NOW IS (Still) THE TIME TO OVER-DELIVER ON YOUR DIGITAL CAMPAIGNs & SERVICES.

What initially gathered pace at the beginning of the pandemic due to an inability to deliver partner inventory, soon grew to a new level of expectation and then execution in the digital space. New commercial content teams, strategies and models have powered rightsholders to expand their B2B and B2B2C offering. Whilst the ability to meet venue, matchday and other offline inventory has returned, now is not the time to regress back to underdelivering on your digital rights.

More so than ever, brands have looked to devise campaign and activation models that generate engagement on both their channels and those of their partners.

But wait, what is it your partner is actually trying to achieve through the relationship? The majority of digital efforts support association, be that through branded content or campaign strands, granting partners presence on a rightsholder’s channels. Given the breadth of potential partner categories out there, there is a need to move beyond simply delivering that staple output.

So, we have branded content, we have campaigns, and everyone’s pre-pandemic favourite; the ‘always on’ logo situated on owned platforms. Does that directly help an online retailer to generate leads or a broadcaster to gain subs? Sorry for the rhetorical question! Those new models and strategies you set up in the fallout of the pandemic need to include addressable advertising, access to your CRM channels, the ability to target your global/regional audience, and really leverage data to its fullest potential.

There are many collaboration tools available that will help your team with planning, project management and communication. Not only will you find your teams are more engaged and aligned, but the time saved will also likely justify the outlay.

The implementation of frameworks and operating models ahead of the initiation phase will secure a structured way of working for all parties. Your ability to remain on time, in scope and on-budget will be compromised, should you have to continually go over old ground or redefine the execution of your campaign.

Let's talk about content and campaign planning! In an ideal situation, you can pinpoint the times of interest and activate collectively, at a minimum you need to make sure you're not over-delivering multiple activations at the same time and spreading resources too thin. The need to implement short and long term planning will be key to making sure your activation content can align perfectly with hygiene, editorial or reactive content output.

Let's take a step back for a second. We have to ask; what's the plan over the course of a season or - even better - the calendar year? If your wider business is not collectively aware of peak points of interest, you are in a weaker position to plan an individual activation. A wider assessment needs to be undertaken with all groups to assess the key times of engagement, the activation of users, or acquiring new fans.

So we're more than halfway through this article and we haven't even touched on storytelling?! It would be remiss of us to oversimplify the topic of creatively conveying your message in an engaging way.

A prerequisite of any campaign has to be to produce content that will evoke a reaction, spark imagination or simply entertain a commuter on their journey to work.

The aspiration for all groups should be to produce commercial content that can seamlessly sit alongside your B2C output, remaining compelling, aligned to your brand's DNA and at the same time meet the needs of your partner. Not an easy target to hit!

If you lack a clear brand position within your organisation (regardless of the size of your business) you will invariably struggle to consistently convey who you are, remain memorable for the consumer and initiate the process of funnelling digital users to fans.

We’ve already touched upon the fact that sporting organisations are communicating globally. Indeed many are already developing international reach and content targeted to both a global and local market audience. Such users may require dedicated localised solutions.

Invariably an international audience will require alternative propositions, compared to those of your domestic fanbase. More often than not, it is essential to devise a storyline that truly strikes a chord locally. Whilst localisation is a key element in creating culturally relevant content, remaining true to your organisation's brand is paramount.

We're ready to go, right? Now let’s evaluate if you have all the elements in place - brand messaging, budgets signed off, paid media strategy set, KPI’s agreed, creative pitch in place, dates planned, all relevant stakeholders have contributed and roles have been assigned... but wait, who is the target audience? Who exactly are you delivering this to?

The definition phase of your campaign will be developed around the users you are looking to engage or activate. We must have a clear understanding of the audience along with available data, before the outset of the initiation phase.

In summary: as we lead into a transition period of sports slowly resuming, not only generate engagement by covering match centric content but also take care of your partners via digital activation and give them a reason to not only retain the association but expand on it. Next season's content and activation budgets may be impacted greatly without those relationships.