Making the Fan

Josh Brooks, Deputy AD at Georiga Athletics and Shane Todd, Franchise Operator at Chick-Fil-A in Athens, GA join us.  The theme of today's episode explores the differences between product innovations vs. strategy innovations and how they impact your business. As you're thinking about investing time, energy and resources to improve your business, there's a temptation for us in sports...

Today’s guest is Frank Supovitz, who’s been changing and shaping the sports & events industries for over 30 years. We discuss planning an event that wows your customers, and all that goes into the prep of a massive live event.  Frank is imminently qualified to discuss this topic, as he was the SVP of Events for the NFL from 2005 to 2014, overseeing the massive growth of the Super Bowl, NFL Dra...

We join Adam White, CEO of Front Office Sports, at his office in NYC.  You might be thinking, "I don't work for a media company, what can I learn from this?" The stories and strategies Adam shares in this podcast are applicable to anyone building a brand. If you're trying to build a passionate audience or a customer base, you'll gain tons of insight from Adam who's bu...

Mike Bohn, Director of Athletics for University of Cincinnati joins us. UC and Mike are hyper focused on increasing the "intensity of interest" for their brand in the Cincinnati community, creating deeper relationships with more people. UC has created some incredible experiences for fans on game day that run counter to what many other athletic departments are doing. We talk about the dec...

While out in San Diego, we sat down with Carl Thomas and Reid Carr at Red Door Interactive's HQ. Carl Thomas, the former CRO of Hookit, and Reid Carr, the CEO of Red Door Interactive, go deep on creating and inspiring care.  Both Carl and Reid have a long history in the B2B space of working with both major brands and corporate sponsors, as well as sports properties. So we sought out to answer...

We take a journey w/ our guest, Erin Sheehan, Senior Director of Guest Experience for the San Diego Padres. This episode's larger theme is around creating a guest experience strategy for sporting events. We explore Erin's involvement and influential role in opening the Atlanta Braves' Suntrust Park and The Battery entertainment district; we cover her lessons learned as the Director...

Working in the sports & entertainment industry, there are few events that you can host without the support of other people/organizations. For most all other events, you need that support to execute all the facets that make an event successful. Whether it be working with a company that provides temporary labor for your ushers, or working with surrounding hotels who impact your guest's over...

Is a hot dog a sandwich? Why does that even matter? It matters a great deal to Chris Grosse, Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing for Penn State Athletics. If you follow him on Twitter, you'll know these are the types of questions that get Chris fired up, out of the box questions that no one else is thinking of. Think of the hot dog question as an exercise for him to flex his muscles when...

Matt Difebo, the original founder of now Learfield IMG Ticket Solutions, joins us on the podcast to discuss lessons learned throughout his journey. While at UCF Athletics, Matt identified an opportunity to better serve fans trying to buy tickets, and realized he could turn that opportunity into a business, helping athletic departments sell more tickets to their events, more effectively. Matt was o...

With younger generations demanding more from a brand, it is no longer just about who has the best product on the field. Telling compelling stories that create emotional connections are more important than ever to win over the hearts and wallets of your fans. In this episode, Rick Jones, one of the most successful sports marketers in the college athletics industry, discusses how using sponsorships...

If you work for or lead an organization that puts on events, this episode is for you. Kevin Weickel, the former Tournament Director of the PGA TOUR's Disney Classic, and Mike Millay, one of the founding executives at ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, join us. These two former Disney executives reflect back on their time running one of the largest golf resorts in the country and the busiest s...

Guest:  Drew Martin, Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs, University of Texas Athletics.  Drew and David dive deep into the University of Texas's refreshed approach to football gameday. Focused on creating emotional connections for fans, Texas created pregame-mega festivities Bevo Blvd and Longhorn City Limits in 2018 to great praise from the fan-base. By creati...

Guests: Rob Kelly, Senior Associate Athletics Director of Media & Brand for Notre Dame Athletics; Kevin Doyle, Strategy Manager (Travel/Hospitality) for Deloitte Consulting.  This episode goes behind the scenes of Notre Dame Athletics' journey to become more customer-centric. We explore everything from how ND re-positioned their ticket pricing strategy, to how they managed large scale cha...

A mash-up of advice and stories from innovators in Customer Experience and Employee Experience. Executives from the sports & entertainment industry join forces with leaders from world-class B2C and B2B companies to discuss all the challenges and hurdles they face in their business. On each episode of Flip the Switch, host David Millay -- Managing Partner of EngageMint -- leads wide-ranging con...