One of the best…and the worst…parts of being in the sports industry on the team and league side is its cyclical nature. Although there is rarely an offseason these days, you have a start date, at least some fashion of an end date, dates of events along the way and a cadence that can be plotted to.
Great. That’s the opportunity.
The challenge, and the real opportunity, is in breaking the cadence so that you are representing a core product that is similar but with twists that make it valuable to the consumer to keep coming back. While there are some people who will watch a movie endlessly, or go to a show time after time, or attend concerts with the same acts numerous times on a tour, there is a law of diminishing returns because the same…especially with a great amount of investment in discretionary dollars, will slowly slow down those coming back.
Now the beauty of sport at its core is that it is unpredictable, and even if you go to 81 home baseball games, there is always the chance that you will see something or experience something with a community watching live that you, or anyone else, has never seen before. That’s the beauty of showing up with an unscripted product…the wonder of what we will see.
Even with that wonder, that chance of the surprise, there is still the easy opportunity for those who work at teams, or leagues, to get stuck in the cyclical rinse and repeat…this is how we have always done it, and it’s easier to just keep doing it over and over. No risks, similar rewards for the most part.
That’s boring. It does not stimulate your creative ability to grow, no matter how much it is enticing just to keep doing the same. You also run the risk of a lack of challenge, and suddenly you haven’t adjusted, and the numbers are down. Then radical change is needed to jumpstart the business again.
The best are always tweaking, reinventing, learning and growing even as the core remains the same.
The last few weeks I got to watch and learn as two legacy properties…the Harlem Globetrotters and USAA’s work tied to the annual Army-Navy game…took shape. Here are two properties steeped int tradition. Fans and supporters love what they see when the Globies or Army-Navy are mentioned and they close their eyes and harken back to experiences past…yet both have to constantly adjust and prove relevance to a world that is always changing and looking for new.
In the case of Army-Navy, USAA is always tweaking the fan experience model to bring in a new theme, a new way to use technology, a new element to story tell, so that they are adding value to those coming to the game for the first time while at the same time surprising the repeat customer with a little extra they had not seen or touched before. The core of the day remains the same and shouldn’t be tweaked…but the fringe gets re-envisioned and repolished so all can be explained through images and touch points that are refreshed and different from the past. Surprise and delight 101 for a massive brand that could keep things status quo but wants to change it up.
In the case of the Globetrotters, a 99 year old brand still has relevance especially to families around the world. The antics, the routines, the joy, are universal. However is it universal enough to return year after year to see the show? Even the most stories traditions…The Radio City Rockettes for example…have to constantly tweak and change so that people come back, feel like there is a twist and keep sharing the experience with others. For the globetrotters that has meant more owmen, international players, different takes on routines without radicalizing the process. New and improved beats same old every day.
For teams and leagues, some traditionalists question alternate jersey’s, different music, changing floors, different themed campaigns and the like. However to stay constant and relevant all are needed to make sure everyone stays fresh and engaged, without alienating the core who love he essence of the team, the traditions of attending and the value of fandom.
Adjusting and doing is more valuable than just doing to do which is a dangerous and sometimes pretty easy, habit to fall into in a cyclical business. A little change is not a bad thing, and today brings a new opportunity. Keep enjoying and advancing forward. And if you question the change, ask yourself how long you would keep spending on the same shirt or the same color cabinets in your house. Chances are it would not be the same forever, just like the same can stop any brand advancing.
Fresh stirs change the look, but the core elements remain the same. What a fun way to grow.
