Las Vegas Raiders’ SVP of Marketing Kristen Banks joins The Current Podcast to discuss the importance of balancing old and new fan bases alike, and not just in Las Vegas.

Episode Transcript

Please note, this transcript  may contain minor inconsistencies compared to the episode audio.

[00:00:00 ] Damian: I'm Damian
[00:00:01 ] Illyse: And I'm Ilyse Liffering and

[00:00:02 ] Damian: welcome to this edition of The
Current
[00:00:04 ] Illyse: This week,
[00:00:05 ] we're delighted to talk with Kristen
Banks, the SVP of Marketing for the Las Vegas
Raiders, formerly known as the Oakland Raiders, and
for a while the Los Angeles Raiders from 1982 to 94,

[00:00:18 ] Damian: but since 2020, the Raiders have
made their home in Las Vegas, and this year the
Raiders hosted the Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium.

[00:00:26 ] That's the first time in NFL history that
a Super Bowl was played in the state of Nevada.

[00:00:31 ] Illyse: In fact, the match was the most
streamed in history by a record setting audience.

[00:00:37 ] Damian: Now, although the Raiders weren't
playing in the match, the event marked a watershed
moment for the NFL, for Las Vegas, and the game in
general.
[00:00:45 ] We started by asking Kristen what all that
attention meant to the Raiders.

[00:00:51 ] Kristen: it's incredible. Uh, you know,
coming into working for a brand that's been around 60
years. So the Raiders organization is [00:01:00 ]
been, you know, around since 1960 and they've never
hosted a Super Bowl. So for the first time, you know,
coming to a new stadium being built in Las Vegas in
2020, not having it open for the first two years that
the stadium was in full operations because of the
pandemic, And then fast forward to this year hosting
the Super Bowl on a wide, really global stage.
[00:01:26 ] was incredible. It was incredible for the
brand. It was incredible for the city of Las Vegas.
And I think it really represents a new chapter in
sport and what's happening in this city.

[00:01:40 ] Illyse: And you know, also thanks to
streaming and probably also Taylor Swift a little
bit, let's be honest, we're seeing new fans come to
the NFL.

[00:01:49 ] Kristen: What I would say is again,
drafting back to the pandemic is that there's, you
know, there was already a change in consumer behavior
and how consumers were 

[00:02:00 ] absorbing and
watching content. Certainly with the pandemic that
increased that aptitude. And so you saw this
incredible spike in how people are consuming content,
certainly migrating away from being cord cutters or
potentially Cord nevers who had a cable package and
moving into streaming services.

[00:02:20 ] Certainly you see that even more so with
the younger population and Gen Z. It's about simply.
Being available to every audience type that's out
there, and that could be on their mobile phone, on
their tablet, when they're watching the game, still
on regular television, but going to social media
platforms or YouTube to consume additional content
that only enhances the experience.

[00:02:46 ] Damian: That's interesting. One of the
things that you said to me, Kristen, was about that
streaming and second screen experiences that, in
effect, there's a sort of virtual community of fans
who are sharing content as the action is happening
and unfolding. [00:03:00 ] How do you think about that
and leverage that as a marketer?
[00:03:02 ] Because that seems like a pretty exciting
real time opportunity.

[00:03:06 ] Kristen: It's such a unique world, right?
Particularly for younger audiences, we'll say, under
the age of 25, if they haven't documented it, then
it's almost like it didn't happen. So, as a brand and
as a marketer, you have to think about when someone's
attending a game, when they're watching it at home,
how are they engaging with the experience?
[00:03:30 ] And how are you giving them? A opportunity
to tell their story and what it means to engage and
experience that activity with the brand.
[00:03:40 ] , I'm quite new to the Raiders
organization. I joined, um, six months ago, right at
the start of the 2023 season. the height of Super
Bowl. And so my team is deep in the throes of the
strategy and planning of how do we build audiences
and how do we ultimately create customer journeys
long [00:04:00 ] term.
[00:04:00 ] When you think about the avidity scale of
the very core passionate fan who maybe is a season
ticket member, buys merchandise can't get enough of
the Raiders podcast that type of fan. is very
different than a very casual fan so for a very casual
fan, I'm not going to immediately try to sell them on
a season ticket member because they're likely not at
that stage of ready to make that commitment
financially, ready to make that time commitment.
[00:04:31 ] So how do I get them to watch a piece of
content? So it's really about building out each
person individually and saying, okay, this subset of
fans represent this group and follow this typical
pathway.
[00:04:45 ] And these types of fans that are much more
avid may follow a very different pathway. And this is
what this looks like.

[00:04:51 ] Damian: I'm very curious on the, you know,
when you mentioned the coach and the teams and all
that dynamic that goes on, how much access do you and
[00:05:00 ] your marketing team have to that? How do
you, how does that kind of infuse what you have to do
on the, on the executive front?

[00:05:06 ] Kristen: From week to week, you know, win
or loss, you know, there's this constant narrative
that's playing out on a real time stage and on social
media and live on broadcast. And so then you have to
say, okay, how do we ultimately take that draft
quickly? If maybe a player made a stunning catch, or
had a, you know, a fumble, or did something on the
field that was really extraordinary, how do we then,
you know, how do we dovetail off of that?
[00:05:39 ] How do we create content? Taking those
things that are really quick hits and ultimately
doing a quick turn to be relevant and, you know, in
that social media moment of continuing to capture
that interest and intent.

[00:05:55 ] Damian: That's really interesting. And the
way that advertising now is deployed in a much more
agile [00:06:00 ] way makes that all the more
possible, I assume.

[00:06:03 ] Kristen: Right. I would say, there's
challenges with that. Yes, for sure. It's. It's
easier to do nowadays. I mean, certainly you've got
social media, you've got digital content. It's easy
to push something out, but you also have the
challenge of, as you think about customization and
personalization and audience segmentation, what does
that look like, right?
[00:06:24 ] Is it five different messages? Is it three
different messages? Is it one different message, but
a different channel? So, you know, Even still, when
you're trying to move as quickly so that you're still
relevant, and it's happening, that lightning in that
moment, you have to also be able to take a pause,
say, what's the strategic approach here, and is this
reflective of the right audience, and where do we
ultimately push this to make it relevant?

[00:06:52 ] Illyse: I feel like the NFL and sports
leagues overall, There's a lot of, like storylines
that you can actually, draw from, and, like,
[00:07:00 ] personalities. , everybody has their
favorite player their favorite moment in time that
that player, really succeeded. [00:07:08 ] How do you then use these storylines to,
like, infuse your marketing content as you think
about, keeping things relevant and authentic?

[00:07:17 ] Kristen: My background is sports and
entertainment, which has really what I'd like to say
is baked in stories and they're happening on a daily
basis, right? I think it's why when we then partner
with brands or we bring in partnerships and we say,
okay, brand X, Y, Z, who maybe doesn't have some of
those built in storylines to play from, how do they
make what they're doing, you know, speak to the fan
base

[00:07:43 ] Illyse: do you think that even work with
brands that don't have an obvious affinity with a
sports team? Like how do you create then like
extensions of the story?

[00:07:54 ] Kristen: I'll pick on maybe a little bit
of finance and insurance because maybe they're not as
sexy, [00:08:00 ] but, in naturally partnering with a
brand or a sports property helps allow that to
happen. And then it creates that opportunity to say,
Okay, well, that finance or that insurance brand, you
know what, when there's a setback, oh, that may
relate to somebody's personal life in how they're
investing, right?
[00:08:20 ] And that's easier for brands to attach to
versus having to try to create something from
scratch.
one of the interesting narratives that came out of
2023 season was certainly with our Interim head
coach, who's now the head coach, Antonio Pierce.
[00:08:44 ] And he's an incredible figure and
certainly quite the motivator and just, gives these
incredible speeches and really. Kind of these amazing
lines that just play really well into marketing. Um,
and it was, okay, how do [00:09:00 ] we create a whole
blackout kind of experience? It was clear they
weren't going to be making the playoffs, but how do
we still make it impactful to the fans that they want
to show up, that they want to watch, so if you take
that story of, okay, everybody's going to dress in
all black in the way that he does.
[00:09:17 ] Show up and represent, which is usually
kind of one of his sayings and to see that come to
life, to see many of the fans dressed in all black at
the game, to see messages of encouragement posted on
social media. And then, which it was incredible to
see him walk off the field and have people chanting.
[00:09:39 ] For the coach, that's that's quite unheard
of. So that was a really cool. Um, it was a really
cool moment to see and witness and from a marketing
side, help create that,

[00:09:52 ] Damian: ye