The Undeniable Leader with Rob Cressy

Columbus Crew SC Vice President of Marketing, Arica Kress, joins Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy on the Sports Marketing Huddle to talk about marketing and fan engagement strategies for the team. Arica discusses how grassroots marketing has become an integral part of their marketing mix and explains how they are measuring the ROI. What is the most important thing that it takes to be successful in m...

Front Office Sports Founder Adam White joins Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy on the Sports Marketing Huddle to talk about his journey of building up a sports business community. Why did he start Front Office Sports and when did he realize it could be something more than just a side project? What are his current thoughts on the content landscape? What are the best paths for monetization? What does t...

By the Cleveland Cavaliers winning Game 4 of the NBA Finals not only did they keep their hopes alive of winning the title, but they also pocketed the Warriors owners a cool $11 million by having another game. Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy dish about if the Warriors going 16-0 would have generated more long term money. They also delve into the growth of Kevin Durant’s brand if the Warriors win the...

The Pittsburgh Penguins just won the Stanley Cup and are the first team in 19 years to win back to back titles. Rob Cressy is originally from Pittsburgh and is a die hard fan. He is joined by Brian Cristiano and they dish about lessons Rob learned from the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup. What simple life hacks can you implement from sports to add more gratitude to your life? How can you take the...

Live streaming video gets better organic reach and engagement, and is the most authentic form of content. Despite this why have so many people and brands have not taken action? It’s because of a lack of confidence due to a lack of knowledge. In their first Facebook Live Streaming episode, Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy give you tips for how to get started live streaming. What is the value in live...

Minor league baseball promotions are the absolute best and a great example of this is a recent Bacon vs Tacos campaign put on between the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs and Fresno Grizzlies. Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy break down this promotion which included a microsite, fan voting, #TeamBacon and #TeamTacos hashtags, and full social integration. What was the prize at the end of the tunnel for this p...

The fall from grace for Tiger Woods continues an unfortunate slide thanks to his recent DUI arrest. Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy talk about where Tiger Woods brand goes from here. Is there any value for sponsors moving forward? What other elite athlete has had a fall from grace comparable to Tiger Woods other than Lance Armstrong? SPECIAL ALERT: We want your feedback to help us make the show bet...

Lana Berry, sports & lifestyle influencer and content creator, joins Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy on the Sports Marketing Huddle to talk about how she has grown her social media following to over 150,000 followers, what teams can do to better engage sports fans, if you should use hashtags on Twitter, how not to get overwhelmed as a social media manager, if she favors Snapchat vs Instagram, p...

Instagram stories recently added filters, which pretty much makes it a mere replica of Snapchat. Recently Snapchat added timeless snaps (lame) plus some minor creative updates. In this off the record Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy dish about their current perceptions on Instagram vs Snapchat. Is Snapchat still worth your time if you aren’t targeting the under 25 demographic? Is Snapchat’s group st...

The NFL has stood for the No Fun League for a long time but they are trying to change that. They recently relaxed their touchdown celebration rules to now allow using the football as a prop and celebrating as a group (among other things.)Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy dish about how the new touchdown celebration rules will change the social media content of NFL teams. Will we start to see players...

The NBA Finals are not yet set but there’s a strong indication that it’s going to be the Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors. This will be the third time in as many years that these teams have squared off in the NBA Finals. While anticipation for this matchup is very high, the leadup has been a bit of a disappointment as the early rounds of the NBA Playoffs have been somewhat of a snooze....

The Madden Curse is real. 17 of the last 20 NFL players who have graced the cover have had shortened seasons due to injury. Up for the firing squad this year is Tom Brady, aka the GOAT, who created a funny video in response to the Madden curse (I recommend you check it out.) Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy dish about if the Madden cover curse is a good thing for EA Sports. They’ve distanced themsel...

Rob Johnson, author of Millennial Reboot and current VP of Jackbox for Business, joins Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy to talk about the importance of fan engagement across multiple platforms. Rob is the former VP of Digital and Partnership Marketing for the Philadelphia Flyers and he shares the importance of staying cutting edge in digital media. We also talk about if it is better to be a speciali...

Michelob Ultra is running a promotion where they will give away 95 cases of beer if Brooks Koepka hits a hole in one at one of 10 PGA Tour events this year. The odds of a hole in one is 2750 to 1 and there were 31 on tour last year. Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy dish about their excitement over this promotion which actually gets them to give two craps about golf. What could Michelob Ultra do to g...

This past week Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy spoke on a panel at Digimarcon East about organic and paid social media. In this episode, they dish about the biggest takeaways from the panel that you can implement into your business. What things stood out from the crowd that signal an opportunity for you? Rob was also the emcee of the event so he shares his thoughts on how to engage the crowd, make...

Nike’s attempt to break the 2-hour marathon fell just short, as Eliud Kipchoge finished at 2:00:25 (which is a 4:35.5 mile.) Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman said, “The real purpose of running isn’t to win a race, it’s to test the limits of the human heart.”Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy dish about Nike’s entire campaign surrounding their attempt to break the 2-hour marathon barrier. As impressive as...

On Sunday the Yankees will be retiring Derek Jeter’s number. He will go down as one of the greatest Yankees ever, and certainly the greatest of the social media era. Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy dish about what made Derek Jeter great, what we can learn from the way he conducted and marketed himself, and how you can implement the fundamentals that made Jeter such a success into your business. In...

In episode 205 we talked about how ServiceMaster masterfully executed a now-viral campaign surrounding a tweet about paying the fine for Memphis Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale following his epic postgame rant vs the Spurs #TakeThatForData. Pete Tosches, SVP of Corporate Communication at ServiceMaster joins Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy to give us a peek under the hood of how they executed the...

OpenSponsorship CEO and Founder Ishveen Anand joins Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy on the Sports Marketing Huddle to talk about sports sponsorships. What is the opportunity for brands to work with athletes of all sizes and followings? What are the short term and long term value of an endorsement campaign? How much does the engagement of an athlete’s social media following effect things vs the size...

LaVar Ball is trying to get a billion dollar deal for his Big Baller Brand and right now it’s not going so hot. Nike, Under Armour, and Adidas all said they are not interested in Lonzo Ball. Nike consultant George Raveling called LaVar “the worst thing to happen to basketball in the last hundred years.”Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy try and give some advice to LaVar Ball. If he brought us on board...

ESPN just laid off about 100 of their on-air talent to cut costs. This is in response to the increased broadcast fees for leagues plus a loss of subscribers revenue. Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy dish about the fallout from the ESPN layoffs. What does it say about the state of the industry? Did ESPN become too general in a landscape where niches win? What can you do if you no longer want to suppo...

The NFL Draft is one of the best and most talked about events of the year for sports fans. Not only is hope in the air for fans of all teams but it is the realization of a dream for so many players. With all the fanfare comes plenty of marketing opportunities. Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy dish about the numerous ways in which marketing was present at the NFL Draft. What do we make of top overall...

Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry has his eyes on only one prize: another NBA title. In order to achieve that and have maximum focus Curry has deleted all social media apps from his phone, something that fellow star LeBron James has been doing for years. Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy dish about removing distractions from your life and how you can use social media to increase your business. T...

Memphis Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale went on an epic postgame rant about the referees following his team's Game 2 playoff loss to the Spurs. This garnered him a nice $30,000 fine from the league. ServiceMaster, a Memphis based company, tweeted that they’d be willing to pick up the tab for the fine. They then followed it up by sponsoring the Game 4 towels in Memphis. Brian Cristiano and...

The Los Angeles Clippers sold tickets to Game 5 of their NBA Playoffs series against the Utah Jazz on Groupon. This was not the first time this season that the team, who is the sixth highest valued NBA franchise but was one of three teams to lose money last season, sold tickets on the platform. Brian Cristiano and Rob Cressy dish about if sports teams selling tickets on Groupon is a good thing? Co...