Are you interested in the powerful intersection of PR and the sports industry? Today’s episode is for you. We’ll uncover how strategic communication, brand management, and fan engagement drive success on and off the field. Ryan Kantor, Director of Partnership Sales for the LA Clippers, explains in detail how PR and marketing campaigns build loyal communities and create unforgettable moments. Grab your headphones and get ready to learn how to score big with PR in the sports marketing arena.
imPRessions Season 2 Episode #9 Transcript
Kalli: Hey, Jenn.
Jenn: Hi.
Kalli: So, Jenn, I know neither of us are super into sports.
Jenn: Nope.
Kalli: But I have to say, as a PR person, the weather’s getting nicer. So, you know, baseball season is coming up. A lot more things going on. And I know there’s so many really exciting marketing campaigns that these sports teams are coming out with.
Jenn: True, true. I have seen some pretty creative stunts in the last few years, particularly with movies that I think are really interesting that you would never expect at, you know, like a baseball game, for instance. But I don’t quite follow sports enough to really know too much about the world of sports marketing and whatnot, but it has caught my eye, and I’m not even a sports fan. So.
Kalli: Well, good news. Today, we have Ryan Kantor, who’s the director of partnership sales for the L.A. Clippers, coming on to talk to us about the evolution of sports marketing. So, we’ll be able to learn more about the parts of sports that interest us.
Jenn: Sounds good.
Kalli: Let’s get to it.
Jenn: Grassroots initiatives to global spectacles in the world of sports marketing have witnessed an unprecedented evolution. It’s not just about selling tickets or jerseys. It’s about crafting compelling narratives, building fan communities, and creating unforgettable experiences that resonate long after the final whistle blows. Ryan Kantor, director of partnerships sales for the L.A. Clippers, has orchestrated campaigns and pioneered innovations that have redefined the playbook. And he’s joining us today to discuss the evolution of sports marketing. Hi, Ryan, thanks for being here. Kalli and I are so excited to chat with you today.
Ryan: Hi. Thanks for having me.
Kalli: Yeah, so today, we’ll be covering the sports industry. But before we dive in, Ryan, can you share a bit about your background? And, you know, has sports always been a passion of yours?
Ryan: Yeah. It has. I’ve spent my entire career in the sports industry, moved around to different properties and teams, but spent a long, long time, a decade in total across a couple different stints with the LA Dodgers. I was with the Honda Center in Anaheim, Ducks in Orange County, and currently with the LA Clippers. As we get ready for a very, very exciting, uh, upcoming year as we open the Intuit Dome later this summer, our new arena for both Clippers and Event space, where we’ll be hosting concerts and other events. So a pretty transformative time for the franchise as well. So busy, busy times. Lots going on. But yeah, always, always in the sports space. Always been something that I’ve enjoyed doing for a long time now.
Jenn: I have to ask. Favorite sports team and favorite sport?
Ryan: Oh, it’s a good question. I certainly start to get biased when I start to work somewhere, and there’s a face behind the name of the brand. You know, I no longer think of the ducks as a hockey team. It’s like, oh, I have friends that work there. And so, you know, you start to meet people throughout the industry and you start to root for teams because, oh, a good buddy of mine works for this team in this city. And I’d like to see him win or her win. But I will say I was very lucky. Having grown up in Los Angeles and growing up a baseball fan, I was a Dodger fan, and so it was a dream of mine to one day work there, and I worked there across a couple different stints. So I still have a ton of friends at the Dodgers and, uh, you know, always cheering for their success.
Jenn: I love that. I desperately wanted to work for the Yankees. I’m a baseball fan and I’m a big Yankees fan. It must be just so cool to work for the team that you that you loved, especially since childhood.
Ryan: It’s such a unique part of working for sports. Is the fandom associated with it? Like, you walk around and, you know, in LA you see people wearing hats of the team that you work for. Or I was out to dinner last night and I saw someone wearing a Clippers sweatshirt. Uh, you’re not always privileged to, like, that’s the brand that I work for that someone is walking around representing who may not have a direct tie to the team other than they like to support them. And it’s just a unique thing to be a part of in the sports industry.
Jenn: Yeah. And on the flip side, I’m sure all your friends and family want free tickets.
Ryan: They definitely do. They definitely do.
Jenn: So sports marketing has evolved well, you know, like every industry. Right. But specifically sports marketing through the years. What are some of the key transformations that you’ve witnessed as an expert in the field?
Ryan: There has been a lot there has been a ton over the years. You know, my time coming into sports was early days of social media and how that has taken off obviously very drastically over the last decade plus and is, you know, now a mainstay in a way that it was a little bit more fringe back when I was first starting. But I think the biggest change holistically is just the brand. Marketers are smarter. Everything is way more custom than it used to be. The audiences they’re looking for are much more targeted than they used to be. This is an industry that has evolved from simply signage to signage. Plus, it’s signage plus and engagement or social or audio or an on-site experience. There’s so much that goes into these conversations that 20 years ago it was a little bit more streamlined. And I think it comes from brand marketers being more dynamic and smarter than ever, and brands having a better understanding of what moves the needle for them and the audience they’re trying to speak to. And it forces in a good way, the sports industry to get smarter and for us to evolve and for us to get more creative. And I think you’re going to continue to see that as technologies evolve, sports will continue to evolve
Kalli: That’s something even though I’m not as big of a sports fan, my husband is a huge sports fan. And even for me, just kind of like looking in from the outside, seeing the different types of marketing that are coming out. You know, that’s the thing that I pay attention to. You’re 100% right. Like they’ve changed so much, you know, from, you know, when I was a. Kid, or just starting college and starting to think about marketing and communications. You know, seeing what was going on and to now seeing, you know, the campaign that are presented. So, actually, that leads me a little bit into my next question. How do you approach the balance between traditional marketing methods, such as TV ads and billboards, and those newer digital marketing strategies in the sports industry?
Ryan: Yeah, I think everything’s tied together. I think you look at what a brand finds valuable between brand awareness to traffic, driving, engagement, experiential, and that’s where these different elements can all weave together. And so you can have something that isn’t just one element that isn’t just a TV ad, it can be a TV ad plus audio plus on-site, plus brand awareness, social digital, community engagement, hospitality. Maybe that’s something that’s servicing a sales team that wants to host people. And that’s the beauty of our world. And my world is, is it’s a pretty clean slate in terms of where we start. And we try to build from a partnerships perspective, something that really hits on all of those key initiatives of what is going to make the most sense for the brand. And all of those different elements are tied together in some respect or another to make that fit work.
Jenn: So, I want to talk a little bit more about the partnerships. But before we do, I want to I want to tell you my one of my favorite marketing campaigns that happened at an MLB game. So I’m a huge horror fan. I love horror movies, and I don’t know if you’re familiar with the movie “Smile”, came out a few years ago, and you might not even know this marketing campaign yourself, but they had the actors and kind of so quick premise for anybody listening. The premise of the movie is basically, in a nutshell, these weird people like to smile, and, I don’t know, attack people. I actually don’t remember. But anyway, the marketing behind the movie was really amazing and they had the actors at I don’t remember which particular MLB game it was, but they were seated in the stadium just giving these creepy smiles, and they were projected on the screens. They were disguised as creepy clowns, and they appeared throughout the stadium. And it just created this very, like, immersive and unforgettable experience. And when I saw that, I just thought how cool it was that two different industries kind of collided. And I thought the approach was so fantastic. I always thought that was such an interesting concept that the movie did.
Ryan: That’s such a funny example because I think depending on who you ask, you’ll get different feedback. I think some would say it was genius. And in a lot of ballparks, that was guerrilla marketing. And some people say, I hated that. I can’t believe that a movie studio did that. So it was really smart because it got people talking about it, and it got people who maybe aren’t even baseball. Fans saw the images on social media. What was really unique about that was the simplicity of it. They were sitting behind home plate in most stadiums and creepily smiling at the camera and positioned in a place where you could see them on broadcast. But I think that’s such a great example of two things: one, creativity of how much that now cuts through the clutter. And that’s what brands are asking teams and agencies and venues to do now is how do I get creative? How do I do something that speaks specifically bespoke to my brand? And it’s not easy because there’s bandwidth and there’s other factors and other partners and other things that we’re trying to do that we need to balance everything. So it’s easier said than done. But I think that’s so telling of how the sports industry has changed is the creativity and complexity around partnership marketing in particular, but also social media. Going back to how much social media has changed the game and that it has become the focal point in a team’s marketing initiatives, a brand’s marketing identity, a lot of conversations between brands and teams in a way that it was often an afterthought. Even ten years ago, it was a secondary piece in a way that it’s now more centered on so many conversations, so obviously nothing earth-shattering there in terms of the importance of social media. But I do think in the sports world it’s really interesting how much that’s pushed change into the ways that brands look at how they involve partners and how they speak to their own audiences.
Jenn: Yeah, absolutely. They have to kind of stay on top of the trends. And that particular example I thought was just really interesting and genius. And you’re right; everybody kind of had a different emotion behind it, but that’s what it was supposed to evoke. So it was very successful. So, as you mentioned, your role with the LA Clippers largely focuses on brand partnerships. I’d love to learn a little bit more about that. How does sports marketing intersect with different areas like sponsorships, branding, and fan engagement?
Ryan: It’s tied in a way where the team having successful marketing campaigns and speaking to their own audience in an authentic way that’s resonating with the Clippers audience, is potentially going to directly affect the success of a marketing partnership. And so it’s so important that our team connects with our fans and in an authentic way that your gameday experience as a fan coming to a game is what you were looking for, or maybe exceeded expectations in a way that you have a positive reflection on your engagements with us, whether that’s on social or in person or on email. And that’s where the power of these brand partnerships really come together.
Kalli: So, what makes a brand an ideal partner? And like, what are some of the creative ways you’ve seen a sports team implement something unusual into the marketing? I know we talked a little bit about, you know, the “Smile” example. So, you know, having film and sports, you know, and obviously, it’s not a sports film, you know, something very different. And I’ll be honest, if I saw was sitting next to someone with a creepy smile at a game, probably would make sure I had more people with me next time. So I know who’s sitting next to me. But you know, what are those kind of standout, unusual marketing examples that you’ve experienced or that you’ve seen?
Ryan: Yeah. I think to answer the first point, the creativity around the brands is also very helpful. It isn’t just a hurdle. It’s pushing us to be more creative and engage our audience and authentic ways. But understanding the power of sports, I think, is a huge part of this, and how sports galvanize people and the passion around sports audiences and brands who really want to tie into that passion. Our brands that I think really see the full value of sports marketing, because there’s so many areas in which you can look at marketing, right? There’s so many avenues that are fighting for people’s attention on a daily basis. Why sports? It’s because there’s something about the passion of sports and the community of sports that’s unique and different. And so when you’re coming at it from a creative perspective and, in a lot of ways, looking at it from a bigger picture, longer-term viewpoint, I think that’s where we all find the most success between the team and the brand partners. About the unique, you know, brand partnerships that I’ve worked on, a number of crazy ones. Things that I never thought I’d be doing, like how to get a mascot can throw a first pitch when they can’t see out of their head, all kinds of wacky ones. But I think a really unique one was I worked on a partnership with a cemetery partner, which is not the first brand that you think of when you think of sports and taking families out to a sporting event, uh, when everything’s happy and engaging and exciting.
Kalli: A little bit different.
Ryan: A little different, yeah. Different. Yeah. But this brand understood that, right? They knew, hey, we don’t want to come in and talk about death and be depressing. What this was, was thinking about event planning and the way that you think about financial planning of, hey, I’m planning for retirement. This was a big financial hurdle. It’s often a massive, unexpected financial burden on families when there is an unexpected passing. It was talking about it in a way where it was tying in sports because it was a captive audience, and it’s a very family-friendly environment, but doing it in a way that was incredibly tasteful and not in your face and wasn’t banging you over the head about by a cemetery plot. And so I’m actually really proud of the ways that we engage with an audience that I think was meaningful, but also wasn’t distasteful and wasn’t taking away from the fact that you’re here to come to a sporting event and have fun, and no one’s trying to take that away from you.
Kalli: I mean, I think that that’s actually really good and probably like. I think it is a great example because think about it between the “Smile” where the creepy people are sitting next to you and talking about funeral planning. It’s like, you know, you’re at a sports game, you want it to be fun. And, you know, a lot of times you’re there with your family, like you said, or, you know, or your friends. So, you know, that’s definitely a fine balance. And that’s really where a lot of creativity comes in. So that’s really cool to hear about.
Ryan: Yeah. And it’s so much of our day-to-day is finding that balance and doing it in a way that makes sense for both brands, because if it’s a failure for the brand, it’s going to be a failure for the team.
Jenn: This is so my episode right now. We’re talking about cemeteries and horror movies. I never get this. I’m so excited. I have another horror example: when The Purge came out. There’s like a million of them. And again, I don’t recall the team, but it was in the NBA, and they were giving out the purge masks to people in the stands. And they were, you know, the purge alarm that goes off in the movie that, like, announces the purge is now active, and you can go and kill and do whatever the hell you’re supposed to do. They were also having that during the game. So yeah, just what a fun episode for me.
Ryan: That’s a great example of the creativity in our world. If a movie studio calls and says, “Hey, we want to give out a bunch of masks and have the purge alarm go off,” it’s not like, okay, let me go look at the books and see what we charge for that. There’s creativity around here that exists in the partnerships world that it’s not quite the same as selling a ticket where the guardrails are a little bit more defined. We have to get creative on both sides on how we execute something. What are the elements we need to bring into the conversation to make sure this works? So that’s a great example of using creativity in the background of sports to create something that I think was hopefully really impactful.
Jenn: Oh yeah, and it’s so easy. They just have to ship off some masks and, you know, and the “Smile” campaign that they did, they just had standing actors be creepy. Like there really isn’t a lot of effort into it. And there’s not a lot of money, but there’s such an amazing result, you know, from it just it’s so effective and so simple. So, aside from the teams, I want to talk a little bit about the players themselves. Can you discuss the role of athlete endorsements and brand partnerships within the sports industry and how they influence consumer perception?
Ryan: Yeah, it’s a really interesting time with NIL and athlete endorsements. And you know they can be incredibly powerful. They are literally a face to so many sports franchises in professional sports. It’s something where the teams are very mindful that these are individuals who can chart their own path and make their own decisions on how to monetize their likeness. So, we work with athletes all the time. But in many regards, when it comes to specifically endorsing a product, the brands are letting the athletes make those decisions on their own and what the compensation setup looks like for them. They get to decide that on their own as individuals, but it is incredibly powerful, and it’s also potentially a double-edged sword, which is interesting of different things that I’ve seen in the past working with brands, because when you work with an individual and maybe make that individual the face of your own brand, whether that’s an athlete or a celebrity, for better or for worse, you’re tied into that individual. So, if that individual gets a DUI, that’s not only a bad reflection on them, but it’s a bad reflection on you and your brand as someone who is potentially directly tied into it, where the teams have benefited has been, you know, we’re a collection of multiple athletes and hundreds of employees. There can be a bad egg, and the brand still exists on its own. And it’s been unique because I’ve talked to brands who have been burned by this in the past and kind of going all in with 1 or 2 individuals who ended up doing things that were not a great reflection. And so it’s a fine balance between the power of an individual athlete; social media and TV broadcasts, in particular, have enabled athletes in today’s day and age to have way more of a voice and way deeper of a connection to fans than ever before. But at the same time, if something unforeseen were to happen to that individual, it’s a unique reflection on the brand in a way that a team may be able to avoid, because we are a collection of individuals.
Kalli: You know, I think that’s a really good point and something that is very unique to sports, in particular for teams. Players can be on the teams for a long time or, you know, other not just the players but the other individuals. Fans are lifelong fans and, you know, they’re generational fans. So you’re really building brand loyalty across generations. So, what are some key strategies for effectively engaging the fans and building loyalty to that extent?
Ryan: It’s a great question. And it’s not easy. It’s a challenging dynamic that I think every team deals with how do we engage with our fans, how do we do it in a way that’s different and unique from what other teams are doing, and how do we really make an impact? We have a captive audience. Every sports team, whether they play seven games a year or 162 games a year, has a captive audience. And so speaking to that captive audience in a meaningful way is a big part of that dynamic. But how do you engage with those fans outside of games? How do you engage with season ticket holders on off-site events in the off-season, and what decisions are you making to continue to build, hopefully, a community of fandom that extends beyond just the games? And so it’s not an easy answer. I do think, in a lot of regards, that’s where partnerships can help, is we can work with brand partners and leverage the two together to create a dynamic where we’re speaking to our fans and engaging them in a way that we’re providing additional value beyond what a traditional team can provide. But it’s something that I think brand marketers on the team side and on the league side are every day trying to brainstorm of how do we continue to keep people engaged in a day and age when there is such a battle for attention and entertainment options and tick tock and streaming services? Why spend your hard earned money and time watching sports coming to sporting events? Because we need to create a great experience in an exciting atmosphere.
Jenn: Absolutely. Agreed. This has been an incredible conversation. Just being able to explore the highs, lows, and game-changing moments that have defined the sports industry. Thank you so much for sharing your insights today, Ryan, for indulging me in my horror conversation and ultimately just reminding us that sports marketing isn’t just about selling. It’s about connecting, engaging, and igniting passion across the sports universe.
Ryan: Thank you. Appreciate it.
Jenn: A special thanks to our listeners for joining us on yet another episode. Don’t forget to subscribe, review our podcast, follow us on social media, and tune in every Wednesday for new episodes. Drop us a line anytime and imPRessions@pollackgroup.com. Bye for now.
