Courtside Marketing: Inside the Pacers & Fever Brand Experience

Transcription – Courtside Marketing: Inside the Pacers & Fever Brand Experience

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Welcome to the Proof Point Podcast where we decode digital success one click at a time. We share key takeaways fueled by data and insights that your team can implement today to drive growth. Now let’s get started.

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This is Stacie Porter Bilger, your host for the Proof Point Podcast where I feature B2B and D2C businesses and thought leaders sharing marketing, data tech, sales strategies, and leadership insights that will kickstart your growth in this rapidly changing digital space. This episode is brought to you by Proof Digital. Proof Digital is a strategic and creative performance marketing agency.

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We partner with companies to create data-fueled marketing sales funnels and overall growth strategies. Visit proofdigital.com to learn more. I am super excited to have our guest on today.

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A team member of ours, Victoria Dominesey, is a Notre Dame grad and an English major and she reached out to a fellow storyteller, a Notre Dame grad, Tyler Beadlescomb. Tyler is the senior vice president of marketing and content for the Indiana Pacers and the Indiana Fever. He’s worked for 15 years in sports and entertainment with stops at TikTok, Fox Sports, Oakland Raiders, and nothing gets him more excited and fired up to see a crowd of fans going crazy.

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He lives in Indianapolis with his wife, Amanda, and their two cats, Millie and Matcha. Tyler, it’s an honor to have you on our podcast. I am honored to be here. I think it’s gonna be so much fun. It is. Well, as I’ve kind of hinted with my hat, we are located in Indianapolis and I am a huge fan of both the Fever and the Pacers.

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I am one of your, you know, customers. I have season tickets to the Fever and I go to a lot of Pacer games. I was excited and a lot of things going on and a lot of things going on. Last couple years, you’ve brought a lot of joy to this city. There’s no question about it. I can remember, actually, I was interviewing Mel Raines.

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I had, I was doing a, not to, before Caitlin announced and we really couldn’t say or talk about it, but we just kind of knew where I was in front of a couple hundred women. And when I was talking to Mel on stage, it was just like, we knew it was coming. And so that was that. And then who knew the Pacers gave us so much joy last year. So thanks for joining us. And I really appreciate your time.

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Hey, you know, I gave you your bio, but why don’t you just kind of give some highlights? I mean, you, you’ve been in sports marketing, looks like most of your career. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, I feel very lucky to have spent my career around sports and, and, and major entertainment events, uh, born and raised in Western Pennsylvania.

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Uh, I know it’s always a debate whether that’s the Midwest or not. I considered myself a Midwest born and raised, but went to Notre Dame for, for college. That was my first exposure for in to Indiana, go Irish also have an English degree.vSo shout out to Victoria there. That’s wonderful. I think, uh, English and humanities majors are so important now.

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And I love that and always knew that I loved sports. And actually I often attribute the very start of my education, my career. Uh, the first ever time I went to a Notre Dame game was when I was seven years old and I got tickets to go on Halloween night. Now my hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania is about five, uh, hour drive from South Bend. And my dad just got tickets through work. He grew up, he grew up in Notre Dame fans.

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So we were watching on TV since I was a kid. But when I was seven, had the first, the chance to go. Now I always say a lot of kids would not have given up a Saturday night for trick or treating, but I said, let’s do it. Let’s go to the game. And now this was a different era. We didn’t actually have our tickets in advance.

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We had to go pick them up at the box office and he got them through a friend. We showed up in South Bend on that Halloween night and it turned out through a crazy connection that we had front row tickets in the end zone. Totally unexpected to us. Well, it was a cool game. Yeah, it was what, what a surprise. Right.

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And it didn’t stop there. And so, you know, Notre Dame goes and they’re playing Baylor and they’re, they’re crushing them. And in the third quarter, quarterback comes and has like a 70 yard touchdown run into our corner of the ends on where we were sitting, place explodes.

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But actually the leprechaun ran and picked me out of the stands. Oh my gosh, you get the full experience. Put my little seven year old body on, on his shoulders and ran me through the end zone. And that was a memory that I’ll never forget. Right? The whole experience was incredible. Took a picture of it.

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It’s certainly in my office now, but I often tell that story because I think that sports experiences are, can be incredible and life changing. And I knew at a very young age that, wow, you can make an impact on people and this is unforgettable. Well, that made it.

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So I wanted to attend Notre Dame. Look, that became the school I eventually went to and graduated from. And I actually looked up the leprechaun when I graduated and kind of shared our picture to that guy. He was a lawyer and 40 years old in Chicago at the time. And I told him the story that, Hey, that was a memory I’ll never forget. And, and now I just graduated from Notre Dame and going to start my career.

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And he ended up writing back to me and saying, you love this story. But I, I thought that was such a powerful moment for me to say, I want to work in sports and do fan experiences. And my career has done that. Yes. I worked at the Oakland Raiders. I worked at Fox sports, a stint at TikTok.

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And I’ve been here in Indianapolis for four years with the Pacers. But all throughout that, I’ve been focused on how do we tell great stories, right? Uh, I think the rise of digital media is tremendous for access to athletes and sports brands and welcoming fans into the fold. So how do we tell amazing stories that bring them in and how do we create great experiences when they are here and in the (6:17) concourses with the food, with the mascots? And I think if you can create magical moments, look, obviously these are businesses, people will pay for them.

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They’ll buy the tickets, they’ll buy the merch if you can give them great opportunities. And so I feel so spoiled to get to do this every day. Uh, I am, I am jealous. I really am. I’m really jealous. But I mean, when I sat there and those, in those seats, I am, I am setting about, I mean, the storytelling  is all around me and I’m just saying what an amazing product and an example across every digital, um, uh, marketing tactic, you guys do it right.

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I mean, it just like, and it’s a case study over case studies across how you engage your customer. Um, you know, uh, I think when you lead with the goal of telling stories, all the other things come with it. I mean, yes, it’ll generate revenue. Yes. It’ll gather partners. Um, yes, it’ll create innovation.

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But if you lead by telling stories, I mean, yeah. Every time somebody calls me from the Fever/Pacers, I’m like, okay, yeah, I’ll do more. So it works. Absolutely. I think that we try to put the fan at the center of everything, right? Uh, sports are an escape in many respects, right? Like life is hard. There’s a lot going on in our world at any time, things are expensive.

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And so if people are going to come into our arena or just turn on the TV or flip open their phone and follow our channels, they are hoping to be entertained. They want to laugh. They want to smile. They want to be, they want to feel exhilaration. Right. And we have a joy. You got it. Yeah. We have those things available.

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So how do we harness those? How do we capture them and make them more presentable and, and do that in a variety of ways? Again, it’s, it’s really nice to be, uh, marketing a product that is really exciting, but we take our responsibility of showing up in all of these different through these different touch points very seriously, because how they engage on TikTok is very different than sitting in the seventh row. And so how do we do all of that? Well, is always the challenge, but it’s, it’s such a fun one. Yeah.

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I mean, I can hit on so many different points, but that’s, that’s an interesting point. I mean, your fans are gen alpha to boomers. Right.

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Um, and, um, what strategies help you create some of those marketing that works for multiple generations? Any thoughts or insights to that? Yeah, I think it’s never that for the most part, it’s not that one piece is going to hit all of them, but it’s making, how do we provide such a menu? How are we showing up differently in different places? And then what can we do that ideally everyone across generations is going to love. Right. And so there’s a whole menu of those things for our longstanding fans, uh, that have been with us for, you know, 26 years with the franchise.

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We want to do things like make the legendary Tamika Catchings available, right? She’s so present in our community. She’s so present in our org. How do we bring her out and let her interact with the fans? How do we, how do we do those things that totally hits for a fan group that has been here and knows that she is one of the best players in league history and a phenomenal ambassador for women’s basketball for Indianapolis, et cetera.

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Yep. And she’s a business owner and she’s an incredible human. Um, so I mean, what a, what a great ambassador. So you pull in those ambassadors and, and you leverage those stories and that, and those people, that’s, that sounds like a big piece of your strategy. A hundred percent. And on the flip side, we have so many fans who have only followed us for two years.

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There is a very real, there’s a very, there’s a very clear reality of that, that Caitlin Clark changed the game for the entire league, but certainly for us as an organization. And we need to do a lot of storytelling and experiences around her and not just her basketball excellence, which she is basketball excellence. She is royalty, bow down.

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We are lucky to have her. We’re lucky. Doesn’t even come close to capturing how we feel. Uh, that is amazing, but we also need to show the personality of her and how she’s interacting with her teammates. So I think about this week and in the middle of the off season, she’s down at the Nike tournament and Lexi Hall and Sophie Cunningham, her teammates as, as caddy supporter friends. Right. I loved how they hit a fan. Yeah. Dangerous.

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Their, their, their accuracy with the golf club, you know, still, uh, working on it, but it, but it’s fun. And so we have cameras along every step, literally step-by-step with them the whole time and are looking to provide digital access to the, to them and their stories. And that’s the thing that some of it’s just like, how do we deeply engage with the players? How do we, for other people understand the community impact and what are we doing? We’re refurbishing courts in the community.

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We’re showing up with our players at schools and giving away, uh, uh, food. We have these amazing, uh, programs to help solve or help address food insecurity in our, our city working with gleaners. So we’re trying to hit a whole spectrum of topics that, that different people, but it’s all important. I mean, one, I love how you tell stories, but I mean, yes, Caitlin, we all know. I love Caitlin, but I love, I mean, now, I mean, you’re pulling stories across all the team members on both Pacers and, and, and the Fever. And, um, you know, I get emotionally connected to them.

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You know, I, I’ve become a bigger fan because I’m emotionally connected to them as well as what you talked about as, you know, you’re out on the LPGA, you’re in gleaners, all those things. How are you, um, what is the process behind that? Because I mean, you’re that’s, um, the consistently looking at the fans experience, not only on game day, but every day of the year. How, what’s your process behind that? Because it’s forward thinking outside looking in.

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Yeah, absolutely. One, we just have a generally aggressive strategy. We want to be present as our team brands 365 days a year.

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And I think not all teams do that. And it’s a lot like teams want to be present most of the time, but we really are committed to how do we become available for our fans 365 days per year. And so you map out a calendar and you say, well, what, what are our players doing? What are we doing as an organization at this time? What is notable in the world that our players might tie to you, you ask all those questions and you start listing answers and you say, which one of these can we make really fun? Which ones these really matter to our fans? What have we never done before? That maybe we could tie around this, right? Two years ago, we weren’t going to a golf course in Florida in November for our people players, but now those opportunities are here.

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So there’s a world where we could just have her playing and our players going and us not cover it and know that they’re out doing good things. We’re like, no, we’re going to attach cameras. And in fact, let’s make sure she gets her teammates there so they can be supportive. Not only is she playing, but we can round this out, right? How do we do things like that? And I think on a, on a day to day basis for either of our teams, like what, who are the Pacers playing this this week? Okay, well, they’re on a road trip. Well, there’s a day in between two of their games. Is there anything that they’re gonna be doing on the road in a city that it might be worth tagging along doing? I’m sure.

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Like, we’re just always sourcing those type of opportunities. And the other thing that I think is really important and emerging is fan storytelling, right? We love our fans, fans are the lifeblood of all of this. And so a lot of our branding the last couple of years, we’ve really tried to tie into the movement of fandom.

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So we did now you know, as our brand campaign last year, and we talked about the transformation of the WNBA fan base and the Fever. And when we are in any arena, you know it, it’s clear it is a sea of red. And typically, they’ve already moved the arena, they’ve gone from whatever their standard arena is to whatever the biggest in the city is that’s available.

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So they can sell extra 10s of 1000s of tickets to games, you’re gonna hear us, it feels like a home game. So we actually introduced the tagline, every game is a home game last year to that we sold on Merge. And we really think like, what is the heart of this moment? What is what are fans feeling? And we’re like, we have to bring whatever the soul of that is the life.

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And that’s really how we attack day by day, week by week, what is this moment providing to us? And how do we elevate it? I just love that. And, you know, somebody so many times people get hung up on, okay, should we be on this piece or that social piece or whatever. But when you lead with storytelling, and then back away and have, okay, let’s have a content calendar.

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I mean, that’s simple. But I mean, this, where were we going to be, they’re going to be in the city. You know, again, I’m going back to the golf outing this week. I mean, Sophia, Sophia, and they, they, they had, they had Fever gear on. I mean, they had Fever and, and your sponsors, you know, your, your stadium name. So you all the dotting i’s and crossing t’s of all those details to back up what you just said, I was just like, when I was watching, I was like, going on, they are, they are planned out.

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And they tell stories. And they lean into that. So I just think that I mean, if there’s anybody who wants to see an example, and then you push it out, every social, every website, you have team apps, you have email marketing, you has, you have SMS, all those things, and you’re and you’re building consistency across the messages across all platforms.

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So I mean, that’s exciting. That’s 100% fans, fans are consuming stories in so many ways, you need to get them out in a lot, right. And I think there are some times where you’re really customizing per platform. And you want to change the formatting and the style and the tone based on where you’re showing up. But also good stories will work anywhere like great stories, good emotional storytelling. You want to put that in a lot of places so that yeah, people of different ages and interests and styles can can consume it.

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And so we are very aggressive with let’s let’s blast our stuff out there in the world. And they can consume it as they as they prefer. But we’re giving them a lot of ways where we don’t have to just hope that they’re seeing one post on x or that they that way that they read the email instead of just click buy it because we all get a million emails.

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So yeah, definitely being present is really important to us. It is. And how do you I mean, balance the art of storytelling with the science of data? I mean, I’m sure you’re collecting all different data points. You know, where you’re trying to gather those fans emotions is data come into a part of the strategy as you’re building out the storytelling. Yeah, it’s huge. Because when we think about fan storytelling, we need to know who they are.

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And our fan base has grown so significantly the last few years on both sides of the house. The Pacers resurgence has been incredible finals run a conference finals run the year before. I mean, that was Yeah, you know, just magical.

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Like the whole thing was incredible. And again, also on the Fever side, incredible, and they’re overlapping and our players are showing up at each other’s game. So we have multiple fan bases.

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We also have the fans that come into our arena for concerts and shows. And so we’re constantly diving into the data on who is who are these people that are coming in there? What do they care about? Do they come right to both? Do they come to only a segment? How do we how do we tie those interests together? And so to use the one example, right, like there are Pacers fans, and there are Fever fans, and they’re season ticket holders to both. But actually, the vast majority of people are just separate.

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Can we bring them into each other? Can we actually show them that we have year round basketball here that is incredible, and you want to be here, right. And so we, you know, and we knew that we had this amazing organic experience happening where our players talk all the time, like people ask if we’ve forced that. And we’re like, no, they just work out in the same gyms and share the same facilities and have immense respect for each other.

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And they’re writers, they like to shoot with each other. And like, right, fun. And so when they started showing up to games, you know, Tyrese and Obi Toppin and others sitting court Ben Mather and court side of Fever games.

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And then our playoff run, you suddenly saw a Leah Boston and Caitlin and Sophie and Lexi and Kelsey Mitchell, all for the Pacers. We started doing content with both brands at the same time and really having them interact. And that was such an important thing for us to understand will it resonate with fans? Will it actually elevate our brands? Or are they going to say, I don’t care about the other team as much? Fortunately, we saw that they did.

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But like, those are things we’re testing and measuring. And, and it’s through constant analysis of our performance of metrics, but also who we’re speaking to at what times and how that’s evolving. That’s awesome. That’s, those are all and I really don’t see you guys miss very often. I’m sure you’ve come across it. But it’s I don’t see you miss very often.

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What are you you know, also one piece on the data piece, I’m sure I mean, I’m a fan of both. And when I go downtown, and I experienced they are a little bit, I mean, you have a lot more people who travel in to the city for a Fever game, then you do Pacer game, just because of, you know, the amount of teams that are that are available, and, and then also kind of the Fever brand, and its growth over the last couple years. So that’s kind of fun.

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It’s got a pretty big economic impact. But I’m sure that also kind of plays into to play, especially in geographically targeted areas who can who can make that drive to so although you don’t have a problem, I think you’re sold out almost every ime I’m over there. So well, that’s, it has been one of the most fun things to play with.

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I think it’s about a quarter to a third of our arena, every given Fever game is from people out of 150 miles, they are traveling, and that’s awesome. So we have to think about it in a number of ways. Another thing that’s really unique is that it’s the summer, right? And so there’s a lot of availability for fans to travel without kids in school or family availability, summer vacation is real.

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So that’s actually a bit that we don’t get to tap into on the Pacer side, because it just doesn’t fit in the calendar. And so as we’ve marketed, we’ve thought, what make what are different things about that if you’re coming into indie for three days, and one of those is a game day? Well, how can we entertain them on the other days? How can we provide other options or make our key partners available and work with visiting the in downtown Indy, and create honestly, itineraries for people to consume great things about our city, and our team and have all these moments and experiences. We’re constantly focused on that.

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The other thing we just think about is like, what are the differences in their habits? While it’s warm, it’s nice out there walking downtown. What’s amazing, like truly stunning to me is that so I’m sitting here in an office, my window faces the parking garage that fans can come to for the arena. On Fever game days, this top floor of the garage is full like four hours before games.

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Basketball that doesn’t happen in basketball, like any brand in basketball. It’s just not tailgating culture the same way that football is. It’s just it’s just different. Well, the Fever have infused a level of tailgating meets early arrival. And we have this beautiful downtown Plaza Morris bicentennial Plaza outside the arena, right? We are now programming that with pregame parties for every game because we needed earlier entertainment because they’re they were showing up so early, we actually opened the doors earlier for every Fever game than we used to in the past, because we needed more time for fans to shuttle through the team store because so many people want the mine. It’s it’s crazy.

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And it’s awesome. And so absolutely beautiful. I have a lot of we’re measuring everything but it’s really important for us to think how do we customize this experience because what we have is a fan opportunity now is totally different than what other places are seeing. We got to be creative. We got to think about rethink everything in in with user or fan experience at the heart of it. Yeah.

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And what I love about what you’re talking about here, we get hung up and I’m a data company and we do performance marketing. But what you’re talking about, it’s never going to go out of style. It storytelling and using creative. I mean, I love AI, but AI is not going to come up or look at the roof next to you to understand that you actually need to think about like a college football game. I mean, back to your Notre Dame roots. Talk about a football game.

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We didn’t talk about that. But if you want to watch a football game, there’s no other place better. Although I’m an IU grad, Tyler, and I’m a little happy these days. Just so you know, I’m getting I’m getting a little bit of what you experienced and you’re and you’re you. But that storytelling and thinking differently and measuring. Yes, you’re using the data points, but you’re also using your eyes.

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And from a standpoint of behavior, I think that’s exciting. How do you you talked about partnerships, right? And good partnerships. How are you growing partners, especially with within the kind of unique approach that you’re taking to pro sports? Yeah, I think you’re always looking for partners that have great values and shared values with you.

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And and what can we do experientially, that’s a little different. So, you know, you mentioned that, again, the Anika tournament is presented by Cambridge down there. Well, they have been an absolute leader in growing women’s sports and using women athletes as the face of their sports brand. We’ve obviously been an arena partner with them naming our facility for several years. But when they they recently have doubled down, they’ve tripled down. They’ve been so involved with us from the Fever standpoint.

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And it’s not just team deals, but they have deals with Caitlin Clark and Lexi Hall. And they are they put their money where their mouth is when they work with all kinds of legends, even beyond the the WNBA, Billie Jean King and all these others that they are regularly working with. It’s incredible. And so we we start with them and say, like, hey, we all want the same things. We want to grow the we want to grow the game of basketball. We want to support women’s sports growth.

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We want to develop and highlight their leadership and impact in communities well beyond the sport. All right. How do we create some experiences that bring that to life on game day? How do we break do that when it’s in the middle of the offseason? And let’s get down to it and really think.

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And so you want to find partners that have those shared goals and values, and then it can all come together. But it’s been amazing, because obviously, the growth of the WNBA, there’s been so many interesting partners that have come and it could be, you know, tele ties from like an amazing women’s product that is really cool to to showcase to Albanese gummies, which are an amazing, unique Indiana product that not enough people know to know about globally, but we can bring them to a larger audience. And they’re really fun to give out before and after games.

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And and they’re delicious. And my wife loves them. They’re her favorite exit giveaway when she can get a little bag of those gummies. And so I was screaming in the sections to get those as a as a testament to that. Yeah, so we just we like to think like, how do we best represent our state? How do we best represent our players? What are the values we want to do? And how do we get creative with it? And it’s, it’s amazing. And we try to do that on both sides of the house.

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We try to think, how do we bring these our campaigns into it. So I think about on the Pacer side last year, what became just this unbelievable rallying cry was our brand campaign? Yes, sirs. And that was such an interesting departure for us. And it’s been incredible to witness because most teams don’t, for lack of a better term, like, quote, unquote butcher their name, right? And shorthanding your name is actually like a often a brand no, no, right? Right. And we thought we had a really, really unique opportunity to say, Hey, look, we know we’re the Pacers. But I think with the cultural phrase of Yessir, and kids saying it at every youth sporting event, and it’s such this positive outcry of affirmation, like, how do we play that into our brand? And we created this Yes ‘Cers campaign.

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And as the team got really good, it picked up around the city, you’re seeing the flags flying. Well, we also had opportunities to play with that with our partners. So we worked with Corona, we have a Yes Cerveza ad that ran for a long time, we work with Culver’s, and they do Yes Curds, where it’s a trigger promotion in games, in games, or if we hit certain criteria, they’re free cheese curds the next days for our fans.

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And so we’re always thinking, like, what are these ways that we can get creative and, and give things back to our fans, but in fun ways that get them keep them engaged. You have a crazy creative team. I mean, really, you guys are bringing, bringing new ideas all the time.

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So congratulations on that. I mean, it’s just amazing to watch. And I tell you, I mean, you guys bring me joy ever. Even I mean, the pace throughout 36, you know, all year round. So and, and you talked about partners all the way from, you know, Gainbridge, who is a leader. And also, you know, all the way to cleaner gleaners, right? I mean, you’re looking throughout the community and identifying partners, and you all are out there, you know, telling those stories.

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And I really appreciate I’ve seen some video clips of, of you, you know, some of the Fever team, you know, shopping at Walmart and helping folks who, you know, are having a bad day, you know, and, and those just really, you know, tug at my heart and want me to support more too. And it’s not, you know, it’s not manufactured. It’s just real people out there just telling their stories.

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And I love it. I love it. What are some other things that you’re seeing any emerging trends or anything that you’re excited about going on? I mean, that we might not be thinking about? I think, well, the good thing about sports is as the games keep coming, and the rosters change, and all these things that they do provide us with endless material to work with.

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So that’s really exciting. I think we’ve been leaning into international storylines a little bit in the last couple years, we’ve seen how many people are coming from all over, not just the country to, to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, but all over the world. Recently, of course, we had the 2025 WNBA All Star in India in the summer, we had 2024 NBA All Star in February 24.

(29:07 – 29:12) 

For the that and that has attracted a lot of a global audience, but also certainly the rise of our stars in Tyrese Haliburton and Caitlin Clark. We’re trying to speak and highlight those communities a lot more. So tomorrow night is actually international night for a Pacers game.

(29:18 – 29:31) 

And we’ll have all kinds of specialty entertainment that features different, different cultural celebrations. And I’m not going to spoil some of the prize for tomorrow. But we brought acts in from around the world that are going to be that are going to be participating in was really important for us to show like showcase different cultures.

(29:35 – 29:56)

And it’s not only that we have different players on our team, right? Like Pascal Siakam is certainly from Cameroon and Johnny Furphy is Australian and and Benedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard are Canadian. And so we tie to tie it really authentically to our team. But we also have fans watching us from everywhere. And in recent years, we’ve played games in France, or we’ve played games in India. So we’re trying to do storytelling there. That’s really interesting.

(29:59 – 30:21)

But I mean, one of my favorite things is every game I go walk around the bowl numerous times, and I just look for the fan signs that they’ve made and brought. And all of the ones that say I traveled 7000 miles to come. I’ve been here 2000 miles, you know, like, it’s amazing. Like, that’s such a commitment, such a testament. And we’re spoiled to step into this arena all the time. And it’s right here in our community, people who are looking, this is a bucket list deck destination for so many people.

(30:26 – 30:50)

So highlighting them and recognizing them and doing surprise and delight and see what we can gift them and say, we would love to have you back. That’s really fun for me. I think creatively, you know, we’re always trying to push the envelope. We’re putting out content all the time. What can we do that is different? What can we do more involved from an experience standpoint? We’re looking at things like everyone else and trying new technologies. Some we like some we don’t, right.

(30:55 – 31:16)

So I think AI is the hottest discussion, right? Everyone’s like, do you like that? And creative? Do you not like it? And creative? I think the important thing for us is test some things and see what you like and what you don’t like what your fans will respond to and not. We have unbelievable graphic designers, video producers. We love them. They are the lifeblood of our content. We are not ever looking to replace them with AI. They’re actually learning how to effectively use AI in their tools.

(31:21 – 31:51) 

And so right, you know, we try content that mixes those things in and, and that’s been fun to explore. But largely, I think we’re looking at the storylines around us with our fans. How do we lean into that? The international one’s been a fun one recently. Well, thanks for sharing about that. Yeah, I think, I mean, especially in your type of marketing that you are, I mean, what you’re doing, I mean, it can help production speed up production, maybe, or maybe generate some ideas potentially. But leaning into storytelling, leaning into creative activity is where the magic happens with your organization.

(31:58 – 32:26) 

You know, when you look at other not sports type of marketing, sports organizations, what can traditional businesses learn from what you all do? I know it’s a different market. But what do you think that they that a lot of businesses miss when we’re talking about marketing that they can learn from sports? Yeah, that’s really interesting, because I feel like I learned so much from just following other brands, too. I’m always looking for creative ideas across, you know, consumer brands and anything that’s outside of sports just to challenge myself.

(32:32 – 32:54) 

But I think something that they can learn from sports is that if you have a great product, your fans really are always open to more connection. So sports are high volume publishers. And I mean, hi, the amount of content we produce is such a significant multiple compared to most consumer brands who spend weeks and weeks and months planning a lot of it.

(33:00 – 33:24)

And we are we are nimble and going, going, going. But I think if you have a great product, people would actually like to hear from your brand more often or they would be open to more creative content. It doesn’t always need to be the campaign style, high fidelity work. There’s a humanness and approachability to sports content because we move so fast that a lot of it is cell phone shot. A lot of it is quick design. It’s rapid reaction.

(33:29 – 33:48)

It’s off the cuff. And I think brands are getting much better at this anyway, that the world is evolving digital. And so they’re trying to be present more often. But like, think about your favorite foods. I don’t care whether it’s frosted flakes, or you love pop tarts or whatever. Like, there’s so much like low fidelity content you could put out like, man, I didn’t know that you break that up and throw it over ice cream in your house.

(33:51 – 34:13)

But that sounds delicious. And I would love to see it like, and you just work with creators to figure out how they’re showcasing how they do silly things. Right. And I think that there’s such an opportunity for more brands to build community around simplistic things rather rather than thinking that everything needs to be a full 60 second commercial that they’ve worked with an agency for for months. I can’t agree with you more. And that authentic piece that you are pushing out every day works.

(34:21 – 34:49)

And you don’t have to overthink it. But, you know, communicating  and building community is really, again, it’s not over complicated, and you shouldn’t make it overcomplicated. And people love it. And that’s why I mean, I have the Fever app, I have the Pacer app, I have, I get the emails and I read them. So, one, Tyler, I’ve been taking a lot of your time up here. And I really appreciate you giving us your time insights to what an amazing brand, what amazing products and you have such so many stories to tell.

(34:56 – 35:14)

And I also love the fact of when you were seven year old, you know, I think it was I mean, Notre Dame got you got you hooked and got you and to understand how that emotional marketing can impact you. Is there any other? This is a proof point podcast that you want to leave our listeners with anything less less. I would just like to say that we’re always listening and paying attention.

(35:17 – 35:41)

I think fan feedback is at the core of what drives our content strategy. We we read the comments. We talked to fans every single night when I’m in an arena, I want to go talk to a number of fans. Where are they from? Are they celebrating something? How often are they here? What are the what are they observing? Right? And certainly with social media, fans will tell you what they think. But I think it’s amazing. I mean, you’re saying you’re like, I read the emails, I get the push notifications.

(35:48 – 36:15)

I watch the content. We absolutely love that. And we love to hear what people really love and what they don’t like. And we’re honestly always trying to cater and deepen our relationship with them. So it’s the core of what we do. Like I always say, I’m in it because I had a great fan experience. It literally is shaped and changed my life. And to think that any given day in our arena, or even just an online interaction, could be someone’s I’ll never forget this moment could say, I would like to do this for a career, I would like to take a vacation there. This is how we need to celebrate next birthday.

(36:20 – 36:39) 

This is the only time I’ll ever get to a game, but I’ll never forget. Like, I try to keep that top of mind. That’s the purpose of why we spend nights and weekends doing it. And we’re so fortunate to be able to do it. But it’s for the fans. I am a fan. But we appreciate everyone who engages with the with us like that. So thank you. Yeah, obviously, I know you are a Fever and Pacer super fan. We love that. So thank you. Now.

(36:45 – 37:26)

Well, Tyler, thank you so much. And I really appreciate how much joy you bring to our community and our country. And I mean, in me, personally, again, I, I am it makes my day anytime I can interact with your organization. In my team, I like I and I give tickets to clients and I and I I’m always trying to, to, you know, have people experience what an amazing product and organization that you have. And it’s it brings me joy. So thanks again for sharing some insights on marketing, share, giving to our community as you do.

(37:31 – 37:52) 

And we’ll talk soon if you have some insights. It sounds like Tyler would be open to hearing anything that you might have some ideas or feedback. But if you have it, get to one of those games, get downtown experience. You know, the Pacers or the Fever and you’re in for a treat. We’ve been talking to Tyler Beadlescomb. Thank you for joining the Proof Point Podcast. Thank you so much for having me, anytime. Awesome. 

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