In this Sports Geek episode, Sean Callanan chats with Mya Doelling of International Olympic Committee (IOC)

On this podcast, you'll learn about:

  • Mya's personal journey to Sydney Olympics that led to working with Michael Phelps
  • The importance of creating purpose-led sports partnerships
  • Achieving social and global impact through sports
  • Why you need your team to be aligned for Purpose-driven sponsorships to succeed
  • Why we launched Sports Geek Reads
Mya Doelling on Sports Geek

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Interview Transcript

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

Sean Callanan (00:02.04)
Very happy to welcome Mya Doelling. She's from the IOC, Senior Partnership Manager, Purpose-Led Partnerships Lead. Mya, welcome to the podcast.

Mya Doelling (00:12.526)
Thank you so much for having me, Sean. Very happy to be here.

Sean Callanan (00:15.796)
Not a problem at all. I always start trying to find out people's sports business origin stories. What about yourself? How did you get into the world of sports business?

Mya Doelling (00:26.478)
It's a very long story that I'll try to keep as short as possible, but I've had a… Yeah?

Sean Callanan (00:31.276)
No, that's okay. We like the twists and turns and knowing how people got to where they got to. So that's fine.

Mya Doelling (00:37.89)
Fantastic. Well, I grew up as the daughter of a track and field coach and he started off, my first track meet was at two years old. By the time I was almost 10, I knew which Olympics I wanted to run in and was very passionate about that. Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with leukemia when I was 10. But I happened at the time through different series of events to become pen pals with an American track and field star named Marion Jones. And she was about to be the star of the Sydney 2000 games. And so I did the…

Sean Callanan (01:17.099)
Up against our own Cathy Freeman. They were big rivals on the track.

Mya Doelling (01:20.814)
Yes, huge rivalry and they were amazing competitors. I did the Make-A-Wish Foundation program as a cancer patient and I got to go to the Sydney Olympics with my entire family, which completely opened my eyes to the power of the Olympic movement. After that, through different fundraising that I was doing for Make-A-Wish, they nominated me to be a torchbearer for the Salt Lake Games, and that just hooked me on to the Olympics for life. When I went to undergrad university, I went to Harvard. I thought at the time I wanted to be a sports agent. So I did an internship at Octagon under their agent who was working with Michael Phelps. This was after the Beijing 2008 games, Michael really wanted to start a foundation. So I helped them develop what his foundation was going to become. That was my first job out of university, being the director of his foundation right before the London 2012 games, which was absolutely incredible.

Sean Callanan (02:33.974)
Absolutely. Michael Phelps, the GOAT in many eyes and it's pretty hard to argue against it. But also, do you think your background and your lived experience drew you towards that foundation work? Is your life experience to know what it's like and the impact that it has that drew you to that role?

Mya Doelling (02:58.702)
Absolutely. I'm the product of how amazing the platform of sport can impact lives and where purpose sits at the heart of this. Having my own experience of sport and specifically the Olympics changing my life, it was an amazing opportunity to use Michael and his platform to do the same through his foundation. But that was my first job in the world of sport.

Sean Callanan (03:26.574)
And that's amazing to also be working for and with someone like Michael Phelps. There's lots of athletes that want to do good and set up foundations. What was Michael's intent and want behind the foundation himself?

Mya Doelling (03:49.198)
He wanted to give people the same opportunities he had to learn how to swim. Certainly in the US, but it's a global issue. Water safety and drowning, especially for children, is really scary and a massive challenge. So we actually worked with the same woman that taught Michael Phelps how to swim to create a water safety program designed just as Michael trained himself. We were able to build partnerships with organizations to get that program out there and teach children not only in the US but globally how to swim.

Sean Callanan (04:33.91)
And then from working with Michael and the foundation, you moved into a different role and a wider role in the sort of music and sports based with United Entertainment Group. Was that a concerted decision to widen your skill set and look at the wider piece of sport?

Mya Doelling (04:51.522)
That's exactly right. Following the London games, I had been doing a lot more creating partnerships with various commercial organizations as well as nonprofit organizations. I really wanted to continue to hone my skills in that. So I went back to business school to get an MBA, to really understand why commercial partners are involved in the world of sport, what sports partnerships do as part of their overall business model. And then that's what I really started to focus on. So at United Entertainment Group, I was looking at working with different brands and consulting them on how sport can really help them achieve some of their marketing objectives. And then negotiating those partnerships with the NFL, the NBA, and then even got into the world of fashion with New York Fashion Week. But really trying to understand what both sides of partnerships were trying to get out of that relationship from a marketing perspective.

Sean Callanan (05:52.482)
I think it's really important. I've spoken to a few people that have worked on the commercial side and they do look back at that agency experience of working on the brand side and not on the sports side, not on the rights holder side as, like you said, like going back to university, like getting your MBA and what the brands are looking for. Is that something that you found? Also the fact that you got to work with multiple sports to see how the NFL operated and how Olympics operated and NBA and those kind of things. Was that sort of the thing that you took away from that experience?

Mya Doelling (06:28.654)
Absolutely. I used the opportunity of my MBA to try to explore as much as possible the various similarities and differences between sports properties. I think partnerships within major leagues in the United States is very different than working at a team. It's very different than working with an athlete and it's extremely different than the world of the Olympics. And so I was able to really understand the role that brands play in this, as part of the sports ecosystem, but also what they want differently out of these different types of properties. And so I think being able to play with that a bit for a few years, then when I came back to the world of the Olympics, I was able to really start understanding how to translate what these commercial partners are trying to achieve when they make these significant commitments in the world of sport.

Sean Callanan (07:33.174)
So, five years ago, around 2019, you came into the Olympic family with the IOC in a global partnerships role. What was that initial remit coming into that role? And what was it like, again, coming from agency side work with multiple to the big base that is the IOC? What was that initial role and that onboarding period to understand what the IOC really does?

Mya Doelling (08:02.978)
That's a great question. I think the onboarding period, especially when you're coming into something as global and as massive as the Olympic movement, I admittedly did not know what I was getting myself into and the scale at which we would be working. So I, especially with my agency role, I was hired in to manage two of the commercial partners that the IOC has with Procter & Gamble and Omega. Having my background in consulting and passion for the world of purpose, when I joined the organization, I saw that there was an opportunity to really create a commercial strategy of how we better integrate our commercial partners into the IOC's overall mission, which is to build a better world through sport and how to do that in a really structured way, looking at all of the different stakeholders that are involved in the Olympic movement. I think a lot of people don't know that the Olympic movement is not just the Olympic games. There are athletes, of course there's fans, but there's national Olympic committees, there's organizing committees, there's international federations, all who are working together and broadcasters as well, all of who are working together to try to not only deliver impactful Olympic games every two years, but there's multiple other entities like the Youth Olympic Games and esports that we operate as well. So understanding that there's so many ways that our partners can come in and work with us and help us grow and do more with our mission to really deliver impact everywhere every day. There needs to be a lot of structure around that in order to do that well. And so I saw that as an opportunity to create more of that structure as the IOC itself was redefining and redesigning how we deliver on our mission. And so that's what I did over the course of probably the first two years I was at the IOC was understanding what are the different purpose ambitions that our commercial partners have and how do those line up with what the Olympic movement hopes to do.

Sean Callanan (10:20.44)
So you're obviously very purpose focused. That's now your role. And it's the opportunity that you saw. There'll be other people listening that go, we're still in the partnerships. It's very transactional. And hey, I'm getting that logo. And how many times is that logo getting put out? And how many pieces of collateral are getting done? How big is the sign? How do you help make that change to, I guess you're still going to have some of those deliverables, but align it to the mission and the goals of the organization, what was that, I guess, those first couple of conversations to move from that transactional approach to driving that purpose?

Mya Doelling (11:01.736)
There's certainly a couple of different factors at play because of course the base of a traditional sports sponsorship is all of those standard elements of the tickets that you're getting and the number of logo placements that you have and the rights that you exercise at an Olympics or with the Olympic movement itself. But one of the things that we are seeing and what we have been seeing over last few years is not only the expectation of consumers and audiences to really understand why are these organizations coming together? Why is this happening beyond just that transactional relationship? But also what is the impact that all of this is having and to be able to say that in a meaningful way? And so from a marketing perspective, as these are marketing partnerships, we need to address what our stakeholders are trying to achieve, especially as part of their overall marketing mix. So one of the things that we've seen in the conversations that we've had with partners is purpose is really a key pillar to these partnerships now. It's one of the things that we design these programs around. And it has since changed much of our strategy that our mission is to really make sure that our partnerships are achieving greater impact through the power of sport because this isn't a platform unlike any other and the Olympics is the greatest stage unlike any other. So there's a lot of power around using it to demonstrate what your organization does and why it's doing it. And then similarly, now that a lot of organizations are really focusing on how to connect with Gen Z, we understand that over three quarters of Gen Z consumers say they want to buy from brands that stand for a greater purpose. So how do we communicate what we do and do it in a way that's authentic, impactful, and long lasting? And that's what we're trying to do now in everything we do.

Sean Callanan (13:16.75)
Absolutely. And they've got a very high threshold of knowing when it's not authentic. You can't just say that you're sustainable or say that you're for the climate. We've got to see it. So it was a bit chicken and egg. Again, I love your feedback because you were on the brand side and now you're on the rights side. Normally these things are, we're going to take the change, but it seems to be coming from both sides. Both the rights holders want to do the right thing. They want to be sustainable. They want to support climate action and those kind of things. But also it is something that brands are now coming to you and saying, well, we'd love to work with the IOC. How can you help us with our sustainability message? We want to make sure that this partnership has zero impact on the environment. Is that how you've seen over the past 10 years that it's been something that's a little bit resistant, but for the most part, it's in the KPIs for most organizations these days.

Mya Doelling (14:18.912)
It's certainly in the KPIs, but I think in order to do it well and to do it authentically and to have that impact, especially at the scale at which we're doing it and the scale of the organizations we're working with, I think that's why it's taken almost five years for us to understand how to structure this and activate it in a way that achieves the results that our consumers are expecting as well as our partners are setting their goals against. And so again, I think as part of this process with the existing commercial partners that we had, we had to really sit down with them over the course of a year to understand where have their organizations really committed to on purpose and how has that impacted their operations and what is truly the body of work that they have in committing to that. And similarly at the IOC, we are an organization that could do everything and anything. So where are we as an organization really putting the stake in the ground and saying as the Olympic movement, this is where we're trying to have impact through the power of sport. And then to match those with those right fit organizations. And so again, it's not something that can just take a week of a couple meetings. It's really trying to understand where that overlap is and what are those few best opportunities that can achieve the positive impact that is expected of organizations of this size.

Sean Callanan (16:01.07)
And does that mean that effectively there's more work on partner alignment in getting that you have to be in lockstep with your partners because you really can't execute it if it falls out of your structure? Is that what you've been talking about setting up that infrastructure to be able to do it, to be able to see where someone is stepping off the path a little bit?

Mya Doelling (16:26.262)
It's not even just being in lockstep with partners, it's being in lockstep with all of the different parts of that organization. So traditionally these partnerships were two marketing departments talking to each other and that's it. And now we have for both organizations, executives from our ESG teams, our sustainability teams, our HR departments, and all of them needing to work in lockstep because we're all trying to look at impact in five years, 10 years, 15 years. We're also as an organization looking at the games that just happened in Paris all the way through to Brisbane and now Salt Lake after that. And so how do you map out the different opportunities that each organization can work together given the commitments that we have? And it can't just be the marketing individuals just planning themselves. So it's a massive amount of work coordination.

Sean Callanan (17:27.672)
So that becomes a both a, exactly, that's what I was gonna say. It becomes a big logistical project because you're effectively a sustainability and a climate action activation arm for the company. And that's part of the sponsorship and the purpose of what you're trying to do. And you're not just, yes, you'll see our logo when the bikes whizz by, but, then it's, and then like you're saying, it's both ways. The partners should be able to come and say, we can help with that piece, but that's what our sustainability team. So that's the bit that makes it a lot more complex.

Mya Doelling (18:07.63)
Absolutely, but I also think again, that's what then creates opportunities that set the standard in sports moving forward. So, again, I started building this strategy over five years ago. And of course, over that time, we had two COVID Olympics. And so I think now that, and that created an entirely different environment in the way that the athletes engaged with the Olympics and experienced them, but fans as well. And so I think all of this really, and all of this work of really bringing purpose to the heart of these partnerships, we had the opportunity at Paris 2024 this summer to truly show the world what we're working on and the direction that we're heading. So that resulted in programs like the Olympic and Paralympic family space, which was the first of its kind nursery that was provided for athletes who had children of diaper-wearing age at the games. These athletes are spending weeks, months, years on the road and at the Olympic games, they're there for three plus weeks. And they are more than just what they perform on the field of play. And so there's more that athletes need to do to prepare themselves for competition. And so actually providing a space where they didn't have to compromise seeing their family during that time. And they're able to then focus more on their sport because they're not missing their children. They're not missing their support systems. That was the first nursery that's ever been done in sport. And it had a tremendous amount of impact. That was years in the making of understanding what our athletes need and that where the IOC fits into that position, where our partners like P&G and their Pampers brand can provide that support and make a space in the Olympic Village that is special and unique and the ways that the National Olympic Committees, the athletes and the village, the Olympic and Paralympic space itself all had to work together to create that space.

Sean Callanan (20:25.036)
And I guess that was just like, for me, the bit I'm interested in is, I guess the genesis of that idea in, you've got pillars for athlete welfare. And it would have been it's always been hard to go to major meets and being a mother and having small children and having to be separated. Was that something that everyone when they're running sports or events have got this list of things that they would like to fix? Is that part of the things that you're looking at to say these are things I can fix? How can partners bridge that gap and make these things happen?

Mya Doelling (21:04.088)
The IOC has an athletes department as well as an athletes commission that we are constantly engaged to understand what are the needs of the athletes and where we and our partners can help support more. So one of the newest members of our athletes commission, Alison Felix, who is a seven time Olympic champion and a mother of two now, she really championed bringing this idea to the IOC to say, where does an opportunity where we can start making, addressing the needs of parents and parent athletes, not only at the Olympic games, at the Olympic movement. And so I think for multiple conversations with her as an advocate, as well as the IOC Athletes Commission as a voice for many of the athletes, that's where the idea started to come to life. Of course, they came to our department to understand what could a partner look like who could come in and help support this space. And I think it was a very natural fit for P&G and their longstanding support of families and Olympic families to say, is this something that you might be able to work with us on and I think it was an immediate yes from them. And then you get into the complexities of how to bring that to life. And so that's what took a fair amount of time to understand how do you really make a viable space that is accessible, not only to athletes or families and partners, but also works for the Olympics and the Paralympics.

Sean Callanan (22:56.696)
So as you're through both rolling out change and really pushing purpose-led partnerships in that they're not the same as traditional sponsorships. And a lot of sponsorships are very much, how does this affect my business bottom line? Is that a pushback that you get? How many more widgets or how many more things am I going to sell as part of this partnership? How do you both reframe that question, but then also I've seen sustainability programs that do provide massive cost savings and those kinds of things, but is it a bit more outside the box? What are the metrics you look for to present back to a partner to say, this is why I should be leading with purpose?

Mya Doelling (23:42.094)
That's a great question. I think it's very different for different partners. I think there are some organizations that have more traditional marketing KPIs that were able to address those and how you promote a lot of these programs, whether that is through content creation in earned media, how those campaigns are in working with different talent and influencers to promote those. And we're able to really show a lot of success in the engagement that the public has with these campaigns. There are other organizations that have much more focus on employee engagement and the way that employees can give back and feel that they're giving back, which are incredible programs as well. There are ways their organizations, especially again, at the scale and size of the organizations that we work with are trying to engage 100 different markets and engage employees in all of those different markets. And so we're able to provide those touch points and all of the 206 national organizing committees that we work with and being able to have a regional impact. And so again, we work really closely with setting those KPIs with those partners. But I think overall what we've seen and people were pretty shocked, I think initially when you start talking about purpose and you think it ends up kind of being these fluffy numbers and feel good is no, there is a business impact. And from our own experience, we're seeing that companies that are really are harnessing the power of sport and purpose achieve better financial results. They're attracting and retaining more talent. They're building loyal customer relationships. And as they keep doubling down on this and growing these programs, they're engaging even more and having better results. And so I know that from some of the research that we're seeing, I think it's 91% of businesses believe that purpose-led sponsorships are performing better than traditional sponsorship. Knowing that, how do you do that in the right way, the most authentic way, and a way that you can grow and build and evolve for years and years and years, which are the terms of many of our partner relationships.

Sean Callanan (26:15.234)
I think it's true what you said there, especially that employee engagement piece. Employees don't automatically just share your latest campaign because they work there. They will share the campaign if it hits them and it hits them emotionally and they show pride in where they are. That is a massive metric that everyone is standing up to. And then the same for your customers. If they go, really like what this brand is doing in this space because of what they're doing. And it's back to that point of Gen Z and what they want to buy and work with brands that do care and do show it. So it is, the data is there. And I think engagement is getting harder and harder to get across all other platforms. You need that something to cut through. This, I mean, some of your obviously passionate about is this where you think the future of sports partnership sort of lies in that crossover of delivering impact using sport where it can be used, but also having their purpose behind it.

Mya Doelling (27:15.79)
I don't think it's a complete catch-all. I think it really depends on the organizations. If the organization has purpose at its core, this is an amazing way, and sport is an amazing platform for them to use to continue doing that work. Not every organization has purpose as one of its key pillars. And if an organization is doing something right and they're doing it well, again, sport is an amazing platform for them to show it, but it doesn't necessarily mean that purpose has to sit at the heart of it. I think it really is a mechanism for organizations who have strong commitments and long-term commitments around purpose to then activate that in an impactful way. I think for someone who has a lot of passion for it, I would love for every partnership to be purpose driven, but it doesn't necessarily need to be the case if that's not what an organization is committed to because it literally is an exercise where the entire organization needs to play its role in delivering on that purpose. So I think as we're seeing, especially in the different audiences that we want to continue to attract, they want to just see authenticity in everything that an organization does. If you are best at this, do it. But don't tell me that you want to be something and not fully have your entire organization act in that manner. So I think from a global sports property perspective, there's a lot of opportunity and where the IOC purpose is embedded in our mission and our mission is embedded in our entire roadmap as we look five, 10 years into the future. Where can our partners help us on that journey is what we're aiming to do.

Sean Callanan (29:20.462)
It's definitely a massive point of difference as an organization if you have that strong purpose, especially as we talking before, that so many of the partners are either looking to achieve goals that can be very purpose-focused around climate, sustainability, gender equality, all of those topics that are hot for them. And so if you can embrace them, it does sort of set you aside in the market. One thing I did want to ask you, I've been asking my guests, sort of what's in your toolkit? What are the things that you use either to help set this infrastructure up, to track what you're trying to do? So it could be a tool that you use in sales or measurement or reporting or how to keep your team upbeat. Is there some tools in your toolkit that you find making your job easier?

Mya Doelling (30:14.314)
I think there's a couple. I think, again, having a massive global sporting event every two years is a great tool for us to have touch points regularly to show the world what we're working on and what we're trying to achieve. I think very tangibly, the IOC as an organization, as an owner of the games, and as a leader of the entire Olympic movement, we need to demonstrate the impact that we're having everywhere every day. And so we actually created through our Olympism 365 team, a measurement tool to understand at any given point, what is the impact that we're having in every region of the globe? And what we're trying to do is then to understand where are our different stakeholders helping us in the process? And so I think as we continue to build out measurement tools like that, and we can really hone in on where our partners are coming in, growing and amplifying what we're doing, then we can also demonstrate to them, what is the impact that you are having specifically within the Olympic movement that only helps them double down on what they want to do with us? So I think these measurement and impact tools are critical.

Sean Callanan (31:35.04)
Is that like your North Star effectively? Effectively be looking at that metric and it gives you, I guess, gives the whole IOC because it has to be a whole organization sort of method to be able to do it.

Mya Doelling (31:48.918)
It's an ambitious North Star that I think it's hard to have every single part of an organization have the same measurement indicators and things that they're tracking. But I think, again, if we as an organization can come together and the Olympic movement can come together to start understanding tangibly the story that we want to tell, that would be an amazing benefit.

Sean Callanan (32:20.462)
And like you said there, you've got every two years you've got an Olympics and, touch wood, most of the time fans will be there. And I've been lucky enough to talk to different people at work at those major events. What is it like going from season to season from Paris and then you got the next one and then you're planning LA 28 coming up on the horizon is the turnaround of, this is what worked at Paris. And now we're starting to look at what we can adjust, what we can do. Cause you've got that two weeks or four weeks with the Paralympics as well. That's really super intense, but you've got the 18 months to two years to six years in the lead up to it. What's the, it's a fascinating for me cause it's not like you're in the NBA or you're in the NFL and you've got one, 18 weeks and you're planning every week. You've got 14 super bowls in a row, which is what the Olympics is like. What's the planning from Paris to LA if we just look summer to summer in working with your partners on how we can take it to the next level.

Mya Doelling (33:26.238)
I think it's an amazing opportunity. I think people tend to think that, yeah, it is almost two years that you have to start planning. But again, we're already looking at the 2030 games of the French Alps in Brisbane and speaking with different organizations while they're at different stages of their development. So even to look at from Paris to LA, we already seem behind. And I think that there's a lot of things that we need to really quickly digest, debrief and say, how do we build and grow that in the future? Because you'd be surprised how much coordination is involved and how much time that can take to get things implemented off the ground at the scale that we need to do it. LA, we're in full swing planning and trying to understand where we can evolve these programs. But it's exciting to see and take these learnings that we have from these past games to understand how do you bring that to the context of the United States? How do you bring that even in, it feels like tomorrow, but in a year to Italy? So, again, it's a lot of these stakeholders all coming together and putting our heads together to say, how do we keep doing this bigger, better, stronger?

Sean Callanan (35:01.068)
And it's like everyone who works in sport, they just think, you don't do anything for the two years in between, how you're just busy for those two weeks. Like all of us who do work in sport know that the off season and for you it's when the athletes aren't doing the two weeks is almost just as busy. Cause you're, like you said, you're managing four different games at four different stages. And that logistic nightmare of local organizing committee, local federations, different states and cities. So it must be an exciting role, but it must have your head spinning sometimes.

Mya Doelling (35:36.0)
Absolutely, but this is what we signed up for.

Sean Callanan (35:39.798)
No, exactly. Well, I really do appreciate you coming on. I want to get to the SportsGeek Closing Five. Do you remember the first sports event you ever attended?

Mya Doelling (35:50.636)
I do, I think for anybody who hasn't been to the United States, the Penn Relays I think are largely the greatest track and field meet that there ever is. And certainly was one of my first sports events that I ever attended.

Sean Callanan (36:08.126)
Absolutely terrific. You would have been a lot of sports events in your time and the sports food scene has evolved over the years. Do you have a favorite food memory or a go-to food at a sports event?

Mya Doelling (36:20.226)
I think I'll never turn down a hot dog. It's a great sports food.

Sean Callanan (36:23.822)
Exactly. For the most part, you can't get them wrong. That's where you just want to go safe. You want to get something right, then you make it wrong. Now working in a role, in a global role, in a global organization with Olympics being organized all around the world, what's the first app you opened in the morning?

Mya Doelling (36:44.118)
I think unfortunately it's my calendar and trying to understand what I have on tap for the day. And especially when you're dealing with multiple time zones and throughout the day, you want to make sure you're not missing something.

Sean Callanan (36:59.822)
Yeah, it is a case of do you check your inbox or the WhatsApp, the different WhatsApp chats that are bouncing off? And it's like, can I just have my coffee first, please? So it is a fun one. Is there someone that you follow? Might be a colleague, might be an author or someone you follow on social media that the podcast listeners should follow and why?

Mya Doelling (37:23.82)
I think the podcast listener should follow athletes, especially Olympians. That's the only way you can really get to know what they're passionate about and what drives them to give literally their all to sport. And so I'm thinking athletes like Alona Mar, Simone Biles, Alison Felix, I think they're incredible athletes that you know, don't just follow them during the Olympics. Really follow them on their entire Olympic journey. So find an Olympian to follow.

Sean Callanan (37:54.926)
Absolutely. And then you do get to find the different parts of their lives and not just the things that they excel at at an Olympics and also some of the terrific social good that they're doing because it's something that they're passionate about. Lastly, and I always ask this from a point of view of personally and you can say it from professionally, but what social media platform is your MVP?

Mya Doelling (38:25.378)
Admittedly, I really miss Vine. But I think that right now it's probably Instagram. But I'm hoping that something new and engaging and uplifting comes out. And I'm hoping some really smart people are working on the next big thing.

Sean Callanan (38:54.51)
Hopefully, because yeah, there is a tendency for, for all the things we are talking about social good and purpose. Unfortunately, sometimes it's just not really good places on the internet for that place that to live in and thrive. And I mean, we do see, and that's where you do get that cut through. And then back to what we said before, when you do have heartwarming, emotional, hits your right between the eyes and between the heart, like it does work. But unfortunately, that's not how most of the platforms are geared these days.

Mya Doelling (39:27.786)
Unfortunately, but I have hope that we're going to get our new thing because I think people are yearning for some hope to be uplifted and to really feel connected to other people. So again, I think that's what a lot of this purpose work can do is provide a little bit of that understanding of where we can truly continue to be positive and work together and bring good results that make people happy.

Sean Callanan (40:04.682)
Absolutely, absolutely. That's a terrific way to finish up the podcast. Mya, really do appreciate you coming in the podcast. If there are people who have listened to this episode and want to reach out and say thank you, which is what I encourage them to do, what's the best platform for them to do that for you?

Mya Doelling (40:20.726)
I'm on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great way to connect with me.

Sean Callanan (40:24.75)
Terrific, well, appreciate it. Appreciate you coming on the podcast. Hopefully we connect way before Brisbane 32, but if that is the time, but thank you very much for coming on the podcast.

Mya Doelling (40:36.802)
Thanks Sean and I hope you have a great day.

Pick my brain

Want some help on a campaign, sponsorship or content but don’t know where to start? Book a time with Sean Callanan for a Pick My Brain session.

The Pick my brain session is a two-hour video consulting session where you can get Sean’s thoughts and opinions on ticketing or sponsorship campaigns, campaign development and digital content review.

Pick My Brain session with Sean Callanan

Resources from the podcast

Podcast highlights

Highlights from this interview with Mya Doelling

01:30 – Mya's Sports Business Origin Story
06:28 – Understanding Brand Partnerships in Sports
13:16 – Transition to Purpose-Led Partnerships
23:42 – Measuring the Impact of Purpose in Sponsorship
36:59 – Insights on Managing Global Olympic Events

As discussed on the podcast

P&G Partnership with the IOC

First-ever Olympic Village nursery

Listen to Sports Geek

Sports Geek podcast available on all podcast platforms

Listen to Sports Geek Rapid Rundown Daily

Listen to Sports Geek Rapid Rundown Daily