it's just that it's really.

Sean Callanan (32:46.168)
Yeah.

Krista (32:51.564)
showing the results now to be able to say this is making an impact. You're making impact on millions of fans. How do we continue as a team, even though it's not team sport, to be able to kind of all work together and really move things forward? think, you know, Solheim Cup, our version of the Ryder Cup is a really fun one because everybody is on a team, US and Europe, and the content that we were able to get out of that this past fall.

was incredible and exciting and fun. had a caddy take his shirt off and just amazing kind of team fodder. so we're just trying to continue to, to build on that and, have people show their personality and it can be in any way, shape or form. And I think that's also just the, the acceptance of that and, and being able to feel like I can be myself as a golfer. I can also be myself off the course. And how do we showcase that, in a fun and engaging and authentic way.

Sean Callanan (33:49.517)
Yeah. And I think also that you're now getting athletes coming through that don't know anything other than what social media is. So it's not like, you know, the early years of in same 49 is having to explain to a player what Instagram is there. They know that they can build up their own audience and it might not be them doing golf tips. It might be them talking about what they like to cook or, know, their, their travels on the road. And so it's when you start seeing some of your athletes do that and you're like, well, we can actually amplify that. And these

Krista (33:55.746)
Yeah, yeah, that's true.

Krista (34:11.565)
Yeah.

Krista (34:19.203)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (34:19.447)
these players become stars in their own rights and people start following their story more. So it's, it must be exciting to have some of the players that sort of do lean into that and have sort of real, I guess, understood that authenticity is like just share a little bit of your life. does, you don't have to manufacture it. doesn't have to be super polished. people want that, you know, rough and raw and getting to know and just have another reason, you know, to follow whether it's,

Krista (34:36.694)
Yeah, super edited. Yeah, yeah.

Krista (34:45.718)
Yeah. Yeah.

Sean Callanan (34:47.159)
My favorite golfer also watches the same TV shows, the same trashy TV shows that I watch. It's those kind of things that sometimes bring people in.

Krista (34:50.158)
Yeah, yes, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, a hundred percent. And I think that's, that's exactly what we're showing. mean, we had Alexa Pano, she did getting ready for the pro app and she just did a really like cut and rough thing that we helped her with. And she was getting ready in the hotel. And then I think Linn Grants been another amazing one. She's been showing her house renovations. She's very into interior designs. They're over doing her garden and tweeted and how that has been kind of transforming. And so again, it is exactly that. Just how does this.

How does your life come to life? And then you get to go be this amazing professional athlete. It's just more relatable and, you know, a fun thing to be a part of if you're fan too.

Sean Callanan (35:34.777)
One of the things I haven't discussed with a bunch of people in the golf industry is how I guess the selling and the marketing of golf has shifted over the past 10 years, especially in that event space to get people to the tournament that, know, gone are the days of just marketing to the golfers and you're a golf fan, you're coming to watch the golf. It's yes, you're still doing that, but there's also now, you know, you know, the event, eventization and the tourism part of golf is like, oh, it's a destination and that destination marketing.

Krista (35:41.443)
Mm-hmm.

Krista (36:01.944)
Mm-hmm.

Sean Callanan (36:03.529)
And a lot of us because of new, you know, new voices coming into the sport and saying, this is what we did in the NFL or this is how we activate in the NBA. Has that been something that you know, you've, you've done a bit in your time? What about this guys? Have you done a bit of that in sort of, like, and being open and having the having the LBJ be open to those new ideas?

Krista (36:16.536)
Yeah.

Krista (36:22.862)
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's what's a really fun and interesting time right now is that I think we're there's been so many amazing things that have come across the tour and in 75 years, I think it is sort of that place of we understand what we have. How do we get to a place that we can add to that and again, have exponential growth. And I think, you know, we have a really fun place in the sense that

I think we're family friendly, but we also have this massive interest from women in golf because of them either picking up the sport and becoming an avid golfer themselves, or kind of this novice golfer who wants to come out with her friends, her boyfriend, or their husband, her kids. The girl dad space is really fun and interesting to see, and that balance of, and we have it.

all the time with the dad bringing their daughter out to an event and that gets to be a really special place that they get to enjoy something together. So, you know, we've kind of identified different characters within our fan segmentation and now everything that we're kind of charging against in terms of our messaging and creative is really honing as much as possible into those specific groups because we're seeing tangible results with them from retail, broadcast and ticketing perspective. How now…

Back to your question about how is it challenging to work with different tournaments, we bring those insights and say, hey, this is working well. We have a new tournament in Utah that's starting today, that started today. new tournament, you know, outside of Phoenix, with the four championship, how do you bring that to Houston? How do you bring that to Korea? when we're, you know, across the world and in October again. So yeah, I think that's a, you know, again, an interesting challenge, but one that.

Sean Callanan (38:02.967)
Yeah.

Krista (38:12.494)
pushes everybody, I think, to think a little bit differently and, be receptive and open to new ideas and no pun intended. I think we do need to keep taking swings and stuff. that doesn't mean you have to do millions of dollars. It's like, how do we test something here and see if it works? then, know, A, test it somewhere else and see if it doesn't work there. So it's kind of those very simple things. You know, in Boston, we play a new tournament that started last year.

with the FM championship. We tested Adele's lemonade ticket package and it was our most sold thing across the tournament. But it was simple. It targeted something that New Englanders love. It had a nice added value to it and it was a partner that they trusted and being able to come to, you know, a beautiful course at TPC Norton and have that.

Again, it's sort of that one-on-one things, but it worked and now it's on us as marketers to kind of keep testing and adapting and learning, I think, because it is that foundational data points that we didn't necessarily have in the past. And now we can pull those different levers and change our messaging and tactics accordingly. Now that we can have that, you know, those insights to be able to provide season over season.

It's exciting, especially for all of us like internal data nerds that all love those things on a day to day.

Sean Callanan (39:38.039)
Now I love that I love using the phrase steal with pride, know, you go with someone's doing something over here and you pick it up and you use it there but you get to do it on a weekly basis because you've got the tournaments in different markets. know, someone in Boston doesn't know, you know, what happened in San Francisco or, you know, in other parts of the world. But then you also need to adapt it to that market. Like you do need to go, this is a different market to Boston. What's the local partner that works here? But that must be exciting because you can it is like A-B testing in real life.

Krista (39:42.04)
Yeah.

Krista (39:53.986)
Yeah. Right.

Krista (40:01.848)
Yeah. Right.

Sean Callanan (40:08.121)
with each tournament.

Krista (40:08.406)
Yeah. Yeah. And I would say the other amazing part that we've experienced is the partnerships with the other teams. So the Phoenix Suns and Mercury were amazing partners with us when we had our fourth championship. Like we did a Solheim Cup announcement at one of their games and we did a big ticket package and how did the mascots come out? And so I think that matters in sports. Like it is that rising tide. Like how do we support

women's basketball, sporting women's golf and vice versa. And we're doing the same thing with the Connecticut Sun and trying those things out too. think like there's so many similar audience mixes. It's like, okay, well, you're not in season. We are, we have this tournament. How can we offer something else? Back to the basketball conversation, you're adding an added value to a fan going to game. You get to come the next day and go to a golf tournament.

Again, I think it's back to that relationship building constantly. yeah, that's a great phrase and figure out how it works market to market. I mean, that's, that's, think what good marketers do.

Sean Callanan (41:16.501)
And also leveraging your previous experience of knowing what the challenge was, you know, in an NBA environment or whatever. And also not being competitive with those audiences, because you're right, there is people can be a golf fan and a basketball fan, you know, and a football fan. We know that that you know, that is the case. And, you know, in market, you can't be always competitive, you know, I'm in Melbourne, and it's one of the most competitive sports market in the world, but people can choose multiple sports. And so it's sort of like, how do you build those relationships and

Krista (41:19.116)
Yeah, yes, yeah. Yeah.

Krista (41:28.92)
Yeah.

Krista (41:39.734)
Yeah. Right.

Sean Callanan (41:44.183)
like you said, have those audience overlap or those audience alignment, you can get that win-win.

Krista (41:48.984)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

Sean Callanan (41:52.249)
So one of the things you've been in teams that have always probably had not enough resource for the role that you've got, and you're currently building out a team, how do you manage and I guess lead a team saying, here's the opportunity, it's huge, but we've only got finite resources. How do you make sure that they are focused on the right thing, but really also want to reach for that, really reach for those stretch goals? How do you manage your team in that kind of environment?

Krista (42:01.56)
Yeah.

Krista (42:20.982)
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's probably one of my biggest day-to-day challenges, especially with a lot of people I've hired all incredibly ambitious and passionate about growing the LPGA. And I think that's, we all come from places with even bigger budgets. And I and I think bigger audiences, candidly, and I, that is our thing. It's like, we want to do everything at once. I think where we all constantly are talking across our VP space is like the,

the incremental growth that we've made in a short amount of time is making huge strides here. And I think just staying the course, having, you we've set up the foundation, continuing to build that and look at the things that are most impactful in a short amount of time is sort of my day-to-day charge. It's like, yes, we want to do every retail collaboration that we can. We want to do everything. Like we've set up now, like each of the business lines.

to be successful just to manage a day to day. So that was an incredible win I'd say over the last year or so since then now have everybody hired in the team. You know, it's for us, it's again like the overarching impactful goal which is driving fan growth, driving media consumption and moving the audience down in terms of age and diversity. If we kind of keep those as our North stars and

just keep charging against those as with very strong and solid tactics. I think that's where we're making strides really quickly. Because I would love to be doing some amazing, and we can, but I think we also need some stronger partners and more partners and things in the mix. And again, I know that's also happening as well. So I think, yeah, just staying focused.

taking all the creative inspiration that we can from everybody and everyone that's not just in sport and then saying how can we apply this and be nimble and strategic up against the very sound goals that we have, which I think we are continuing to charge against on the day to day. But yeah, sometimes it's like, well, wish we could do that incredible Super Bowl halftime show. It's like, well, we'll get there. We know how to get there. think it's just, you we got to take the steps through the forest.

Krista (44:44.386)
to make everybody go with us at the same time. So, yeah.

Sean Callanan (44:48.695)
Absolutely, I mean, I was gonna ask you about the North Star, but you already answered. You've got to also have your team going in that direction, but then occasionally, because you can't decide what's gonna go viral or what's gonna reach a bit, but having them, I guess, be open to pitching those ideas, pitching those ideas for your resources, you're right. Like you can't do the halftime show or you can't do the big TVC that's gonna run nationally, but you can do the social version of that and you can lever the right.

Krista (44:59.267)
Yeah.

Krista (45:08.258)
Yeah.

Krista (45:16.994)
Yeah.

Sean Callanan (45:18.435)
collaborators or the right influencer or the right partner that actually will make that over index. And I think, I guess enabling your team and allowing your team to push out those ideas is one that is, you have to have that, you know, both creatively and innovatively to really succeed. So if you can get your team in that mindset, you're already ahead of the game.

Krista (45:20.504)
Absolutely.

Krista (45:38.637)
Yeah.

Krista (45:42.786)
Yeah, for sure. And I would say on the other side, the golf influencer space and the people that want to be invested in it are also equally passionate and willing to work with us, which is really fun because then we can say, okay, we want to test this out at a program or we, I mean, we have dedicated now we've worked towards that where we have one to two dedicated marketing pro program teams.

So, you know, how can we bring out, we brought out the Seattle Seahawks head coach and their mascot and two players when we were out in Seattle last year. We had Erin Foster out last year. We have some really highly led better and some others. So Addie Parker from scratch, like they are invested in making content that's golf related, but in the same turn, like they fit where we want to go as a group. so I, again, I think that goes back to the relationship building that, you know, we've been, been doing, we'll continue to do.

to help us help them and vice versa. Like we all want to tell the story of these athletes and women's golf. And it's a fun, I keep saying fun, but it is like, is a interesting space to be able to push through and try to make even a bigger mark than we already have.

Sean Callanan (46:55.285)
Absolutely. I really appreciate the time you've taken today, Chris. I want to get to the Sports Geek Closing Five. Do you remember the first sports event you ever attended?

Krista (46:57.846)
Yeah, absolutely.

Sure.

Krista (47:05.282)
Yes. So I, my dad, I'm the oldest of four. So my dad at the time was with Blue Cross Blue Shield from Connecticut. So big insurance family. and the Hartford Whalers were the first, sporting events, hockey game that I ever went to. And I'm still an avid, fan of everything that has the logo. I think it is one of the best sport logos of all time. And I would love if it ever came back to Hartford, I would be a big proponent, for that. And then.

Second would be Yukon, all things Yukon, Yukon basketball.

Sean Callanan (47:40.983)
terrific. You would have been a lot of different sports events in your time. Do you have a favorite food or a go to food at a sports event?

Krista (47:50.036)
Yes, I pretty much always get chicken tenders. It's one thing my brother and I always do at every event is we kind of have rankings against some of them. So that's usually the go to. So kind of simple, but it's Olsen favorite.

Sean Callanan (48:06.073)
Not a problem at all. Now, working in a sport that is global, that is year round, means that you wake up in the morning and you don't even know what's gonna happen. But what's the first app you open in the morning?

Krista (48:22.37)
Yeah, I usually work out in the morning, because otherwise the day gets away from you. So I'm usually either putting Spotify on and running, or I'm on my Peloton or Peloton app. So usually those are the first two of the day.

Sean Callanan (48:37.053)
It's a good start to the day. Is there someone that you follow? It might be someone on social, might be someone you listen to or an author that the podcast listeners should give a follow and why?

Krista (48:47.596)
Yeah, I mean, I love goal sports. They're all about women's sports and telling that story. think the Together group has been amazing just in terms of touting on the day to day. I'll shout out some of our athletes. think Nelly Korda is a great follow. I love Megan Kang. She's a fellow New Englander. She has some really good content. And Charley Hull, if people don't follow her, she's another one. She's

Kind of a spicy Brit on our tour. She has some really good content. Lexi Thompson would also be a great one. think just very fitness, like open and willing to tell her story on a day to day. those are kind of my favorite LPGA follows.

Sean Callanan (49:28.715)
Absolutely. We'll include those in the show notes. Last question. And you can answer this personally and then also put your LPGA hat on. What social media platform is your MVP?

Krista (49:41.932)
I think I personally, we probably spend and use Instagram the most just against marketing on a day to day. I still love YouTube. I probably use that secondly, just in terms of YouTube music. you know, I think we're long form content has been one that we continually talk about. And I think that's especially with the audience mix is one that we've definitely been dabbling in a lot more. So those probably would be the two from.

marketing side.

Sean Callanan (50:13.057)
Thank you very much. Krista, if someone has listened to this podcast and wants to reach out and say hello and say thank you, which I always ask all my listeners to do, what's the best platform or the best way for them to contact you?

Krista (50:14.381)
Yeah.

Krista (50:26.796)
Yeah, LinkedIn always an easy first shout and then our email format is pretty easy. It's just first dot last name. So you can find that pretty, pretty easily. And I'm always willing. I think honestly, that's probably one of the best tidbits I've learned across sport is, and I wish I had probably had a little bit more when I was starting out. always try to, someone reaches out and takes the effort. I will always respond and take a informational call and try to help whether that's internship advice.

how to make it in this career, because it's a challenging one. I think, again, it's very much relationship built. So always willing and happy to answer questions.

Sean Callanan (51:08.057)
Well, I really appreciate that. I really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks a lot.

Krista (51:10.978)
Yeah, thank you. Appreciate it.