Why brands should reinvent sponsorships for the digital fandom era
As technology rapidly reshapes fan engagement, Nick Kelly, vice president of partnerships at Verizon, navigates the changing terrain of brand sponsorships. When he thinks about the future, he sees barriers to entry dropping, creating a crowded marketplace for brands. To forge meaningful fan connections in an era of fragmented, digital-first experiences, Kelly says brands must innovate and personalize their approach, creating authentic connections that transcend traditional sponsorship.
Kate MacArthur: How important are phones to fans?
Nick Kelly: As technology and the ability to share experiences have evolved, we are at the center of that. Once we converted a lot of venues and experiences to 5G, you have reliable service. You can see when you go to something like a Taylor Swift concert, you’ve got 30,000 to 40,000 people livestreaming to their friends and family. That wasn't possible three or four years ago.
MacArthur: How does that shape fan experiences?
Kelly: The expectation of how a fan shares their experience now is far different because it’s vanity, “Look how cool it is that I came to this event.” You look at big moments of an average Monday night basketball game to the Super Bowl to the World Cup. These are once-in-a-lifetime experiences fans want to document and share.
MacArthur What trends are you seeing in fan behavior?
Kelly: The fan behavior at concerts used to be 90% of the data being utilized in a venue was downloaded. In the last 12 to 18 months, it's switched to about 60% now being uploaded. Fans are sharing what they’re doing. They’re not trying to be reached. So it’s changed us, as in, “How can I provide a service or an experience at this event?” They're spending this time on the phone to share their experience, not to be disconnected from it.
MacArthur: How does supporting fan experiences nurture a brand's fandom?
Kelly: It’s almost like they can count on us as a Beyoncé fan that if they can’t get tickets in her regular fan presale, there’s a high likelihood they’re going to get some because they’re a Verizon customer. Our ability to have that kind of tie to a passionate fan base has become invaluable to us because they see direct value in it.
MacArthur: How does AI fit in personalizing experiences?
Kelly: We're using AI tools to provide a personalized experience and offers that you care about. It's the continued modeling of the more you work with us, the better we can predict from an AI perspective what we should be offering you. Utilizing it more on the chatbot side and customer service has enhanced the customer experience within the last month. It's getting better and better by the day.
MacArthur: How do you see the balance of global to national to local fan engagement evolving?
Kelly: There are so many people who will never get the chance to go to a Taylor Swift concert. Look at the upcoming Olympics, the World Cup. The ability for brands to take a global event and win locally will be the ones that see the greatest short- and long-term returns.
You look at big moments of an average Monday night basketball game to the Super Bowl to the World Cup. These are once-in-a-lifetime experiences fans want to document and share.”
MacArthur: Your Super Bowl FanFest seemed like a big hit. How are you measuring its success?
Kelly: First, sustained conversation in earned media and social media. Then we measured how many tickets were redeemed. Third, what brand-health metrics come back from this 30, 60, 90 days out: Driving gross ads? Retention? Those things we measure every marketing campaign against. It has to deliver a similar level of value or as efficiently, if not more efficiently, than some of the other things we do.
MacArthur: In our Future of Fandom survey, younger fans show stronger engagement and a higher likelihood to buy products. What’s your takeaway?
Kelly: The younger generation is far more prepared to tune out commercial messages and ads. So when we're helping empower something that they care about, like sports or music, that's super powerful. This data continues to shift toward younger customers valuing experiences over things. If we can provide fans incremental value of behind-the-scenes content, early access to tickets or an enhanced experience at the event, we hope they remember, “I got this because I’m a Verizon customer.”
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