Event Recap: Mark Tatum

On Wednesday,November 15th, the ILR Sports Management Club hosted Cornell graduate Mark Tatum, the Executive Vice President of Global Marketing Partnerships for the NBA. Tatum talked with club members about his career path, and shared with us some valuable insights that he learned along the way. We are very grateful that Mark has been a dedicated Cornellian and was able and willing to take the time to speak with our club. Read about the event after the jump.

On His Career Path

Mark Tatum came to Cornell University as a pre-med major, aspiring to become a doctor - he was also a member of Cornell's baseball team. When he realized (with the help of Career Services) that he was more suited for marketing and sales than he was for medicine, he decided to transfer to Agricultural Economics, which is now the Applied Economics & Management major (AEM) in Cornell’s Dyson School.

Through on-campus recruiting, Mark got his first job at Procter & Gamble. In 1994, Procter & Gamble sponsored the Men’s World Cup (hosted by the United States), and had Mark work on the marketing development and activation within the New York/New Jersey area. Mark accredits much of his career success to the fundamental training and knowledge he obtained during his tenure at P&G. Moreover, his work during the World Cup is what sparked his specific interest in the marketing sector of the sports industry.

Despite sending his resume numerous times to professional sports organizations, Mark initially struggled to find work in the field. Mark was then hired by The Clorox Company as Regional Sales Manager. At Clorox, he utilized his resources to gain skills in sales while also expanding upon his network. Yet, he knew hehad a passion for sports marketing (and not packaged goods), and still wanted to pursue a career in this field. After researching the history of sports-business leaders, he observed that the common denominator between them was a graduate degree from business school. Mark made the decision to leave the Clorox Company and earn his MBA from the Harvard Business School.

In between his two years at HBS, Mark had an internship with Pepsi, where he was placed in the sports marketing department - at this time, they sponsored the MLB, the MLS, NASCAR, and Jeff Gordon. At this internship, he was tasked with creating marketing programs for events. He also conducted a field study project that he pitched to an MLB executive. Impressed by Mark’s effort and passion, this executive offered him a position with the MLB where he went on to work with Corporate Sponsorships.

After his stint with the MLB, Mark was offered a job with the NBA in 1999. Since then, he has worked his way up to about every marketing-based position until eventually becoming Executive VP of Global Marketing Partnerships.

On His Role as EVP of Global Marketing Partnerships

Mark’s role is to oversee the sales and marketing for the NBA, which is a multifaceted responsibility - he is responsible for directing the marketing campaigns of the NBA, the WNBA, the NBA Development League, and USA Basketball.

He also has to work with the marketing partners from all of these leagues. Mark summarized this part of his job by asking, “You know when you watch the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest and Blake Griffin jumps over a Kia?” Well, Mark’s the man behind the scenes who makes that possible. He is responsible for finding corporate partners, then creating, executing, and managing joint marketing plans with them - these deals are mutually benefiting both sides. The NBA is able to generate revenue because companies want to be known as “The Official ___________ of the NBA.” Still, Mark customizes a unique marketing platform for each corporation to effectively reach their target markets.

Additionally, he is responsible for all of the NBA’s media sales. Mark says that the league usually focuses on marketing during commercial breaks of NBA games with coverage on ESPN, TNT, and NBATV, since this is the most efficient way to reach the fans. Mark also told us about how teams earn deals through local TV contracts and which games are circulated amongst NBA ownership through revenue sharing.

As head of marketing for USA Basketball (Mens & Women’s), Mark helps determine when and where the team will play, and which corporate partners will be investing in sponsorship. With the anticipation building up for the 2012 Olympics, companies such as Metro PCS, Nike, and Gatorade have invested heavily in sponsorship of the USA Basketball team. For example, one of the major marketing efforts geared toward the 2012 team is the upcoming 20th anniversary of the Dream Team.

On Possible Globalization

As America’s most internationally popular league, the NBA is in prime position to continue its global expansion for many reasons. First, it is an easy game to understand, so it can be watched and learned in any part of the world; whereas, you may find it difficult to understand something like the NFL’s

"Tuck Rule” if you don’t speak English. Another large factor to this was the success of the NBA Dream Team. The success of the Dream Team and the unprecedented collection of talent they displayed in Barcelona left young European spectators in awe (an example of this is Tony Parker wearing #9 on his Spurs jersey in honor of his idol, Michael Jordan, who wore this number as a member of the Dream Team). Lastly, the NBA is the dominant worldwide basketball brand and has no competitors of its caliber. While the best soccer players can play in the English Premier League, La Liga, or Serie A, the world’s best basketball players all strive to play in one league – the NBA.In the NBA, you can conclude who the best in the world is – the most recent championship winner. Yet, on global stages for sports like soccer, that is answered only every 4 years at the World Cup.

This has led the NBA to look into the possibility of adding teams in foreign markets. The NBA ran an experimental trial in 2011 when the Nets and Raptors played 2 sold out games in London . Additonally, three major cities in China have already built modern basketball arenas equipped with the standard amount of seats and luxury suites.

On Social Media

Social media has significantly affected the NBA’s marketing. Brands want to get content out to their customers where they’ll consume it, which has evolved to become mainly through social media platforms – this is effective marketing as it directly connects the brands to their customers. In order to capitalize on this industry trend, the NBA has been at the forefront of social media use such as Twitter and Facebook.

The NBA and its players have also used social media to connect with and educate their fans. One example that Mark noted was Shaq’s support of Tout to reach his fans, and use of it in groundbreaking fashion to announce his retirement. Like he arguably did with Twitter, Shaq brought Tout to the recognition level it is currently at. Mark further believes that the young players will continue to better utilize social media, as it is even more natural to them and “our generation”.

On How to Enter the Sports Industry

Mark Tatum insisted that contrary to common belief, the sports industry is actually more similar than dissimilar to other industries. The fundamental skills needed in sports are the same as other business positions – the process of selling sports takes similar approaches to the process of selling other products. However, the key difference is that people are generally just more passionate about selling sports. He did say, though, that connections are also vital in the sports industry, and can help you get your foot in the door in an otherwise hard-to-enter field.

The key to getting a job in sports is finding your functional passion and then making it happen in sports – you should find what you are best suited for outside of sports, and then apply it to sports (just as Mark did with his sales and marketing skills). Because the industry has so many sectors, you need to find “what” niche in sports business you want to be doing for the rest of your life. You need to create an opportunity to make your passion a reality, by merging your skills with the industry.

Mark stressed that we must use the resources we have available to us. As Cornell students, we have such an extensive and prestigious alumni community that is eager to help us. We should use this to our advantage and reach out to these executives, since most of them remember what it’s like to be in our shoes – a Pay it Forward attitude, if you will. Even if these alumni can’t directly help us, you never know who they know and/or who can help – the more people that know about your passion for working in sports, the better the odds that somebody can and will help you (something Mark learned from personal experience).

Lastly, Mark mentioned that everyone should create a LinkedIn account and use it as a networking tool. LinkedIn has become such an established professional career development tool, and we should take advantage of this while we can – this service can help to make and maintain connections.

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Again, we’d like to thank Mark Tatum for taking the time to speak with our club. Not only did we enjoy learning about the gist of his profession, but it was also a truly rewarding and informative experience for us all. We are truly appreciative for his appearance, and are hopeful to see him again in the near future!

VP Events-elect Reed Longo contributed heavily to this recap.