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November Agency News: DS Across the Globe

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The world is busy giving thanks for this year’s experiences and gearing up for the holiday season. We’ve been hard at work on so many projects that we can’t wait to tell you about. We are thankful for all of you that keep our agency running smoothly, including our amazing partners and clients! Check out what we’ve been up to this month.

Our Work – Stateside and International

This month, Co-CEO Joseph Nother and Director of Branded and Original Content Madelyn Cunningham have been in Switzerland, Milan and Paris shooting the last principal photography leg of the Let Them Be Naked documentary. The momentum is building as we conduct our final interviews in Paris and Milan and approach the release of a long-anticipated sustainable fashion documentary. The creation of such an important piece would not have been possible without the support of Suzy Cameron, who is an active environmental advocate. Suzy Amis Cameron, CEO and Founder of Inside Out LLC, has been key to this project with her funding and encouragement.

We’ve also recently launched two new websites this month! First up, we released a site for Goodson Bros. Coffee Company, a local coffee ground brand with refined coffee knowledge and an unmatched passion for excellence. We also launched a website for Western Kentucky University NIL on November 1st. We’ve got our head in the NIL game and are helping a number of universities take advantage of these opportunities. To read more about the work DS does with NIL, check out our past blogs, “NIL Collective Opportunities & How We Got in the Game” and “Diving into the Game: Unveiling the Latest Trends & Insights on Sports Entertainment Marketing.”

New People and Opportunities

DS has another new face to introduce: Isabella Cornaby! Isabella, a self declared fitness enthusiast and coffee lover, joins our team as Media Manager. After changing her major from supply chain to marketing during her sophomore year of college, Isabella realized her attention to detail and result-oriented work style fit perfectly with her enthusiasm for marketing. We’re thrilled to have Isabella, her motivation and passion for craft on our team.

We are actively hiring for multiple positions and we’d love to hear from you about your experience and expertise. Explore our job openings and find the perfect position for you.

Our Wins for the Winter

Recently, Designsensory was honored to win a contract for Website Redesign & Maintenance with the Metro Knoxville Airport Authority for flyknoxville.com. Stay tuned for their website revamp! We also won an exciting contract for Marketing & Advertising Services of the Ohio Department of Commerce. They protect Ohioans every day by issuing more than half a million licenses, permits, registrations and certifications each year. We’re partnering with the people of the Buckeye state to showcase the real effect that commerce’s vital work has on the safety, security and wellbeing of almost 12 million people.

That’s it for our November overview! We’ll be back next month with our holiday highlights. Keep track of us on Facebook, X and Instagram.

Revolutionizing Retail: Navigating the New Era of eCommerce

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Written by Lily Hardwig, Copywriter
Researched by Cole Pawlaczyk, Intelligence Strategist

Within the past few decades, the virtual buying and selling of goods and services has become one of the most engrained facets of everyday life. As a society, we’re always looking for ways to make our daily routines as efficient as possible. One of the ways brands have helped weave convenience into our lives is through eCommerce. Think about it. If someone asked you how often you use the internet to purchase what you need, how often would you say? Every day? Every week?

Mobile Commerce

Because of our newfound appetite for uninterrupted mobile shopping experiences, retailers are progressively recognizing the need to enhance the mobile shopping journey. What is it that makes a customer more or less likely to buy their goods online? There is much to learn from different platforms’ approaches to skillful product display, search engine optimization, transaction processing, and customer interaction.

When we think about successful eCommerce, likely the companies that pop into your head include Amazon, eBay, and others. And it’s true, platforms like eBay and Amazon provide comprehensive infrastructural services and boast a substantial base of regular users. What can we learn from them? Let’s break it down.

Simplification of the Checkout Process

First, it’s been proven that customers appreciate the simplification of the checkout process, preferring fewer clicks or one-touch checkouts. No one wants to put their credit card information into every eCommerce platform. Streamlining the checkout process is essential for lowering conversion hurdles and enhancing the ease of online payments for shoppers. By streamlining the last few steps of the online buying process, companies like Amazon and eBay significantly cut cart abandonment. For example, Amazon makes the information that consumers want, such as reviews, discounts, delivery times and payment options, immediately accessible. This assuages the frustration and confusion of customers by shortening the checkout process without losing any details necessary for a consumer to make an informed purchase.

Delivery Optimization

Delivery optimization, or the redefining of traditional delivery methods, enhances the shopping experience and customer satisfaction. Innovations like parcel delivery lockers, precise delivery schedules for the working demographic, urgent drone shipments for critical items like medications, and same-day delivery options represent the cutting edge of delivery service enhancements. Logistics veterans, alongside innovators like Amazon, Uber, and newcomers like Shyp, are driving these advancements. Customers have come to rely on quick, simple and dependable shipping and handling.

Loyalty and Memberships

Because checkout and delivery processes are becoming more efficient, the market has grown saturated with competitive pricing, selection, and quality. This can make it difficult to compete and retain your customer base. As a solution, large companies are increasingly focused on fostering customer loyalty to boost engagement, purchase frequency, and basket size. By providing membership programs and benefits, sellers cultivate a loyal community of buyers. Amazon Prime sets the standard for such schemes. Nonetheless, niche players, particularly in fashion, are catching up, with Vente-Privee’s lucrative model standing out by offering membership options that makes the shopping experience of dedicated customers more even convenient. The success of Zalando Zet and Walmart’s ShippingPass also highlights the value of loyalty programs in eCommerce by increasing traffic through membership deals and perks.

VoiceCommerce

eCommerce does not only encompass buying and selling through a process of clicks. eCommerce has come to even include orders through the use of intelligent assistants such as Siri or Alexa. While VoiceCommerce is not typically ideal for first-time product searches, it is extremely useful for repeat purchases. Presuming these smart agents can learn from past orders and eventually handle a set budget, this could pave the way for a novel approach in merchant-customer interactions.

Headless Commerce

Additionally, Headless eCommerce has developed as a technology trend that empowers online businesses to craft highly tailored and engaging shopping experiences across various digital touchpoints. By decoupling the front-end presentation layer from the back-end eCommerce infrastructure, brands are liberated to customize how they showcase their offerings, whether through mobile apps, voice-activated assistants, social media platforms, or beyond. Companies such as Magento, Shopify, and Salesforce leverage headless commerce to assemble dynamic, fluid, and visually appealing online shopping experiences.

Dropshipping

Though incredibly well organized and efficiently structured, business giants like Amazon and eBay are not the only entrants into the world of eCommerce. Thanks to alternative delivery methods like dropshipping, new entrepreneurs have recently been able to break into the virtual world of buying and selling. Dropshipping, which enables sellers to send products straight from the supplier to the customer without holding stock themselves, has opened the door for small-scale operations because of its low barrier to entry and reduced financial burden.

Customer Journey

When engaging with eCommerce, each and every user has a customer journey that we can evaluate to improve the online buying experience. A customer journey refers to the path of interactions a customer has with your brand, product and services. Across various surveys, we have learned that 73% of customers prefer to use their mobile devices to participate in eCommerce, and 51% said that the driving force behind their participation is purely convenience. The platforms on which consumers most prefer to shop include Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. Other platforms recruit buyers as well, just at a slower rate.

Holiday Shopping with eCommerce

Both Black Friday and Cyber Monday are eCommerce holidays that take place just after Thanksgiving and before the winter gift giving season fully commences. The holiday season, the season of gift giving, brings consumers from far and wide looking to order the perfect gift for their loved ones. Because of the aforementioned eCommerce trends, retailers jump at the chance to provide timely online shopping experiences that take advantage of increased site traffic. Whether the retailer is a single startup or a massive corporation, it relies on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to get a successful sales season underway.

Key Takeaways

Whether you are a business owner, a small scale entrepreneur, a consumer or even just a user of technology, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that eCommerce is going to remain central to the exchange of goods and services in our society. Because of this, it’s important that we all understand how this new system of trade works. eCommerce technology is here to stay. Once fully embraced, it has the potential to ease many of the stressors and complications in our everyday processes of purchasing goods. For ways to research, design and optimize your checkout’s User Experience, our team is here to help.

October Agency News

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The temperature is dropping and the sun is retreating, but that doesn’t mean we’re slowing down here at Designsensory. With new faces, exciting clients, upcoming events and the constant vivacity of agency life, this fall we’ll be as busy as a trick-or-treater in a neighborhood that gives out full sized candy bars.

A Warm Welcome

DS has three fresh faces to introduce. First up is Abby Webb, a Knoxville native and motivated problem solver with a passion for helping others succeed and communicating effectively across departments. As our newest Project Manager, Abby has hit the ground running as she puts her degrees in marketing and finance to work.

The next addition to the DS team is Casey Perfetto, Social Media Manager. Casey, a photographer and digital content creator, joins us after receiving her BFA in 2D Art from UTK. She’s decided to join our communications team to build her confidence as an artist and create artwork with the talented individuals here at DS.

The final newcomer is Lily Hardwig, a lifelong reader and writer that studied English Literature and Global Studies at UTK. Lily stumbled upon Designsensory in 2021 and spent a summer interning with Chris Cable. Lily joins us again to strengthen her writing skills and learn everything she can about agency life.

We always love growing our team here at DS, so we’re thrilled to have three new faces walking around the office.

If this sounds like the kind of team you’d like to work with, check out our career opportunities!

Around the Office

To celebrate Halloween and commemorate the spooky season, we had a Halloween Potluck on October 30th.

Just because we know how to have fun as an agency doesn’t mean we haven’t been hard at work, too! Here are a few exciting projects we’ve been working on.

First, we’ve been hard at work consolidating the website ecosystem of Covenant Health, a not-for-profit, community owned healthcare system in East Tennessee. After auditing their 80+ web properties, we helped them determine how best to redesign the network of websites. Check out both our insight and our approach, and as always, reach out to us if you are looking for support with auditing web properties, redesigning websites, or anything else mentioned in the case study.

We’ve also been busy at London Fashion Week, conducting interviews for our newest original documentary, “Let Them Be Naked,” and writing a blog about the experience. Explore Director of Original Development Madelyn Cunningham’s reflections on hopping the pond and producing a film.

Our research arm, Designsensory Intelligence, found that 54% of U.S. consumers prefer humorous content in brand messaging—inspiring our social media team’s spooky season fun over on Regal’s TikTok. We’ve also done some amazing seasonal fall shoots for Old Dominick Distillery and represented South Dakota GOED Trade Show Activations at #Infosec 2023. Joseph Nother, our Chief Creative Officer and Co-CEO, explained that we’ve focused on “the minute details of the branding” and “the design and event setup.” All of the work we do is to spread awareness that “South Dakota is a key driver of the digital prairie – powering the future of cyber security today.”

That’s all for fall, folks! Stay tuned weekly, daily, hourly (if you so wish) on Facebook, X and Instagram.

Minding the Gap: The Art of Producing & Other Lessons From London

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Designsensory recently attended London Fashion Week to cover Prophetik’s fall collection and conduct interviews for “Let Them Be Naked,” a sustainable documentary we are producing alongside Jeff Garner, Prophetik’s designer, and PopFizz.

Director of Original Development, Madelyn Cunningham, reflects on her time across the pond producing a documentary.

Madelyn Cunningham

Documentary production starves every fiber of my being that requires certainty to survive yet I feel fuller than ever and buzzing to share a few lessons from the latest production leg of our Let Them Be Naked documentary.

Jake Macpherson, our DP, in architectural building in London
Jake Macpherson, DP

1. Say Yes and then Figure It Out

You don’t have to know how you’re going to get there – just that you want to get there. I’ve discovered that once you say yes – the universe tends to double down on your energy and doors will open. In the field during a doc, opportunities will constantly crop up and may throw off your current path or schedule. Instead of remaining rigid – find a way to flow. Your project will thank you.

Joseph Nother sitting on the street to get a good photo angle

2. Stay Ready so you Don’t Have to Get Ready

You can’t yell “CUT!” and you can’t run it back. The key to capturing authentic moments is to remain present, engaged, and ready to get down and dirty if necessary, like our principal Joseph Nother.

Joseph Nother & Madelyn Cunningham in car in London

3. Perfect Your Poker Face

I have made it a personal goal of mine to never let my face crack. And no, I’m not talking about wrinkles. I mean when even the most unexpected things happen in the field – my face remains calm and unfazed. Everyone on and around the set will reflect your level of confidence about any given situation – so as the Brits say – keep it calm, and carry on.

Madelyn carrying coffees for crew

4. Take Care of the Team

You’re tired, they’re tired, we’re all tired. Throw in a little jet lag and everyone is toast. As a producer, I try to create small moments throughout the day that keep everyone going.

Box of macarons

5. Leave it Better Than You Found It

In any location and with any interaction, it is important to me that we exit gracefully and graciously. Thank you notes, cookies from a local shop, or flowers are some of my favorite ways to thank the locations, subjects, local freelancers and interviewees we interact with on these productions.

Learn more about Let Them Be Naked: A Sustainable Fashion Documentary produced by Designsensory, Prophetik designer and eco-fashion pioneer Jeff Garner, and production partner PopFizz.

NIL Collective Opportunities & How We Got in the Game

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The future of sports is changing fast with the rise of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities. Only two years old, NIL has become a game-changer for college athletes, opening up new ways to connect with fans, boost brands, and empower student-athletes. Designsensory, known for innovation, is diving headfirst into this movement. We’re partnering with Opendorse and NIL Solutions to reshape the sports marketing landscape.

Meet Our Teammates

Opendorse is a leading athlete marketplace platform and NIL technology company that helps athletes ink deals. The organization serves athletes and their supporters by helping them understand, develop, protect and monetize their brand value. With a reach of over 100,000 athletes, 2,000 sports organizations and 1,000 sports agents, Opendorse has helped an impressive roster of athletes along their brand-building journeys.

NIL Solutions operates from the collectives’ end of the deal, empowering them with resources and solutions to succeed long-term. Created by Aspyre Media and Designsensory, the industry-leading team has over thirty years of experience in digital advertising and twenty-plus years of experience with sport agency and college athletics funding. NIL Solutions combines marketing, revenue growth and operational services, collaborating with national partners. Highly skilled in e-commerce, fan membership, gift funding and brand sponsorships, the company positions clients to succeed.

The Game-Changing Team-Up

Opendorse connects athletes with deals and refers collectives to NIL Solutions. NIL Solutions then empowers these collectives with resources, optimizing revenue streams for collectives. The elite combination of NIL Solutions’ broad digital advertising expertise and Opendorse’s expansive reach promises to be a dynamic duo.

“This partnership combines the extensive industry experience and wide-ranging services of both companies to offer a premium suite of services to our clients,” said NIL Solutions partner, Brea Parke. “We look forward to working closely with Opendorse to provide our clients with the best possible support and solutions in the industry.”

“Designsensory’s mission has always been to challenge convention, disrupt categories, and deliver meaningful results. We are eager to ensure a powerful alliance that is anticipated to bring a myriad of benefits for our stakeholders,” said Joseph Nother, Designsensory Co-CEO.

Coaching The Brands

If you’re wondering where Designsensory comes into play, don’t worry, we have plenty of drills to coach both teams through the NIL field. Designsensory brings branding, advertising, and digital marketing expertise to the table. We’re helping athletes and brands navigate the evolving sports marketing landscape, positioning NIL Solutions as the premier collective consulting firm.
Our competitive advantage is applying industry knowledge to develop creative strategies that amplify brands’ robust capabilities. Our sports marketing agency, Spyre Sports Group, has become one of the top five collectives in the U.S.

Athlete Wins

Even seasoned college athletes can be rookies in the business field. With more opportunities and options to navigate than ever before, student-athletes are thrown into the world of PR, branding, finance and marketing. Our partnership will train them to secure deals, set trends, and explore new revenue streams like personalized merchandise and content creation. We’re empowering student-athletes to manage their image and negotiate on their own terms.

Brand Wins

As NIL is a fairly new concept, NIL collectives need support. Whether your collective is fresh to the scene or established and eager to grow, our partners will help make it happen. We connect brands with athletes who align with their values, creating authentic partnerships that boost ROI and brand recognition. Supporting student-athletes and elevating branding opportunities – it’s a winning strategy.

Conclusion

The innovative NIL space requires marketers, brands and student-athletes to make adjustments in our game plan, take advice from coaches and establish trust with our teammates. We hope this strategic partnership inspires you to not sit on the sidelines when it comes to sports marketing. Embrace new opportunities, take risks, and change the playbook. With the right team, you may even earn a few championship titles along the way. Connect with us to learn more about sports marketing and how we can help your team win! In the meantime, read more about 2023 sports entertainment trends from our research wizards over at Designsensory Intelligence.

We’re Feeling 22! Another Year of Success at Designsensory

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Every August, we celebrate the anniversary of Designsensory, which opened its doors for business way back in 2001. We recently gathered together to celebrate 22 years as a company. And we had quite a bit to celebrate! In just the last year, we’ve seen many successes, welcomed new faces and reached further to broaden and deepen our expertise. Co-founders Joseph Nother and Brandon Rochelle had a few things to say about the last 22 years.

“Happy 22 years! It’s been an absolutely wild ride. The thing that has not changed for me since day one is the comradery in the spirit of working with so many people who are dedicated to their craft. That is the thing that gets me up in the morning, that’s the thing that makes me feel the best about all the things that we do – that we can stand together, shoulder to shoulder, and fight for our craft and deliver something spectacular for our clients. All of you come here and invest yourselves in Designsensory and it allows everyone to grow. That’s what makes it special. Here’s to another 22 years!” – Joseph Nother

“This is just the start of another 22 years. I’m really excited to see where we go from here. Honestly, when we started this 22 years ago, I thought we’d maybe be 8 people and be a boutique agency, doing what we want to do. So, to look around and see how many we have surrounding us now that are just awesome at what they do, it’s really cool to walk in the door every day and see that.” – Brandon Rochelle

So, here’s to 22 remarkable years at Designsensory — where we’re not just celebrating our past, but embracing the potential of our future. Cheers to another 22 years of growth, innovation, and sparking creativity in the world of marketing. We’re not just feeling 22; we’re feeling unstoppable!

Crafting Conversations: Threads, X, and the World of Text-Based Platforms

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We’ve seen the rise of vertical video, but now, new text-based platforms are entering the social media conversation. From X to Threads (and yes, TikTok, even), your brand’s social media mix should be evolving.  

X’s Trajectory and Elon’s Goals

X (as we all previously knew it, Twitter) has become the topic of conversation amongst businesses, marketers and users. For over two decades, Elon Musk has been pitching and shaping his idea for an all-inclusive, versatile app that essentially combines the signature features of Twitter, Substack, YouTube, PayPal, Amazon, TikTok, WeChat and Baidu all into one platform — often referred to as “the everything app.”

The recent rebranding of Twitter paired with Musk’s vision for X as a whole, has become a conversation for digital marketers everywhere. What is the potential user base and reach of an “everything app?” And, more importantly, what are the implications for your brand’s strategy? Civic Science data reveals intriguing insights into the audience most inclined to embrace X’s current rebranding and future features:

  1. Gender Divide: 50% of daily male users expressed strong interest in the new X branding, compared to 26% of their female counterparts.
  2. Banking Integration: X’s future inclusion of banking features makes it an attractive option for individuals interested in switching banks. An estimated 23% of U.S. adults are considering switching banks in the near future and 18% of X users are interested in using X’s banking services.
  3. Elon Musk’s Influence: Elon Musk has a profound influence over embracing X’s rebranding, with 80% of users expressing keen interest in the rebranding due to Musk’s association.

While your present Twitter/X strategy might not need immediate adjustments, as X evolves into a larger, more intricate platform, strategic realignments to your current strategy may become imperative.

Text-Based App Disruptors: Big Names

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, recently introduced “Threads,” a text-based platform, very similar to Twitter/X, designed to streamline online conversations. This move signifies a shift towards fostering more thoughtful and focused interactions compared to the overwhelming nature of traditional social media feeds full of photos, videos, graphics and more. From what we’ve learned and experienced on Threads, though similar to X, it still has a lot of work to be done. Users are requesting additional features such as hashtags and direct messaging, while advertisers are looking for ads and sponsored posts. Though Threads quickly became the world’s fastest app to reach 100 million sign-ups, this massive growth in users quickly declined after the initial launch as active users dropped by 75%.

Similarly, TikTok soft-launched a similar concept of text-only posts in order to diversify its content and user experience beyond just short-form vertical videos. This style of content has primarily been used on TikTok Stories, rather than in-feed posts, however, this may continue to grow as we see more text-based content across all platforms. 

Smaller Players and the Shift Towards Decentralization:

Beyond the giants like Meta and TikTok, smaller players in the tech industry such as Lens Protocol, Mastodon and Bluesky are paving the way for a shift towards decentralized text-based platforms. Decentralized platforms are like any other social media app but differ from traditional platforms in that they’re built using blockchain technology, a major driver of the next iteration of the internet, often called Web3. These platforms prioritize user privacy, data ownership and content control, addressing growing concerns about centralized social media platforms. The shift towards decentralization is indicative of a broader trend in the tech world, emphasizing user empowerment and autonomy.

Our Takeaways & How to Use X, Threads, etc. for Your Business:

As text-based platforms evolve, it’s essential for businesses to adapt and harness their potential. Utilizing platforms like X and Threads for marketing and customer engagement can yield significant benefits such as communicating directly with their audience, sharing updates and providing personalized experiences, which fosters a stronger community. 

New platforms can be nerve-wracking and you may be wondering how to use the platform for your business. Here are some basic ways to get started on text-based platforms to build a community. 

  1. Engage Authentically: Use X, Threads, and other text-based platforms to engage in authentic conversations with your audience. These types of platforms are very community-based, so you want to build a close-knit relationship with your audience. Share personal stories, humor, trends, respond to customer inquiries and participate in relevant discussions among your followers.
  2. Content Marketing: Create concise and impactful content that resonates with your target audience. Threads, focusing on thoughtful conversations, can be an excellent platform for sharing valuable insights and expertise. 
  3. Promotions and Campaigns: Launch promotional campaigns on these platforms to generate buzz and drive user engagement. Encourage user-generated content, ask questions, and leverage contests to foster a sense of community and conversation.
  4. Customer Support: Offer prompt customer support through these platforms. Addressing customer concerns and inquiries in real time can enhance your brand’s reputation and customer satisfaction.
  5. Develop a Platform-Specific Strategy: Though your audience on each platform will differ, oftentimes, your biggest fans will follow your business on each platform. Create a different strategy for each platform. Users who see the exact same content on each platform are less likely to engage.

The Future of Text-Based Platforms: A Glimpse Ahead

As we all know, social media platforms continue to surprise us in many ways and are ever-evolving. The future of text-based platforms is exciting and promising. As technology continues to change and improve, we can expect even more innovative features and functionalities. With new technologies like virtual reality or artificial intelligence, the way we communicate and engage online is completely changing.

Navigating Social Media

The dynamic world of social media provides a vivid picture depicting the evolving digital landscape of today’s society. Businesses are consistently finding new avenues to connect with audiences and foster growth. By tackling new developments and technologies, you can navigate the intricacies of social media and text-based platforms to bring in a brighter future for your brand. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us to start your strategy. 

Welcome Courtney Francis & Tap into Her Insights

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The Designsensory team is growing! We recently gained Courtney Francis, an analytical thinker who takes a holistic approach to project management. Joining us with a fresh perspective, Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Coastal Carolina University, and love of collaboration, she’ll be a wonderful asset as Project Coordinator at DS.

Courtney is eager to share industry insights and use the networking experience she gained from her involvement with the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) as she works with B2C clients like Regal Entertainment. Although she does have an affinity for speaking, she doesn’t just talk the talk, she walks the walk—most recently, across the stage to accept her Master’s degree in Communication and Information from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. While earning her masters with a concentration in Public Relations, Courtney ideated, researched, and executed her final thesis on a topic at the forefront of many people’s minds: CEOs’ uses of their personal social media accounts.

Today, social media serves a different purpose for each individual, or organization, that uses it. Younger audiences view it as a portal to connection to keep up with their friends and family or portray themselves a certain way; brands and politicians use it as a marketing channel to earn recognition, engagement, and loyalty; volunteers and coordinators optimize it to streamline communication, organize events, and raise awareness for important issues and upcoming opportunities to reach the community. But what do CEOs use their personal social media accounts for?

Determined to answer this question and better understand how some of the world’s most successful and influential entrepreneurs are connecting with large audiences, Courtney conducted exploratory research to inform her conclusion. Mapping out a selection of popular content topics and themes, she searched 10 Fortune 500 CEO’s instagram accounts, documenting the image types she found on each. After tallying and analyzing the data, she realized that the most prevalent posts either highlighted the CEOs’ personal lives or featured news about their company and its upcoming events.

Corporate communications are an intricate and pivotal aspect of companies’ success. Courtney chose this particular topic because of the value her findings could bring to the academic research world and professionals in public relations and advertising. With the rise of social media and its rapid adoption and innovation, it’s important for professionals and individuals to grasp the ways they can effectively and efficiently use different platforms in order to achieve their goals. Once a post goes up, it may come down, but it will never be permanently deleted from the public eye.

We hope Courtney’s thesis topic and learnings inspire you to reflect on your posting cadence, frequency and subject matter, and compels you to look to industry leaders to inform your own content strategy.

We’re thrilled to welcome Courtney to the team and garner new insights with her! As always, if you or your company are interested in discovering the latest audience and industry data or pinpointing central human truths that will help your brand become more impactful, reach out to us. We’re happy to help.

Diving into the Game: Unveiling the Latest Trends & Insights on Sports Entertainment Marketing

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At Designsensory, research and intelligence are our foundational keystones. Any effective communication must originate from a place of solid understanding. Understanding the audience – who they are, how they think, the emotional reward for participating in commerce with your brand, the purchase or engagement triggers, and lifestyle segment imperatives – coupled with a deep appreciation for the competitive landscape and the noise that smokescreens your message, is what drives our strategic and tactical excellence.

With sports season quickly approaching, Designsensory Intelligence (DSI), our in-house research arm, wanted to uncover how marketers can tap into the sports fan audience.

The Findings

Our team of research experts found that there’s an enriched audience of sports fans with high-income and education levels. This demographic offers a ripe market for upscale products and services, presenting an opportunity for refined targeting and premium positioning. In today’s ever-evolving digital realm, embracing platforms such as streaming, short-form content and mobile ticketing is not just an option but a necessity. These platforms are becoming the primary channels for fan engagement, and to remain competitive, one must effectively harness their capabilities. Furthermore, the increasing availability of first-party data has opened doors for unparalleled personalization in marketing campaigns. By leveraging this data, you can craft messages and experiences that resonate deeply, providing fans with a sense of connection and exclusivity, bridging the gap between brand and fan. Athletes, in this new paradigm, are not merely players on the field, but potent influencers and content creators off of it. Engaging with them for partnerships can significantly amplify your brand’s reach and authenticity.

57% of sporting event attendees are highly educated, with a bachelor's degree or higher. More than 50% have high income.
27% of sports fans are early adopters to new technology

E-sports is another frontier that cannot be ignored. Its meteoric rise offers access to a younger, affluent, and tech-forward demographic, making it a promising avenue for both brand engagement and ROI. Its surging popularity connects brands to a younger, tech-forward demographic, guaranteeing strong engagement and potentially high ROI. Additionally, unique sporting events provide occasions to captivate not only die-hard fans but also the occasional enthusiasts, crafting brand touch points that linger.

E-Sport deals grew from 1700 deals in 2020 to 2100 deals in 2021
20% increase in female e-sport fans

Sporting events, meanwhile, provide unique moments to capture and engage even sporadic sports enthusiasts, creating brand experiences that leave a lasting impression. In an age where authenticity and values matter, it’s crucial to align your brand with meaningful societal causes. Taking a stand not only enhances brand loyalty but also positions you as a socially responsible entity in the industry. Ultimately, this is an era of immense opportunity for sports marketers. The key lies in understanding these shifts, adapting with agility and executing with precision.

In our digital age, it’s vital to harness the power of platforms. Learn more about sports and the impact these platforms have on marketing in the full report.