This week our podcast is with Sarah Unger and Linda Ong, the cofounders of the firm Cultique, which has made an amazing business out of helping brands understand and activate in and around cultural relevance on every level.
One of the things that came up was the idea of the “Permanent Emergent.” Those are the brands, the entities, the sports, the media, that are always seem as coming, yet the rarely emerge. It’s always just over the hill. It sounds hip and cool and we need to know about it down the road, but when will it arrive, or when we stop talking about it.
In sports, that list as included everything from MMA to esports from time to time, and more recently soccer and even the overarching theme of “women’s sports.” While there are many believing the soccer, maybe not yet MLS outside of Messi mania on a large scale, but the global game, is now here, may be close to getting buy in.
The investment in women’s sports, with Title IX firmly entrenched and the anniversary of Equal Prize Money at the US Open and the founding of the WTA Tour reaching 50 years, is also emerging into permanent it seems.
How can that be true? One reason to look at is wide ranging recurrence of engagement. What the heck does that mean? Instances happening across a wide geographic area with different demographics in various silos. OK lets define it more. Women’s soccer drawing massive crowds not just for one team, but for multiple events in multiple countries, from Europe, Australia, the United States and elsewhere, and larger than previous crowds for lets call them regular season events. In the US, college softball drawing growing, not massive but growing attendance numbers and viewership numbers over an extended period. The WNBA drawing larger consistent crowds and consistent media numbers. Athetes Unlimited’s audiences showing double digit growth and engagement for the pro sports in their genres and we have the growth of collegiate volleyball as well, with this week’s massive crowd pulled by the University of Nebraska for their special event in Lincoln.
Those are not collective numbers and engagement tied to an event where the world is literally watching, like the Olympics or the World Cup. They are also becoming less and less an anomaly and more accepted for what they are…well run fun engaged events with world class athletes. They are less the surprise, across multiple instances, and more the accepted route.
Now while all this is great fuel for a fire, there is still a long way to go. Consistent attendance and social engagement needs to keep rising. Brands…not just a few but many on a global scale…need to be able to show ROI on investment and make sure dollars are allocated against activation on a wider scale. Perhaps most importantly, the games and the personalities have to be showcased more and more as ATHLETES, not women’s athletes. One pool, distinct fan bases with great crossover appeal for every gender, every level of fan.
All the data that has been presented over time for “Permanent Emergent” for sports played by women has pointed towards logical growth. Buying power, brand loyalty, higher level of play, deeper talent pools, greater engagement, more media time and a diverse global fan base.
The question was less an if, more a when, and while its probably too soon to say that consistent and widespread is now, it is certainly closer than ever. If you don’t believe it, just look a little wider or wait a few days, another instance in a sport…gymnastics, tennis, golf, racing, rugby, wrestling, will not be far away.
The pool is plenty deep for all, and its NOT at the expense of sports played by men by the way. It’s good business for balance, and new revenue sources coming in. After all as exciting as all this is it still has to show return. It’s not charity, those days are gone.
It’s a rounded exciting portfolio that makes sense. The numbers don’t lie, they just took time to get further along.
