Archer Sampson’s Post

Combining smart storytelling with strategic investment in the sports industry can create a successful venture by effectively engaging audiences and maximizing profitability. Here are some key steps to achieve this: 1. **Define Your Unique Selling Proposition**: Develop a strong narrative that sets your sports business apart from competitors. Highlight what makes your brand unique and why audiences should be invested in your story. 2. **Create Compelling Content**: Utilize various storytelling techniques such as videos, blogs, social media posts, and live events to engage with your audience. Share inspiring stories about athletes, behind-the-scenes footage, and user-generated content to build a loyal following. 3. **Focus on Brand Partnerships**: Collaborate with like-minded brands and athletes to enhance your credibility and reach a wider audience. Strategic partnerships can also provide opportunities for co-branded content and promotional activities. 4. **Utilize Data for Strategic Investments**: Use analytics and market research to identify trends, consumer preferences, and investment opportunities in the sports industry. Make data-driven decisions to allocate resources effectively and maximize returns on investment. 5. **Diversify Revenue Streams**: Explore various revenue streams such as sponsorships, merchandise sales, ticketing, and digital subscriptions to generate multiple sources of income. By diversifying your revenue streams, you can minimize risks and capitalize on market opportunities. 6. **Community Engagement**: Build a strong community around your brand by organizing events, supporting local sports initiatives, and fostering a sense of belonging among fans. Engage with your audience on social media, respond to feedback, and create personalized experiences to strengthen relationships. 7. **Adapt to Market Changes**: Stay agile and responsive to changing market dynamics by monitoring industry trends, competitors' strategies, and consumer behavior. Continuously innovate your storytelling and investment tactics to stay ahead of the curve and seize new opportunities.

Interesting short read. Spotting a business that was an under-designed brand with a story to tell and revenue to grow - not just a football club. Remove the celebs, and you have the process of what great VC brands such as Growth Partner do every week - spot, listen, guide and accelerate

A brilliant winning business strategy:

A Perfect Example of “Keep Going, No Matter What” He went from: - Failed relationships (he split with Scarlett Johansson in 2010) - Career setbacks - And financial instability To... A successful husband, father, entrepreneur, and global star. Sold 2 businesses over 2 billion dollars - Mint Mobile - $1.35B (2017) - Diageo - $600 m (2020) Currently owns : - Maximum Effort (A production and marketing company) - Wrexham AFC (A football/soccer club) - Fubo TV (A sports-focused streaming platform) Today he’s worth over $350 million. he is more of an entrepreneur now than an actor. Key Lessons: 👉 Every king needs a queen (or vice-versa): Ryan’s career took off after marrying Black Lively in 2012. Blake brought stability to his life, giving Ryan the space to focus on himself, physically and mentally. Focus on that one person and bring stability to your family, if you want to go far in life. 👉 It’s never too late: Ryan was 39 when he finally hit it big with Deadpool. In just 8 years, everything changed. So it's never too late, just keep going. 👉 Right timing matters:   His first Deadpool appearance in 2009 didn’t go that well, He didn't even get noticed by audiences. Seven years later, when finally it was his time, everything changed. Your time will come too; keep showing up every day, No matter what.

Football players are not just athletes. They are the heroes and anti-heroes of the fans. Most club posts are often nothing more than photos of matches and training sessions. ❓ Why not take the fans behind the scenes and tell more about their athletes? It would benefit the clubs themselves, the athletes, and the fans. 🚀 It's a win-win-win! A football club can be compared to Marvel Entertainment. Why? ✅ Brand Identity Just as Marvel has a strong brand identity built around its superheroes... 👉 your football club has its own identity shaped by its history, values, and fanbase. ✅ Star Players as Heroes 👉 Every athlete has something special that the fans do not know and that can make him a hero. Your football players can be likened to Marvel's superheroes, each bringing their unique talents, skills, and personalities to the team. For example: ☑ Your star striker - Spider-Man: -> known for the agility and ability to score crucial goals. ☑ The team captain - Captain America: -> leading by example and embodying the spirit of the club. ☑ A tough defender - Hulk: -> using strength and resilience to thwart opponents. ☑ A creative midfielder - Iron Man: -> using vision and precision to orchestrate plays. 👉 You can create an endless amount of content using storytelling and telling about your footballers. ✅ Fan Engagement Just as Marvel engages fans through comics, movies, and merchandise... 👉 your football club connects with supporters through matches, events, and branded merchandise. But also through podcasts, Twitch, Instagram lives, etc. ✅ Competitive Success Marvel's superheroes often face challenges and adversaries... just as your football club competes against rival teams in leagues and tournaments. 🔺 Thoughts In essence, just as Marvel Entertainment's superheroes contribute to the success and cultural impact of the company... 👉 your football players play a vital role in shaping the identity, competitiveness, and engagement of your club. Managing your football club with a Marvel-like approach can: 🔹 enhance fan engagement 🔹 foster a sense of community 🔹 create memorable experiences that resonate with supporters long after the final whistle ❓ Who are your heroes in football? #footballbusiness #linkedinsports #heroes

US Soccer: Merging Sports Passion with Business Savvy… In 2017, I read an HBR article titled "Why Sports Are a Terrible Metaphor for Business," which posed an intriguing question: What can sports, particularly football, teach us about competition, success, talent, teamwork, value, and values? The surprising answer was "not very much" based on these points: 💭 The logic of competition and success is different. 💰 The creation of economic value differs. ♨ The dynamics of talent and teamwork vary greatly. Despite these differences, American Football remains a billion-dollar industry. But what about emerging sports? 💸 While pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the U.S., soccer holds immense potential. Driven by a young, diverse, and digitally savvy demographic, soccer's popularity is surging. Highlighting Andrew Petcash's insightful post, new teams are forming in cities that previously had no professional sports presence, indicating a significant growth trend. Soccer’s upward trajectory presents a massive opportunity for teams, owners, and fans 🚀 . By blending business models from established leagues like the Premier League, Eredivisie and La Liga with the enthusiasm of new U.S. fans, we might be on the brink of a new football era. Effective GTM/Revenue strategies will be essential to connect fans, companies, sponsors, partners, and teams, fostering successful organizations. The beautiful game connects people and offers a unique business opportunity. We may be witnessing the greatest democratization of fandom in history. ❔ ❔ ❔

Disruption for disruption's sake is never a good reason or approach when seeking to evolve a sport or an industry. You need the right concept & vision, the right stakeholders and the right investment on board. And when those stakeholders reach enough critical mass to come out in force against your idea - then you know you're onto a good thing. As has been discussed at length by greater minds than I (H/T Mr's Mitchell, Gillis, Williams, Morgan, Singleton), lots of sports are currently ripe for picking. And athletics has been screaming out to be disrupted. Too many events taking place too irregularly and no guarantee of the best of the best competing against each other. I love athletics, but as a fan it's hard to know when events are on, how to watch them, and then how to get my kids more actively engaged with the excitement of the sport. So seeing Johnson take the bull by the horns, now with serious investment and support behind him, this will be a really exciting space to watch in the next 12 months. And I bet World Athletics and so many others will be up in arms about it....but they were the first to drop the ball. Game on! https://lnkd.in/eAC6335X Michael Johnson Simon White Jack Barnes Dara Otwell Sean Singleton Richard Gillis Giles Morgan Roger Mitchell Matt Lloyd Susie Johnson Grant Williams

"I love soccer! I love soccer!” -- I count this as the year's most unexpected home run celebration from a Major League Baseball (MLB) player, but also one that says *everything* about the global ambitions of sports today. After his dinger in this weekend's MLB London Classic, Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper also included an iconic knee-first slide for the UK fanbase -- a proper "GOAL" celebration for a soccer/football striker. He's hamming it up for the fans, no doubt, but also performing a vital act of making a *local connection* with a specific non-US culture, all in service of spreading an American sport to a new community of fans. The MLB is not alone in the goal to make authentic connections with global audiences 👇 🏈 National Football League (NFL) launched a "Global Markets Program" which awards 25 NFL clubs with international marketing rights to build brand awareness/fandom in 19 territories. The rights are awarded based on alignment of the city, brand, and players by territory. 🥅 National Hockey League (NHL) "Global Series" will bring games to three cold-weather, European countries which lead the world in the number of registered hockey players: Finland (59K, 5th in the world), Czechia (27K, 7th in the world, and Germany (23K, 8th in the world). 🏀 National Basketball Association (NBA) scheduled its "2025 Paris Games" to include the French phenom and No.1 draft pick, Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs (facing the Indiana Pacers). In these global expansion initiatives (and others), a common theme is the quest for *local connection.* Given the nearly-limitless potential of digital distribution, local connection is the key ingredient for traction and ultimately, for growth. __ 💡 If you're building your career in sports, the global growth of the game unlocks new career opportunities, especially if you have insight or knowledge of a specific fan community. Just as Harper's celebration gave a *wink* to UK-fans to acknowledge how their sports stars celebrate (football players), teams and leagues must speak to fans across geographies and territories on many levels -- that takes a team and it take's talent! Here's one ideal alchemy if you want to land a globally-focused sports marketing role: functional expertise + deep knowledge of a local culture. __ ⭐️ Explore 90+ open jobs outside of the US on TeamWork Online: https://lnkd.in/efDXgNCa What other global growth initiatives have you seen from US sports teams and leagues? ⬇️ 💬

Sports…Life & Business Allow me a moment to brag a bit about one of my sons (there is a business point in this post, I promise).  The Cleveland Force Soccer Club U19 USL Academy team had the honor of playing in the United Soccer League (USL) Academy Cup in Tampa, FL this past weekend.  They played 3 games within their group, and qualified to play in the group championship game on Sunday.  The boys went 4-0, scored 17 goals, gave up 0 goals, for a +17 goal differential.  To say they played well is an understatement. There are a few business (and life) points in this experience that I’d like to emphasize: 1. Even when you crush it, there is always another challenge…and most likely a better challenger.  If you think you’ve “arrived,” life has a way of letting you know you haven’t…and usually pretty quickly, and sometimes painfully.  The boys played in the Premier Division, the 2nd highest division out of 4. 2. You always need to be preparing for that next challenge.  There is always another game or tournament to play. The photo sequence in the collage is pretty interesting.  The top left is the team photo and celebration, bottom left image is the goalkeepers celebrating their 4 shutouts (clean sheet in soccer/football terminology), and the image on the right is the goalkeeper coach talking to the boys, less than 5 minutes after the celebration, about how they could have played better, what they need to work on, and what they need to do in order get better for all the “next times.” Youth sports, if looked at through the correct lens, is very beneficial to the development of our future leaders.  There are numerous other benefits of youth sports that I didn’t have time to mention.  Let me know if you have any others to add in the comments below…let’s try to keep all the bad/embarrassing parent moments out of this post (we can talk about that aspect of youth sports over beers someday). Thanks to the staff at Cleveland Force for teaching the boys about soccer, leadership, and life. We appreciate it! Davey Resource Group, Inc., The Davey Tree Expert Company, Darik Warnke, Benjy Szucs Denny Ciornei, Marko Raduka, Everett Palache, & Bill Lawrence

The NFL’s “This is Football Country” campaign is a bold declaration of the sport’s desire to unify in a divided time. By showcasing the game’s epic nature and its ability to uplift communities, the NFL positions itself not just as a sport, but as a cultural force that transcends borders. This approach reflects the league’s ambition to globalize football by making it human, inclusive, and relatable, even in countries where it isn’t the dominant sport. To create an effective sports branding campaign: • Leverage Local Heroes and Global Icons: Engage both local and global athletes to build a narrative that resonates across different cultures and communities. • Humanize the Game: Focus on the personal stories of players and fans to create an emotional connection that goes beyond the sport itself. • Promote Inclusivity: Emphasize that the sport is for everyone, using diverse representation to reflect the wide range of people who enjoy and participate in football. What do you think of the campaign? How can brands in other industries learn from the NFL’s approach to unify and expand their global reach? #FootballUnites #GlobalGame #EpicSports #InclusionMatters #BrandingTheGlobe #NFL #Sports #Athletes