Building a brand that connects – Stephanie Rogers, Vegas Golden Knights

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

Sean (00:01.484)
Very happy to welcome Stephanie Rogers. She's the VP of marketing for the Vegas Golden Knights. Stephanie, welcome to the podcast.

Stephanie Rogers (00:09.132)
Thank you. It's wonderful to be here. Thanks for having me.

Sean (00:12.884)
Not a problem at all. I always start my podcast by trying to find out the sports business origin story for people and how they got their start in the world of sports. What about yourself? How did you break into the world of sports?

Stephanie Rogers (00:25.606)
Yeah, my career goes all the way back to when I first started university. I started in their athletic department in their sports information office, writing press releases and doing game notes and media guides and all of those kind of core sports media things that the communications folks usually handle. So that was really my first entree. I covered a lot of different sports that I hadn't really followed before like tennis and soccer and field hockey.

But I also got to cover a lot of the classics, or at least American classics, and football and wrestling, which is really big in Iowa, and women's basketball. yeah, my days of working in sports go way back.

Sean (01:04.77)
And so coming out of University of and being in that space, what was your first, I guess, job out of university?

Stephanie Rogers (01:13.924)
Yeah, I did a few internships with women's basketball and junior golf. then that really the junior golf internship spearheaded my, you know, first professional or I should say full time role in the golf world for a junior golf organization and then ultimately continued on that pathway and landed at the PGA Tour where I was for about eight years and got the pleasure of spending some time down under with all of you guys and with you. And yeah, I was in primarily

communications roles until really I got to the PGA tour and then started focusing a lot on content, content production, social, digital, email, kind all of the other things that like an in -house marketing agency would cover. And our team grew very quickly as it related to that because that was really a time when content and social channels were starting to be used as a business tool and nobody really kind of knew the roadmap. And of course everybody had plenty of things to do. So they sort of handed it off to us and to me and said figure this out and we had a really wonderful team that was motivated and excited to figure it out with us. So yeah, we grew very quickly on the tournament marketing front. And then I ended up in Vegas about two years ago.

Sean (02:21.73)
And it was, I mean, yeah. Yeah. And it was an exciting time on that PGA tour. Like we crossed paths when the President's Cup was down here in Melbourne, you know, some of the greatest courses in the world down here in Melbourne. But, you you're working at PGA tour at the same time that all the, you know, the big four, the NBA, the NFL, were all building out their own digital capacity, really taking advantage of, of, of social and building out your own platforms. And when you was that sort of the time you're at PGA tour where

You're leveraging social and driving into social. remember catching up with Laurenti when she was in Melbourne one time, who you would have worked with, but building out that team. And like you said, it was like, we're now adding this to your portfolio. You're both doing content and then you're doing amplification. Then you're rolling out ads and ticketing. Was it something that was sort of every year, something that keep getting added to your portfolio, but also the team kept growing?

Stephanie Rogers (03:19.548)
Yeah, that's exactly what it was. And I was over all of the tournaments that the PGA Tour owns and operates. And that's a collection of tournaments called Championship Management. that's exactly it. I mean, you're going to age me. But I started working in social when it was, you know, 140 characters and no photos on then called Twitter. But really, when I had gotten to the PGA Tour was when they started rolling out the analytics. And they didn't have advertising quite yet, but they had a lot of analytics. So we were really digging into that.

Yeah, I mean the pace of how quickly those platforms evolved and changed and became absolute powerhouses as it relates to an overall strategy and a core business function was so quick. I mean, it was like every month something was changing because they were just pumping, the platforms themselves were pumping a bunch of resource into, you know, evolving their businesses and practices and getting smarter. And so with that, we continue to keep pace.

And thankfully, our content was really performing very strongly and we were able to showcase not only the value to our partners and we were able to start selling social content in a really thoughtful way. We then parlayed that into our ticketing and our sponsorship strategy. So a lot of people sell tickets across all of the various digital platforms. We were also helping to seed a lot of that high level sponsorship discussion. just, know, originally I was listening to something the other day and

You know, the United Airlines CMO said it used to just be like fan feedback or customer feedback, right? My flight is delayed. And for us, it was like, I can't find my parking. And now it's just so much more. mean, it is the most approachable and conversational piece of a brand oftentimes, but it's also a powerhouse of a sales brand. And so we were really at the forefront of when that started happening and were able to keep pace with it and take advantage of it as it grew.

Sean (05:12.982)
I mean, the thing that I find interesting, especially in the golf market and like, you know, when the president's cup came to town, it's not like a traditional sport, you know, stick and ball or park as we will talk about hockey, where you've got your own venue and you've got a cadence of this is when the team is playing every single tournament was in a different location in a different market. And what it presented different challenges from a how do we sell out these different tournaments? How was that sort of trying to figure that out? You know, figure out that

piece of that puzzle and then applying these new platforms and new channels to be able to sell tickets.

Stephanie Rogers (05:48.036)
Yeah, it's a really good question. So my very first president's cup was actually in South Korea and ancient city, which is out there at the Jack Nicholas golf club. and the approach there at that point in time was really education on not only the sport, but what the event is and what the PGA tour is. when we came to Melbourne, thankfully they're golf rabbit down there. And to your point, they have some of the most incredible golf in the entire world with that sand belt region. I mean, it's, it's truly special.

to get to see it and they understand the sport. And so for us at that point, it was really around the just the bigness of the event, right? It's a massive global event. We were very, very lucky. We had Ernie Els and Tiger Woods as our captains. mean, come on, you can't pick a better storyline than that. And so as it related to, we only had six days or seven days that we were selling for, we had to engage everybody for two years and get them excited, right? We were in a sales cycle of two years and

It's a really hard thing to sell tickets that far in advance for a venue that, you know, most people think is no capacity. We did have a capacity and we sold out actually on a couple of our days when we were in Melbourne, thanks to all those incredible Aussie fans that were down there and many others that traveled from South Africa and even Canada and the United States as well. But yeah, for us, it's figuring out the cadence, right, of like when you're going to really need to hit that punch of people got to be in the door or through the gates.

putting your entire strategy up to leading to that. then, you know, likewise, it's just because you had really good success in Australia once doesn't necessarily mean you're going to have that great success the next time. You've got to stay engaged with the consumer and with the fan base and with the city really.

Sean (07:32.398)
I mean, your role at the PGA is a lot a lot of listeners will remember. I remember Twitter when it was 140 and all the pictures were on TwitPick those days. But you've also then migrated a lot like what we do in that digital to dollar space to go, here's what we're doing from a digital point of view, but here's how we can commercialize it. And I want to just touch on your last role at the PGA, which was corporate partnership strategy and innovation.

What was the scope of that role? again, it's sort of looking at what are the different ways you can bring in your partners. And the bit that I was interested in is that innovation piece. So was that something that sort of started to open up some of the opportunities that you could do with your partners?

Stephanie Rogers (08:20.462)
Yeah, absolutely. So I was very lucky to have a lot of different experiences with the events that we had. They were literally all over the world and in many different types of markets. It wasn't just like major markets like New York City and Melbourne and Mexico City. They were in mid markets and, know, southern markets and, you know, things like that. So when I ended up moving over to the corporate partnerships team and the business development team, it was really because they had been selling the PGA tour at the at the entity level. In a very similar way for many, many years. And certainly, I mean, the sales team was really wonderful. So this is no knock at all on the work that they were doing. They were incredible. But they started realizing people are asking more questions about these more innovative topics, right? What's sustainability look like for the PGA Tour? What's DE &I look like for the PGA Tour? What are you doing in the community from a charitable perspective? What are you doing to impact the growth of the game at the youth level or at the female level or things like that? And so…

Because I was so deeply involved in many, many of those initiatives at the tournament level, they actually had me come over to the business development team and help revision and revamp the entire storytelling behind how we should be selling the PGA Tour. That was supplemental and complimentary to, yeah, we have great ratings and we have a lot of people that come out and watch this and a lot of people spend money here. It's a great business opportunity.

I was really just kind of coming in to fill in the gaps a little bit and make our story a little bit more whole, especially in terms of how our brand was actually coming to life, right? It was so much more than just, you know, the guys between the ropes and the corporate hospitality. And there was so much more happening in the community and around the events that we really needed to tell. So that's kind of where that innovation piece came in. And then separately, there was, you know, sometimes where it was like, OK, we have this partner that's here. They have all of these different goals.

Sean (10:02.797)
Yep.

Stephanie Rogers (10:10.906)
Like what do we think that we could create that the tournaments really need? Cause that's the other piece of it, right? You sell at the PGA tour level, but ultimately the tournaments have to execute it. And so you want to make sure you're not handing them something that's going to be difficult to execute. cause that doesn't help anybody at the end of the day. And so I was really involved in the processes of figuring out what are some of these new ideas that we can bring to partners that would elevate both their message and the tournament experience for the fan and for whomever else it was intended to elevate it for.

Sean (10:39.628)
I mean, it's really important that you do get that voice of the people have to execute. Again, you know, I constantly is the joke of being the digital divorce counselor, you know, something goes and gets sold and you have to go and bring in the digital team or the operations team to actually execute it. But if you had that lens of, here's the landscape that we've got, or, know, here's the, you know, here's the footprint that we've got in a tournament that we can do something with, or, you know, here's what we can do on this digital platform. It does open up the eyes of commercial because they're, like you said, they're killing it in selling what they've got.

They don't know what they can't sell if they're not brought in. things like sustainability as a commercial asset has something that has grown in the last 10 years. it is something where you've got to try to work on working with your commercial team so they know the things that they can sell. And then obviously now you're at the Vegas Golden Knights. What attracted you to the role? You joined in July, 2022.

Stephanie Rogers (11:38.544)
Yeah, so when I was in the business development role, I learned an immense amount about corporate sales and it was really, really a cool position to be in. But in my heart and soul, I just really missed that engagement with the fans. I just really determined that I was a marketer at heart and I wanted to impact fans on a daily basis. I wanted to have the storytelling and see their faces and have the conversations right with them out on the plaza or whatever.

I had seen the Vegas Golden Knights brand represented all over social media and actually my sister went to school out here and so a bunch of her friends were always posting about it and I just thought, wow, what an incredible brand that really prioritizes and puts the resource into engaging with the fan. And so I blindly applied. I didn't really know anybody out here and you know, destiny is destiny. And I ended up getting the offer a couple months later and moving across the country from the

Swamp to the Desert, as I like to say. yeah, it's been everything. This is a brand that's really sure of itself, but also not so proud that it's not willing to get better. We love having fun here. We love innovating. We always sit down to brainstorm, and we're like, no self -editing until it's done. And so it's just a very, very creative space. And it cultivates just really wonderful ideas that have high impact, both from the brand perspective.

You can't miss us. Sean, you were just out here a few months ago. You drive around, you see our license plates all over the place. You see the logo all over the place. not only is it a really powerful visual brand, it's a really powerful emotive brand in terms of how people associate their feelings with us, both from our game day experience, which is totally unique in sport. I'll put it up against anything in the world. It's really incredible. We do a great job with it. But also what we mean in the community and how people feel about that representation and that service to the community from the Golden Knights brand.

Sean (13:34.592)
I mean, you did you did present with with Eric Tosi at Seat, you know, the Golden Standard and talked about the the fan experience that he got for the Golden Knights fans. And, know, that was sort of you coming back to your core. Tell us a little bit about that that fan experience and a little bit more about the Golden Knights fans and what makes them special.

Stephanie Rogers (13:56.346)
Yeah, so the fan experience, always like to share this because I just think it helps contextualize for everybody that knows about Vegas, right? It's this wild, insane, crazy, over the top, you know, stimulation overload type place. And everybody knows that the entire world knows that. And our owner said, we want to have the best entertainment product on the Vegas strip. And when you think about that, it's like, holy smokes, that bar is set really high. And, you know, so every single day we're charging trying to figure out

How do we execute at that level? And so for us, the experience is really intended to be so much of Vegas that you can't miss it, but also the pinnacle of sport as well. So it's not only the pinnacle of entertainment, it's the pinnacle of sport. And we're really proud of the fact that we've helped solidify. And honestly, we were helping to pioneer Vegas as one of the sports capitals, if not the sports capital of the world. And it's certainly the sports and entertainment capital of the world. So that's kind of how we approach the experience on game day.

There's a lot of different things that we do as we talked about at Seat that utilize the playground that is this city of media. So there's massive video boards all over town and massive hotel properties and just different kind of high impact installation type executions that we can use. Thankfully, lot of these businesses are our partners. And thankfully, a lot of the executives at these businesses are just fans, not even our partners, but they're fans.

And so they're always open to thinking about cool ideas. We just did something with our team dog, Maverick, our canine. He's our president of our canine club and he did, you know, a very important pup, VG, VIP, a day through Vegas. And so he got like spa treatment and he got to go in the boat at the Venetian and all sorts of stuff. we really feed off of the creativity and innovation of this city as the Vegas Golden Ice, but we also try to feed into it as well, right? It's this kind of.

collective effort there. And I guess the second question is about the fan base. And it's something that we're so proud of. We really are the locals team. And that was a goal for us from the beginning. There are 40 to 50 million tourists through the city every single year. That's wonderful. We love them. Thanks for coming to town. We want you to come to a Vegas school the nights game and check us out and fall in love with our team. But for us, the most important piece of our brand was being the locals team.

Stephanie Rogers (16:21.572)
and representing the community of Vegas. you know, Eric always does a really nice job explaining just the vibrancy of Vegas and everybody knows the wild, world renowned Vegas strip, but outside of that, the community is really incredible. It's one of the most diverse communities, you know, out here. It's got incredible food. It's got incredible parks and different outdoor activities. And so there's just a lot more here that makes this a really rich culture in Vegas outside of what everybody knows us for. So for us, we wanted to be representative and one in the same with those people that make Vegas such an incredible community.

Sean (17:01.88)
Cause it would be, I guess, a misconception for those outside of Vegas that, you know, like come in, either go to a conference like I did, or come in for a couple of days for some recreation to think that that's everybody in Vegas. But it's really, you know, really important for you. And, you know, you've come in and now consider yourself a local and being in market, you know, so important for you to be connecting with those local fans. They're your base. They're the…

Sean (17:28.984)
They're the ones that are coming to all the games. They're the ones that end up getting, you know, large back tattoos of your logo and those kinds of things that really, you know, is a measure of fandom. It's really important for you to connect with that local fan base.

Stephanie Rogers (17:44.782)
Yeah, absolutely. The tattoos really are a real thing. mean, we during the playoffs, we have a history of setting up. We actually partner with Revolt Tattoos, which is the one guy is on the TV show, Ink Masters and has won it a few times, I think. But they come out and they literally for free will tattoo our logo onto you prior to you going into the game. And Sean, I kid you not, every single game, there are hundreds of people lined up for hours before we even start.

It's really amazing. Like I we laugh about it. I think the fans laugh about it, but it's just so powerful, right? And it just speaks to the way that the people feel about our brand. And yeah, on any given night, if you're in if you're in T -Mobile Arena at the fortress with us when we're playing, 80 % of the people that are in that building are locals. And that's the way we want to keep it. We want it to be the team that has the best home ice advantage. We've been voted the best home ice advantage by the players in the actual National Hockey League for

several times, including just last year. They think it's the hardest place to play. And that's because we have such passionate local fans that have learned the sport in a very rapid amount of time. I would say most of them didn't follow the sport of hockey at all, let alone at a level of knowing the ins and outs of the rules and the pace of the game just seven years ago when we got here. And so it's been really fun to see the evolution. And again, I've only been here for two years. And even in that two years, it's been just a really humbling experience to get to be a part of it. I'm very fortunate.

Sean (19:16.502)
And you talked about Vegas being a sports and entertainment capital. You walk down the strip and your senses are bombarded in all directions. But Vegas is also a beast when it comes to data and marketing. The casinos are leading the way in getting data, understanding loyalty, what CRM is, putting out offers. It sets the bar really high. What have you learned in your time coming to Vegas and being in that environment and seeing the way that the rest of the city and the strip, I guess, activate.

Stephanie Rogers (19:54.574)
Yeah, it's a really funny media environment. haven't been here. I haven't been in a space quite like this before. Honestly, Melbourne is probably the closest media market that I've ever navigated from an advertising standpoint because out of home is still so important here. And previously, when I was, you know, kind of all over the world, you really didn't do a lot of out of home. But in Melbourne, we did these massive murals and we did some bus stop takeovers. We had a great agency in Melbourne. We absolutely loved working with them. They were wonderful.

But we did really innovative things like chat bots. And that was back in 2017, 2018, when chat bots were like kind of niche still, to be honest with you, like they're sort of picking up again. But at that point in time, they were like, nope, we got to do chat bots. So you're doing, you know, an artistic mural and a chat bot. And I think that's the exact same way that we're handling it here. There's so much information about how people consume in Vegas and consume everything, how they plan their travel, how they plan what they do when they get here.

The types of people that are coming in at all different types of the year. There are hundreds of conventions, probably thousands of conventions that are in this town every single year. And so there's a lot of information around that, right? And so it's this big puzzle that we're constantly trying to fit together, but that visual presence of the out of home, whether it's the license plates that, you know, the cars are driving around or the static billboards or, you know, any of these other visuals, it's still so important because it is such a visually overcoming space out here in Vegas with so many things in your face at all times. I'll tell you a funny story. When I was first coming out here and Eric was asking me how I felt about billboards. And this is one of those moments where you learn not to say too much, like think before you talk. Cause I was like, who does billboards? Like such a waste of money. You can't track it. You can't retarget these people.

Digital first, right? And, and then I'm driving around and I'm like, okay, I get it. I get that everybody has billboards now. And this year we were talking about the paid media plan and he's like, how do you, think we really needed a billboard? And I'm like, yeah, we need the billboard. you serious? It's awesome. And so, you know, it just goes to show that the market is such a unique place out here in Vegas, that you really do need to have that, that constant reminder because everybody's being inundated at all times, but you have to have that innovative tech to really get people through the funnel as efficiently as you want them to get through the funnel. Stephanie Rogers (22:19.526)

Sean (22:24.91)
So Vegas is an old school entertainment town, but still relatively new as a sports city. The Golden Knights broke some ground and busted some myths as an expansion team to sort of take over the market. And now the Raiders have moved to town. have the F1 circus come to town. What's it like being in this effectively growth sports, the sports city in Vegas.

Stephanie Rogers (22:58.97)
Yeah, I I think it's super exciting, right? Like the more that Vegas is known as a sports town, the better for all of us that are in the sports industry. It's been a very rapid escalation of all the brands that are here. The two time WNBA world champions, the Las Vegas Aces are also here. Rugby is here. The Aussie Rugby League is out here and I think they're coming again and that's a massive thing. We have an indoor football team. So literally everything is here.

or coming and for us it's really exciting. We hope again to continue to maintain our connection with the community through that local sports fan. But yeah, the more and more that everybody knows of Vegas as the sports capital of the world, the better for the Vegas Golden Knights is our take. We would love to introduce however many billion of people in the world to the Vegas Golden Knights brand. So come on through town and check us out.

It's been really interesting. I think, you know, the Golden Knights really, Bill Foley had the vision, right? And the I think the commissioner on the night that we won the cup called it the audacity. I don't think that I would call it that. But those are the commissioner's words. But to really believe in and this being a sports town. mean, when Mr. Foley was trying to trying to get the expansion team.

He was set, he knew that this town could be a thriving sports town and he knew that hockey could work here against all odds. There were so many doubters. Everybody was a doubter except for the people that were in his corner. to his credit, he's really changed the landscape out here. And we're thankful to have been obviously the first chip to fall, if you will, on that one. But yeah, I mean, it's really all due to his vision and his tenacity and his persistency of making it acceptable, making it approved.

Because there was a lot of doubt, right? I mean, this is a gambling town and there was a lot of doubt about the integrity of being able to have professional sports in this town. look, it's totally fair. And I think I'm just thankful that we were the ones that led the way in terms of debunking that and showing that it can be everything that Vegas is and is known for, but it also can be a world -class sports town as well.

Sean (25:16.62)
Yeah, you talk about your, your owner and his his vision for the Golden Knights. How do you, how do you, I guess, leave that and also push that through both with the brand and everything you're trying to do with the team.

Stephanie Rogers (25:33.83)
Yeah, I love that question because it really leads into our brand triangle, which I know we shared at the Seek conference. But for us, the entirety of our brand comes down to three things. And Bill Foley is at the top of it, right? So he was a service member with the US military. He went to West Point. He's been in finance for a long time. He's a philanthropist. He gives a lot of money to different causes around the country.

but he's also an entrepreneur. And so he's just got this entire mentality of always advance, never retreat. It's actually in the collar of our hockey jerseys, but it's also in the collar of our English Premier League kits. And it's represented all over our business. So this mentality of always advance, never retreat. And then the second piece of that brand triangle is the Knight, right? The Golden Knight is what our brand is named after. And the Knight is the epitome of the Warrior class. is

literally exists to serve the community and to protect the people that can't protect themselves and to be prideful doing it, right? And to be, know, no ego approach is another one that we always kind of talk about. And it's just meant to showcase like whatever it takes, you know, you will go to battle, you will go to battle for the people next to you, go to battle for the people that can't battle for themselves, and you'll go to battle for the right thing. And that's, know, another piece of our brand triangle. And that really that right thing piece is important as well, because

You know, Bill is very adamant that the people that are connected to his organization are good people. And that goes all the way down into the people that are on the ice as well in professional sports. It's a really unique place to be when your ownership is equally as focused on the quality of human in their team as they are on, you know, the wins. Thankfully, we've gotten to experience both of those, but I think that they I think that they feed each other. Truthfully, I don't think that you can have the success.

of a team with having a tough locker room. And so, yeah, that's another piece that comes to life through our night version of our, or night corner of our brand triangle. And then the last piece of the triangle is Vegas, right? It's this glitz, it's this glamour, it's the vibrant community that exists outside of the strip, it's the locals, it's the passion. And so bringing all of those together, they feel like there's no way that they could possibly fit, but they do, they blend wonderfully and they fit together in our Vegas Golden Knights brand.

Stephanie Rogers (27:57.148)
And we were the first team here. so part of that original brand was Vegas born. That was our first campaign ever is that we were an expansion team. We didn't move here from another city. We are literally a team that was born here in Vegas. And that Vegas born mentality really supported that idea that the locals are maybe not looked at the way that they think or the way that they should be looked at. Everybody, when you say that you live in Vegas, there's this stigma like, do you just like sit on the blackjack table all day long? Well, like, no, there's

know, medical and there's teachers and there's all sorts of other and there's universities and there's all sorts of other life here. And so that idea of being very proudly Vegas born really ended up transcending into the community beautifully, like absolutely beautifully from a brand campaign and from that community. I like to say that we expedited generational fandom with that and with that first season of special performance on the ice. So.

Yeah, that's how we kind of bring it all together in this like magic, you know, eight ball that we that we mix up and then turn into the fortress and build the realm with.

Sean (29:00.184)
also you talked before, it also pervades the culture of the team internally in that, you know, when you said before, hey, we're throwing out ideas, marketing, there's no self editing, we're taking on board everyone's feedback, does that collaborative nature that sort of lends into that night, you know, serving piece really help your team be a high performing team?

Stephanie Rogers (29:22.67)
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It all goes back to that, you know, no ego, right? And always advance and serve. It's all of it is really how it comes to life. And it sounds like cliche marketing speak, but like genuinely, we use these terms and we talk about these terms out loud every single day. They're part of our daily vernacular, but they're also they carry a weight and people understand what they mean in action.

Right. It's one thing to be like, always advance, never retreat in theory. But like, what does that mean in your day to day business life? And so for us, it means innovation. means never being too proud to get better, beating an idea. You might have a great idea, bring it to the group. Let's beat it up and let's make it better. Iron sharpens iron kind of mentality. Right. And so there's a lot, like I said, there's a lot of this kind of terminology that we use. But in the business office, everybody understands how to action against that or how to action with that in mind.

which makes the business office a really good place to be and it makes us, it holds us accountable to driving the business forward.

Sean (30:28.62)
I said before that, know, Vegas as a city is a beast when it comes to, you know, that martech stack and understanding the customers and those kinds of things. What are some of the key tools in your toolkit that you're using, you know, on a daily basis to better serve the Golden Knights fans?

Stephanie Rogers (30:51.974)
Yeah, we actually great timing because we just hung up looking through our kind of media plan for this year and we have a lot of new tools in that toolkit this year that we're excited to use. So just the entire concept of contextual advertising and the ways that you can now integrate your advertising into various television shows or various websites with, you know, just totally high impact, not only videos, but like coming out of the screen, right? So like one of our characters is a golden knight. And so he can come out of the screen and like bang the shield and you can

you can start hearing the go nights go. So it's just totally immersive advertising. And people are used to it now. When I first got into advertising, people were so anti like getting an ad served to them that it was just like so hard to break through. And now not only is the technology of advertising substantially better where you're actually delivering it to people that want and need to see it. The creative ability of advertising is night and day. It allows it to be an experience.

that actually is brand forward versus just a static graphic or something that's not as engaging. And then, know, when you're thinking about when you're watching television and a commercial comes on, we have so many devices that there's all these studies out there about, you know, second screen and third screen and all these other things. I know in our house, when sports are on, we have at least two TVs, if not three and a couple, so a couple of phones. So, you know, amongst my husband and I each having a couple. So it's hard to keep that attention. And now you can actually

you know, somebody's drinking, you know, a, a beer on TV, you can actually like funnel in your beer ad, like within the TV. so for us, if somebody's watching sports, we can actually have, you know, Mark Stone or William Carlson skate across their screen with a little tickets bug that, you know, will, encourage them to buy tickets. And so just, think the innovation as it relates to how you're able to deliver these is so much better, not only for the brand, of course, that's my selfish perspective, but

Also as the consumer, it's fun. It's fun to actually get these kind of cool advertising now. So that's what we're really looking at as it relates to the tech stock. mean, there's a million examples of, or a million options out there for almost every single thing that you want to do from apps to, you know, SMS partners to chat bots to, I mean, you email, right? Like you name it, it's out there. Frankly, they're all, you know, respectfully to everybody that's doing the hard work of standing those up, like,

Stephanie Rogers (33:20.144)
They all have their pros and cons, and none of them that I have found to this point are perfect. And so for us, it's figuring out the usability of them and making sure that the ones that we have all integrate into one CDP where we can then segment, you know, we can segment who's got this, you know, texting, who signed up for our LMK VGK texting platform, who has our app, who's also following us on email and who's

bought tickets in the last 30 days. That's really what's important for us is in terms of a tech stack is making sure it all funnels into one CDP where we're able to very easily segment and serve that very cool advertising that we're creating.

Sean (34:00.022)
It is. Yeah, but it is really important when you do look at that, that tool set and you know, and it is something that is growing, you know, year on year, there's always new things is, is that execution piece like, what do you know, who is who is actually going to run it? It's it's a tool like, how's it going to be run? Is it going to make my life easier or harder? And then that integration piece is vital because each extra integration step or manual or otherwise, you know, complicates things so

It is always a really big part of the equation when you say, I really want look at that tool. What's the cost of integrating it? And then what's the cost of someone managing it, implementing it, rolling it out, using it on a daily basis? It's always one of the lenses you have to put on from what tools you have to pick.

Stephanie Rogers (34:50.808)
Yeah, and I would add to that, Sean, too. And you were kind of going there. And I think it's really important to talk about all of these tools are nothing without a very smart, motivated person to manage them. We are really lucky. We have an amazing business insights leader, and he's working very closely with our digital marketing manager every single day on all of the platforms we have because these things are costly and they only

the cost is only worth it if you can return X number of dollars back, right? Like we're not doing anything from a tech stack standpoint that we're not able to point to and say, this piece of software or this integration is returning at least three, four, five X. Like we have very high return on investment and return on ad spend goals and benchmarks, to be honest with you. And so we have to have the smart people.

that are able to utilize these tools. These tools make it easier for them to do that and push us forward on that return and making sure that our fans are getting pertinent information that's actually meaningful to them. But those tools are also nothing if you don't have somebody that's willing to dig into the data and see something that's nuanced and be like, and they have this inherent curiosity to say, I'm going look into that, or I'm going to A test that, or I'm going to try and replicate that because it seems like it's a one -off.

And so yeah, we're really lucky in having David and Kiana on our team who are very curious. They're very internally motivated and they work very well together from an insights and a marketing perspective to drive those tools and really put us our best foot forward in that front.

Sean (36:25.942)
I mean, that advice of being curious, but also getting deep into the weeds of either the tech of a tool or a tech of a platform to go and finding those solutions. It's great advice for anyone that is trying to go, how can I work in the world of sports? Well, if you know those platforms really well and you can unpack some of the complexity and be a problem solver, it's a great skill to have.

Stephanie Rogers (36:55.737)
Yeah, absolutely. Solution oriented, attitude and curiosity is going to get you a long way. So that's for sure.

Sean (37:04.512)
I wanted to ask you, to go to the other side of the world, because of an exciting project and exciting team that's, is the Auckland Black Knights new to the A -League here down under in New Zealand and part of the Foley Entertainment Group? What's it like helping start a franchise on the other side of the world?

Stephanie Rogers (37:26.968)
Yeah, it's so exciting. It's I mean, the down under crowd is close to my heart. Some of my favorite memories ever were spent in Melbourne and the broader Australia area. for me, it's really exciting to just be a part of a global expansion. I've always wanted to work in international sport. And so getting to literally do international sport from my seat in Vegas with a powerhouse brand like the Golden Knights is really cool for me.

personal perspective, but as it relates to the Foley Entertainment Group, it's a really exciting thing for us too. The Foley Wine and Spirits Group actually has a lot of wineries down in the New Zealand area. We have a few restaurants down in Auckland. have Kaikoura, which is a resort property that's in New Zealand as well. So that's all within the Foley Entertainment Group. So this is really just a perfect addition to that presence in that area with the sports team addition.

the fourth team of our international football portfolio. So we have an English Premier League team, AFC Bournemouth, and then we have a team in France and a team in Scotland that we're involved with. And now this expansion team with the A -Leagues is really exciting. And the people of Auckland have been incredible so far. There's been a lot of engagement. The social team is working hard down there. So hopefully all of your listeners will follow along with them. And we've got tickets on sale. We've got memberships going. The brand is really powerful.

And yeah, we're looking forward to kicking off the season here in a couple months and really getting going. They've got a couple preseason games, I think, that are coming up here and just a lot of different community events. So the expansion side of it is really interesting. Not only do you got to get the team stood up, right, on like the competitive side of things, but you really got to find a way to ingratiate yourself within the community as well and find that fan base and drive that passion. so.

The business office is trying to figure out how to put the business together while engaging the fans while driving corporate sales. the competition side, they're actually signing players almost every day. If you follow along, there's a new player coming through. So it's a lot of work. It's high volume as we like to say. But it's really, really gratifying and fulfilling when you get done with it and get to see that first game, that first game kicking off. So I'm really proud of the team that's down there. We have a few people from our

Stephanie Rogers (39:51.085)
headquarters up here that have moved and made the transition down to support that team and they're doing a great job and you know everything that we've heard is that the fans are excited and I'm just waiting on my call up to get to get that invite to Auckland. I've never been to New Zealand so I'm hoping to get down there at some point.

Sean (40:08.29)
I mean, we've worked with teams in in different markets and you know, know the differences, some of the difference between the Australian, New Zealand and, the US markets. But there are some things, I guess, strategically that apply, you know, overall, like you said, that local connection, you know, how do we connect with those local fans, you know, Auckland and Vegas are very different markets, when you're looking at them that way. But is there some of those, I guess, strategic tenants that you are still applying that, you know, again, looking back at the

Vegas Gold Knights expansion very successful and some of the things you did there from a local community as some of those strategies being applied for the Black Knights.

Stephanie Rogers (40:48.644)
Yeah, absolutely. Maybe not as like tactically as here's the actual playbook, right? But certainly at a high level, like the fully entertainment group kind of core values and fundamentals are all the same. It's community, getting involved in the community in a very genuine way, right? Like not just, you know, not just saying that you're a part of the community, but like being out there and helping to…

support whoever needs to be supported again, it comes back to that Knights mentality and they're the Black Knights, right? And so they have the same, mean, frankly, if you wanted to look at the brand triangle, you could still use the exact same brand triangle and you could swap out Auckland for Vegas and you'd still be trying to accomplish the same things. But youth sports development, the women's team development, all of those things are really important to the Foley Entertainment Group sports arm and sports vertical.

representing and being one with the community, being out in the community is another core value of the entire fully entertainment group, regardless of vertical. We might be in sports, we might be in wine, we might be in hospitality, but all of those, we might be in restaurants and foundations, all of those require whatever and whomever to be genuinely connected to the community. yeah, there's not exactly like, it's certainly not.

copy and paste to your point that would feel very disingenuous and the fan bases are very different, the communities are very different. But there are some of those underlying core values that transcend the entire fully entertainment group and certainly live within the entertainment group sports vertical that we're trying to bring to life in Auckland because we know that they matter, right? And they resonate.

Sean (42:30.008)
Well, look forward to seeing the Black Knights in action on the pitch when they make their debut. Stephanie, I really appreciate you taking the time. I want to get to the Sports Geek Closing Five. Do you remember the first sports event you ever attended?

Stephanie Rogers (42:46.212)
Yeah, so my dad actually played three on three basketball in a league that was just with his buddies. It certainly wasn't like a professional or, I mean, it was organized, right? But I just, that's literally the first sports event that I remember going to. think that's probably where my love for the game of basketball came from. And we'd be out there with our snacks cheering dad on and from my very, very young days. so it's fun to reminisce on that.

Sean (43:16.246)
terrific. You would have been to lot of food events and the food scene has changed over the years, but do you have a favourite food memory or a go -to food at a sports event?

Stephanie Rogers (43:28.986)
Yeah, I'm a sucker for popcorn, like salty, buttery popcorn at the sports. You know, if you're in an arena, I love that. If you're out walking around at the golf course or something like that, I also really love a good hot dog or a brat. That's like a classic American sports food at the baseball games and whatnot. I did fancy quite a few meat pies when I was down in Australia, but I'm a big sucker for those kind of classic arena or stadium foods.

Sean (43:56.75)
It does seem to be the divide. If I talk into an Australian guest, they go, I'll meet pie with sauce. And then I'm talking to an American guest, it is a hot dog. It sort of just shows the cultural differences from a sports food point of view. What's the first app you open in the morning?

Stephanie Rogers (44:15.118)
Yeah, so living on the West Coast, I'm an early morning person, but living on the West Coast, I feel like I'm totally behind. During the day, like when I wake up in the morning, everybody's already been awake for hours. So usually the first thing I open is my text to try and catch up on all the group chats. But after that, it's certainly Instagram. That's my go to kind of see what's going on, not only from a new standpoint, but just from a visual, get my creative brain started in the morning when my coffee's sitting in.

Sean (44:40.814)
Terrific. What is there someone that you follow? It might be someone on social or an author that the podcast listeners should give a follow on why.

Stephanie Rogers (44:53.572)
Yeah, I am. I'm a big sports business nerd and I'm a big marketing nerd and I say those, you know, very lovingly. So Jim Stengel, he actually has a podcast as well. called the CMO podcast and he has a wonderful lineup of people that come on and talk about all different types of things. I follow him pretty closely and have learned a great amount about being a marketer at the world -class level, just outside of the sports industry in general and people that are kind of involved in various ways. So

He's one from a marketing perspective that I would offer anybody to or encourage anybody to check out. And from a sports perspective, it's obviously you.

Sean (45:33.306)
Thank you very much. We'll check it out. And the word nerd and geek, it's a safe space here, obviously. And lastly, what social media platform is your MVP? And so you can answer this personally and then potentially put your golden knight's hat on as well.

Stephanie Rogers (45:41.2)
Yeah, exactly.

Stephanie Rogers (45:52.858)
Yeah, so again, personally, I'm to age myself here, but Instagram is my go -to. I can't get locked into TikTok. It's just too much. I got to kind of hone in. I took a break from X for a while because it was too, so know, Instagram is my spot. from a business perspective, I really do think Instagram and YouTube are powerhouses from an engagement and an advertising place. Just the amount of video that you can put out there, the way that people can interact, I think they're really great.

apps to utilize and then have been diving into WhatsApp a lot more. That's something that's very international in nature, but in the States, not a lot of people use it. But as we've started to expand the brand out into the various international markets, we've really started to put together a strategy as it relates to WhatsApp. So excited to see where that one comes to, because my last foray into WhatsApp was when I was in Korea with the President's Cup. So it's been a minute, but looking forward to that.

Sean (46:45.997)
Yep.

It is funny. WhatsApp is the messaging platform of Europe. I just came from Italy and it is pretty much everyone outside of the US is using WhatsApp and it's still trying to figure out where it is as a platform and how it's being used. But it is interesting to see where it might land. Stephanie, I really do appreciate you coming to the podcast. It was great to catch up with you in Vegas for Seat and I hope to make my way back potentially for a Golden Knights game sometime soon.

Stephanie Rogers (47:19.758)
Yeah, thank you, Sean. It was so wonderful to chat with you. We're going to need to get you a sports geek Golden Knights and Black Knights jersey for your wall there. So be on the lookout for those ones. But I look forward to having you in Vegas again soon and seeing you the game. Thanks for having me.

Sean (47:33.752)
Thank you.