Something Quite New

Paul Davies is Consumer Marketing Director at tech giants Microsoft. A company he has been at for 13 years and counting.

He is also a fellow podcaster with his Makers of the Universe show - a look at creativity and celebrating all of its forms. Guests so far have included CEO of The Dots, Pip Jamieson, Suede frontman Brett Anderson and the legendary advertising executive Sir John Hegarty. 

He’s an award winning and highly respected marketer and was included in Campaign Magazine’s Power 100 in both 2017 and 2018, and last year was named in Marketing Week's Top 100 Marketers.

He also holds a number of non-executive board roles  in the arts and culture sector including as board trustee at Punchdrunk and the BookTrust.

In this chat you will find some great insights on the role of well… insights, another topic Paul is passionate about Storytelling and the strengths and weaknesses of sports sponsorship from an outsiders point of view.

During our conversation Paul talks about the 'will a robot take your job?' test, you can find that here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34066941

We also talk about the Surface 3 campaign called 'Shadow Posters' which was developed by our mutual friend, Steven Woodgate https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/microsoft-shadow-posters-mccann-london/1496928

Produced by SQN, find out more about what we do at www.sqn.agency

Welcome to the Something Quite New podcast from SQN, the integrated marketing and communications agency for the technology, automotive and sport sectors. Looking through the weeks sports tech news and our look at esports.

This week we’ll be bringing you part 2 from our December esports panel with ESL UK, Renault F1 and esports team Fnatic. If you haven’t listened to part 1 then I suggest you do, though maybe waiting until after this one before you do!

This week's news has included;

In this week's panel we discuss the use of data by teams and events - who owns it (not the teams) and how it is being used. Plus how they could be doing a better job in terms of packaging it up in ways that brands can understand. 

We also touch on how Renault has been taking their experience in motorsport into esports. With over 200 data points in F1 cars, they have been using their systems and experience to ensure their drivers maximise performance.

We also talk about ESL and Intel (a $100m investment from the tech giant) and how they are taking broadcasts and creating better experiences for fans. This year sees the Intel World Pro take place in Japan which features Rocket League and Streetfighter ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and endorsed by the IOC. 

Next week we get to hear from a hugely experienced marketer from one of the biggest technology companies in the world. Microsoft’s Consumer Marketing Director, and a fellow podcaster, Paul Davies will be sharing his views on the importance of insights, his passion for storytelling and how he sees sports sponsorship from the outside looking in.

if you enjoy this podcast then do leave us a rating or review as it really helps other people find us.

Until then have a great week and we look forward to bringing more news and thoughts from the world of sport and technology next week. 

www.sqn.agency

Last week we finished up our dive into Digital Disruption in Sport and now we move onto the fascinating world of esports.

On our panel we were lucky to have Heather Dower, from esports event organiser giants ESL, James Forster from successful UK team Fnatic and Guillaume Vergnas, who is not stranger to this podcast and runs the Renault F1 esports team as well as being involved in the main F1 team too.

There have been a multitude of talks about esports at traditional sports conferences as the lines between the two continue to blur. But this whole debate over whether esports is a sport or not is one that keeps coming up, but does anyone within esports actually care and how are brands getting involved now it is becoming more mainstream?

This is part 1 of a 2 part mini-series on esports, with part 2 coming out on Thursday 13th February.

But to start we go into the sports tech news for the last week including Spotify's confirmed purchase of The Ringer, tech partnerships for Mercedes F1 and McLaren Racing, and the launch of a new OTT venture for 26 UK sports called GB Sports Media. 

Find out more about us at www.sqn.agency or follow us on Twitter (@SQNagency) or LinkedIn. Or get in touch at [email protected]

Last week we published the first part of our panel session on Digital Disruption in Sport, with expert views from Grant Dall (ALE), Bijaya Basu (Tata Communications) and Sam Seddon (IBM).

This week we take a look with them at some issues currently affecting sport including the roll-out of 5G and how that will affect the spectator experience, why OTT has experienced the teething problems it has and what is happening to change it – including Tata becoming a partner to Amazon Prime – and how tech companies are working to better market their solutions and use sponsorship to tell their stories.

You will also hear the latest sports tech news which this week includes;

Subscribe to hear ‘Something Quite New’ each week as we explore how technology is impacting on sport and speak to those at the forefront of this movement. Next week we’ll be talking esports with Fnatic, ESL and Renault F1 – again from our December birthday event.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1CuvDQkHW5Ov7cDPrLFojB

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/something-quite-new/id1457259219?mt=2

Google: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy85MTBmNmNjL3BvZGNhc3QvcnNz

These are some of the headlines this week in the sports/tech/media world and we go into more detail to these headlines.

We also head back to December last year with part 2 of the Digital Disruption in Sport panel with guests from Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, IBM and Tata Communications.

This show is more wide ranging as we talk about developments in 5G from a tech provider point of view, a side you don't often hear about, plus the rise of OTT and some of the challenges it still has to overcome. Then onto how artificial intelligence will affect the sports industry and why tech companies find it difficult to market their products anc could do better.

This is an SQN production, you can find out more about what we do by visiting www.sqn.agency

Next week we'll be going onto esports with part 1 of the panel from our 18th birthday event in December last year with Fnatic, ESL UK and Renault F1.

This week we're back with the first podcast of 2020! Last year was quite ad hoc in terms of regularity but from now on you can expect a new episode every week, with some great guests lined up.

To kick things off we go back to our birthday event in December and the Digital Disruption panel, hosting by our CEO Claire Ritchie-Tomkins. A panel on which we were able to bring together some big technology brands who have been involved in sport for many years to provide some fascinating insights. They were

But before we got into the panel, Dan McLaren and Chris Hughes took some time to go through a few of the headlines that have attracted interest in the sports tech industry so far this year. Each week our aim is to offer some insight and discussion around these key topics, helping to provide you with an understanding and curate what you need to know. Whether it be Instagram hiding likes, Liverpool FC successfully launching memberships on YouTube or a new sports tech hub opening in London. It's all here.

This week is part 1 of the panel with our guests talking about their involvement and experiences within sport. How the technologies they produce help solve problems, with the aim for teams and events to be more successful and fans to get the ultimate experiences.

IBM started working with Wimbledon in 1990 and launched the first Wimbledon.org in 1995. Since then the partnership has become one that is closely intertwined, with new technologies tested to create better and deeper fan experiences every year.

ALE worked with pro cycling outfit Team Dimension Data (now NTT Pro Cycling) to initially help them track everything that moved, whether it be water bottles or bike parts. Enabling the team to know where everything was at any time and making logistical decisions easier.

And Tata Communications have been involved in sport for almost a decade through Formula One*, The European Tour and MotoGP. Bijaya explains how they work on getting live feeds from races all round the world to remote production teams with minimal delays. Saving time and money for the rights holders, and delivering other products on top of this technology to create the ultimate fan experiences.

You can listen to the podcast on the player below or head to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or whatever platform you listen to on by searching for 'Something Quite New'. 

Find out more - www.sqn.agency

*Tata Communications was the Official Connectivity Provider of Formula 1® between 2012 and 2019. Tata Communications was also the Official Managed Connectivity Supplier to Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, and Official Digital Transformation Partner to ROKiT Williams Racing until the end of the 2019 season.

In December we held our first ever agency event to coincide with our 18th birthday. As part of that we invited some of the best in the industry to provide their insights across areas such as digital transformation, esports and this.... sponsorship.

European Sponsorship Association chairman Andy Westlake is also a non-executive director at SQN and is one of the most influential voices on sponsorship in the industry. During his talk he went through some of the trends that have been picked out by ESA members to watch out for in 2020 including; 

To begin with though our Head of Digital, Dan McLaren, and Client Services Director, Chris Hughes, took a look back to what stood out for them during 2019 and what areas they are interested in for the year ahead.

Visit us at www.sqn.agency to find out more about what we do or if you'd like to talk to us about a project. 

This is part 2 from our recent trip to the Renault F1 factory in Enstone in Oxfordshire. A day that was very much about esports and their announcement about extending, and expanding, their partnership with Team Vitality

In the previous podcast, we spoke to the team's Commercial Director, Antoine Magnan about sponsorship and what esports means to the Renault group as a whole.

In this show we speak to Guillaume Vergnas, who covers both Formula One and esports for the team and has been an integral part in Renault’s partnership with Team Vitality. Helping to bring the gap between these two areas of the team.

We talked about the partnership, what they have learned over the last two years and whether they can still take the title at the Grand Final of the Formula One Esports Pro Series.

Find us on LinkedIn (SQN), Twitter (@SQNagency) and our website on www.sqn.agency 

We spoke to Antoine Magnan during the recent Renault F1 x Team Vitality esports day at the racing team's HQ just outside Oxford. We discussed what the extension of the partnership with Team Vitality means and he also expanded on a comment he made about sponsorship as a straight cash deal being 'dead' during the presentations and what that means for the F1 and esports teams commercially going forward. 

To read more about the visit you can find our blog on www.sqn.agency

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Simulation racing is certainly an intriguing area in esports. Will we reach a time where the best Formula 1 esports driver can jump into a real car and compete on the circuit or, realistically, will that never happen?

During this event our Head of Digital, Dan Mclaren, sat down with Jamie MacLaurin, Team Manager at Alfa Romeo Racing F1, Darren Cox, President and CEO at Millennial Esports, Guillaume Vergnas, Partnerships Development & Esports Manager at Renault F1 Team, Dom Duhan, Founder/CDO at Team Redline/Studio 397.

During October we've been looking into the opportunities for brands to get involved in esports sponsorship. To download the report you can head to https://app.monstercampaigns.com/c/kar2qfb21ivbjyvs1khe/

In this podcast we also mentioned the press release for our sister company, Init Esports. Details for this can be found on https://sqn.agency/new-esports-powerhouse/

You can find out more Esports Insider, the host for the event where this audio is taken from and get all your latest esports news at https://www.esportsinsider.com

Since the recording of this podcast the name of Millenial Esports has changed to Torque Esports and they continue to make acquisitions and grow not only in sim racing but esports generally. 

Other relevant links for the panel guests and the topics discussed are below;

Veloce Esports

F1 Esports

Team Redline

Studio 397

Renault F1

If you'd like to talk to us about esports, sponsorship or marketing then do get in touch at [email protected] or leave us a voice message here on Anchor.

Next month we'll be talking about digital transformation with help from IBM and mycujoo. 

Team SQN