Sports Content Strategy with MrRichardClarke: Exploring sports content, journalism, digital and social media

Alison Kervin is a pioneer in women's sports journalism. She was the first female editor of Rugby World and the first female sports editor of a UK national newspaper. Kervin's eight-year spell at the Mail on Sunday has just come to a close so he has started up a media agency for athletes. Oh, and she is a successful novelist too.

If she was editing this piece, undoubtedly 'the line' would centre on her gender-based breakthroughs. After all, that is why she was awarded an OBE. But Kervin's spell at the Mail has coincided with huge disruption in the newspaper industry, sparked by digital transformation. She reveals the skills and knowledge she has had to acquire for the 'new' media age and the core abilities every storyteller still requires.

TOPICS

Writing a sports reporting book back in the 1990s

What has changed and not changed in sport reporting

The skill of a sports writer. Does it garner respect?

The feature writer's evolution. What worked and what did not for her.

Coping with the management of athletes in modern sport

What qualities meant it was she who made the key breakthroughs as a female sports journalist

Did the door slam behind her?

Is the lack of female sports journalists down to confidence?

The growth of digital in newspapers since she took over at the Mail on Sunday sports editor in 2013

Concerns of speed being much more important than quality in the digital age

The problem of SEO-based 'churnalism' driven by clicks

The shortening of feedback loops

The difficulty of shareability

How does Alison measure the success of female sports journalism these days?

Writing novels under the pen name of Bernice Bloom - mimicking the box-set mentality

Starting a media agency - knowing what a journalist would want

* This episode of Sports Content Strategy is brought to you by the Digital Marketing & Analytics for Sports Professionals - Your road to digital excellence in sports. Online course starts August 31

The use of data in the analysis of sporting performance is well-known but not yet universally employed.

Many teams say they are going all ‘Moneyball’ but few truly follow it through. Often, decision-making is still emotional, made without evidence and based on the eye rather than the numbers.

Poker has become viewed as a Petri-dish for strategic thinking based on probability which, if applied correctly, can provide long-term success.

Dan Weston is a former professional gambler and poker player. He was also one of the UK’s top slot-machine players in his young days.

Now, he is applying his shrewd statistical knowledge to cricket as recruitment analyst of Leicestershire CC and the Birmingham Phoenix. 

In this podcast, he discusses his career, his current work and the move towards game theory. 

TOPICS

His role at Leicestershire 

Dan’s Table of Justice

Using poker as a ‘thinking process’

The trend for ex-pro gamblers to run Premier League football clubs… and run them well

“Poker is a long-term skill game but short-term luck game.’

Proving the case for giving him a role at a cricket club

How his content helped this process

Taking the emotion out of decision-making

The importance of accountability 

The myth of ‘the eye’

How to build a squad

Dealing with Drafts

Why fans and the media need to fully understand an evidence-based strategy

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Sarim Akhtar's face has become synonymous with anger but he is actually a very happy chap.

However, when the television cameras momentarily caught his expression at a cricket match two years ago, the Pakistan fan was furious after his team had dropped a catch. Within hours, the anonymous meme-makers had pounced on the picture and spread it around social media. He has been 'Insta-famous' ever since.

How should you react in this situation? Ignore it, embrace it or just make as much cash as you can? Then there is your family and work colleagues. And what about those occasions when you become the face of something you know nothing about.

Then there is the real question at the heart of the matter - as the subject of a sports meme does Sarim have any idea why his one happened to capture the world's imagination.

Topics

How the meme happened

Why he was actually suppressing anger

When the meme really took off

Getting thousands of Facebook requests overnight and why he got scared at first

"My meme is not an awkward moment so perhaps I can embrace it more than some."

He has never made a meme and was not a social media person

The versions of the meme he has enjoyed the most

What people say when they contact him

The person who wanted permission to put his face on their credit card

Making money - a Coca-cola ad in Pakistan and why he has got more advertisements

The promo for the Pakistan Cricket Board

His family's reaction

What happened on the two-year anniversary of the meme

Did it sum up the moment for Pakistan cricket

Will he ever get tired of it?

Has he ever thought why it happened to him?

Is he happy it happened?

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Contrary to popular belief, the New York Cosmos are still alive.

Gone are the glitter-strewn days of the late 1970s when Pele played on the pitch, Mick Jagger watched from the packed stands and then, afterwards, they partied together at Studio 54. The old North American Soccer League soon crumbled under the weight of its own excess. However, its leading team gained an enduring legend.

I spoke to official club historian David Kilpatrick about the incredible origin story of the Cosmos, its brief spell in the limelight, its troublesome rebirth and how, just maybe, there may be a route back to centre stage.

TOPICS

The genesis of the Cosmos - Atlantic Records, two Turkish brothers, Gotham Soccer Club and the New York Generals

The impact of the 1966 and 1970 World Cups

Cosmos is short for Cosmopolitan like NY Mets is short for Metropolitan

Chasing Pele - "George Best did not turn up and Henry Kissinger helped"

Adding Carlos Alberto, Giorgio Chinaglia

New York in the late 1970s - financial problems, the 'Son of Sam' murders and the need for glamour

The power of Chinaglia at the Cosmos

The retirement of Pele

The global tour - Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia London - and the tax dodge that helped

Why the Cosmos became the first US soccer brand

Warner's problems, a failed video game for ET - Extra-terrestrial and the sale of the club

"I'm with the Cosmos" - the phrase that got you into Studio 54

The reboot for the NY Cosmos after the documentary "Once in a Lifetime"

Why they did not join MLS

"The most successful franchises in MLS are those who have embraced their NASL history."

Did the Cosmos win battles for the ‘soccer family’ in the US?

The influence of the Cosmos in the early American World Cup squads

Steve Hunt - seven games for Villa, sold to the Cosmos, played with Pele, went back to the English top flight. Does this prove the standard of the NASL?

The problem of TV ratings in NASL back then and MLS now

The pro/rel issue and the Cosmos

Can global leagues create a route back for the Cosmos?

Why the introduction of New York City FC hurt the new version of the Cosmos

What is the future of the club?

The legal case to try and align North American soccer with global football

Is there still a fanbase out there for the New York Cosmos?

Rob Moody runs a YouTube channel with over 900,000 subscribers and holds an important influence over the agenda in his sport but he has never made a penny.

If you are a cricket fan with access to the internet, it is highly likely you have seen one of his videos. Robelinda2 is the ‘go to’ channel for the rare, unusual or controversial moments in the game. His archive has received over a billion views in its 10-year existence by curating niche cricketing content that is appetising to fans and acceptable to rights-holders.

His one-man mission has been so successful that, these days, major players and executives offer their support whenever he suffers a copyright strike.

Moody will say there is no strategy behind his channel, I disagree. His ideas are perfect for his niche, he looks at metrics and experiments constantly. One recent change saw a 10-year-old video move from 170 views to 80,000 in just 48 hours. However, the Australian expects his channel to be shut down soon. 

This is an unusual digisport success story. Yet, there are many lessons to be learned.

TOPICS

His unhappiness at conventional cricket highlight edits

Curation – why produce a 32-minute video of all Glenn McGrath’s boundaries

The long list of requests and how he handles them

His stats since lockdown - 200k increase in subscribers, 249m views in 12 months

The Steve Waugh run-out video and how Shane Warne got involved

The value of heritage content and why it is not considered by many channels

Ignoring all good practice in YouTube channel-building - apart from the headlines

How changing the title of a 10-year video saw it go from 170 views to 80,000 in two days 

“I have pushed the envelope and been as offensive as I can possibly be just to see what would happen”

Does the flak affect him? 

Catering for older cricket fans

Why his channel is living on borrowed time

His process for dealing with takedown notices

Have the broadcasters tried to learn from Robelinda2? (The answer is only once and only briefly)

Pushing against the norms of YouTube

Content strategy, the cookie apocalypse and other disasters

Like a great drummer, a sports content strategy should be tight and consistent but happy to improvise when required.

Many content leaders have been caught out by changes in Facebook's algorithms over the years and, in recent months, Google and Apple have introduced fundamental alterations that will have knock-on effects for almost everyone in the digital space, not just the sports industry.

Recently, a blog by Johan Junker entitled the Cookie Apocalypse caught my eye. He is a deep thinker on content, sports business and the future. His company, Antourage are trying to solve some of the issues. But there are plenty more to discuss.

This is a long theoretical discussion and we don't have all the answers. In fact, we are just trying to see if our questions are in the right areas.

TOPICS

The main weakness in sports content strategy right now

Why OTT platforms only worry about dwell time

Our brains are not built to have more than 200 relationships in real life so how can we have a relationship with 10,000 brands?

The 'Cookie Apocalypse' blog

Losing the obsession with big numbers

Why the sports industry is old-fashioned in harnessing the power of personality

The advantage of a robot posting content - because it is talking to a robot initially. This allows you to reallocate 75 per cent of your content staff to jobs that matter

Get the human content team to craft emotional stories

Why sports marketing will change fundamentally in 2022

Why credibility will be crucial for personalities and influencers going forward

Are sports rights-holders REALLY struggling for compelling content

Definitions of ambassadors and the role they can perform

Quality v speed (and what is quality anyway)?

Share value vs pushing your product

The opportunity created by the pandemic - where are you going to invest your time?

Being the mayor of your village

Johan's recommended products

TOPICS

What has changed in the last three years?

The first book coincided with the introduction of GDPR? Looking back how has that rolled out?

The differing approaches of sports organisations to GDPR, particularly Manchester United

Why you should never take anyone out of your database? The importance of the win-back plan

What has developed over the last 10 years?

The move against personalisation, and why Fiona disagrees

Adding in psychological info and the problems with Net Promoter Score 

The concept of “Jobs To Be Done” 

Talking about the R in CRM

The importance of marketing to young fans and the restrictions around the world

Marketing in different countries  

The inclusion of social media in your CRM ecosystem. The problem of scraping data

The ambitions of big and small clubs. The difference in framing

“Technology is not a silver bullet” - The 80:20 split. Spending 80 per cent of your resources on the people

The next three years in CRM

TOPICS

Why digital is the second industrial revolution

Why control of the customer relationship is crucial

The battleground that has been lost to the social media companies by sports

Putting 'goodwill on the balance sheet'

The role content plays in your strategy

The current sports commercial model - ad-hoc and unstrategic

"Sponsorship will become cashless. Partnerships will be partnerships"

Comparing the average of season ticket holders in different sports around the world

The importance of reengaging with communities post-Covid

The purpose-driven approach behind brand

The reaction to Covid and how it will be led by price or quality

What specifically is being pushed forward because of Covid

The importance of a clear communications strategy

Why the future belongs to "marketers and value creators not salesmen"

The widening split between rich sports and poor sports

The development of "football groups" is a relatively recent and controversial phenomenon. The pioneer has been City Football Group, which started with the acquisition of Manchester City and has since bought significant stakes in clubs in the United States, Australia, India, Japan, Spain, Uruguay, China, Belgium and France.

The Red Bull group has been constructed a different way, with the energy drink company taking over teams in Salzburg, New York, Brazil, Ghana and, most controversially, Leipzig between 2005 and 2010 after earlier forays into F1 and extreme sports.

Both groups have been criticised for throwing money at footballing success but the Red Bull clubs are often dismissed as a marketing exercise and labelled with one of the most damning words in the supporters’ lexicon - plastic.

Last year, Karan Tejwani published Wings of Change: How the World’s Biggest Energy Drink Manufacturer Made a Mark in Football. In this podcast, we discuss the business the meaning and the lessons behind Red Bull’s football story.

TOPICS

Why did they get into football?

After going with his local club Salzburg, why did Dietrich Mateschitz expand to New York, Brazil, Ghana and Leipzig?

The marketing link in India and Goa

Is it just about selling drinks?

Why are they so criticised?

The particular criticism of RB Leipzig - the name and the ownership structure

Why the German fans have maintained a special intensity around RB Leipzig

How have RB Leipzig grown off the pitch and are they popular in Saxony?

Are the East German roots of RB Leipzig are a factor too?

The importance of Ralf Rangnick to the RB Leipzig story?

His three Cs - Capital, Concept and Competence

Getting success in taking players out of Africa

The common philosophy across all the clubs on the pitch

Are RB Leipzig the No1 and the others just feeder clubs?

Their reaction to the criticism

The comparisons to Man City and City Football Group

Is there a difference with other brands backing clubs? Fiat and Juventus, Phillips and PSV, VW and Wolfsburg etc?

Does their lack of history allow a culture of speedy innovation?

Would and should RB Leipzig get into a remodelled European Super League if it were to be introduced?

Why have they not moved into SE Asia?

Are the Red Bull group inspired others?

Have all these football acquisitions actually grown the Red Bull brand?

What would the reaction be in German football if RB Leipzig won the Champions League?

How he ended up in the J.League and Vissel Kobe

The international development role at FC Koln  

The difference in communications requirements between Germany and Japan

The need to actively pitch stories in the J.League

The dominance of newspapers in the sports media market in Japan

The media requirements in the J.League and the organisation of the communications/media department at Vissel

How Vissel Kobe handled the signing of Andreas Iniesta 

The strategy that links with parent company Rakuten 

Their relative strengths on social media - most-followed J.League club on Instagram and previously top on YouTube

The international players’ influence on the club’s social media growth 

How they use Viber internally and externally

The J.League’s plan to become the leading league in Asia

The influence of the DAZN deal on J.League clubs

Vissel Kobe’s first foray in the AFC Champions League - starting well, Covid, one team pulling out of the group, pandemic protection 

Covid’s effects on the J.League as a whole
Lukas Podolski - Poldi’s Noise and how he turned it into a media brand, being “Farmer Smart”, using humour to help the team and charitable causes

Why the respectful approach of the media comes from the culture in the country 

Where does the J.League need to strengthen in the next five years?