The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Win on the Field and Off
By: Blake Pierson
AMA Tampa Bay held its October lunch event at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Headquarters on Tuesday, October 18th. The guest speakers were the Buccaneers’ CMO, Brian Killingsworth, and Director of Marketing & Brand Strategy, Carey Cox. They provided an engaging overview into how the Franchise wins off-the-field using data and innovative technologies to drive marketing results.
Our Job Is Not Only to Fill the Stadium on Game-day but to Establish a Year-round Lifestyle Brand
The Buccaneers’ marketing team along with its agency partners work beyond just putting people in seats for each home game. The larger vision is to build a lifestyle brand using traditional methods and digital technologies to establish a 365-day connection with the community. They want the community to be part of something special, and it’s their commitment back to those fans who live, work and play in the Tampa area.
Role of Brand Traits and Consumer Data in the Marketing Process
The Buccaneers leverage both their identified brand traits and market data to design marketing strategies that will help grow its business. Their traits – First Class, Community, Innovative, Electrifying, and Swagger – help develop a consistent approach and voice throughout their initiatives. For example, Brian and Carey reviewed this year’s “Siege the Day” campaign that used both digital and traditional vehicles, and disruptive advertising tactics to maximize campaign impact.
Additionally, Brian referenced the importance of data in their decision-making, and provided an example where they collected and measured a fan’s experience from “drive-way to drive-way.” This is a key method to ensure that the Buccaneers are consistently considering their consumer’s perspective in the marketing process.
Using Innovative Technologies to Connect Fans to the Buccaneers Experience
Brian and Carey shared some exciting, cutting-edge technologies that the Buccaneers are using to optimize their marketing efforts, and improve their fans’ experience. The innovations included their usage of neuro-marketing, virtual-reality and the latest game-day technology.
The Buccaneers are leveraging Neuro-marketing, which is a concept that applies the principles of neuroscience to marketing research. The objective is to acquire knowledge and understanding through thought experiences and senses. For example, the Buccaneers used eye-tracking and facial action coding technologies to measure cognitive responses to a new TV commercial with the goal of optimizing the spot based on the response data.
The Bucs are also using Virtual Reality (VR) technology in a variety of ways to engage their existing and potential consumers. They created a VR preview center to give prospective buyers a look at new club seating while construction was still in progress; and are using VR for coaching, youth training, and have integrated it into their mobile app and Street Team RV. All with the purpose of allowing fans to engage with the Buccaneers’ brand experience from multiple perspectives.
For game-day, Raymond James stadium has some of the most advanced video technology in the league. Brian described the video experience as “BV6” or Bucs vision to the sixth power. The consumer experience includes:
- An HD Video System (most advanced in the league)
- Six video boards
- A 360⁰ Canvas for a full immersion environment
- Three separate replay angles within the Stadium
They also extend the game-day experience to a custom mobile app that includes exclusive features only available to those enjoying the game in person. For example, they offer interactive games such as a ship race that uses augmented-reality, similar to the Pokémon Go experience.
Leveraging innovative technologies and experiential data are critical elements that help the Tampa Bay Buccaneers build and establish the Franchise as a year-round, lifestyle brand with its fans and the community at-large. It’s this approach that not only has the Bucs winning in the minds of consumers, but also positions them as marketing leaders among the other NFL teams.
The next AMA Tampa Bay event will be on November 10, 2016. The speaker will be Kim Garst, Best Selling Author and Founder and CEO of Boom! Social. Kim’s presentation will give you actionable take away strategies for your social media strategy. Register for this event here.