NEW YORK–How do you turn a “heritage” entity such as credit unions into something that remains relevant today? An executive with the National Football League shared some of the plays from its playbook.
Michelle McKenna-Doyle, SVP/CIO with the NFL, told CO-OP Financial Services’ THINK 17 meeting here that “if you were born before the Internet and now you’re in a space that has been transformed, then you really do have to take a look at yourself. (The NFL refers) to ourselves often that we are a heritage event. It’s still relevant today, but we were also relevant to parents and grandparents. So how do you walk the fine line between innovation and tradition.”
McKenna-Doyle, who also previously held senior positions with Disney, was involved in the World of Harry Potter project launch at Universal, and who worked at Constellation Energy prior to joining the NFL, said she has found during her career as a CIO at multiple companies that people want to change but they are often afraid of it.
What the NFL fears, said McKenna-Doyle, is sitting on the ball, so to speak. She cited the quote from Intel founder Andy Grove, that “Success breeds complacency, complacency breeds failure, and only the paranoid survive.”
(The NFL) might be the most paranoid place I’ve ever worked,” she said. “Standing still and marking time not an option.”
Evolution in Consumption, Demographics
In the NFL’s case, where it is seeking to evolve is around changing media consumption and changing American demographics.
“One of our core values says to embrace evolution while respecting tradition,” McKenna-Doyle explained. “We wanted a platform where we could have evolution but stay true to what we are. What we found is “Football is Family.”
The advertising tagline with “Football is Family” reads this way: “With a game this meaningful, you’re never done. Football not only lives at the center of real families, it crates them where it goes. It bonds 53-man rosters. It makes friends out of strangers. It galvanizes entire cities. It serves as a thread from one generation to the next and the next. To some, it may seem like the most popular, most meaningful, most enriching game in America. But the trust is something that’s even greater. It inspires meaningful moments that bring us closer, like family.”
That “Football is Family” theme is aimed at addressing two issues: the growing percentage of Hispanics in the U.S. population, who are very family oriented, and parents (and especially mothers) to allow their children to play football.
The other change getting much of the focus of the NFL is how its fans are evolving and the platforms they use to watch and consume the games and other related content.
What Will Fans Look Like in the Future?
“It’s critical to not only know how our customers are behaving today, but what they will look like in the future,” said McKenna-Doyle. “They are very different in how we need to talk and market to them than the prior generations. Like America, the NFL is getting older. Twenty years ago, the average fan was 38. Today, they are in their mid-40s. We have to replenish. The way to replenish that is 50% of US. population is under 35. We need to talk to them early. We can’t wait for fathers and grandfathers to pass on their love of football.”
In addition, females have grown the NFL fan base. Sixty-three percent of women in U.S. say they are a fan of an NFL team. “And women don’t just buy merchandise; we make big decisions, like big expenses and whether children play football.”
Looking at U.S. demographics, McKenna-Doyle pointed to research showing that 43% of the 75-million-person Millennial generation defines themselves as “multicultural.” Of the 74-million Generation Z, 47% say they are multicultural.
Meanwhile, the NFL is dealing with the continued evolution of how fans watch games. In 2016, it broadcast a game for the first time using Twitter. The 10-year, multi-billion contracts it has with TV networks are coming to an end. McKenna-Doyle acknowledged “general TV viewing is waning.”
“The massive increase in mobile is going to greatly influence the next NFL contracts. That’s good for us, but only if we can deliver in a way consumers want it delivered.”
As NFL fans move to other types of screens, McKenna-Doyle reminded that “You can’t just have a website that you shrink to fit your mobile device or tablet. People use different devices for different reasons. And you can build a platform, it will work for a while, and then you are going to have to rebuild it.”
Basic Blocking & Tackling on Mobile
McKenna-Doyle cautioned credit unions to ensure a CU’s mobile platform isn’t too complicated, and is simple and clean.
The NFL is also very active on social platforms, with McKenna-Doyle saying NFL fans “love” to create and share content.
“You can’t stay relevant without a good social strategy,” she said. “Ours starts with we want it to be authentic and true to the platform. We want to tease them with more on other NFL platforms they can jump to, and we want to convert them to tickets, shop and league initiatives, and offering special deals through social partners such as YouTube and Twitter."