Sponsor Talk

In this episode, co-host, Jason Smith sits down with Mike Palisi, President of Van Wagner College. Mike outlines his 30-year career in sponsorships, including his involvement with the sale of Nelligan Sports, starting the Van Wagner College multi-media rights division, and how his team is taking the company to new heights. He discussed the secret behind creating record-setting growth and how relationships matter in creating true partnerships.

If you're in sponsorship marketing and think of the sport of hockey, it's likely you think of one of the league's largest advertisers, Scotiabank. In today's conversation, we dive in with John Rocco (Vice President of Marketing, Scotiabank) and Dhaval Bhatt (Partner, Rethink) to find out how they approach partnership strategy and to talk about how their new groundbreaking "Hockey For All" Campaign is helping inspire a conversation around how to make hockey more diverse and inclusive.

In this episode, co-host, Jason Smith sits down with Paula Beadle, CEO of Caravel Marketing and Founder of the Sponsorship Mastery Summit. Paula outlines her illustrious career in sponsorship marketing working for both the property and brand sides of the industry. She also provides many insightful data points around sponsorship trends going into 2022, and how to negotiate partnerships while showing value with integrity.

In this episode, co-host, Jason Smith sits down with Yaron Talpaz, VP of Strategic Partnerships with Pico. Yaron outlines his career working for the largest sports media company in Israel, organizing an international basketball game in Madison Square Garden, and how Pico uses data to drive business for sponsors. His story includes the roller coaster emotions of growing a company, and how Pico is reaching new heights.

In this episode, co-host, Jason Smith sits down with Vicki Higgins, Founder and CEO of the CXP Agency to talk about her career starting in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers, pivoting to the travel industry, and starting her sponsorship agency. Vicki spends time talking about the best way to negotiate through a sponsorship, and how sales is more about education than convincing.

In this episode, co-host, Jason Smith sits down with Mark Giovino, Founder and CEO of the Alliance Group to talk about sponsorships in the zoos and aquariums industry. Mark outlines his career path and how he started his own agency focused primarily on introducing brands to sponsorship marketing at zoos and aquariums. They cover a range of topics from creative marketing strategies to how brands should market to families.

In this episode, co-host, Jason Smith connects with Emily Pachuta, Chief Marketing & Analytics Officer with Invesco and JoAn Scott, Managing Director of Basketball Championships with the NCAA to talk about a very strategic partnership around March Madness. They discuss how they had to pivot in 2020 with COVID, how they used technology to connect with fans, and how they developed a financial education program as a foundation to the partnership. Enjoy the episode!

In this episode, co-host, Jason Smith sits down with Billy Demong, Olympic Gold Medalist and Executive Director of USA Nordic Sport to talk about training for the Olympics, living in a chicken coop, and what it feels like to stand on the podium winning gold. They discuss how USA Nordic creates integrated sponsorships to ensure the organization is driving value for their partners.

With only 53% of Gen Z identifying themselves as sports fans, guest host Brian Gainor (Vice President of Innovation, 4FRONT) dives deep with four leading executives to find out how their brands are engaging the next generation of consumers. Today's episode features Ed Horne (President, 160over90), Jessica Park (VP of Fan Marketing, NBA), Xavier Gutierrez (President, Arizona Coyotes) and Shiv Singh (SVP & GM of Brand Marketing, Expedia) as they discuss their approach to the evolving nature of consumer goods and sports marketing.

In this episode, guest host Norm O'Reilly sits down with Sub Nijjar (President, Mosaic), Judy Lee (Head of Experiential Marketing, Pinterest), Brian Graybill (President, Intersport) and Zac Eller (VP of Partnerships & Experiential, SiriusXM) to discuss how the pandemic has impacted the world of experiential marketing, what trends they are closely watching and how they anticipate the recovery of interactions looking once the pandemic starts to clear.