ESPN personality and current co-host of ESPN Radio’s morning drive show (Golic & Wingo). Trey Wingo and I jump from the most rabid fan bases to Howard Stern (I like his analogy in the pod about Stern) and back to which social platforms he uses and why. We discuss how ESPN is living up to its mantra of serving fans everywhere 24 hours a day, and how to serve them in today’s new world. We also dug into the differences between radio fans and those watching sports on TV or live.

Laura Froelich is Head of U.S. Content Partnerships at Twitter and prior too, was the Global Director of Sports Partnerships. Our discussion ranges from the value proposition Twitter provides and how it is constantly improving personalization, to her NY fandom and her favorite twitter follows. We also discuss relevant technologies in the space and which sports properties really get fan engagement.

Michael Robichaud is a SVP and long-time executive at Mastercard. I loved discussing the differences in their sponsorship and fan activation based on industry and geography. Next up is the Rugby World Cup in Japan. We dissected PRICELESS, the model for the ultimate customer experience. Robi shared details on the need to create end-to-end customer journey solutions while eliminating pain points. 

Angela Ruggiero is a four-time Olympic ice hockey medalist, USOC and IOC Board member and presently, the CEO and Co-Founder of the Sports Innovation Lab, focused on the convergence of sports and technology. Our conversation spans her personal fandom of Serena and what it felt like interacting directly with her fans for the first time (circa 2009 via twitter), to the fluid fan. We explore personalization and winning in today’s “attention-economy”.

Welcome to The Bond. My name is David Schwab and I’ve been living the sports and entertainment business life now for close to 25 years (and the last 20 at Octagon) – from crafting athlete business plans and solving brands celeb and influencer strategy, to figuring out which innovation is necessary to drive the industry forward. 

But man, I’ve seen more changes and disruptions in the past 24 months than in the previous 20 years.

So really - How do we keep the fan in the stadium? What’s the best way for a celebrity to engage with a fan on a social platform? How do we eliminate friction? Why are fans really fans? Is technology helping engagement or disrupting it? How do we reach the millennial? Cord cutting. OTT. Attention spans. The Customer journey. Merchandise on demand.

And that’s why I am launching this pod – The Bond.  

For the first time, we are going to take a deep dive into the dynamic relationship between fans and their passion of entertainment, sports and culture. We’ll learn why fans are fans, how the digital age is changing interaction, what future engagement looks like, what technology is destined to save the day and hear personal fan stories from our guests.

I am going to chat with celebs, team and league execs, super fans, investors, athletes, brand bosses, entertainers, tech start-ups and visionaries. All to find the force that unites people. The Bond.

We’re going to release new episodes each Thursday but for launch we are dropping the first four at one time. Because I just can’t wait. If you have guest ideas, please shout. I’d love to hear them. I am on twitter every day @david_schwab.

Available at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you listen to your pods.

Welcome to the Bond.