Another great week in and around our business. Some notes, listens, reads and thoughts catching our attention as we head towards November. It’s always interesting to see the things that pop up which can be rounded together as we hit the 30th men’s sports equinox as well.
The value of PR…to Linus…With Halloween now here, worth noting that the Battle of The Great Pumpkin was not fought without some solid propaganda. Hence not one but two quotes from Linus as he sat in the Pumpkin Patch…”It’s not your fault, Santa Claus has more publicity.” and “Well, let’s face it; Santa Claus has had more publicity, but being number two, perhaps you try harder.”
Building Your Own Brand; Meet Captain Bayonne. In front of Low Library almost every school day stands a man in full camo, face covered flipping water bottles into trash cans set up 25 feet away. Meet Captain Bayonne, who you can find on social with a full mysterious backstory. He is also an employee of The University (I have never seen him without the mask). As strange as it sounds, he isn’t really looking for attention. He is quiet, respectful of anyone walking by, finishes his daily routine and then goes about his job again. And it being New York, rarely if ever does anyone approach him. Maybe it’s because he does look a little menacing, maybe because it’s just part the Big Apple. Frankly the guy is worthy of a story or two, he has a good Instagram feed and does scores of community and charity work where he wows young people with his unique, and Olympic like skills. Maybe Columbia needs to find a spot for him in athletics as well.
Sports is not abandoning Twitter…As Twitter, or X bashing continues along its merry way (and we do see engagement drop) it is worthwhile to note that at least in one key area…sports, the engagement and use for Twitter continues to be strong per this NY Times piece. One of the reasons? Equity in Community. Media members have built solid, loyal followings, and even with some drop-off in numbers, it is still a go-to place for news, clips and engagement. Building a following is hard, transferring a following to a platform like Threads or BlueSky is impossible, and those who are time challenged, at least for now, would prefer to use Twitter as a go-to vs taking the time to start from scratch. Heck, there is no reason not to post on multiple platforms as well, but at least for now, Twitter and sports are still solid.
Africa Interest. Over the last year the interest in elite teams and leagues engaging with consumers across Africa has been growing steadily. We have seen the NFL with its flag football agenda, and NBA Africa give structure on numerous fronts, including the initiative of growing not just athletic talent, but fans for life. Why? Check out the attached quite from this past weekend’s New York Times. The fastest growing group of engaged young people are now in Africa, and they are digital natives in many ways with a better understanding of the world and the opportunities than the generations that have come before them. There are still many hurdles to climb economically and culturally, and saying we want to do business “In Africa” vs. in an emerging democratic state is fraught with issues. You have to listen, learn and adapt to the culture, while also understanding the deal flow and the political climate country by country. It’s not easy, and this year alone we have heard from people representing “sport development” in no less than seven different nations. We are also entering into another Olympic cycle, so looking for opportunities there will also be of interest. However, as sports brands look to build fans for life, its clear that those investing in select African initiatives may get to bear fruit sooner than later, with young people that can identify and stay loyal for life.
“Storytelling is A Superpower.” That was one of the observations we took away from our podcast with Anneliese Mesilati, Head of Brand Activations, Sponsorships and Events for UBS in North America. Anneliese takes us deep into the reasoning as to why UBS will usually work just with arenas and partners who are well invested in sustainability initiatives, which is a key global focus for UBS. She also gives some great details on why UBS is ingrained in Formula 1 as a property, along with their work in creating their own content series which benefits the core audience of wealth management clients, some of whom are athletes, as a key KPI for success. You can listen to the 45-minute conversation here.
Banana rama: Lastly, it is always interesting to see where branding campaigns can pop. A case in point was on some Dole Bananas this morning. There amongst the green and yellow was a promotional sticker with a code for the upcoming animated film “Wish.” The story focuses on a 17-year-old girl named Asha who makes a passionate plea to the stars in a moment of need when she senses a darkness in the Kingdom of Rosas, located off the Iberian Peninsula, that no one else does. I remember Disney did a similar campaign tied to Moana, which given its Polynesian storyline seemed to make great sense. This one? We await the trailer to tie all the bunches together. Still, an interesting, albeit unconventional play to draw young family attention.
Onward to see what the week holds next…
