Matt Pike, Atomic 212: What Australian marketers could learn from US live sports extravaganzas

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Screen Shot 2017-06-07 at 9.01.17 am.jpgBy Matt Pike (left), group digital director and client lead, Atomic 212°

Have you gone along to a local live sporting event lately? While Australia unquestionably has some of the best athletes on the planet – seriously, if the likes of Johnathan Thurston or Patrick Dangerfield had been brought up playing football, they’d be dominating the Champions League with their talent – the matchday experience off the pitch is seriously underwhelming.

For those who say that it should be enough to simply enjoy the fabulous skills of the players, I say, “Have you tried bringing a ten-year-old to a match?”

The keenest ten-year-old has trouble maintaining focus for half an hour, let alone an 80-minute rugby league match, a 90-minute football game or four 20-minute quarters of an AFL match, and that’s not including the significant extra time ticking away for injuries, stoppages and breaks.

Our sporting leagues command top dollar when it comes to broadcast rights, and fair enough, because they attract millions of eyeballs each and every weekend.

I can’t help but feel the Australian sporting experience at the ground is going begging. A live audience of between 10,000 and 60,000 people is nothing to sneeze at – in fact, it’s a golden opportunity, considering the vast majority have the common interest of the given sport they’re attending, making it a targeted (and more importantly, engaged) audience for the right products.

Who cares about jumping castles?

In 2013, then-NRL CEO Dave Smith laid out plans to make his game’s matchday entertainment a marque event. He said: “Every time someone watched a game on television we want them to be wishing they could actually be at the ground”.

Smith proceeded to outline a plan based on what he called “E-squared… entertainment and engagement”.

“Rides, jumping castles, bands, video packages, great moments of the past echoing through the stadium – there should be something to engage everyone from start to finish, so you leave talking about your plans for the next game.”

Unfortunately for poor ol’ Dave, the only part of his plan people took away from that was “jumping castles” and he was roundly ridiculed.

Because, while we all enjoy a bit of a bounce now and then, that staple of travelling carnivals hardly spells excitement and a match-day experience.

And that’s what sport should be aiming for – a full-day experience that grabs and holds attention, that breeds hype and fanaticism, not just something to kill time before the whistle blows.

How it’s done properly

There are dozens of examples of a great match-day experience the world over, but perhaps the best is – of course – in the USA.

I once headed up to the Bronx in New York to watch a Yankees game. The excitement had begun days in advance, as I’d managed to snag entry for just $5 – it was Visa night, with customers of the credit card able to get basic tickets for a measly fiver!

It’s hardly a one-off – have a look at the club’s promotions page. There’s Yankees cap night, Yankees shirt night, bat night, Star Wars night – virtually every game has got a major sponsor, who ensures anywhere from 10,000 to everyone in attendance receives merchandise upon arrival, or heavily discounted entry.

And that’s just the start. The stadium itself is a monument to consumerism (only in America!), with stores, bars offering at least half a dozen different choices of alcoholic beverage, and dozens of concession stands selling delicious eating options for all appetites.

The game itself has a highly interactive element, as a ball never lasts longer than five minutes. If a foul ball lands in the crowd, the lucky catcher keeps it. But if a fielder takes a catch, he likewise lobs the ball into the masses. It’s a virtual guarantee to turn a kid who was dragged along with their dad into a lifelong fan of the game.

Then there’s the entertainment during breaks in the game. The change at innings has dancers, giveaways, competitions – it just never ends.

Best of all for marketers, almost everything is sponsored, giving fantastic brand exposure in front of a captive audience of tens of thousands, as well as overflow from TV audiences.

Don’t sit around and wait

Obviously we love to throw up reasons as to why we can’t do the same thing here on our massive, spread-out, underpopulated island nation.

But why can’t we?

Obviously, given the match-day experience in this country has gone largely unchanged for decades, the sports’ governing bodies are unlikely to bring about seismic change.

So why don’t marketers?

Sponsors could work with a given code to help improve its match-day offering, which would simultaneously give the brand a chance to tell their story in a positive way to a captive audience.

Steeden, the official ball of the NRL, had a crack at it in 2013, donating 40 balls to the St George Illawarra Dragons on the proviso that any ball which went into the crowd was to be kept by the lucky punter who caught it.

The 10,992 people in attendance was well down on the season average of 12,423, but at least they gave it a go.

Sponsors could even build performance aspects into contracts – if they improve the match-day attendance as compared to the same game last year, costs could be offset.

Advertisers and marketers are all about buying an audience, but by getting on the front foot with our sporting codes, we can build an audience together, and both reap the substantial benefits.

It’s not about gimmicks, because gimmicks wear off pretty quickly. It’s about creating an event that’s sustainable, that tells a brand’s story, and has people wanting to come back for more week after week.

Anyone who has experienced first-hand the fanaticism at live sporting matches in Europe and the US will know what I’m talking about. Not only as a sports fan, but also as a marketer, I’d love to experience something similar in Australia.