Anthony Abernathy

Why We Play the Game Some interesting sports nuggets coming from Horowitz research that portends some significant growth for younger-than-cable/broadcast (basically, under 49) audiences via the new Venu streaming service. 🏈 Per Horowitz, 58% of sports viewers 18-34 and 57% of 35-49 yo indicated a likelihood to subscribe to Venu. (In all, 42% of 2,008 surveyed U.S. adults who identified themselves as "sports viewers" said they'll "likely" or "very likely" subscribe to Venu Sports, Horowitz said.) 🏈 🏈 This is decidedly good news for the service and validates the Venu Triumvirate’s move to future proof their business since 74% of cable subs cite ESPN as a “must have” and 48% of adults said that ESPN was important to their enjoyment of cable, more than any other channel (https://lnkd.in/gUJpccYR). 💥 But to put this into some perspective, Harris Poll research indicates only 35% of Millennials and GenZers watch sports on live broadcast (https://lnkd.in/g2fmbqtt). While this may not be quite an apples to apples (especially since Venu hasn't even launched), Morning Consult's extensive sports research indicates 52% GenZers say watching sports it’s not an important part of being a fan (https://lnkd.in/gujHRgDV). Foul the play or a second half comeback? I am betting on the latter if the Venu team understands how to engage the Zillenial fanbase in a meaningful way (ahem). Its gonna be a good game, that is for sure. https://lnkd.in/gCdPUGQe

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Despite my specialty in communications for fitness technology and other connected fitness products at every stage of growth, Saga Holographic (they use 3D display technology to create immersive virtual environments for indoor cycling) is the first business I've worked with that's using Kickstarter as a funding source. Working with Saga has presented some unique challenges: - Their technology is truly innovative, novel ... and difficult to appreciate without firsthand experience - Additionally, with the general wariness of VR because of other brand's sub-par efforts in the space (cough ... *Vision Pro* ... cough...), there's a certain wariness toward any VR-related product, especially for fitness - Saga doesn't yet have name recognition and they are innovating in a space with established, dominant players - There's an idea that because a startup hasn't received investment capital from an established institution, they are less worthy of consideration and attention (Saga is, thus far, entirely self-financed and thier Kickstarter campaign has been successful so far) - There's wariness toward Kickstarter projects generally To make sure we could tell Saga's stories despite those challenges, it's been important for us to lean into Saga's indisputable advantages: - Founder Samuel Matson's impeccable credentials -- he is an ex-Google VR researcher and has worked on the XBox team at Microsoft - Saga's novel display technology works better than any other holographic display that's ever been built and renders graphics at a level that far surpasses any other indoor cycling platform - Saga is bringing true technological innovation to a space that hasn't seen true innovation in a long time - Nearly every person who's ridden Saga's HoloBike has been blown away by the immersive experience of Saga's virtual worlds With the challenges, every hit we've earned for Saga has felt like a special PR win for a highly deserving client. This video, from fitness technology journalist and expert Des Yap (@desfit on YouTube) was extra special. The client and the team here at Double Digit Communications were grateful that Des was willing to take the promise of Saga's technology on faith and use some of his valuable time to visit Saga's HQ. That he then chose to share his experience with his audience speaks volumes about his estimation of the technology. Few people know fitness technology as well as Des, and having him take the time to ride the HoloBike and create content about his experience gave Saga an overnight boost in credibility, even as he gave us important feedback. For Double Digit Communications, this coverage is a positive outcome following hard work and an important step toward helping Saga Holographic earn the prominence the startup deserves. Having taken this step, we're excited to be working on the next step for Saga! #PR #Clientnews #youtube #virtualreality #holographic #fitness #fitnesstechnology https://lnkd.in/gtU76ykF

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This is hella interesting. I don’t think it’s a brand problem…I think it’s a profit over people problem. When you get comfortable just because of your name, cut corners on quality/material/innovation, and shift away from facilitating community+connection—why buy when you can no longer resonate with a brand whos values go against your audience and their cultural touch points are surface level at best. Sometime you have to slow your processes down and give people the room to develop regardless of what the board says. New Balance moves so strategically and slow when making choices and have been at the center of creating culture. Moving as fast as culture is never the answer if it’s at the expense of people for profit and doesn’t create impact over time.

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It’s cool to be on the inaugural Variety 10. They’re recognizing 10 CMOs that they feel are “the most important and consequential leaders of our time.” And I love this list of marketers. I know and admire their work, and I appreciate the thinking behind why Variety chose these brand leaders. All of them are truly innovative and see the world differently. They solve problems in fresh, unexpected, or unconventional ways. They are thoughtful in how their brand transcends the product or service, and find inspiring ways to give back and be a force for good. The list is a mix of highly established brands that are reinventing themselves and finding ways to be relevant and relatable to young and mature audiences, and then there are pioneers and digital natives that are exploring and bringing us new experiences and choices — inspiring us all to live differently, and live better. And many like the NFL are focussed on not just growing their audience, but driving a brand resurgence by making themselves more accessible, relatable and inclusive — uniting people and building strong ties with communities. And most of all, they’re leaders who are not afraid to take risks, showing the power of brave marketing…and demonstrating how building a brand builds businesses. So, a huge congrats to the other 9. I’m pumped to be in the same conversation with you. And a huge thanks to my stellar team at the National Football League (NFL) and our partners at 72andSunny. You are all the engine and the spark that drives our success. Kofi Amoo-Gottfried Asad Ayaz Sue Kroll Marian Lee Lisa McKnight Michael Moses patrizio spagnoletto Jane Wakely Gabrielle Dallas Wesley

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I'm a sucker for brand metrics so when The Business of Fashion drops an AI powered brand study I'm all ears. I like the general methodology and it's intriguing to have an AI analyze brand alignment. I get why brand/audience alignment is a measure of brand strength but that little annoying contrarian in me says that the opposite could also be true. My sentiment has always been that a truly strong brand that stands the test of time is one which lets the audience interpret and make it their own (like a blank canvas). If that's the case, misalignment (in combination with high engagement and intent) may actually be an equally telling indicator of strong brand equity. Ok, that just did my head in. What do you think? #brand #ai #idontknow https://lnkd.in/gBrQSY2m

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E-commerce is booming, but stores can still thrive! Think immersive experiences, not aisles. ✨ The future of retail is emotional connection and over half of US brands are investing in experiential tech. Jaime Bettencourt emphasizes this in her piece recently published by Retail Touchpoints. From interactive displays to curated playlists and captivating scents, the possibilities are endless. But what makes these experiences truly impactful? Jaime breaks it down:  💡The psychology of immersive shopping 💡Human-centric design for customer loyalty 💡Crafting memorable and measurable moments 💡Measuring impact Interested in learning more? Read the full article here → https://bit.ly/44vT5o1

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Is Red Bull racing doomed because Newman, a key designer, is leaving? Not if they can keep the team together. No single person defines a team. Despite individual contributions, it's the collective effort that drives success. This departure underscores the importance of a strong, collaborative team with diverse talents. Investing in skill development for all members is essential, rather than relying on a few individuals. A team isn't doomed by one departure. Success hinges on collaboration, not one person. #Teamwork #Collaboration #Success

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Like athletes to train both physically, and mentally, preparation is key for success. At Sports Innovation Lab, we’ve spent three years preparing for this moment. Now, everything comes together – the preparation, the passion, the positioning. With a breadth of inventory and depth of understanding of fans were ready to help break new records and media performance. The opportunity is here. Are you ready to score big? #MediaPerformance #SportsInnovation #DigitalMedia #audiencetargeting #IABNewFronts

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With the ongoing discussions on the expansion of women's sports, I am reminded of a standout brand content piece from Nike dating back almost 30 years to 1995! It serves as a powerful reminder that true leadership brands constantly strive to anticipate and influence cultural shifts vs. simply reacting to them. #Leadership #Branding #Nike #WomensSports https://lnkd.in/eh62yv35

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I believe people are most influenced by other people, but that doesn’t count out marketing. It just requires a different strategic vision and approach to ignite and convert those spheres of influence. 💥   It's more than a belief - I've seen it first-hand as a leader scaling global DTC brands, where powerful storytelling -> ignites fandom -> fuels new audiences -> growing commercial success.    Double down on that strategy if Gen Z is your core focus! Nicole McCormack's piece on the evolution of fandom in sports nails it.    And Tim Ellis, CMO of the National Football League (NFL), reminds us that early influence matters - "There's no strategy for bringing in a 35-year-old fan for the first time. You have to make them a fan by the time they are 18, or you'll lose them forever." We can all take a page from the fan playbook (obvi paired with the right media mix, content, social & creator strategy) to harness the power of people to help shape & grow our brands! 😊 📣 🚀

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Best Tech Solutions for Shopify? At Gravity Grabber we currently use Triple Whale, Motion, Klaviyo, Attentive, Okendo, and Microsoft Clarity. What else should we be using to get the best return on ads? What are your favorite features from these solutions? Triple Whale Motion (Creative Analytics) Klaviyo Attentive Microsoft Clarity Okendo

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Nike isn't just an iconic brand. They are great at turning athletes into brands. A few weeks ago when everyone turned their (protected) eyes to the sky for the eclipse, Nike was playing the ground game carving an alien crop circle into a Texas field to launch San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama’s brand ‘into orbit’. Branding is all about using symbols/shortcuts to create positive associations and goes back to B.C. times Nike has repeatedly used symbols, stories, logos, nicknames and lore to build brands for everyone from MJ to Tiger Woods, Lebron and Giannis. Now they are at it again to make Victor W. an icon for people to increasingly buy into. Here are 4️⃣ tactics they adopted to turn a 7’4 phenom into a shortcut in our minds: 👽 Story of Origin Victor used to be called ‘the unicorn’, but didn’t like that name and was anointed by Lebron as ‘ an alien’ due to his otherworldly talents. Wembayana approved and nodded to it by wearing a lime green suit to the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft 👽 Soft Launch Last August, before he even played his first NBA game or had a sneaker, Nike used Wembayama in a social campaign for Tech Fleece, calling him "The Extraterrestrial” 👽Sneak Peak Halfway into the season, Wembayana debuted a pair of sneakers with an alien logo ( that he himself drew) on them during all star weekend and posted them to social media 👽Social Hijack 30 million people were in the path of the eclipse, millions were talking about it on social and Nike used this existing attention about to cosmos to drop a video on social with the alien logo that garnered 55M views on X alone. 👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾 Only time will tell if this launch was the beginning of a player brand that will live in infamy in our minds or if too many people were looking up at the sky to notice… but Nike and their marketing machine have definitely shown they can make symbols, sticky! Caitlyn got next! #nike #eclipse #marketing #branding #advertising

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☀ The YPulse Summer of Innovation starts TODAY. All summer long we'll be looking at the innovative brands, trends, and big ideas that teens and YAs are pumped about. And to kick it all off ... here are *the* most innovative brands according to teens. We interviewed over 35,000 teenagers in North America and Western Europe to find out which brands they is, "improving on what came before it and is willing to try new things.” #summerofinnovation #genz #teens #innovation #brandtracking

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I’ve spent over 10 years helping visionaries bring their dreams to life. It’s taken many forms, but by far the most exciting has been working alongside Donald Miller at Business Made Simple and StoryBrand. One of the biggest challenges I faced is this: How do I take these ideas from the white board all the way to launch day? How do we avoid missing deadlines, surprise costs, and the final product looking nothing like what we wanted to build to begin with? We spent an enormous amount of time and money attempting to fix this problem. Trainings, books, courses, you name it. It wasn’t until the last few years that we really got it dialed in. Not only does it work, but we were able to get our entire team on board. The process is too good to keep it a secret. So, this week on the podcast I pull back the curtain and walk through the 5 steps to go from just a concept to launching a product. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/dE-zYgB3

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I had an industrial (B2B) client tell me yesterday that the product insights I provided for them back in 2012 & 2014 led them to significantly redesign their products, and that these products soon became marketplace "rock stars." The result: their competition needed to play catch up for many years, including redesigning their own products to stay relevant. I've often been asked, "What's your favorite type of research?" My response: "Research whose insights are used to effect profitable change." #marketresearch #productinsights #voiceofthecustomer #mrx #cx #rrd #precisiondialogue #effectprofitablechange

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#AI, #NLP, listening and #EarlyRadar were big themes this afternoon at Kroger's 84.51˚office where five local startups talked up the future to twenty or so national brands. Nichefire showcased breakthrough work forecasting actionable trends and the next "secret sauce" (literally) for marketers while NativeAI highlighted the power of #NPL to unlock more value from feedback loops. InfoTrust saves brand builders a ton of money and time through next-gen data analytics and Narratize is accelerating time to market with #GenerativeAI for impactful scientific, technical, and medical content. From my end, representing BrandRank.AI , I noted that "search and discovery as we know it are being disrupted" and that brands MUST get in front of the "Prompted Moment of Truth" shopper journey. I also added a little "Gamification" to the mix, asking the audience to guess the brand behind AI-generated visual metaphors (e.g. Kroger is an increasingly green and healthy "Busy Bee," Walmart is an industrious beaver) -- this to stress the urgent importance for brand builders. "Thinking and acting like algorithms." Thanks John Stieger for organizing this session (and your indefatigable support of local startups...for 5+ years I might add). Mark Wood of Cintrifuse thx for your support of the event as well and great to see you. 🔥 Judy Zitnik thanks for the partnership, deck collaboration, and always spot-on feedback/suggestions. 🔥Michael Howard 🔥Khalil El-Amin Catherine O'Shea Sarah Sanders Katie Trauth Taylor, PhD #CincyAIWeek Hank Hudepohl Kelly Cohen Summer Crenshaw Bill Hildebolt

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One of the things that I loved most about working in studios was being hungry, curious people who were swapping references and ideas all the time. When I started at a brand studio, I didn’t have a background in branding, so I knew I needed to level up. I read everything I could get my hands on that felt relevant to what we were doing. Debbie Millman’s On Brand. Anything from Michael Beirut. A really excellent magazine called Magazine B. So when I wrapped up my last full time gig, one of the first things I started doing was researching and writing about the brands that I found most interesting. Over the past 8 months, I’ve written about: Wise, Liquid Death, Tracksmith, Frida, Fishwife, Dr. Bronner's, L.L.Bean, Dad Grass, Cash App, Ellevest, Airbnb, Who Gives A Crap, Hiut Denim Co, Bandit, LOGE Camps, Lucky Saint | B Corp™, Mountain Gazette, A24, Bumble Inc. Since writing these, these three things are more clear to me than ever: 🎯 Brand fundamentals don't change. The tactics, the buzzwords, and the tech trend of the month do, but at the end of the day, brand and the bottom line are simple concepts (but hard to execute on). 📰 Culture DOES change. Brands that harness it have a competitive edge over others. It's easy to be myopic, but the brands that are winning are constantly looking at what's happening in culture - and finding their place in it. 🎨 Creative is a lever for growth. Creative bravery, innovative ways of making people feel some kind of way, and finding new ways to make the most creative work that resonates with people will continue to build brands. What brands are you fascinated by? Big, small, or totally off-the-wall: I want to hear ‘em! ------------ 👋 Hi, I’m Amanda. I’m a brand-forward, creatively literate fractional CMO for businesses who want to turn their customers into fans, brand love into business results, and business into a force for good. P.S. I ship a little letter on one brand, one piece of research or one of the faces behind a bold brand each Friday morning at 6.A.M. If that's your jam, 🔗 in bio! P.P.S. If you need a hand turning your customers into fans, I have 1 spot for a client in Q3. Slide into my DMs for a chat.

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You already knew Ray-Ban Meta glasses were cool; but did you know they just got smarter as well? "Be a lot cooler if you did." Coming soon to a pair near you Multi-modal AI (MMAI) and Generative AI are just a prompt away! Check out the latest installment of Meta In A Minute (MIAM) and harness the power of an ICON! https://lnkd.in/ezCiny_Z Luxottica Meta AI at Meta OpenAI #MIAM #RayBanMeta #AI #MMAI #GenerativeAI #Iconic #content #creator

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