Game, Set, Match: Sweating the small stuff in social – Reshina Warren, WTA

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

Sean (00:02.226)
Very happy to welcome Reshina Warren. She's the VP of Marketing and Social at the WTA, the Women's Tennis Association. Reshina, welcome to the podcast.

Reshina Warren (00:11.776)
Thanks, Sean. Thanks for having me.

Sean (00:14.0)
Not a problem at all. Not a problem at all. I always start my podcast trying to find out people's sports business origin story. How did you get your start in the world of sports?

Reshina Warren (00:23.854)
my gosh, it all started in the womb. But no, seriously, I grew up around sports and my entire family played sports. And so it was life. so growing up in kind of the 90s, I'm from Texas. you know, Cowboys, America's team, Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan and all of that. So sports was just really integrated seamlessly into my life.

And so.going into college. I actually have an accounting degree, is kind of, we can probably talk about that later. Maybe that is it. Yeah, you know what? Yeah, let's go over here and do this social media thing, which my mom was very happy about. She's like, what are you doing with your life? I think that was what my intention was when I said, I got really good scores in accounting and I'll do accounting. I know I don't want to do accounting.

Reshina Warren (01:14.338)
So, when I went to school, continued to, I played like a year of volleyball in college and just really, just was still a part of sports always. And I started to kind of look around online and I found teamwork online actually. And I found an internship for the Houston Comets. That kind of dates me a little bit because the Houston Comets.

They're no longer a part of the WNBA, but had an internship with the Houston Comets and I fell in love. And it was one of the most amazing experiences. I mean, I got to do, I grew up watching the Houston Comets. And so to be able to work for an organization, see Cynthia Cooper, Cheryl Swoops, Tina Thompson, and all of those amazing, mean, Hall of Famers being able to work with them, that was, was, was a great experience going into my last year of college. And so that was a summer internship.

And then I was just kind of on the, on the hunt to work in sports, finish my accounting degree, but was definitely on the hunt to work in sports. And so that was kind of my first, that was my first intro into the business side. And then I wanted to go into grad school and someone told me about the sports management program at the University of Central Florida. So the DeVos sport management program where I received a double master's in sport business and my master's in business administration. And so I went into that and kind of that just took off from there. My career took off from there.

Sean (03:00.262)
And so again, those getting that early tastes, you know, with some internships and sort of getting that wider, I guess, scene, you know, it you weren't just in the financial, you're looking at ticketing and operations and sponsorship activation and that kind of stuff. Was it just something that's like, I want to get into and just say, Hey, it's a space that I can apply my skillset.

Reshina Warren (03:14.988)
Yeah.

Well, was, you know, starting out, it was like I didn't even know I could work in sports. so no one in my family really knew about it. You just kind of saw the you just saw it on television, right? Or you went to the stadium and you saw it and you never thought about or at least I didn't as a young, immature child. I didn't didn't think about it. And and I just took the opportunity in my motto was basically, “let's get my foot in the door and see what I like, what I don't like”.

While I was, during my internship with the Houston Comets, I basically went around and I talked to different people. What do you do? And I, because it was an internship, I got a chance to shadow people, experience things. And then when I went into the sport business management program, I learned a whole different world being led under.

I was under the leadership of Dr. Richard Lapchick and Dr. Bill Sutton, is, know, Bill Sutton is, you know, those two are the goats right there. And so really opened my eyes and that program, the DeVos Board Business Management Program really opened my eyes as well because we were able to get real life experience. going into sponsorship activation for the Tulsa Shock, which I helped start that WNBA team.

Sean (04:22.034)
Yep, well known.

Reshina Warren (04:44.914)
Right after grad school, I did a sponsorship activation project for the Atlanta Hawks my last year. was kind of like our final thing and we were put into groups, groups of like four or five and we all had to pitch to the Atlanta Hawk executive. And so, and that was sponsorship activation. And so that gave me like, I think I want to do this because it was creative. was…

Reshina Warren (05:10.698)
merging brands, how can we activate different partners or go out to different partners and things like that. And so it really gave me a good taste of what I wanted to do. I just knew I didn't want to sell tickets. That was the one thing. It's, you know, I always, whenever I speak to students and things like that, it's just as important to figure out what you don't want to do as it is, you know, figuring out what you want to do. Because it just kind of marks it off, right? Like, I don't want to do that.

Sean (05:40.786)
Most definitely, but also you don't know sort of sport does offer all these different avenues and you sort of got to do a little bit of sampling of different things to know, you know, a lot of people who started sales because, you know, we always need to get the seats, cheeks on the seats, as I like to say, and, you know, understanding that as a marketer, but also understanding how you've got to work with those partners and those departments. So when you're looking at the world of sports, you're like, okay, I, you know, I played sport, I love sport, I want to work in sport and early on it's really

Reshina Warren (05:54.516)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Sean (06:10.446)
And then sometimes, you know, you talk to graduates or people early in their journey, they go, cool. I want to work at an NBA team or I want to work at an NFL team. And they get really narrow in their focus when sport is really wide, both in, you know, breadth of, I guess, teams and organizations, but then also on the, on the partner side, the people who are, you know, supplying technology and services to the world of sport. You spend some time at

Reshina Warren (06:24.353)
Yeah.

Sean (06:39.782)
New Lion, which is a streaming giant early in the space. Is that where you of one, learn a little bit more about sport from the other side of the business, but also it was still a relatively new time in the world of streaming. The term cable cutters was just starting to be invented. What was it like learning the ropes of marketing at a company like New Lion?

Reshina Warren (07:04.418)
Yeah, it was actually really great. And also it was a nine to five sports job. So that made it very rare. But, you know, I was looking at all of my friends working on it's like, yeah, I'm going home at 430. But it was great. And I didn't realize it at the time that I was really on the cusp of when I was on the working for a streaming technology. I call it a sports technology firm.

Sean (07:09.628)
Which is very rare, right? Yeah.

Reshina Warren (07:31.996)
I didn't realize where I was and that I was working for such a innovative company. They provided the streaming for NHL Network and things like that and really got into the college athletic space for streaming, streaming games and things. And so that was very eye opening for me. And we developed like… some of the first sports apps that came out and being on that side.

So I learned the technical side of sports. worked really close, well, even just the technical side of marketing and how closely I worked with my developers, learning about the user experiences and how to put together a website that was functional and high functioning for a user and using.

Reshina Warren (08:25.342)
I use Google analytics and all of that to make those decisions, to see where people were clicking and all of that. And so really got to do a deep dive into all of that. And it was, it was for sure a huge foundation of my career and my marketing journey and social journey, because my boss and I, I tell him all the time, I'm like, I'm not in this position. If you didn't tell me to take paid social for paid social seriously.

He told me he said, he said, he said, learn it. need you to learn it here, the tools, learn it. He said, that's going to take you far in the end. The rest is history right there.

Sean (08:54.854)
Yeah.

Sean (09:04.362)
I completely agree. mean, it like, you you did all your university and you did your MBA, but to be embedded in an organization where you've got your, you know, you got your sports kick on because you're like, you're in there helping design apps and, and design websites and user flows and that kind of stuff. But then to be integrating that paid piece, which again, in that 2014, 2018 range, know, fake meta was changing everything all the time, which they still do.

Reshina Warren (09:30.682)
Yes, still do.

Sean (09:31.666)
But you would have been early on the, know, hey, what does customer acquisition look like? How can we retarget customers? How can we, you know, pull them along the funnel, which, you know, when you're in a sports role, whether you're in a content team or it's like an ancillary thing, it's like, and please, can we do this? So to get that skill set, it's a real, yeah, really useful tool or skill in your skill set.

Reshina Warren (09:55.202)
Yeah, because so the minor league hockey teams, we basically started their digital marketing. So my boss, he was he started their like Google ads running that and it was subscription based and was really getting a generating a lot of revenue by doing that. And so we basically took that model. And at the time we had like Pac 12, you know, who is that Oklahoma?

UCF came along and we I basically kind of taught I was I Considered myself an extension of those athletic departments and then taught them how to Run digital and I would do it. I would run it for them or I'm a person who likes to teach I teach you how to fish I'm not going to to gatekeep my knowledge and so really looking at digital strategy and expanding that into the paid world.

Because at the end of the day, more revenue we generated for the colleges and those minor league hockey teams, then the more it was generated for us as well. We got a piece of that as well. And so that really set me up and me to learn customer journeys and looking at it and different ways and then it was a bit of a no pressure situation.

Whereas I think within a team there's a lot of pressure to sell the tickets and things like that, but this was an added bonus and an added service to these teams who were kind of just mostly paying for our website designs, our app designs, and then just paying for the streaming technology. We recognize and my boss recognized at the time that like, if we are able to do and invest some marketing into their streaming, then we can get a kickback of that. And it was definitely successful.

Sean (11:52.102)
Most definitely. We're definitely kindred spirits in helping more people understand, I guess, the commercial realities of digital and how you can bring in revenue. And so I think, you know, the fact that, you know, yes, there was the Trojan horse of, hey, we more streaming, we want more subscribers and we get more money. But like, that's how digital makes money. You know, getting more subscribers, getting more ticket sales and digitally savvy folk that are in the roles, whether they be digital or social or marketing that have that intention.

Reshina Warren (12:11.082)
Absolutely.

Sean (12:21.615)
And understand that is where you have the success and you become well aligned with your commercial folk. Because there's nothing like talking to your CFO and showing how much revenue your team brought in. And it's like you said, it does relieve that pressure.

Reshina Warren (12:34.368)
Yeah, for sure. But yeah, it was a great experience. And then from there, I got recruited. And I like to say, Disney made me choose a major. And so was recruited to run paid social for Walt Disney World Parks and Resorts, which that was a whole other layer of foundation that I was able to build.

Reshina Warren (13:02.104)
upon with my digital marketing experience and so working for a company like that it was it was a is really great and and i learned so much

Sean (13:13.278)
Again, you know, especially when you talk to people who have been in sport and then go to a corporate and vice versa, it you know, there is some real differences because of the, you know, Disney, arguably the biggest entertainment company in the world, you know, very absolute behemoth, but then also, you know, with a laser focus, if you're running social and running paid to get people into the parks, you know, that's what that's what you're tracking. again, like is

Reshina Warren (13:36.48)
Yeah.

Sean (13:39.612)
Like you said, going to Disney University effectively would have been an amazing experience.

Reshina Warren (13:45.098)
Yeah, yeah. And from there, I learned a lot more about audience segmentation. know, Disney is Disney. They're going to make their money, but they're also trying to figure out how to make more money. Right. And so how can we gain new customers? How do how can we acquire new customers? And so I was in charge of kind of the I was in charge of quite a few segments. But one of my larger segments was just the just that brand.

Awareness targeting people who weren't Disney people or who haven't raised their hand digitally that they're Disney people. So targeting vacation goers and people who like roller coasters and theme parks so that they can come and experience the Walt Disney World magic.

And so I was able to really… learn about the different audiences and how to be efficient with the spin that we had. And then I was able to take that into my next job, which was at the United States Tennis Association. Learning what I learned there at Disney definitely played a huge role in audience growth at the USDA.

Sean (15:01.542)
And so like you said, you went to the USTA, United States tennis association, it all like, were you always looking, even though you're in the world of sport, you're sort of, did you feel like you're a bit on the sidelines? You go, I want to get, I want to get closer to the action. Was that something that you were looking for?

Reshina Warren (15:14.112)
Okay.

Reshina Warren (15:18.274)
I was not, I was happy at Disney. had, you know, I worked for Walt Disney World during COVID. You know, I was definitely blessed to not be furloughed during that time. So I ran a lot of the organic for the organic strategy for Walt Disney World and about four other Walt Disney World parks accounts. And so I was one of, I think it was like 50 or 75 that kind of kept the lights on during that time.

And so a recruiter, I was recruited to go to the USDA. I was not looking, I had just gotten promoted. I was like, yes, Disney, I'm here for it. I was going into the parks, getting the Disney ears and I wasn't quite a Disney adult, but I appreciated what Disney, I appreciated.

Disney's Hustle and how they operated. I learned a lot just about brand safety and all of that. But a recruiter reached out to me, to recruit me to go to be the director of social media content strategy and analytics for the USTA US Open. So I wasn't looking.

Sean (16:26.504)
So that role, USTA, was obviously based in US and all the tournaments related to tennis across the US. What did that role entail?

Reshina Warren (16:36.599)

Yeah, you know, USTA is the national governing body of Tennis in America. So growing from a community standpoint. So we we had 17 sections that was running locally, local tennis facilities, clinics, whatever, to grow. And we wanted to get more rackets in people's hands. And so that was the nonprofit arm. And then on the other side of that was the U .S. Open.

Reshina Warren (17:09.967)
which you know just coming off the US Open and they just had another record -breaking year. So my team ran social for the USTA which was the community side but also for the US Open which is the pro side so we're looking at the top players top tennis players in the world whereas the USTA looking for me who is shank who's shaking the ball across the street.

Sean (17:32.83)
Yeah. So you have the same thing. I've got friends at Tennis Australia and they're and people always think, you don't do anything when the Australian opens on what do you do for the other 50 weeks of the year? It's like, yeah, there's a lot of work. There's all these other tournaments. There's all this participation. We don't just work for two weeks a year. But it is a common misconception. Yeah.

Reshina Warren (17:47.738)
Right, right, there's a lot of lead up. Yeah, there's a lot of lead up to that and they're like, well, it should be easy, right? Like it's just two weeks, it's just three weeks and I'm like, actually no, like if we only operated three weeks out of the year, we'd neglect our audience and so my team had an always on social media strategy so we covered the Australian Open.

Roland Garros and Wimbledon, like it was our own. We didn't have video rights, but we would make do with our rights with the video content that we did have. And then we would cover 1000s and so like Indian Wells, Miami Open and things like that. And to make sure our audience was informed. And I think that that helped in the success and the growth that we were able to see at the US Open and during the US Open.

Sean (18:39.11)
And it is a very collegial sport in that, you know, the Grand Slam, you know, once you start getting on that circuit of tennis, you do get to know all the different, you know, Grand Slams, the people are operating them and there is a, you know, and there's a circuit of people that travel around and do the same thing. So I've had, you know, a few guests from Tennis Australia and the like that are in that ecosystem. What was it like going into the world of tennis initially?

Reshina Warren (18:51.298)
It's a whole new world.

Reshina Warren (19:08.226)
It was different. was a, you know, I actually started after the 2021 US Open. So I started in October of 2021. So I actually had a year lead up, which ended up being Serena's last US Open or her last tennis grand slam or tennis match ever, at least for right now. And so it was different.

Sean (19:28.446)
Grand Slam.

Reshina Warren (19:37.731)
I had gone to the US Open before, hadn't really, I watched the Grand Slams. I love tennis because of the Williams sisters. So I really watched them. I didn't really follow tennis like that. And so getting into it, I'm like, wait, what is all of this? What are all these different tournaments? And so just really getting a chance to learn about the different tournaments, what it stands for, points and rankings and all of that.

and how it all comes together around these grand slams, you layering in the WTA, the ATP, what do we have rights to? The players, we really don't have rights to the players. There's no rights. That's one thing that we, I did a presentation at the National Sports Forum this past year, me and my social media manager and people were like, wait, hold on. don't,

Sean (20:19.612)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (20:31.712)
get time with these players, we're like, no, we are not contractually obligated. within the sports social media world, they refer to the social media managers as the admin. And so the admin has a close relationship with the NBA players, the NFL players, and things like that. That is not necessarily the case, especially for the US Open and the USTA. That's not necessarily the case. We see them maybe definitely once a year, maybe twice a year if we go to a different tournament.

to gather content because we try to get content leading up to the US Open for us to have or just to parse out content throughout the year as well. And so people are always shocked when I'm like, yeah, we have no contractual obligation. They have no contractual obligation to us at all. So if they want to skip our media station, they can. And so we have to kind of…

present compelling arguments and get very creative. You know, if you take a look at the US Open and the USTA social media accounts, they get very creative to get in front of audiences and get new audiences.

Sean (21:44.67)
Yeah, most definitely. mean, it does. We have the same thing where we do stuff with the NFL for the Australian and New Zealand markets. And, we travel to the US or, you know, once or twice a year. And that's our opportunity to capture as much content that we might spread out over over 12 months. Does it really make those, you know, you really got to make those content capture moments and those things and whatever you're trying to pitch winners?

Reshina Warren (22:10.004)
Yeah, it's in and you most of the time you have like two to three minutes, maybe five minutes. And so you have to make it like super quick. So we're trying to we and we do this now even at the WTA. Like, what's the most impactful that we have? We have five minutes with this player. How can we maximize this? We are running through. We're doing like mock run throughs to make sure that everything flows together, that the instructions aren't

intense or complicated, we want to try to make it as seamless as possible to get them in and out. So, yeah.

Sean (22:45.276)
Yeah, and you also want to you want to have a pleasant and a fun experience for the player. Like you want to go, I love doing stuff with the US Open or like is now in the in the WTA. The other thing I want to ask about tennis, especially coming from your Disney background and audiences is like under and you know, you've done previous sport with the WNBA. know, tennis fans don't have a team they're not they're not you know, they're not barracking for

Reshina Warren (22:50.975)
Absolutely.

Sean (23:13.074)
you know, a team and have that but they're following players, which is where a lot of sports going, you know, in the NBA, people are following the player. And so how when you went into that, you've got that, that fandom and how that's, I guess, different to tradition, I guess, stick a ball and team sport. But then you've also got this other part of the event go and I follow tennis on how I just go to the tennis, you've got all these different audiences you've got to play with.

Sean (23:42.024)
Which is great for a marketer, then also you've also got to set down a strategy to go, who am I doing this for? How do you unpack that piece in for tennis?

Reshina Warren (23:51.85)
It's a lot of testing and learning. You'd be surprised some of the top tennis players may not perform well on social. You know, and so we have to, the thing is you have to try to paint it in, I call it painting outside the lines. And so putting tennis with trends and sounds and making it as relevant as possible, I'm, all about memes and, and gifs and gifs. I'm not sure how we say it these days. It's gifs. It's gifs.

Sean (24:24.326)
It's GIFs. We'll just delete the fact you said it incorrectly. That's fine.

Sean (24:34.802)
No, no, I don't want any GIF listeners. Sorry, if you're a GIF listener, stop listening.

Reshina Warren (24:48.128)

Hey, I'm here for, I'm here to appeal to the audiences. So, yeah. So I'm all for that. And I empower my team to like, let's think outside the box. How can we make this?
this relevant to somebody who doesn't even watch tennis? How do we make this saying, you know, I love post -match press. I feel like you learn so much about a person and about these players in their post -match press. And you're able to clip those and put those out and people are able to catch onto it. Use them as sounds.

I know last year, Cocoa Golf, she said, I want to thank my haters. The amount of people who use that sound to go into, talk about their own personal or put out their own personal content. Like that's what we want. We want to, we want you to use Cocoa Golf's quote to relate it to your, to your personal life or whatever that is. And so it's, it's a, it's definitely a strategy. So, you know, when you're going into events like the US Open.

Like targeting and running paid ads for that. you're looking for, like you said, the event goer, somebody who has a bucket list, but then you're looking at the true tennis fans and how you appeal to them. And so you're, you're creating content for all of that. And for social, you kind of have this one opportunity, right? To, create that for paid for paid ads and things like that. You can target.

Reshina Warren (26:07.51)
But for social, when you're thinking about it, you don't want to alienate any of your audience. So you want to try to make it as seamless as possible that any of the tennis, we won't alienate the true tennis, pure tennis, the tennis purists you want. But we will also attract like a young audience. We'll also attract like a sports goer. And then we'll just attract somebody who just thinks something is funny. And so we're looking as, as

Sean (26:24.38)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (26:37.128)
My team creates content and as we're looking to strategize on how we're going to lean into something, that's what we're looking at. It's a lot of, most people think like it's the intern, you know, that's the, that's the thing that's on social. Like who gave the intern the keys? You know, like, wait, wait, we're seasoned professionals here. We are seasoned professionals. And there was thought that went behind that post. There was thought that went behind that caption. If you thought that caption was just a coincidence, it wasn't.

Sean (26:53.63)
We're well past that. Yeah, we're well past that.

Reshina Warren (27:07.006)
If you thought that caption, putting that together with this piece of content, this photo, it's not a coincidence. And so there was some thought that went into it. And so that's one thing that I had to kind of go around to, to people who work outside of social. They're like, just throw it on social. And I'm like, that makes me angry. Please never say throw it on social marketers out there or people that's out there that's listening to this. Never tell a social person to throw it on social because it's so much more.

Sean (27:27.229)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (27:36.738)
to it than that because you are thinking about the audience. You are thinking about sentiment. How will this resonate with our tennis purists, with the new fan, with a sports goer? So all of that's been thought of in probably like a five minute split second, five minute span of pushing this piece of content out. And in tournament, it's not even that. You probably have like 15 to 30 seconds of like, okay, here's what I'm gonna do. And you just have to…

trust your gut and go with it. We have some hiccups every now and then with that type, with that amount of content and matches and things like that. for the most part, we're really thinking about all of those things as we're pushing out content.

Sean (28:26.25)
most definitely. mean, again, that, yeah, we've all had that, Hey, can you just throw this on social? But it's like, we, yes, we can. The first thing is, but then what is the intention? What do you want from this piece of content? Do you want people to, and we use a phrase, you know, when you're talking about that CocoaGolf piece, we use the phrase digital face paint. We want our fans to use it. Like if they're using that content and that's them putting their hand up and saying they're a tennis fan or they're a CocoaGolf fan or they're a fan of

Reshina Warren (28:39.113)
Right.

Reshina Warren (28:53.298)
Absolutely.

Sean (28:55.794)
the humor that's in tennis, and then that builds them on the escalator and that piece of intention. And, you know, we're always working with our social team or clients, we're saying, why, why are we posting it? What's the, know, and that's, you know, getting a team to getting your team to ask that question. And then, you know, point back to your board or what your strategy is.

Reshina Warren (29:18.751)
Absolutely.

Sean (29:18.93)
And you're right in the same way that a tennis player is deciding as they pull their hand down, whether they're to put backspin on it or not put backspin on it or whatever. The same thing applies in social. It's like, how am going to do this? I know this fits better for this, you know, this platform over here, because that's a different audience. So again, that's where it's getting more and more complex. How do you go about training, either training staff or instructing staff or conversely learning from staff that are, you know, deep on those platforms to

Sean (29:49.214)
Keep evolving that pace.

Reshina Warren (29:51.018)
Yeah. So my motto is let them cook. So I let people operate in their, whatever their strengths are and just seeing how, okay, how are you going to approach this? How are you going to, how do you approach this situation right here? If this were to come up? Yes, there's an overarching strategy, but I want you to cook within that strategy.

I want you to perform and do what you do best within the strategy that we've set forth. you know, going into say like the US Open, it's not like the NBA season or NFL season where you can like, we'll try something else next week. no, there's another match that starts in like 30 minutes. So you either act now or you don't act at all. And so we really have to be quick. And so I am a person who

Sean (30:35.228)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (30:46.092)
take a look at the pieces that I have and then let you operate in that. So I came into, for the USTA and here for the WTA, I've come into an already established team. So I've, you know, take my couple of months to look, to take a step back, look from a leadership, from a leadership perspective and figure out what pieces we have, where we have maybe strengths, weaknesses, and I'm asking my team, like.

What do you feel your strengths are? Where do you feel your weaknesses are? do you want to grow? Where do you see yourself going? And then wherever they say, I'm going to let you operate in that until I say, I don't know if that's your thing. And then we have a conversation about it. But yeah, I am one to let people operate in and I can't, especially going into the US. mean, there's no mic, you can't micromanage. If you micromanage,

Sean (31:39.368)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (31:41.09)
The team, I think our first year we hit 1 billion, our second year we hit 1 .65 billion engagements. That's not happening with a micromanager. That's not happening with someone who's not letting someone cook. And I love food, so I'm going to relate it to food. You don't mess, you don't go and mess with the chef, right? You don't tell the chef that they need to put a little added salt.

or pepper or something in there. You let them do what they do. And so that's kind of my motto. And then if they need to go from posting on TikTok instead of posting on Twitter, then like, let's do that. Let's operate in you being excellent. So yeah.

Sean (32:26.526)
I think your chef analogy is a great one because effectively you're like the head chef and then you're your digital and social producer like line cooks and it's like, it's coming through and you're seeing it come through the past and you're like, Yep, that looks good. And yeah, you've got that that that intensity, you know, like the Grand Slams, the Olympics. Excuse me, you don't have that week to week, you know, Monday morning quarterback, how did we go? It's like, no, no, you've got 14 NFL games in

Reshina Warren (32:33.344)

Right. Yeah.

Sean (32:54.398)
in 14 days. That's sort of what it's like.

Reshina Warren (32:55.413)
I say it's a Super Bowl. I described it as a Super Bowl every day for 21 straight days about four, about 17 times a day.

Sean (33:06.822)
Yeah, yeah. I think the team at the Aussie Open have the hashtag sleep is for the week for that two weeks. It's like, you know, we'll just power through and yes, that week after we probably will do have some sleep but for that two weeks is pretty intense.

Reshina Warren (33:21.364)
Yeah, yeah. so, yeah, and we during that time and during those Grand Slams, like it is a grind. You are just you're there. You're in it. And I would always tell my family and my friends and my God kids. have God kids and things like that. I'm like, hey, just just give me a face time. You know, just just bring me out out of the tennis world just for a little bit. Just say hi. Let me let me talk to my little babies and things like that. And then I go back in.

And I'm charged up and ready to go. yeah, during that time, it is definitely, a grind and a hustle and you know, matches going until two 30 in the morning. And so I can't be there from eight AM to two 30 in the morning. So talking about letting someone cook, like I trusted my team to be able to, I knighted them. like, Hey, you make the decision. I trust your decision. And if you think that your decision wasn't right, just let me know why you made that decision. And we can address it the next morning. So, yeah.

Sean (34:19.804)
Yeah, I mean, it is a terrific philosophy because again, then you're empowering your team to you know, and they're looking for the latest trends or what's working and again, you sort of you can't have a meeting to say, this actual piece or this thing is trending, we need to jump on it's like, no, it's happening. We're, you know, we're running with it. If it's a, you know, certain thing that's happening through the through the tournament, like it's our cool, all chips in, let's push on that kind of stuff. So having that flexibility is super important. You mentioned

Reshina Warren (34:37.13)
It's happening.

Reshina Warren (34:43.913)
Right.

Reshina Warren (34:48.993)
Yeah.

Sean (34:49.71)
haven't even spoken about the WTA. We're talking in the tennis world, but you're, you're still relatively new in the role for WTA. First of all, how is the working for the WTA, the Women's Tennis Association different than the USTA?

Reshina Warren (35:05.738)
Yeah, so now there's more touch points, right? So the team has more touch points. It's you know, I have someone in Guadalajara right now who's working, who's on the ground. And we introduce our social media team, our video production team. The players actually know some of our video production team and come to them with ideas and things like that. And so there's there's more touch points.

which means you can get a little bit more personal and have more personal content that goes out there. so, know, women's tennis has been at the forefront of all of the movements, you know, equal prize money. think this past year or at the end of 2023, tennis players were the highest paid women in sports. so,

been at the forefront. And so one thing that we want to do as the women's tennis association is to really expand their brands outside of the tennis court. And like, who are these people? Because I think, you know, with the NBA, WNBA, there's a little bit more, you can get a little bit more personality that comes through through content and things like that. Because there's, if they lose,

they've played a full game and they have a game the next day or within the next two days. Whereas with the tennis player, you know, a top player could possibly lose in the first round and then you don't hear from them until the next tournament. And so that could be like two or three weeks. And so we're trying to connect that these tennis, the tennis players and our athletes and to just your, common person's interests. So.

Vika, she loves horseback riding. So we just put out a horse. We took her to a, to, to a stable for her to go horseback riding and she, and we did some content pieces there. we took one athlete to a museum, art museum because she loves art and she talked about her love for art and things like that. And so we want to connect, the fans and grow that, that fan and grow that audience around these players outside of just like their.

Reshina Warren (37:23.24)
match results because they are way more than their match results. have interests and we want to know and hear about it and they want to tell it. And so we want to give them that platform and that's one of the things that we're doing from a marketing and social standpoint to really push them forward as not only athletes but just women in general.

Sean (37:46.262)
it is very much following what you would sort of apply if you said, he's an athlete strategy. You know, they want you know, fans want to know that your that their favorite player is watching the same TV show is them or has a similar interest to them. And then that becomes something that, you know, deepens their ties to go, I'm going to follow, you know, that player, but then I'll, and now I'll start following their tennis because they are also doing it. So it's a, it's a piece that some sports have a hard time

Reshina Warren (38:00.117)
Absolutely. Yeah

Sean (38:16.156)
like getting into their personal lives or telling the personal stories of the athlete because it's sort of their brand. But because you've got these individual players and a lot of them, that you can tell some of these stories and you would have players that say, I want my story to be told. I wanna have it build a fan base for themselves.

Reshina Warren (38:38.684)
Absolutely. Any type of personal nuggets we can pull out. then learning their interests, we are able to then create custom content around them, right? So Coco Golf won the US Open last year and she mentioned she loved anime. So her championship graphic, we turned her into her favorite anime character and she loved it. know, fans were like, why would you do this? And she's like, she shared it to our story. She's like, I love this because we heard them and we…

we understand that there's a layer to her. Like she said, she was watching anime in between her matches. So like, let's lean into that. Daniel Medvedev, he loves gaming. He's actually started to invest in gaming. we did one of his and did one of his celebrations, did one of the celebrations for, had that illustrated as a graphic for like his birthday or something like that. And so those little touch points, it may seem small to,

to people but for them, they're like, they heard me, they've paid attention to me. I'm not just like this person that hits the ball and wins games and sells tickets. But they've heard me and they're trying to cater to me. So that's what we wanna do. We wanna break that ice to make sure that we show them that we care about their personal interests and we want their fans, them to gain more fans through those personal interests.

Sean (40:04.284)
I mean, I use this phrase on the on the podcast a lot steel with pride when you when you're looking at another sports or entertainment brand, you go well, I really like that. How can we we adapt it? And I saw you post a nod to the WNBA with your off court fit series of the of the tunnel and sort of showing off the players. I mean, you know, how did how did that process? How did you go? we like that idea. How did you get to that process of we want to do our version of that like

Reshina Warren (40:19.456)
Yeah.

Sean (40:30.664)
Did that idea come from you looking at your social? it come from someone in your team? Like how do those type of things work in your team?

Reshina Warren (40:34.836)
Okay.

Reshina Warren (40:39.4)
Yeah, so it actually came. So we actually have a, have two marketing managers that report into me. So one that's over player marketing and this one is over tournament marketing. so during our first one -on -one, she said, you know, I want to do some cool things. I love what the WNBA is doing with tunnel fits. was like, yes, let's do it. That's, that's been my one thing because now we have all these tournaments that we're able to have touch points to and bring in people.

or create content with the players. And so we were like on the same page and didn't know it. And so she took it, she ran with it. We hired, she was able to get a local photographer in Toronto to do it, a local photographer in Cincinnati to do it. And then we just kind of had fun with it. And I wanted to make sure that, you know, I posted on LinkedIn, but just to give that nod to the W because they definitely.

up the game and the players, actually, they really loved it. So the first go round, we had players actually come back to this, come, what player actually comes back on media day for a second day to redo something and redo a piece of content. And so that excitement, knew that with that excitement, we knew we were going into the right direction. And so we're looking to, we have some things cooking.

Just to stay with that reference, we have some things cooking that we're excited to potentially do for 2025 for it. So excited about it.

Sean (42:08.962)
true. And again, cause it is, you know, both internally is it incompatible? You know, everyone's looking, that's what the, that's what's happening. Every Wimbledon have like there's that piece, but then also looking at other sports and you know, what's also connecting with your market is a, is a great way. And yeah, you know, that adapting, how do we do our version of it? Both the logistics of it, but then also how is, what's our twist? You know, what's it going to work for? And then the fact that you're getting the players on board is the, is the end goal every time.

Reshina Warren (42:21.813)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (42:37.962)
Yeah, it's the end goal. And I will say the one difficult thing, you know, that's difficult for us is that like every venue is different. So you have to you have to find a space and you have to and then you also have all of the rights holders who want to be a part of media day. So we have to make it a natural part of the media day stop. And so there's a lot from a logistic standpoint to to make it work, which makes it a little it's a it's a nice little challenge for us.

But we're making it work and we're hoping that it really takes off in 2025.

Sean (43:13.574)
Yeah, but I think that's the that's bit that I love doing the yes, that's the idea of it. There's all like we said before, there's all these steps that are part of the idea that have to be done. And that's just as important to learn all of those logistics and hurdles. And you know, if it's jostling on a red carpet on the and how much space you need all of those things that that your content capture people and social people and your digital producers need to realize that it's not just I will get a spot on a camera and he has

Sean (43:41.885)
It's all those pieces that go into that 35 second video that ends up going out and people go, well done social team. What you do is just pull out your phone and capture that. It's like, no, no, there's a lot of work.

Reshina Warren (43:46.95)
Absolutely. We just threw it up there. Just threw it up there. Threw it together.

Sean (43:54.978)
I wanted to sort of touch, go back to your focus with New Line and Disney and that commercial and partner. How do you work in the WTA in sponsored integrations and those kinds of things that you potentially either planning or ask, how do you and your team work with your commercial partners and your commercial team to deliver results from a digital point of view?

Reshina Warren (44:23.018)
Yeah, so, you know, just speaking from what's happening, what's happened prior to me coming. So we have social media series that are out there that the team has come up with for our partners. But right now I'm kind of in the process of putting together a list of all of the things within social, within digital that can be sponsored.

That's something that I did that me and my team did for the USDA and US Open and we had great success. And so we're looking to do that and looking to monetize that, figure out how to figure out our rate card and making sure that that's all right. But yeah, so we're currently, we work hand in hand. We have a weekly meeting with our partnership team. But yeah, right now we're gonna go into a brainstorming phase to figure out like,

Okay, what content do we want to push out? What do we want to do? What can be sponsored? just to give, our sponsorship team at least, something to arm, a little bit to arm them with to go into a pitch meeting. but then coming out of that pitch meeting, we want to make sure that like, that the brands one that the content align and it's not something that's just like, let's just slap a little on that. We want to make sure that, okay, you want, this is your focus.

Sean (45:31.133)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (45:45.856)
This is your tagline. All right, let's figure out how we can make this a seamless partner integration.

Sean (45:53.524)
yeah, it's absolutely vital. I mean, you know, there'll be a lot of listeners nodding that have been in a situation where something has just come down and said, this is this social piece that we've sold to someone. Can you guys put it out? And it's like, yes, we again, the answer is we're always a yes, we can. But it's like, it's got to, you know, it's got to be that triangle of fit for the fan and fit for our platforms and fit for our sponsor. And if you don't have all of those things working, then the tripod, if it's a tripod, it falls over because it's only got two legs working.

Reshina Warren (46:23.304)
yeah, it's yeah, if I my my motto is to make sure that the social media team has a seat at the table from the very beginning, because what I realized is that I saw it as I'm hearing someone talk about their goals and objectives. I'm already looking at it from a social standpoint. You as a partnership person, you're probably looking at it in all different kinds of ways. But I am hearing it directly and I'm able to

to speak to it potentially and ask potential questions and maybe set some expectations of what we can do and what we're able to do. So I always say make sure that social media, someone on the social team has a seat at the table for those pitch meetings. Even if it's just like a fly on the wall, being a fly on the wall, you don't have to be in person. They can just listen in.

And we transformed that when I went over to the USDA for the US Open. I mean, if you look at the sponsored content that's being pushed out, it is very social first. I think prior to it was just like, hey, throw this AmEx benefits on a TV spot on the channels. And we're like, wait, wait, no, it doesn't make any sense. so.

Sean (47:29.661)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (47:42.09)
And then I came from paid so I could speak to the paid aspect of it of being like, okay, well, if you want to use our brand for that, like, let's put a targeted campaign that's actually going to get you the results that you want instead of just a post with a couple of hundred likes, you know, and so was really able to speak to that and, and, and arm our team to, be able to speak to that as well, to, to fight for what would make sense for our audience and for the channels and for the brand at the end of the day and the partnership.

Sean (47:57.181)
Yeah.

Sean (48:09.596)
Yeah. And it's really good even in that point where your team is ideating and come up with new concepts to also like have, you know, for you to be proactive as a team to say, we're building out this new asset. This series is going to be really good. it's going to hit this type of audience and effectively give that olive branch or give that asset to a commercial team and say, is there a partner that fits for this type of content? Because we're, we're going to build it anyway. and sort of get in that.

Reshina Warren (48:37.162)
Right.

Sean (48:38.482)
that piece of not always making it a two -way street between digital and commercial is sort how to get the relationship to work.

Reshina Warren (48:48.074)
Yeah, and we're thinking, and that's where, you know, we're going into brainstorming and planning to figure out like, okay, like, what do we want to do? And sometimes it's a proof of concept. So even for the USTA this year, the previous year, we did like a Glee cap. And so it was a daily, like a daily Glee cap or Glee style recap of what happened. We did it and did that for just to test it out.

Sean (49:10.973)
Yep.

Reshina Warren (49:17.108)
And then I think this year when I looked, Chase had sponsored it. And so sometimes you have to do a proof of concept, but we were able to do that proof of concept. Hey, here's what we have. Look how it performed. I think this is a good sponsorable asset. then we're able to then from there, you're able to slap a logo and maybe even you can add in some. The good thing with content is that you can add in,

those lines and those goals and objectives in there easily. It's so easy to do it within content series and things like that. so you just, as I say, you got to let the social team cook and let them figure it out and make it work for you.

Sean (50:00.678)
Most definitely. And it's really important that the commercial team who are out there selling all the time, that's their job. Know that you've got this cool content either in the pipeline or is happening. You know, because that you know, that that recap you were talking about, most likely that got sold in a hospitality suite last year to go, have you seen this? And then someone to chase falls in love with the series for the rest of the tournament, like, guys, we want that for next year. And it just becomes a you know, it helps it helps their sales process. Lastly, I mean, we've talked a lot about the

Reshina Warren (50:21.014)
Yeah. We want that. Yeah.

Sean (50:30.416)
you know, running socials and those kinds of things. The tech stack in social is growing year on year, you know, even in your time, new tools, and you would have worked with different tool sets at Uline and Disney than you'd work with at Tennis. What does your current social tech stack look like? What are some of the social and digital tools that are helping you and your team succeed?

Reshina Warren (50:54.356)
Yeah, so we use WSC for all of our match highlights. so that definitely saves a lot of time with their automation, being able to automate points. Slate, which is like a content creation app that's on your phone. You can put in sponsored elements. You can put in your brand. so yeah, so your brand kit is right there. You don't have to…

Sean (51:12.253)
Yep.

Sean (51:16.574)
put in the branded piece and have the brand kit there, yep.

Reshina Warren (51:21.856)
you know, play around and remember all the code, the color codes and things like that. It's already right there for you to use. And so you're able to really as content consumption, the consumption of content is going into like, we want the raw, authentic, all of this like overly edited stuff. We don't want all that. So being able to really, you know, film something on your phone and just put your logo or put your branding into it so easily.

and then push it out, that's been easy, really, really helpful. And then we also have like press box graphics, which is a little bit more, a little heavier, which I think they're Opta now, but yeah, Opta. And so being able to push out scorecards and branded quote graphics and things like that. So that's kind of where we move in and out of on a day to day. We're onboarding monday .com for our content planning.

Sean (51:59.516)
Yeah they are, yep.

Reshina Warren (52:17.523)
being able to plan and work cross -functionally. And then we use Hoot Tweet for our analytics and pulling that in just to make sure that we're trending in the right direction.

Sean (52:29.126)
So many of those tools there and yeah, we're lucky enough to use a bunch of those, you know, the clip pro and that's the WSC being able to automate and just get all out there and then you just get to decide some amazing. So a lot of the tools that I've, know, when I'm talking to you for that, it is about first fast and being, you know, being accurate and authentic. So it's like all those tools you sort of describe help you get that, you know, get that clip, get that shot, get that sideline.

Reshina Warren (52:33.09)

Yeah. Yeah.

Sean (52:59.098)
video that you've captured out as quickly, cleanly and branded as possible because that's just the world we're now living in social to go, hey, you are competing with other tennis content providers, you're working with your broadcasters, but you're also competing with your broadcasters. And so it's a fine balance to go, it's a fast moving space.

Reshina Warren (53:23.202)
And then you're competing with the 20 ,000 people who are on site as well. Yeah, there was a funny, not a funny moment, but like when Michelle Obama was there last year, everyone else was able to post that she was there. And we were waiting for the approvals to post that she was there. And so we were like, we're an hour behind.

Sean (53:28.861)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (53:47.862)
Come on, you know, and so, but yeah, there's so much competition, especially within the algorithm, everybody's a constant creator, right? And so even leaning into that and doing UGC and all of that, it's, yeah, we wanna be quick to post, but sometimes the casual fan will beat us to it.

Sean (53:49.544)
Yeah.

Sean (54:08.082)
No, most definitely. Reshina , I really do appreciate you taking the time. I want to get to the Sports Geek Closing Five. You mentioned sport was a big part of your life. Do you remember the first sport event you ever attended?

Reshina Warren (54:13.11)
Yeah. Okay.

Reshina Warren (54:20.264)
You know, I actually thought about this and I could not. I think that's because I'm super spoiled working in sports, you know. But I will say I grew up in Texas. So it's all about Friday Night Lights. It's all about Texas football. You know, going my high school team was they were great. They were state champions, actually won an ESPY for for one of their for one of their games. And.

Sean (54:31.879)
Okay.

Reshina Warren (54:47.764)
State championship is at Cowboys Stadium at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. So I'm a little kid in elementary school going to the state championship of my high school of my future high school. So that was that was pretty amazing and definitely memorable. I definitely remember that it wasn't a professional game, but Friday nights in Texas like it's all about football.

Sean (55:08.606)
Thanks

Sean (55:12.2)
Well, that's completely fine and completely valid. And it's not as anyone can Google. So it is your answer. You would have made a lot of sports events in your time and as much as the social and digital community has evolved, so has the world, the world of food at sports events, especially at tennis, it seems to be getting leveling up. Do you have a favorite food memory or a go -to food at a sports event?

Reshina Warren (55:17.583)
Thank you.

Reshina Warren (55:34.518)
Hot dog, always a hot dog. You gotta get a hot dog. It depends on where I am. It depends. But mostly just give me like mustard, ketchup, and I'm good to go. But I will say, if I'm going to a stadium and they're known for something, I'm gonna try that, what they're known for. So.

Sean (55:38.609)
All the fixings.

Reshina Warren (55:56.902)
For the US Open, I'm getting a honey deuce. For Wimbledon, I'm gonna get strawberries and cream, you know, and a Pimms, you know. So I try to fit in with the culture and with their team culture as much as I can, but I'm always a hot dog.

Sean (56:13.244)
Yeah, the honeydews is a phenomenon like I'm talking about something that generates content, the amount of Instagram shots of people showing off their honeydews and even also I think I saw Serita Williams showing it off and like her name's on the cup just a few times.

Reshina Warren (56:28.758)
Just, you know, just casually, right? I don't even think she realized her name was on the cover. A very odd, just subtle flex right there.

Sean (56:32.22)
Like, it was just a flex. Just a flex.

Sean (56:40.254)
What's the what's the first app you opened in the morning?

Reshina Warren (56:44.167)
I am a woman of faith, so this is Bible app. But I do have a, half of my team works in the UK, so sometimes when I'm waking up, there's like chaos going on. But I try my best to open up that Bible app first to ground me for the day.

Sean (57:00.286)
Not a problem. Is there someone that the podcast listeners should give a follow? It might be someone you follow on social or an author or a colleague that you that they should check out.

Reshina Warren (57:10.73)
you know what? I was actually thinking about it from a just a social account and how they are operating right now. And and, you know, I was thinking about this. so I don't want to go political. But if you give the Kamala HQ a follow and just like strip back what it's about, but like how they are really leaning into.

Sean (57:17.958)
You can, that is more than that, you can do that.

Reshina Warren (57:38.38)
just like Gen Z and trying to get that young audience. think it's gonna be, I think that's one that's gonna be studied here in a couple of years. Win or lose, even if she loses, I think that that will be an account that's studied and that strategy and how that team just kind of the interns, as they would say, run it. And I look at it sometimes and I'm like, wow.

funny, but educational all in the same.

Sean (58:11.006)
Well, it is, I mean, like we've sort of talked about before learning from other industries, know, sport is constantly saying we want to tackle and talk to the young fan. And what you're talking about there is they're going well, these are the social platforms that are dominated by younger voters. We need to talk to younger voters as younger voters want to be talked to, you know, a, you know, a 50 post for a 50 year old is not going to work for someone who's 22. And so like,

Reshina Warren (58:38.848)
Right.

Sean (58:40.624)
it's a big leap for political parties and that to go, we're going to lean into that. So we know from the world of sport, the barriers we had to break down to go, we want to put a joke on this platform. And this sport is very serious, but this actually works, cuts through that audience. Yeah, I think there is a lot to learn. mean, if you even look back at the early use of, if you're looking at political marketing, like how Obama used paid

Reshina Warren (58:43.762)
Absolutely. Yeah.

Sean (59:08.746)
and sort of change the game when meta was the platform of choice for most people. Like it's always a place to go, well, hang on, what's happening over there? And then like we've said before, how can it be applied to your sport? So not a problem with the answer. is very much a, who should people follow? And again, I think more the reason is more the point.

Reshina Warren (59:21.973)
Absolutely.

Reshina Warren (59:30.708)
Absolutely, because that's the thing. That's the question right now. It's like, how do we this Gen Z, this Gen Alpha, all of these, all these new Gen generations that's coming up, like, how do we talk to them? And I think that they are doing a great job right now of like, listening to their audience and leaning like, I mean, you have a political president.

Sean (59:42.663)
Yeah.

Reshina Warren (59:52.79)
presidential candidate talking about they're having a brat summer. Like that is, you know, and that's, that's totally what some of these brands are missing. And I think maybe they should let the intern get to the, get, get a hold of the keys.

Sean (59:56.316)
No, exactly.

Sean (01:00:05.928)
But that's the thing where one, there's discussions going, when are we using Riz and Skibbity in our copy? And then there'll be people going, what are those words even mean? And it's like, well, eventually there's gonna be a pro league or a team or someone that's just gonna start using those terms. there'll be people going, I need to, no, it's not on Urban Dictionary. Where do I look these words up?

Reshina Warren (01:00:31.786)
Yeah, I do need it. I do need some type of social media dictionary or something like that to. Yeah, because I hear like you it's lit. That's not a thing anymore. You can't say that. So I need to upgrade.

Sean (01:00:45.468)
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So it is a funny one. And the last one, I always ask this both from an organisation point of view and then also from a personal point of view. What social media platform is your MVP? You can answer as yourself and then also as the WTA.

Reshina Warren (01:01:02.946)
For myself, I mean, I love TikTok right now. I go down a lot of rabbit holes on TikTok and for the WTA from a brand standpoint, I think TikTok as well because you can kind of let loose a little bit. That's where, I mean, I also follow Duolingo. Duolingo is one of my favorite accounts. And so you're able to really…

add a little razzle dazzle to your content and who you are and get a totally different strategy from your other platforms. And so I would say that's my personal MVP and my brand MVP right now for the moment.

Sean (01:01:43.174)
Most definitely. Well, Reshina, I really do appreciate you taking the time. We've run long, but that always means I've enjoyed the conversation. And so hopefully everyone else has. If people who have been listening to this podcast want to reach out to you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Reshina Warren (01:01:49.044)
That has been great.

Reshina Warren (01:01:57.038)
You can reach me and connect with me on LinkedIn, Rasheena Warren. R -E -S -H -I -N -A.

Sean (01:02:01.886)
There we go. Reshina, thank you very much for coming to the podcast. And hopefully, if you come down to Australia for the Australian Open, I only live 20 minutes down the road. I'd love to catch up with you in January.

Reshina Warren (01:02:14.223)
awesome. Yeah, I'll definitely, I'll definitely connect with you.