Beth Hirschhorn, the Chief Marketing Officer for Metlife, thinks the next frontier for the NFL is expansion outside of the U.S. and her brand would do anything for more global exposure. NFL expansion was one of many topics discussed in a one-on-one interview between Hirschhorn and Terry Lefton (SBJ/SBD) earlier this month at the IMG Sports Marketing Symposium.
Hirschhorn makes a valid point. Since the NFL started hosting one game a year in London’s Wembley Stadium it has showed that there is a high demand for the sport in Europe. Last week the Patriots played the Rams in front of an enormous crowd of 84,000 people.
Hirschhorn also spoke about Metlife’s twenty-five year, $400 million dollar naming rights deal with the New York Jets and Giants:
Think of the marketing funnel. Awareness and top and then whole host of things in middle, finally down to engagement and sales. What’s different about this property is that it works at all of those levels. So readily works at all levels. Signage package, unpaid media (writing about them) hits top level…plus engagement piece and all kinds of weapons and social media to get fans involved.
Her advice for brands spending marketing dollars in sports? “Don’t try to hit all home runs. You’d be surprised at how many little things work very well. For example, the snoopy statue at Metlife Stadium is fun and low tech but paying huge dividends.”
Hirschhorn left the interview with a final thought: “As a brand you have to go where you have the strength and where you belong.”
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