THINKING
THE QUESTIONS BEHIND THE WORK.
I'm interested in why people care about sports in the first place and what brands can learn by paying closer attention to the people, places, and cultures around them.
Observations on brand, fandom, athletes, culture, and belonging.
FANDOM • CULTURE
WHY 2016 MATTERED.
What 108 years of Cubs fandom can teach us about memory, identity, and brand.
The Cubs didn't simply end a championship drought in 2016. For generations of families, winning changed the ending to a story they'd inherited from people who came before them.
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So what can 108 years of waiting teach us about how sports brands become part of identity - and why some relationships survive almost anything?
WHAT I'M EXPLORING
BELONGING
Why do some teams become part of who we are?
Family.
Ritual.
Community.
Identity.
Lifetime fandom.
PLACE
What makes a sports brand feel like it could only exist here?
City.
Neighbourhood.
History.
Local culture.
Civic identity.
ATHLETES
How do we tell stories about people without turning people into content?
Trust.
Access.
Humanity.
Consent.
Storytelling.
CULTURE
What should brands amplify and what should they leave alone?
Supporter culture.
Traditions.
Authenticity.
Participation.
BRAND
How does meaning become behavior?
Affinity.
Advocacy.
Retention.
Attendance.
Merchandise.
Partnership value.
01 • FANDOM
Why Supporters Might Be A Team's Most Powerful Marketing Force
How supporter culture turns fandom into participation, advocacy, and belonging.
02 • ATHLETES
Know The Person Before Telling The Story: What Trust Changes About Athlete Storytelling
Why meaning athlete storytelling begins with relationships, trust, and humanity.
03 • PLACE
A Team Should Look Like Where It Lives: Why Local Identity Matters As Sports Organizations Grow
How place, community, and local culture give sports brands an identity people can recognize as their own.
04 • BELONGING
Sports Aren't Built On Wins and Losses. They're Built On Belonging.
Why the memories we make around sports matter longer than the scores we came to watch.
05 • AMERICAN SOCCER
American Soccer Doesn't Need To Become Europe
What American clubs can learn from global football culture without borrowing someone else's identity.
06 • BRAND
Your Marketing Department Doesn't Own Your Brand: Why Every Department Shapes The Supporter Experience
How sporting, content, community, partnerships, operations, and marketing combine to shape what supporting a team ultimately feels like.
A QUESTION I KEEP COMING BACK TO
WHAT CREATED BELONGING THIS WEEK?
I use questions like this to pay attention to sports different - not only to what organizations say, but to what people experience.
What brought people closer?
What created distance?
What felt authentic?
Whose perspective was missing from the story?
What felt manufactured?
What did supporters make their own?
What would I test differently?
What happened that no marketing campaign could have maufactured?
BEFORE I CALL IT STRATEGY
WHAT DO I KNOW?
WHAT AM I ASSUMING?
WHO COULD REASONABLY DISAGREE?
WHAT EVIDENCE WOULD CHANGE MY MIND?
A strong point of view should be able to survive better questions.