Q&A #4 - Raptors, Content focus, Rise of Sports Tech

On this Sports Geek Q&A episode Sean Callanan answers the following questions:

In all your work with sports teams and codes, visits to games and guests you’ve interviewed, what are your top three sponsor integrations in sport? And why, in your eyes, are they so good? Lawrence West via email
Our company is new to Australia esports scene and we would like to focus on content creation. Focusing on music/dance and esports since our primary program stems in Kpop. What is the appetite for this kind of content and would it better to invest in Twitch or Mixer for channel development? Would it be better to focus on specific titles, or it is better to look across different titles from major to indie? Angela Lee via Linkedin
Please share couple of biggest learning’s of yours which could help young entrepreneurs who are planning to start or emerging to scale up in sports industry at global stage. Gaurav Kohli via Linkedin

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What are your top three sponsor integrations in sport? And why, in your eyes, are they so good? Lawrence West via email

Let's get into the questions.

This question comes from Lawrence West.

In all your work with sports teams and codes, this is the games and guests you've interviewed. What are your top three sponsor integrations in sport and why in your eyes are they so good?

First of all Lawrence, THREE?

I've only got 10 minutes here, if you don't know listeners, Lawrence is a former guest of the podcast Episode 241. Please go check out my chat with Lawrence SportsGeekHQ.com/241.

I'm not going to get to three because that's gonna take up a whole episode and that would just be greedy. Lawrence I've got two more questions in this episode. So here's one that I do like. And it was presented by a Aalum Jaffer from MLSE Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment earlier this year at National Sports Forum.

He presented this case study and I absolutely loved it. The Raptors and Google home. And so they did a really good campaign and they really get into the details, the campaign. But the bit that I like is the way they went about it.

And the guys at MLSE have done a really good job with that. Sports teams can be an agency model, which effectively is part of the basis of what Digital to Dollars dollars is. Know your pitch.

How can you pitch to a brand like an agency? And they finally did that here rather than just saying he's Google home and we'll put your logo on on some Raptor post and say we've done it. They built out ads that use the product that were authentic. And the one in particular is Pascal Siakam and Jacob Poetrl, sitting in bed talking to Google and telling Google, hey, put on another episode of Gilmore Girls.

For those people in the Australian market, they might recognize that as as as an ad, because the the campaign went so well and worked so well in Canada with the Raptors, that Google actually applied that same campaign in Australia with with Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn, again, using Google home to watch episodes of Gilmore Girls.

So when you actually have your campaign stolen and used on the other side of the world, I think it's a really good campaign. So that's just, again, from the execution point of view.

I really loved both the way they went about it, but then there was he executed. And then when you you know, one of the phrases I like is “Steal with Pride”. When it gets used on the other side of the world, you must be doing something, something good.

So that's one. I will come back to you, Lawrence, in email and send you a couple more, because I know I owe you two more.

What kind of content should I do and would it better to invest in Twitch or Mixer for channel development? Angela Lee via Linkedin

Question two comes from Angela Lee via LinkedIn.

She says, Our company is new to Australian sports team. We'd like to fight focus on content creation, focussing on music, dance and a sport since our program primary programs stems in Cape Up. What is the appetite for this kind of content? And it would it be better to invest in Twitch or Mixer for channel development? Would it be better to focus on specific titles or better to look across different titles from major to indie?

Well. Angela, thank you very much for the question. I think you've gone in with the multiple barrel question, but I'll answer it as best I can for mine.

This is pretty much tackled in Digital to Dollars because there is a few key pillars here. You're asking what channel should we work in? Should I invest in Twitch and Mixer? That's your distribution piece.

Now you distribution, what channel is going to work for you if you go back a little bit? For a little bit? First further, you've also asked.

This is what we do, we're doing Kpop style content and music dance content for our primary programs. Okay, so that's your content piece.

Which means you should go back one step further and go. Who is your audience? Who should you be doing it for?

Are you trying to get more people into your primary program?

Are you trying to get people to follow you and follow your sports team? What is your goal and what you're trying to do?

So I think there is a little bit of work there for you to decide what is the objective of what you're trying to do? What is the key audience? So start there.

Who do you want to talk to then? What content do they like? As far as what is it going to work? I can't tell you that.

The good thing about digital is you can test and test and test. So I'll be doing cape up content. I'll be doing a sports content. I'll be doing different content. See what moves the needle and what I mean by moving the needle. Is it getting views, isn't it getting engaged and are people complaining when you don't post it? That means you've got something good.

And then as far as distribution goes, you know, if I'm picking between Twitch and Mixer for those you don't know. Twitch is obviously the big player in the market. Mixer is Microsoft streaming challenger.

I'm actually questioning whether streaming is the channel that you should be looking at for what you said. And, you know, from our small discussions that we've had.

Maybe you're better suited to short videos on Twitter or even maybe Instagram, Instagram stories, those kind of things.

So there are things I'd be testing because for me, streaming is a far longer form piece of a piece of content and really tough from a content creator to produce that that length of content.

So that's what I'll be looking at. Audience know your audience. Who are you doing it for? Them producing content for that audience and then figuring out what channel, what platform, what distribution is best for that content.

That's how I tackle it. I mean, if I'm doing the full Digital to Dollars process,.

I'd be looking at what's the value and what's the pitch and is there a commercial outcome for what you're trying to do?

So are you trying to drive subscribers or people signing up or signing up for programs, those kind of things? Because that'll again, frame what your audience should be. So thank you very much, Angela.

Can you share couple of biggest learning’s which could help young entrepreneurs in sports industry? Gaurav Kohli via Linkedin

Question 3 comes from Gaurav from LinkedIn.

Please share a couple of your biggest learnings of how you could help how young entrepreneurs who are planning to start or merging to scale up in the sports industry at a global stage.

So, Gaurav, I think this is absolutely exciting time to be entering the world of sports, and especially if you are in that Startup space.

The sports tech sector overall globally is getting more and more traction. We're seeing sports tech specific accelerators.

We're seeing we're seeing more and more tech applied to both the pro scene and the grassroots scene.

And there's a there's a there's networks available that enable you to connect with key players in a global market. So where previously it was very hard to connect with people in different markets. It is now far easier.

The fact that we are connected via LinkedIn with you being in India and me being in Melbourne, Australia.

Ten, twelve years ago. That was near impossible.

It wouldn't have happened. And so it's quite easy for you to want to connect with the right people. There's a growing resource for what you can do in the space and advice and those kind of things.

And as I said before, there's there's accelerators specifically looking at the sports text sector.

Listen, my episode with Tim Hayden recently in from Stadia Ventures. And there's a whole bunch of people in that space that are that are looking to help and looking to looking for sports tech companies to help them grow.