#80 The Ballketing Letter
Aftermath from The Masters, FIFA´s OTT, sports initiatives in the metaverse, lessons from the WNBA´s CMO, climate change and sport, a fan engagement flywheel & more!
Hey there Ballketers,
Welcome to post #80! This week:
Some brief thoughts on Tiger's impact on The Masters, FIFA's new OTT, and more moves in the “fitness in web3” space
A tangible set of climate change initiatives in sports
There is more movement in “sports in web3” Check out Phil Jones´ NFT project, the NBA´s new crypto trademarks, or GOALS´ most recent investment round
Resources for business growth and lessons from the WNBA, marketing in the metaverse, how to understand if you have “product-market” fit, what you need to ask your customers, a fan engagement flywheel, Nielsen´s report on how sports properties are reaching global fan bases, and much more
Let´s get down to business!
The worst golfer in town came in last in the club tournament.
Actually, that’s not true. The worst golfer didn’t even enter.
Well, that’s not true either. The worst golfer doesn’t even play.
Seth Godin (As published on his blog)
The Masters may be over but the game of life goes on. Such a great analogy from Seth Godin that reminds us that in reality, failure is not about coming in last place; it is actually not being willing to show up and compete.
By the way, congratulations to this year’s champion at The Masters, Scottie Scheffler, on his dominating victory. Prior to The Masters, Scheffler had already earned more prize money in the first few weeks of 2022 than Golf legend Jack Nicklaus had during his entire career. According to Front Office Sports, after his victory last Sunday his season earnings are at around $10 million.
Here are a few of the most relevant stories around the industry and our brief views on them.
Last week we looked into how Tiger´s presence drove a massive uplift in the interest towards the 2022 Masters. The images of the crowd gathered during his practice rounds were simply amazing.
If you are looking for a “number” that proves the “business value” Tiger brings to the game though, Apex shares a figure worth pondering:
We also talked about STEPN and how they were defining the concept of “earn-to-move” and “incentive-based marketing.”
Well, it seems they have taken a huge leap towards becoming a predominant player in the industry by signing a partnership with ASICS.
I believe this is actually the way to go for big established brands looking to embrace web3. Prior to committing full-time resources towards developing a “web3 playbook”, it might make sense to test the market through a partnership with a smaller brand (which has more focus and is more agile) to get a better understanding of the space.
You can check more “fitness in Web3” initiatives on Fitt Insider.
FIFA is set to launch its own OTT platform: It seems FIFA is making a big push towards gathering 1st party data from the millions of fans it has around the world. In an effort to improve its D2C strategy, this move is aligned with the termination of the partnership with EA for the development of the legendary FIFA video game franchise.
It makes sense that the governing body of the most popular sport in the world looks for ways to monetize directly from the fans that follow them and test new sources of revenue to reduce dependence on their main business, the World Cup.
As shared on The Milk Road, the NBA has filed for 4 crypto trademarks for “The Association:”
It covers a list of virtual items including “game tickets, game programs, trading cards, collectibles, memorabilia, jerseys” and even “memes” related to NFTs.
Frameworks for the game of life
5 pillars for happiness
This week we start this section with a different type of content and we bring you a framework for happiness explained on My First Million:
See family every day
See friends multiple times per week
Be in nature once a week
Experience something new once a month
Tap into your “caveman's brain” once a quarter
Lessons from the WNBA for your sports brand
The WNBA´s CMO on putting athletes at the center of the strategy
This episode of The CMO Podcast is a “must” for any marketing professional working in sports. The WNBA´s CMO shares how placing the athlete at the center of the organization´s purpose drives the strategy & the storytelling initiatives.
Then, they also discuss the opportunities, the challenges, and what they can learn from other sports leagues such as the NFL.
Resources for growth
Do you have “product-market” fit?
Sean Ellis shared the key question to understand if you have product-market fit on The Breakout Growth podcast:
How would you feel if you no longer could use this product?
A masterclass on product distribution
For those of you offering in SaaS, this episode of Build can be of great value. The success of a given product will rely as much on the product itself as well as the distribution. The 3 step framework to think about distribution is:
How do people find my product?
How do they test it and get value from it?
How do they tell others?
Then, it goes on to discuss metrics and how to identify “product-market” fit so make sure you check it out!
7 questions to ask your customers
The Exit Five podcast shares 7 questions to ask your customers that will help you obtain insights, develop a strategy, and fuel new content that will help you acquire more prepared customers:
Why did you buy?
What problem were you hoping to solve?
What were you afraid of before buying?
What is your favorite part of the product?
What has changed the most since you bought it?
How would you describe our product to another person?
How did you hear about us?
Another Tik Tok advertising masterclass
The Inbound Success podcast publishes an insightful episode that will help you master Tok Tok advertising. They cover the importance of creating “educational” content, optimizing for CPMs, the importance of geography and so much more.
Into the Metaverse
Marketing in the metaverse
This episode of The Search Engine Journal Show goes from explaining the basics of the metaverse, or the players in the space to real use cases for NFTs, Tokens, or events in the Metaverse. Two main ideas stand out:
You need to be extremely “community-focused”
You don't need to launch an NFT for your own brand; you can invest in it and then join a community aligned with your own brand values.
A Manchester United´s star NFT project
Manchester United star Phil Jones drops by the “Are you Not Entertained?” podcast to discuss his NFT project and how he is using it to build community.
A great episode to understand a practical approach to “ Utility-based NFTs in sports”
Climate Change in Sports
The tangible impact of climate change on sports
Much has been written and said about the importance of “sport” to play an active role in adopting a leading role in the fight against climate change. It is not only the right thing to do, but it is something that carries its own benefit for the industry.
This article by “Global Sport Matters” highlights examples of how climate change has impacted major sporting events such as the Olympics, the risk it has for youth sports, and even what sports industry players can do to help mitigate it.
Southampton's “The Greener Game”
On that note, Southampton is the latest club to organize a “climate-friendly” game. Their upcoming match against Arsenal has been labeled The Greener Game and it includes activities within the realms of waste management, travel emissions, or offering plant-based foods.
The Sports Fan & Team Flywheel loop
Messari shares this interesting framework that shows the fan engagement loop driven by NFTs and how it can drive more revenue for sports organizations.
GOALS raises $15 million
The Milk Road newsletter shares that GOALS got $15M to build the “FIFA of Web3” utilizing NFTs.
In their own words:
The cool thing here is you’ll own all the assets in the game - from the players to the cleats they wear - and it can all be sold or traded.
How major sports properties are reaching global fanbases
Nielsen published this report looking into the evolution of Sports consumption around the world and how the major properties are reaching fan bases around the world across channels like TV, OTTs, or social media.
And that does it for The Ballketing Letter #80! Thank you if you made it to the end of the post and, if you have any feedback, please reach out.
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Keep safe