Three Lessons From Sport Industry Award Winners That Can Help You Right Now

Last week FEVO headed to foggy London Town as the Headline Partner of the Sport Industry Awards, Sport Industry Group’s annual black-tie gala recognizing the best and brightest in the realm of sports marketing, operations, events, creative and more. Suffice it to say that with 1,700 movers and shakers from across the world of sports in attendance, there was an absurd amount of industry knowledge in that ballroom — and we paid close attention. 

Herewith, three key learnings from the winners that you may feel free to utilize to help your organization thrive. Like we always say, “If you’re gonna crib, crib from the best.”

Create a Power User Group of Your Own

The Winner: Agency of the Year winner Ear to the Ground created a “global network of 11,500+ of the most culturally connected fans in sports, esports and gaming” known as Fan Intelligence. They use this network to deeply understand the wants and needs of the sports fan in an effort to better serve their clients with their creative and strategic offerings. 

The Takeaway: If you haven’t already, create a group of super users that you go to with strategic questions on new initiatives and blindspots. You have thousands to millions of fans, make sure to utilize the most engaged to help you provide better offerings to the rest. 

Diversify the Subjects of Your Social Content

The Winner: The All England Lawn Tennis Club, the organization that hosts Wimbledon, was SIA’s winner for the Best on Social category. This past year was the first Wimbledon in over a quarter century that didn’t feature Serena Williams, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal — to make up for the lodestar pull of these titans, Wimbledon’s social teams had to explore new and diverse tactics, highlighting many stories about the event that may have not otherwise been a focus. 

The Takeaway: Leverage your star players, sure. But don’t be afraid to explore the intricacies of your organization and operations via social media — tell the stories of your role players and turn them into characters and fan favorites of their own. 

Find a Cause and Make Great Content Around It

The Winner: Standard Chartered Bank and Norwich City FC — winners of the Branded Content Award and Campaign of the Year, respectively — both created campaigns around causes near and dear to their hearts. Norwich City's campaign focused on mental health and checking in on those around you, while Standard Chartered partnered with Liverpool to create a campaign focused on women’s sports and the reasons young female athletes walk away from the game. While the causes were different, the campaigns shared impactful messaging that didn’t require big production budgets or complex shoots to make sing.

The Takeaway: Content with a meaningful message doesn’t require a massive monetary investment to grab eyeballs and make a difference.  By finding a cause that’s significant to your organization and exploring it with empathy and heart, you can not only support great causes but also drive some earned media as well. Win win.