Gijsbregt on sports

This is a short (17’) video of my new presentation on the Quantified Self and sports. 

Key points are:

• 1) Technology democratizes sports;
• 2) This is the first era when amateurs have innovations before the pros (from F1 model to lean model);
• 3) More input (sensors), faster processing (Moore’s Law), but not yet better output (feedback loops are rudimentary);
• 4) It’s time to take the platform as an asset to the world of advertising and sponsoring (the middle man is out anyway);
• 5) Bring not only sales and branding into sponsoring, but purpose;
• 6) Create platforms for quantified sponsoring: calories burnt in sport should be higher than calories ingested (on an individual level).

Very interesting article on the “now” in marketing and communication, which is so very much true for sports. The big sports brands already understand: content should be made instantly. Nike does it, adidas does it. Soon everybody will do it.

So onto the next one. Predicting the now:

“Nowcasting attempts to make sense of the present before all the data has been analyzed, in order to project trends sooner, or even continuously.”

And I don’t mean predicting the results, although that can be even more rewarding, but predicting what people will like when watching sports. What will be the key trends of a game? Use this knowledge to create in the heat (NOW) content to connect sports, brand and fans.

Start analyzing the now of sports!

Sports and technology have always made a great couple. What’s new is that technology is democratizing at a rapid pace. A good coach, heart rate monitor or shoe advise is only an app away. Every athlete, pro or amateur, has star potential through their own media. As being active is generally seen as good for us sedentary humans, the innovations will shift from measuring and sharing to highly personal experiences and tailor made feedback. Next frontiers to conquer are the DNA, neuroscience and lasting change in behaviour. And yes, that calls for a whole new set of morals.

I’ve been saying this for as long as I’ve been active in sports: the essence of sports is doing sports not (only) watching sports. Far too little organizations in the sports live by this rule. Even less so the worlds biggest rights holders. But the times are changing and the London 2012 Olympic Games are about to set the standard.

Please read this full interview with Nick Bitel, the newly installed chairman of Sport England, who has a one billion pound budget to make sure the Olympic legacy of the games leads to more sports participation.

Some inspiratory quotes to illustrate his mission and his way work.

About subsidies and results
“Payment by results is important. We are also working more with other providers. The work we are doing with doorstep sports clubs and others is not just with governing bodies.”

“If governing bodies don’t achieve their targets then it’s quite clear what will happen. That doesn’t mean we’ll abandon the sport, we just won’t fund it through the governing body and we’ll find another way.”

About events for amateurs and pros alike
“People want to be enthused. They’re enthused because you’re challenging them and they’re going to achieve something, but they’re also enthused by seeing a Mo Farah or a Bradley Wiggins doing the same event as they are.”

Sports organizations, governments and sponsors have to watch closely and act according to and learn from what’s happening in the UK. It is time to measure results of sports management in changed behavior not in ambitions and pretentions.

Some interesting thoughts on how to create a great stadium experience. It’s not only about the build and sound design, but also about where the away team is located and how much tickets cost.

Strangely there is no mention whatsoever of technology. When I think of creating connection between the game (team) and the spectator, the first I think of is technology. From screens everywhere to the Jumbotron and from great content on aggregation platforms to stadium apps.

Building new stadiums or upgrading existing ones is as much about connectivity as it is about connection.

Hat tip to Kris Götsch for the link

Athletes leaving Twitter because of trolls.
It’s not yet a trend, but is picking up. After being harassed on Twitter, athletes (or really anyone else) have few options: ignore, report, counter attack or leave Twitter.

Reporting is a slow process and usually the damage is done, before the process has been finished. Counter attack always equals abuse of media power. Frustrated as athletes may be, it should never have to come to that. Ignoring (and blocking + reporting) seems the only feasible option, besides entirely shutting down the Twitter account.

Even though athletes should be trained extensively in the use of social media, I think the ignoring option is too weak. I agree with Bill Voth: Twitter should lead the way and fix this problem. Bill doesn’t offer any solution and I also think there is no easy way, but enhancing the report button should be step 1: like a hotline for harassment. With direct (real time to use Twitter vocabulary) consequences for the trolls.

Twitter: take your responsibility and help the athletes (and help us people who help athletes on Twitter and) who make Twitter great.

Long sports has been held as the last stand for the classic value of content. Many reasons have been concocted to explain why sports would hold value in a world where all value of content is eroding.

This weeks ESPN is laying off hundreds of people to make up for the extreme rights packages they have bought. Again a sign that sports will be no exception to the disruptive force of Internet, just like news and music. Where music is trying to reinvent it self and news is openly struggling, sports just looks back in nostalgia. And depend on sheiks to pay for the high salaries of their stars.

Sports is no anomaly. Sports will have to face the disruptive force of the Internet. Sponsors change to purpose over sports, banks are no longer able to finance and governments hesitate to subsidize.

Sports needs a creative renaissance.

Great blog on the notion that numbers are not what makes a blog important: “hits stands for How Idiots Track Success.”

Seems to be a revival of the niche power and (with that) an aversion for popular blog antics (10 ways how you can…). Might even be accelerated by Yahoo buying Tumblr.

My two cents: always go for the good story YOU want to tell, regardless of SEO, smart titles and simple lists. But do write engaging, even it is just a small group you’re engaging.

It is one of my sporting mantra’s: watching sports is great, doing sports is better. With the fast rise of corporate social responsibility in sponsoring, the next step is measuring the impact of this type of sponsoring: not in financial ROI but in true changed behaviour.

More and more the indicators for a succesful sponsorship will be measured in actual actions. How many people took the beginning class running? How many took the stairs? How many quit smoking? Take the bike to work?

With the exponential growth of bodily data, the real impact of those actions can be easily quantified: in calories, in fuels or in new metrics still to be devised. I foresee a near future where “obesity creating” companies have to proof that the output of calories (burning them during sports or other activities) is higher than the intake of calories (drinking soda or eating hamburgers), on an individual level.

[calory output by sports] - [calory input by food/drink] > 0 

The future of sponsoring lies not in exposure nor in engagement, it lies in changed behaviour and mostly in behaviour for the good. 

To manage this paradigm shift many tools and platforms will emerge, focused on measuring, quantifying, aggregating, providing feedback, motivating and more. Sprout at work is one of the examples and Nike is buying in. 

The man cave (at home, wifi, 3D/HD, rest room near) is beating the traditional stadium visit. There are some concepts to turn the home tide, like this one with chairs that vibrate when something exciting happens on the pitch.

Great idea, but who will pay for those expensive stadiums?
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/05/the-number-5-billion.html?mobify=0

In a blogpost YouTube let’s us know that direct payment for subscribing to YouTube channels is being rolled out now. Content owners/creators now have more (and most certainly: better) options to monetize their content. Not only advertisement, in content sponsoring/product placement, but also direct payment as a monhtly subscription.

It will be only a matter of time before pay per view will be added as an option as well. Sports organizations who are distributing tons of high quality content via YouTube now (see for example the MLB and IOC), have a solid new stream of income to pay for their expensive content.

How bright the future will be depends on one factor: are people willing to pay in the perceived free environment that YouTube is.

Hat tip to Francisco.

It is one of my favorite mantra’s: sports is not ruled by politics nor by (sheer) money, but by creativity. This (somewhat arbitrary) ESPN list of sports influencers supports this point.

Not Nike’s CEO, but Nike’s three best designers are on it. Not NFL or NBA but EA Sports is on the list. Not ESPN it self but the boss of Grantland (ESPN’s best blog) is one the few influencers.

Mark my words: creativity will be the new currency in sports.

“The following is a forward-looking list: eleven of the most influential people, businesses, entities and brands in sports. A list of the people in sports who not only are making epic moves but also are moving us. ”

The second wave of running (90/00’s) has been attributed mostly to ladies picking up running. This is true and it brought a different attitude to the “sports” of running. It became a lifestyle sport, just like skateboarding or surfing. Music, experience and tight knit communities are key in the future or running events. The Guardian takes a leap from the given that sports and music have become inseperable:

“Running should be joyous, celebratory and a shared experience, rather than merely the pursuit of arbitrarily shifting personal goals.”

With that running will be more and more an urban sport, attaching it self to the natural habitat of the greatest number of runners.

Great piece on how the internet-ization of TV is eating away all that was setting TV apart from the same internet: broad crowds, quality and content outside your own comforting bubble.

“The Internet is wonderful when it satisfies your interests, but worrisome when it allows you to filter out any and all dissent.”

Same could be said for radio and print of course.