Inside the NFL’s Creator Strategies w/ Sam (Fink) Friedman (NFL)

0:00I'm really passionate about finding new ways for our NFL fans to get closer to the game that they love and really passionate about finding ways to connect the NFL and culture and really being and playing a key role in what the next 100 years of the NFL might look like.

0:20Hey Sam, welcome to the show. How are you? I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me. How are you? It's good. Busy week. But I say this every episode, so I'm realizing that every week is busy. But it's the busy good this time of the year, so I cannot complain. very excited to have you uh you know today we already talked about athletes and influencers in the past in another you know episode we already talked about you know sport and influence but never with someone that you know like you know from nfl so really appreciate you coming on the show i know that is going to be packed with a lot of very cool information and before we get started with you know like the topics of today why don't you tell us a bit more about yourself and we use this thing called the map basically it's the mission you know so what do you aim to achieve with your work achievements?

1:05Anything that you're really proud of, any notable milestones could be your career or your life. And the last one is the purpose. So why do you do what you do? Hi, I'm Sam Friedman. I'm the director of content partnerships at the NFL. I'd say that my career has really followed emerging media. I've always worked at the intersection of partnership, social creators and content, and that's really changed over the years really drastically. So So where I found my sweet spot, and I say this is kind of a personal mission, is I'm really passionate about connecting people with their passion points and things that they love, and a lot of times that's sports.

1:39So really excel at driving conversations on platforms where our target audiences are spending their time that can bring those consumers closer to the things that they love and enjoy them in a new way. And I know we'll get into it in this conversation, but that's really evolved as media has evolved. And when I think about sports and connecting with sports on a bit of a personal mission, always really love to find ways and paths for females and young females to break into sports, to kind of give back, knowing that it was tough to break into this industry. So remember, personal mission, always love that side of it and explaining my story and helping others knowing that no two people's paths are the same.

2:18And then going into the achievements, I think what I really realized that I love is navigating new technology and new platforms and not always having the answers and having to figure that out. Yes, that can be frustrating at times, but it's really allowed me to develop the skill set that I can apply to any new technology and really like to call that first evers. I'll get into my background, but I spent a lot of time at Red Bull where I really think of that as a company that really thinks that first ever mindset, we're constantly pushing the needle on big events and athlete projects and doing things that have never been done before.

2:53And just getting that risk taking mentality that I can really apply anywhere else and then somewhere to a place like the NFL that has existed for over 100 years and how to really get a company that's more established to think in that first ever mindset. Some of my other achievements have been, And I'm proud. I was the first sports marketing hire at Peloton, really started to bring that first ever mindset there and then made my way to the NFL. And as I've mentioned, it's been around for over 100 years and we'll get into some of the work, but really proud of what we've been able to achieve, especially in the past two and a half years that I've been here and bringing new technologies, whether that's through gaming and platforms like Roblox and Fortnite or the work that we're doing in the creator space.

3:36and really realizing looking back that I was working in the creator space before I ever even knew that that's what it was called, getting back to the industry back in 2013, which I think really kind of sets me up for the purpose overall of, I mentioned those new technologies and platforms, but I'm really passionate about finding new ways for our NFL fans to get closer to the game that they love and really passionate about finding ways to connect the NFL and culture and really being and playing a key role in what the next 100 years of the NFL might look like. That's amazing, especially when it comes to different experiences from Red Bull, like pushing new ideas all the time and risk taking to now a more established type of company.

4:18So I'm very curious in all these experiences that you have and congratulations for those, first of all, how did you see the creator economy changes like in the past decade? Again, you have experience with different type of brands. So I'm very curious to see how did it change when it comes to brands? Have you noticed anything that you were either not expecting or something that you were like very eager to talk about again? Anything that happened in the past 10 years? Yeah, for sure. I'd say, as I mentioned, like I was working in the creator economy before I even knew I was and we even called it that.

4:47And just taking a massive step back. So I started my career in broadcast television. I always knew that I wanted to break into sports, but I really didn't know how you do that or didn't even know what that first step would be. I thought if you watch sports on TV, you have to work in TV. And from there, I had the opportunity to work in live sports production at CBS. And that was my first job. And it really opened my eyes to how large the sports industry is. And I was a communications major in college and took a step back and really thought, where can I restart in the sports industry if it's not the TV path?

5:22And I started again at a sports communications agency. And this was back in 2013. The company was called M &C Saatchi. And it was really the right place, right time for when social and creators were really emerging. This at a time was more of a traditional media and PR agency. And we were going to a time where we were evolving just past earned media coverage. So we were doing early day creator marketing, like I said, without really knowing it. So that could start where just starting to see that journalists were starting to post on their personal social accounts as an extension to a dot com article, maybe to promote it.

5:58And then really starting to see that influencers were taking off. And this was definitely a more simple time. And a lot of that is due to the platforms and the platform functionality where there were no videos on Instagram. It was really just a simple posting products on social stories that didn't exist there. Snapchat was around in a totally different way where stories were. So as we were doing events, whether it was for products for different clients, we just started to add influencers or target lists for those events. And like I said, a lot of times, that was just a journalist who started to really build their personal brand.

6:34And there was really no content creation. It was pure image play. But I have two distinct memories of when this was really starting to change. One was with Reebok. So they were a client when I was at M &C Saatchi. I think it was back in 2014. J.J. Watt was launching his first shoe. And we had a more traditional press event where we invited all the top journalists to come and try it. And I was thinking back of how in that moment, my friends and I found out about things happening in New York City. And that was through Snapchat and when they had city stories. So they would aggregate stories from an account in one place of everything cool that was happening in New York City.

7:13So you would wake up and you would see an incredible concert happen last night and all the different views and UGC content before anyone ever called it UGC content. So I had the idea to pitch Snapchat let's allow JJ Watt to take over the Snapchat city story for the day. He can do an intro. Our event was at 8 a.m. So we can talk about how he's starting his day and then they can aggregate the rest of the day like they do. So I handed him my phone. We did a really quick selfie video and sent it to Snapchat. And it was the first frame of their city day. And it was so long ago that I don't have the exact stats, but I know that that video definitely reached a totally different audience than any traditional press that were at the event.

7:51And that way of thinking, like, it really excited me. It was different. We haven't done that before. So I'd say that was like very, very early day creator and influencer marketing and working with platforms. And then another story that comes to mind is fast forward a couple of years at the same agency. Oakley was one of our clients. They wanted to showcase a new eyewear technology in practice. So coming from that world of press trips, it was very early days to even invite creators and they were starting to grow a bit on more of a traditional press trip. So we built an experience at Mammoth Mountain in California where we took these guests through a very wide range of activities like trail running or golf or fly fishing.

8:32And then we pair them with the appropriate eyewear so they could really start to see it for themselves with that product functionality. And then what we did that was very unique at the time was we gave everyone their own videographer to really capture them in that moment to create that follow along content. And then they left with the dedicated video asset, which in today's marketing is like, of course, everyone's doing that. But it didn't really exist then. And we even had the insight back then that people are going to be more likely to post something that's very personal to them than if you just gave them this generic product video.

9:04And I feel like I was starting to really learn and figure out my sweet spot in partnerships, creators and content in real time. But like I mentioned, if you asked me in that day, like, are you working in creator marketing? I'd be like, no, what is that? But now looking back, I can see like, yeah, that was early day creator marketing. And I had a creator strategy without even really knowing it. That's amazing. Especially when you say like, it was the creator economy, but I know what was, you know, calling like that, you know, it's similar to influencer marketing before it was, you know, blogger marketing, then before that word of mouth marketing and everything.

9:37Those are funny that you mentioned MSC Sacha, actually, that was my first experience while I was in college. I worked for a month. I remember going to college all day and then very late evenings. I mean, nights, two, three in the morning and then the after, you know, I did just that for a month, but it was definitely a throwback, you know, hearing that name again, but definitely a great experience. And so again, you said, you know, we went from like, there was no videos, you know, we didn't call it the creator economy. And now, you know, back in the day with Snapchat was, of course, you know, these days it's normal, but at the time it was something new.

10:07So you definitely saw it all, right? And all these evolutions. So I'm very curious, what is now the NFL best practices and approach when it comes to influencer marketing? Do you work on long-term partnerships? It is more like a short-term, one type of activation. It is a combination. How do you find trends and strategy? What is the thoughts behind that? Yeah, definitely. It's a great question. And I'd say at the NFL, we're in a really fortunate position because when we're pairing with creators, they typically have a shared passion with us and they are probably a diehard fan of a club and we can help unlock access for them.

10:46So we really come to the table with a strong incentive of why to work with them. And a lot of times we might have been on their target list. So we really do incorporate creators in everything that we do. They're no longer just a silo tactic that we'll bring in to help drive traffic for a big game or a kickoff or an initiative that we're doing. They're integrated in everything. And I wouldn't say that we necessarily have these formal creator long-term partnerships from like a contract perspective. We do have some programs that we developed in creators and would love to get into that as well. But we just have really close relationships.

11:26And I'd say the core of our program has been built on those one-to-one relationships, really learning from creators what they want to do, how they can partner with us, how we can really make their dreams come true. And we truly see it as a co-creation opportunity. We're not telling them what they have to shoot or how to really reach their audience. If we're working with a creator, it's because we know that they reach an audience that we probably don't have and they know how to talk to their audience on a daily basis better than any way we could if we tried to tell them. So when we developed a creator strategy now like five plus years, we identify key verticals that we can partner with creators that are very football adjacent categories if this person is not maybe a dedicated football fan.

12:12And then we can also use creators to reach new audiences and to expand the reach of our content and messages. So some of those key verticals are fitness, food, fashion, music, and gaming. And we'll strategically partner with creators that really specialize in that type of content to reach that audience. We're in a really fortunate position that our social channels have enormous reach. We're reaching over a billion football fans and followers to all of our accounts. But we know that creators are really that sweet spot to reach even more people and reaching our future fans on the platforms where they spend the time and the people that they follow.

12:51So as I mentioned, creators are incorporated in everything. And that could be from a Super Bowl commercial. That could be from more of a product initiative with NFL Shop, one of our cause initiatives and community marketing. We pair them with our athletes. and they really do help to extend that reach of our content, our major events. And we do this, of course, across all platforms. We aren't working with creators on specific platforms, and we're doing this on a year-round basis. So even in the off-season where we are now that people think, okay, there's no games on, that's really the best time to do creator content.

13:26Our players are more available. We're pairing our players with different creators that they want to work out with, me create content with. I think our players are really seeing the benefit of creators. Just an example of that is back in Draft, we brought Sketch, who's probably one of the now most mainstream creators out there at the moment. And one in four video views of any piece of content that we created at Draft, and we had a record-breaking day, incorporated Sketch. So we know that the creator reach is enormous, and it's something that we can't ignore. And going back to sketch as well. We also paired him with his huge Texans fans.

14:03We paired him with CJ Stroud and some of the Texans wide receivers to work out for a day. And the follower growth that CJ saw from that single day was greater than his first playoff game. So creators have enormous power, and that's not just for our channels, but also for our athletes and help them. And they, like I mentioned, the creators also do want to work with us because we do have that guaranteed engagement and scale across our ecosystem, those connections to the players, we can really connect them to their favorite clubs, their fan bases, and provide them with these once-in-a-lifetime experiences that no brand can.

14:40So we're really approaching this from a mutually beneficial opportunity of how we can help them. And then we're keeping in touch with these creators. We have various programs with our platform partners that we work with creators. We're plugging them into various initiatives. So we're not really signing creators per se to a deal, but we're constantly in conversation and finding the right opportunities for them that's authentic and that they can really showcase to their fans. Is your brand ready to amplify its reach? Well, the influencer marketing factory is here for you. We are a global influencer marketing agency helping brands ignite their growth.

15:15From influencer identification to campaign strategy, handling legalities and agreements, to managing shipping and logistics, we got you all covered. We work with hundreds of brands across different verticals, from Fortune 500 companies to direct-to-consumer brands. And we don't just stop there. With detailed ROI analysis, we help brands like yours measure success, transforming impressions into conversions. You can find us at theinfluencermarketingfactory.com or just searching the Influencer Marketing Factory on Google. Very interesting. And in fact, one of the questions was about creator programs, right?

15:50So you need to talk a bit about that. I know that there is something very strong going on, especially on YouTube. Tell me a bit more about that. What are those type of programs? How do they work? How can you access them? Tell me a bit more about that. Yeah, definitely. So starting last season, YouTube took over the rights of our out-of-market package called NFL Sunday Ticket. And as part of that overall deal, we had two dedicated creator programs. And we've never done that before with a platform partner, and that's never been done with any of the leagues. So the two programs that we developed are called YouTube Access Pass and NFL Creator of the Week.

16:26For the Access Pass program, we grant creators the access to NFL footage and IP for the first time ever that they receive on a weekly basis to co-create with us. And this is just massive. Highlights, RIP, that's the crown jewel. broadcast partners, other platform partners are spending millions and millions of dollars to get these rights. So to be able to distribute them to creators for them to then use on their own channels is really revolutionary and is a big step change for us that we've been super protective of our highlights. And then we knew that this program had to be developed very thoughtfully, knowing that we've never done it before.

17:03So every week, a select group of creators that we've identified. And some of these are endemic creators who are already breaking down the X's and O's and really talking to their community about a certain fan base or breaking down the draft or previous to the season, really getting into the granular of football. They are ones that this is a no brainer to receive that broadcast footage. It can really enhance what they're already doing. And then we thought a bit outside the box, going back to those lifestyle creators of who might not be on paper, like a really natural fit to post NFL highlights on their channels, but how could this enhance what they're doing?

17:41And how can we think outside of just the X's and O's? And maybe that's breaking down best touchdown celebrations or who has the best fashion walking into the game. We can provide that footage. We have a program called our LCC footage where we have over 120 social first shooters in every NFL market. And on a game day, they're capturing every single angle of pregame and live games. And they're feeding that back to our social channels in real time. And now we're also taking some of that content and distributing it to creators as well. So we're thinking outside the box of just what our highlights are.

18:17And then outside of receiving footage on a weekly basis, we also paired these creators with a major tentpole that really fit to the style of their content. So some came out to kickoff, some came to the London games or the Germany games. We had others at draft or Pro Bowl and really pairing that weekly highlight with that onsite experience that they could then create a really compelling VOD on their channels. And we saw a really strong engagement the first year. We had 14 creators in the Access Pass program. They generated over 80 million views. I think we learned a ton also So operationally, of how to run the program and we're in the offseason now.

18:54So planning and getting creators in for season two. So really excited for the potential there. And then outside of the footage program, we launched a program called Creator of the Week, where we invited top creators to games every single week. So we worked really collaboratively with all 32 fan bases of what they're trying to achieve in their creator strategy, who's someone they maybe didn't work with before, what type of audience are they trying to reach. So really working hand in hand and then building out what's the best game day experience? Are they getting dressed with the mascot? Should they be warming up with the cheerleaders?

19:28Are they going to the facility earlier? Like what is a really unique vantage point we can provide? And then we would create YouTube shorts content with that creator on a weekly basis. and YouTube is known, of course, more so for VOD and long form, but really trying to get in the short form content game to compete with TikTok, knowing that YouTube shorts have exploded. So that whole program is built around YouTube shorts. You'll see about eight shorts a week with the dedicated career of the week. And we worked from preseason all the way to Super Bowl. So that was over 200 shorts, 23 weeks all over the world.

20:01It was a massive program to get off the ground. We got over 50 million views from creator content. And what we see overall with this program and all of our creator content, which is really huge for us, is that we're reaching a younger and more female audience than our NFL benchmarks. So we're reaching new fans, hopefully pulling them into the NFL ecosystem, and we're reaching a younger fan. So 88 % of the creators that we work with, their audience was 18 to 24. And we do see that our social channels has a very strong under 35 presence but we know that our traditional broadcast tv audience is 35 plus so we do see creators too as a way to unlock that younger audience and then these big programs with huge partners like youtube really help to establish that on a weekly basis and to get the creator content out there in a way that hasn't been done before all this makes sense especially because these days sport is even more entertaining than ever right you don't watch the sport just because of that you want to as you got to be said like you know for the reaction of the people sometimes say it's the athlete themselves that comment on an action or sometimes they play the video game right and you want to see the behind the scene right what happened before what happened getting ready for the game for the match so i think that it's it's very cool that you're doing these activations and uh i'm also curious you know let's go from you know from creators right to actually the athletes because uh you know as mentioned in one other episode we talked about how athletes now where they're thinking about themselves, not as just athletes, but also as, you know, personal brands, right?

21:30They are also potentially are able to influence the others, right? I know there are some limitations and differences between a digital creator, of course, and we can go into that, but how are NFL athletes evolving their personal brand these days? Are you finding something like, are they getting into something specifically for each person is different? Are you finding any patterns lately? Yeah, it's a great question. And I'd say we're really starting to think of our players as creators, especially younger players. Every single new draft class that comes in, they're more socially native than the last.

22:00Within our social team overall, we actually have a dedicated team called our player social team. So they're really working hand in hand with our players to help support their growth on social, teach them best practices, learn what they're trying to achieve on these platforms. And that can be as simple as getting them their top highlights to post on social immediately after the game. So that real-time content engine I was talking about that we distribute to creators, we're also making sure our players first and foremost have content of themselves after every single game. So that's kind of the table stakes if they're trying to build a social presence, of course, showing them on the field best plays and all of that.

22:40And evolution about five years ago and shifted our approach where we're laser focused on what we call helmets off content. And that's really building the brand and the personality of our players. We're in a totally different space than maybe some other leagues who are players when they're playing, their faces are covered. People might not even recognize them all the time. And we have so many players with these amazing stories. So we are actually literally taking the helmet off of our players and really showcasing what makes them unique and putting them front and center. So yes, the plays and the best stats on the field is important, but also really dedicating a lot of our time to tell the story of our players.

23:20And a lot of that is showing our insights that NFL fandom is really a different path these days. Like I know I personally got to be an NFL fan because I think before I even could remember two years older or even younger, probably there was just football on in my house. And I learned that way, but that might not be the way for everyone. And that could be through following your favorite athlete on social from them in high school, college, and then to the NFL. So really making sure that we're supporting our players and that they're telling those stories they're equipped to. We're helping them with their content goals.

23:53And a lot of times they're supporting our NFL initiatives too, whether that's their community causes or what they're passionate about and giving back. And we have a really fun way for players to showcase their favorite charities throughout the season called My Calls My Cleats, where there's one game where players can work with an artist and paint their cleats for however they want them to look like and to showcase a charity that they care about. So there's such rich storytelling there for them to really lean in and talk about that story and document that process. I mean, as you mentioned, the entertainment factor, there's no shortage of content that a player could provide.

24:29And we have this in more formal ways with our expanding partnerships with like Netflix and HBO of we have a show called Receiver that's coming out. We just had quarterback last year. We have heard Knox. We know that behind the scenes, that intimate, up and close and personal with your family. That's really why our fans want to learn more about and our non-fans who see it as like entertainment and reality TV in a sense and that storytelling factor. So there's no one that can do that better than the player who's living it day in, day out. And with anyone being able to be a producer at a production company with just their cell phone, there's the lowest barrier to entry so really helping them take that first step and showcasing their their personality forever as much as that as they want to show the ups and downs and emotional tie their passions it's huge for us and we really reshare a lot of that content on our social channels and then a lot of these same players work with a lot of our partners and sponsors too throughout the year and you'll see that they want more and more player content so thinking through the lens as players or creators has never been bigger in the off season is really, as I mentioned, when we spend the time to work with players, we actually put on a player branding and social workshop every year that takes place at the end of June, where we bring in different speakers, industry speakers, YouTube creators, TikTok creators, who can really teach all of our players from the lens of the experts and inspire them.