Sports Business : We discuss sports marketing, sponsorship, technology and sports memories with MD of rEvolution, Merrick Haydon

The Sporting Blog dusted off its Business of Sport section and put some questions to the Managing Director of sports and lifestyle agency rEvolution, Merrick Haydon.

Merrick, give us a quick rundown of how you first got into the sports marketing business?

I was lucky enough to be given work experience by Laurie Brannan at Sportsguide to work in the media center at the 1990 Vodafone Epsom Derby. This gave me my first taste of working at a major sporting event seeing first-hand, and behind-the-scenes, how the business of an event worked with sponsors, media and the athletes. I was hooked and wanted more.

When I finished University I secured an internship for three months on £50 a month, with Esprit Sponsorship in London – I was kept on after my three months and ended up staying for 18 months.

How was rEvolution born and what has it grown up in to?

Roll forward to 2003, I was a Director of Sponsorship Consulting in London working on the Marsh Davis Cup Tennis and Skandia Cowes Week sponsorship’s. Despite having two young children of four and two, I knew that it was the right time for me to start my own agency.

I had the idea of setting up a horse racing event called Football Furlong™ where all the jockeys raced in the representative shirt colours of the Premiership football teams.

Two years later, thanks to the MD Adam Waterworth giving it a chance, the first event happened at Haydock Park Racecourse sponsored by Paddy Power. The event went on to happen in Ireland sponsored by MasterCard and became the launchpad for rEvolution.

Together with my former business partner, Rod Kohler, who sadly died from Pancreatic Cancer aged just 48, we built up the agency working across golf, athletics, tennis, equestrian, sailing, motorsport and rugby with a variety of global brands, including ABN AMRO, BMW, Jumeirah, Land Rover USA, SAS and the world’s most iconic Swiss luxury watch manufacturer.

We are particularly proud to have worked on the London 2012 Games in both equestrian and handball and a host of other global sporting events since.

In August 2018, we merged with the US-based integrated global sports marketing agency, also called rEvolution (another story!), taking us into the next exciting chapter of our agency growth.

It was the perfect fit for us to join another independent agency that gave us the scale to broaden our role globally with existing and new clients through expanded services.

Would you say that marketing sports events/properties has become easier with ever-improving technology or harder because of attention saturation?

Every sports event has its own USP and core target audience; the challenge is to find ways to make that event/sport more relevant to the widest audience possible.

Technology is absolutely the key to helping navigate marketing events.

We use a simple three-step ‘FanMegtation’ model internally, whatever the sport as a starter: 1) Identify the different fan segments, 2) What is the best way to connect with those different fans, 3) what content is needed to engage with those different fans.

FanMegtation - Like segmentation, but with sports fans in mind

Is there still room for the sport generalist? Will we ever see a return to the type of shows like Grandstand or Transworld Sport that help educate people about things they don't know they are interested in?

Yes, but let me answer that in another way. I am not a ‘fanatic’ of basketball, but having watched The Last Dance series on Netflix, I am in awe of Michael Jordan and what he achieved with the Chicago Bulls.

It has grown my knowledge of the game and I will be more interested now in following the sport and watching the big games, including Olympic basketball as a result of watching the series.

Have you found that the current marketing environment has made sports extremely competitive with each other? Or are there enough audience segments for everyone?

See answers to questions 3 and 4 above. A sports fan is a sports fan. The challenge and the opportunity is simply to create the right content that connects with the different fan segments.

What sports do you think are best poised to take advantage of emerging engagement tools like AR, VR, machine-learned data provision etc?

No question, all sports should be using data and analytics and the new tools that are available. We have been working with SAS, the Official Analytics Partner of British Rowing since 2015 and have seen the exponential growth of AR, VR and data in sports.

SAS is proud to be working with British Rowing including its high-performance arm, the GB Rowing Team to drive improved performance through advanced analytics.

With the amount of data that SAS software could analyse, not only from training sessions on the water and the ergo machines, but also through wearable technology which helps to monitor sleep cycles and recovery speeds, a complete picture of an athlete’s progression can now be measured.

This opens the door to the possibility of AI technology helping refine and optimise training programmes for each individual based on this wide data set. Ultimately it’s about reaching peak performance to help 'make the boat go faster'.

What has been your personal favourite sport to work in?

From an agency and client perspective I have been extremely privileged and honoured to work with an incredible client in the global sport of equestrianism at the world’s leading events including the sport’s four Majors.

Golf and rugby union are two very different sports but I love working in both.

Being at the 2019 Masters on the 18th green to witness Tiger Woods claiming his 15th Major, the natural panoramic beauty of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, and the roar of the crowds at the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris are just three highlights so far.

We are approaching the end of covid lockdown (fingers crossed). What sport are you most looking forward to seeing live again?

Rugby union. New Zealand’s Super Rugby season kicks off in June, and inshallah the Gallagher Premiership will resume in August, with a “Rugby Festival” planned for the Autumn with South Africa and Japan coming to Twickenham.

What have you as a business person learned from the covid pandemic?

Having a range of diversified clients, accounts and ensuring you offer a genuine suite of integrated services is critical. Be creative and constantly come up with new ideas. Your team is everything; it’s important to keep everyone connected, engaged, motivated and provide clear and open leadership.

Finally. Isolation tip?

Double screen in the home office. 5kg of fresh coffee beans. New apple watch, plus Strava, linked to subscription to Audible and devouring every decent sports podcast with my two top listens being 5 Live’s Rugby Union Weekly and the Unofficial Partner.

ED : I expect The Sporting Blog Podcast would be high on this list if he knew about it… it’s out now!

Merrick Haydon is Managing Director of sports and lifestyle agency rEvolution, London.