Category Archives: Marketing

So What is the Next Xbox/Sounders Sponsorship Worth?

Posted by Andy in Marketing, Seattle, Soccer, Uncategorized

It’s hard to think back to 2008, back before the Seattle Sounders officially existed in anything more than everyone’s imagination.

The Sounders were to become the 16th team in a league with a couple of marquee names in David Beckham and Landon Donovan. LA, DC and Toronto were the only teams to draw more than 18k fans a game.

So when the Sounders announced that Xbox was going to commit $20 Million bucks to the team and the league, it really seemed like – and was – a large sum of money to risk.

But now as we look at the end of the 3rd year of the deal, it’s the Sounders who can’t wait for the contract to expire. Unfortunately for them, they still have 2 more years of the deal. When you look back, the Xbox media team made a heck of a deal.

At $20 Million over 5 years, you are looking at a deal that is only $4 million a year. For that 4 million Xbox got rights to the front of the jerseys, signage in all MLS stadiums, naming rights to Xbox Pitch at Qwest (then Century Link) Field, and TV spots on all broadcasts.

Let’s look at some of the other deals in the MLS (sourced from The Brotherly Game):

  • Red Bulls: Red Bull @ $50 Million total, including stadium naming rights. But they also own the team.
  • Real Salt Lake: Xango @ $5MM per year.
  • Galaxy: Herbalife @ $3.5 – $5MM per year.
  • DC United: Volkswagen @ $3MM per year. (A few other deals are in this range, like Philly/Bimbo, San Jose / Amway.)

    • So if we assume the national value to the Sounders sponsor is roughly the same as the value any other team’s sponsor receives, the delta is in the value at home. So lets say maybe 1/2 – 2/3 the value is in national exposure, and 1/3 – 1/2 is in local. If that’s the case, then the national value is about $2 million for each team.

    So in those terms, the local value of DC United’s sponsorship would be about $1 Million per year. For Salt Lake, it’s $3 Million per year. Now the 38,500 fans per game in Seattle just about doubles everyone but the #2 LA Galaxy at 23,000 per game. So if the Sounders drive 2x more fans than Salt Lake, and 2x the TV impressions, you’d have to estimate the local value is at least $6 Million per year (2x Salt Lake).

    There are probably more scientific ways to figure this out, but we don’t have access to impression volumes, jersey sales and hard stats. And we haven’t included the premium that Xbox pays for being the local guys recruiting employees, and the international value of having the team play across Central America and Mexico, or the fact that they’ve gotten a smoking deal the last 3 years.

    So let’s ballpark a number of $9 Million per year to start the new deal in 2014. ($2 Million National Value, $6 Million Local value, $1 Million Premium.) How does that look?

    Do You Do Anything to Drive Customers Away?

    Posted by Andy in Marketing

    Quite often in marketing, we focus on the “Acquisition” aspect of the formula. How do we make someone aware of what we’re selling and then get them to buy it? And usually, the marketing team will get laser focused about the campaigns they are running, evaluating whether those campaigns are being successful.

    But only the savvy marketer will audit the entire company. Is there anything else going on in any other division, where customers are literally being driven away?

    Let’s take a personal example. Years and years ago I bought an Acura from Acura of Seattle. No, out of good marketing, personal laziness or just because I don’t know any better, whenever I need something fixed, or just to buy a certain part, I call Acura of Seattle. The number is even in my Contacts List. (Well, it was. Not anymore. Thanks Apple. Different story.)

    So I need a simple part, so I call the guys down at Acura of Seattle. They don’t have the part, but it can be there in a few days. No big deal. Inconvenient, but not inconvenient enough for me to go looking somewhere else. But then comes the kicker.

    Acura of Seattle: “We’ll need you to come down and pay for it in person, then we can have it sent to you.”
    Andy: “I’ll just give you my credit card over the phone.”
    Acura of Seattle: “Can’t do that. Need you to drive down to Tukwila and pay in person, then we’ll ship you the part.”
    Andy (Staring at phone): “Or I can call Acura of Bellevue.”

    And so I call Acura of Bellevue. They need to order the part as well, but tell me to just come in tomorrow and it’ll be there for me. Done deal.

    So when it comes time for me to buy a new car, it really doesn’t matter what kind of clever marketing campaign Acura of Seattle throws at me. Facebook, Twitter, Direct Mail, it really doesn’t matter. All I’ll really remember is that Acura of Seattle wanted me to drive to Tukwila for no reason and Acura of Bellevue was helpful.

    Moral for the marketers: Find out if other parts of the company are crushing your campaigns…

    Two Fun New Projects Enter Alpha

    Posted by Andy in Entrepreneurism, Marketing, Technology

    As we enter Q4, the team over at Social3i is happy to release two new products into a private alpha stage.

    Relaborate is a tool for helping professionals with Blogging. We’ll debut publicly at NWEN’s First Look Forum.
    Animakast is a project we’re doing with our friends at FlyingSpot. It’s the simplest, easiest and cheapest way to turn new or existing audio content into compelling animated video.

    We love the prospects of both these little start-ups. Let me know if you would like to join our private alpha program for either.

    McDonald’s “I Spy” Interactive Video Campaign

    Posted by Andy in Big Businesses, Marketing, Personal

    Another nice find by DigitalBuzzBlog.

    This McDonald’s campaign asks you to watch a :50 YouTube video and look for a certain character hiding in the scene. If you click on the character, you move on to the next level.

    It’s actually a little hard at first, so don’t lose your patience the first time to get to the end without spotting Grimace. It’s a neat gimmick for a campaign, and definitely something you could replicate if you have the creativity and motivation.

    Opinion – We Need New Events

    Posted by Andy Boyer in Marketing, Seattle

    Now this may not seem like a fair post, since I go to more marketing events than the average person should.  But for a community as creative as Seattle, I’m beginning to think the networking event space has become pretty tame and uninspired.  Don’t get me wrong – the people are great, the venues are fun, and there are certainly more than enough to choose from.  Shauna Causey’s Twestival is awesome, and so is Gigs4Good, but there’s room for more creativity. Here are a few things that strike me.

    1) We need to train up a slew of talented moderators.  It’s tough to admit this, but moderated panels are starting to become the death of a good event.  5 people on a panel is too many, and we don’t need to ask each person the same question.  Let’s put together a diverse panel, let them talk about their expertise, and have moderators ask pointed questions.  We should move away from round-table, generic subjects that the people in the crowd can just as well comment on.

    2) We seem to use the same speakers over and over. I love that Seattle wants to promote its home grown stars.  And I get that there aren’t 500 local celebs to choose from.  But it does seem like we burn up the star power of these folks by putting them everywhere.  There are only a few events like the Ignite series where we get to see a cavalcade of new speakers that don’t have much experience.  And this is great, because it’s a safe environment where people get to work out the kinks in their presentation style, in front of audiences who are forgiving and encouraging. We need a few more places like this, where speakers can take the stage and gain the experience to hit bigger venues.  Let’s break away from the usual 20-30.

    3) We need diversity in the subjects. I think it’s time we go a little bit outside the echo chamber.  Let’s talk to four Bay Area VC’s and find out why they think Seattle is a Tier 2 Startup city.  Let’s invite oil companies and find out why the rest of the country doesn’t mirror our love for green tech.  Let’s listen to politicians explain to liberal Seattle why people still vote Republican in other parts of the country. Basically, let’s bring in people that don’t already think like us.  What do we have to lose?

    4) Can we do something new? Sure, I like standing around and drinking a vodka soda at happy hour with colleagues.  But I also like “doing things” in the few hours I have to spend on these events.  I think NWEN does a nice job of mixing it up.  You have some educational events, some pure networking events, and some that are a hybrid of both.  But overall the whole scene needs more Trivia Quiz, Karaoke nights, ping pong tourneys, miniature golf outings.  We need more places for startups to “launch” their companies in front of a crowd of 200, and networking orgs like SMC Seattle to partner more with volunteer orgs like Seattle Works.  I think it would be way more fun to work at a food bank with my Seattle Marketing colleagues, than just belly up to a bar.  

    These are my quick thoughts on the matter.  I’m not complaining at all, and I think we still have a wealth of interesting people to talk to at these events.  But maybe, just maybe, we have some room for improvement. 

    Social Media Kool-Aid?

    Posted by Andy Boyer in Marketing, Social Media

    Paul Owen from Owen Media published a nice piece today in Xconomy.com, asking if Social Media was a fad that is going away, or something really hear to say.  

    Paul’s piece had a range of comments from other social media firms in town, so I don’t want to repeat everything here.  He did a nice job of grabbing insight from the agencies who specilaize in Community Management and outsourced Customer Support, while also getting input from more full service organizations.  

    Our viewpoint over at Social3i is you’ll only see more commerce through social channels, not less.  There’s a giant blurring between “Wb” and “Social” now, so that they are really one in the same.

    There’s another whole article on privacy to be written, but take that out of the mix and look at two companies that released product in the last week – Color and Zapd. Color has all the fanfare for the amazing (or outrageous) valuation.  Zapd made less noise but comes from a guy who’s launched a lot of startups in his day, Kelly Smith.  Both focus on instant content generation, and the packaging of such content.

    Color takes the idea of friends, and flips it on its ear, turnign everyone in your proximity into co-authors with you.  Zapd lets you take those random photos and turn them into a web page in 60 seconds, so you can share not just the photos, but the whole story, all in the time it takes to in line buying a beer.

    Combine these philiosphies with the GroupOn and Living Social commerce infrastructure, and you can see (well we think you can see) where this is all going.  Add in Facebook credits, more virtual currency, and One-Click purchase technology on the phone, and social becomes more than Facebook customer service posts and Tweeting back and forth at each other from the same party.

    Anyway, check out Paul’s article, and if you think I said anything dumb, feel free to lay into me in the comments section.