7 Plays Every Marketer Needs
Marketing an NFL team according to Tim McDermott, CMO of the Philadelphia Eagles, is not all that different than marketing your brand except for one thing—the product performance can vary from week to weak! A closer look at how McDermott and his team tackle marketing regardless of on-field performance, reveals a 7-part playbook that should inspire marketers in just about any field.
Listen Up - Create a Customer Advisory Board
| Lots of brands pay lip service to listening to their customers. With a 35-person season ticket holder advisory board that, according to McDermott, acts as “an extension of our marketing department,” the Eagles are not just gathering complaints but also getting this group to solve many of the issues they raise. |
Go Long - Develop Your Next Generation of Customers Now
Few brands think long-term when it comes to developing their customer base. Since 2004, the Eagles have targeted kids in various ways, including a TV show, a website and a club that McDermott says is “the largest kids’ club membership of any sports team in the United States,” laying the foundation for long-term fans.
Fans First - Think of Your Brand as a Public Trust
| Imagine the impact of more marketers acknowledging that their “fans are the true owners” of the brand. McDermott believes that a fan-centric approach takes a lot of the complexity out of the business of marketing and brand building, remarking, “If you think this way, you simply do what is right for the fans.” |
Tune In - Dedicate Expert Resources to Social Media
| McDermott started building his social team when he returned to the Eagles in 2010. “We needed people who were 100% dedicated to evaluating, understanding and determining how to use all of the new digital media technologies,” he recalls. Now staffed with social media coordinators, his team is “engaging in dialogue with fans.” |
Do Good - But Stick With It
| Since launching its “Tackling Breast Cancer” campaign back in 2004, the Eagles have shown the long-term commitment it takes to truly benefit the cause and the brand. After selling 32,000 pink hats in its first year, the Eagles have gone on to raise nearly $2 million over the last eight years in donations for breast cancer awareness. |
Think Big - About the Business You Are In
Business history is strewn with the carcasses of brands that defined their category too narrowly. This is not a problem for McDermott, who sees the Eagles as more of a media company than a sports team, “aggregating millions and millions of impressions … while producing and distributing content.”
Look Ahead - Leave Some Time/Money For Experimentation
McDermott sees experimentation as essential, especially in the digital world. “I’m fascinated by some of the augmented reality concepts,” notes McDermott, who is excited to see how these concepts can scale and recognizes that the PR alone could make them worthwhile. McDermott imagines augmented reality applications could drive a virtual store that pops up during tailgating parties at the stadium.
| The Eagles have a 40,000 person waiting list for season tickets, were named “Global Sports Team of the Year” in 2011 and ranked 7th among all 32 NFL teams by Forbes in terms of franchise value. Clearly they are doing a few things right. If you’d like to know more, be sure to check out Drew’s extensive interview (Part 1 &Part 2) with the Eagles’ super CMO. |