Event Recap: MetLife CMO Beth Hirschhorn

On Thursday, April 12th, the ILRSMC hosted MetLife Chief Marketing Officer Beth Hirschhorn. Hirschhorn, who graduated from Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology in 1988, deals with sports sponsorships. Some of these sports sponsorships include the MetLife blimp, the outfield signage at the new Yankee Stadium, and a cornerstone at the New Meadowlands Stadium. She discussed these sponsorships with our club, as well as her roles as Chief Marketing Officer, career advice, and more. A more thorough recap can be found after the jump.

On the roles of Chief Marketing Officer

The Chief Marketing Officer has a wide variety of duties. First, s/he is responsible for brand management. This mostly occurs through building the brand’s value. Secondly, he/she is also responsible for advertisement and promotion. It is only half the battle to establish the brand, as it still needs to be brought to the attention of the mass media. Much of this advertising and promotion is done through sponsorship, another duty that belongs to the CMO. The company needs support from sponsors in order to increase their value and exposure. Furthermore, the Chief Marketing Officer has some lower-key, but equally important, duties such as eBusiness, Conference and Event Management, Creative Services, and Mature Market Institute.

On the tracking and measuring of sponsorships and hospitality events

It is hard for a company to see exactly how successful their advertising efforts are. However, there is more and more empirical data is becoming available, allowing companies to measure the effects of their advertisements. This data comes from viewership ratings, consumer research, event attendance, media coverage, promotions results, and surveys. Hirschhorn also told us that Internet advertising is the easiest advertisement method with which to measure return on investment.


On the MetLife blimp

The MetLife blimp is so successful because it is essentially a floating billboard; this is probably the best type of billboard because it draws attention and attracts a large audience. Additionally, the MetLife blimp benefits others by providing aerial coverage that is otherwise unattainable. This allows MetLife to partner with networks – the blimp covers the event and the network mentions MetLife - and ultimately enhances the fan experience, rather than interrupting it. The result is mutual profit gains for the network and MetLife. Much of the blimp's coverage takes place during sporting events because it is one of the most prevalent live events on television. However, the blimp does have some flaws. The blimp doesn’t send a message, it just simply states the brand name. Also, the blimp is limited by not allowing for any fan interaction.

On the Yankee Stadium outfield signage

MetLife has a large billboard in centerfield of the new Yankee Stadium. The goal of this billboard is to gain public relations value. That is, people who go to the stadium will indirectly engage with the brand, and hopefully will further engage it once they leave the stadium. However, a mere sign won't necessarily connect with the audience, so MetLife has to be pro-active with their activation strategies. For example, MetLife set up a countdown to the opener of the new stadium where celebrities pulled the lever each day. This brought much media attention, where the MetLife brand was visibly present. Additionally, MetLife activated the Yankees Player of the Month award by allowing consumers to enter a sweepstakes to be the ones to hand the prize to the winner. This allowed for direct fan engagement with the brand; the Yankees already had the award, but MetLife activated it for promotion.

On being a cornerstone partner at the New Meadowlands Stadium

MetLife has its own section at the New Meadowlands Stadium, which can be seen from outside and inside the stadium. MetLife owns 45,000 square feet at the corner of the stadium; the other three corners belong to Budweiser, Pepsi, and Verizon. MetLife uses this area to share company information and engage with fans through on site marketing opportunities and designations/markings. They have to do more than the other cornerstone partners, however, because those companies can better =promote themselves with beer gardens, soda, and cool technology.

MetLife chose to be a cornerstone partner because the stadium is visible, busy, versatile, and flexible. For example, the stadium hosts two professional football teams in the world’s biggest media market, New York. Additionally, the New Meadowlands Stadium will do business beyond football in the future, with plans to host events such as soccer games and concerts. Furthermore, the stadium offered additional assets such as radio time and a suite within the stadium to entertain clients and host meetings. MetLife didn’t want to fully sponsor the stadium because the cost to do so is very high, and there is no proven metric for return on investment of stadium branding.


On the future of sports marketing

Hirschhorn believes that we will see much more activation in sports marketing. This means that when companies team up with a sponsor, they will actively promote this partnership and each other’s brands. She believes that activation strategies of sponsors haven’t been as prevalent as they should be, but that trend is changing. In the meantime, though, MetLife is taking advantage of this limited activation, in order to provide mutual gains to the sponsors and the brand. Additionally, she believes that social media will be utilized more. This will mostly be done through creating dialogue with fans. Currently, it is predominantly the sponsor pushing out the message, but more participation feedback from audience will allow for greater profits.

Career advice

Hirschhorn advised us to take exams for graduate school, such as the LSATs and GMATs, during our time as undergraduates. She believes that this is the time that students are in their best “test-taking mode." Hirschhorn also advised us that when looking for our first few jobs, we should not be concerned with salary or future jobs, but rather the job that allows us to best develop our skills; skill-building can be best done in a real working environment. Lastly, she offered us the tip to always be networking and to always be expanding this network.