Event Recap: Team Side Innovation

On March 25, 2014, the Cornell ILR Sports Business Society presented “Team Side Innovation”, a digital panel featuring alumni sports executives Tim McDermott ’95, Eric Kussin ’01, and Jason Pearl ’91. The video of the event can be found below as well as on YouTube.

McDermott, Chief Marketing Innovation Officer for the Philadelphia 76ers, emphasized three major areas in his field— brand, fans and revenue. Kussin, Vice President of Ticket Sales for the New Jersey Devils, oversees the service staff along with working to increase ticket sales. As Managing Vice President, Sponsorship and New Business Development for the San Francisco Giants, Pearl is committed to solidifying a passionate fan base regardless of wins and losses.
 

Tim McDermott '95:

McDermott highlighted the importance of building a deep emotional brand.

“The best brands create a brand that is independent of wins and losses and is independent to a certain degree of players,” McDermott described. “That’s sometimes hard to do but players come and go. My perspective is to not necessarily build brands that are just about players.”

McDermott also touched on the growing use of digital platforms in the marketing field. According to McDermott, it is not about your digital strategy. It is about how you are marketing in a digital world.

For example, in the 1990’s companies created an online version of their business, putting an “e” in front of the company name. But it shouldn’t be like this, McDermott points out. “It’s about a new way of doing business in a digital paradigm,” he explains.

McDermott made clear that core business objectives must be maintained. Reshaping the brand simply because you are using a different means to market the brand is not the correct way to handle a situation.

Eric Kussin '01:
 

Kussin works to build a brand that will keep fans committed for the long run as well. Despite being successful on ice, the Devils have had consistent trouble selling out. Kussin is dedicated to rebuilding the brand and forming a new fan base by getting the word out about how passionate the new coaching staff is.

According to Kussin, fans want to know that even tough the team is at a difficult time selling, there are people within the organization who are committed to the long haul. In his perspective of the growing digital world, he stresses that social media should be used to collect information about fans.

“There is a certain piece of social media where fans want to feel like they are getting special content, but they do not want to be hounded about ticket sales,” said Kussin.

Ticket sales must be done with outside of social media. However, social media can be used as an effective tool for collecting information on the types of people that are a part of the fan base. A unique way to learn more about the fans is to create contests so that the winners can be put in direct contact with the marketing department.

Jason Pearl '91:

Pearl has a similar take on the matter in that building a fan base should not only be about wins and losses.

According to Pearl, there is no doubt that numbers speak for themselves. However, it is imperative that fans leave the stadium feeling like they had a good time regardless of the score. Pearl works to build a partnership to leverage technology, sustainability, and philanthropy.

With this, Pearl is working on building a sustainable and edible garden in a sports facility. The garden will be less of a means to feed the fans, but more of a place fans can gather and where sponsors can “elevate their platform when it comes to wellness, ” claimed Pearl.