We’ve got this great fan, Zack Legend, who does homemade videos about the Colts. He’s a season ticket holder who brings his digital camera to the games, films clips (like this Super Bowl video) in the tailgate lot, and inside the stadium. We’ve given him a little section on our site and we run the videos.
He’s careful not to violate the NFL rules and shoot the actual game action. What he does capture, I think, is the emotional reactions of real fans before, during and after the games. When you watch the best of his videos, you feel like you’re at the game because you identify with the reactions he’s having to certain sequences of game action. You were watching the game too, so when he reacts to a critical play, you remember exactly how you felt at that moment, and it brings a sense of that same emotion right back to you.
Zack’s videos are fun to watch and we gladly run them on our website. But we’re wondering, is there something more we could do with Zack’s videos. Is Zack’s brand strong enough to garner sponsorship dollars? Could the emotional appeal and authenticity he brings to video become part of a sponsorship activation program?
I think it could. You may remember the piece I wrote a while back about Prilosec OTC. Their whole strategy is to connect with a target consumer at a time when he or she was feeling emotional about the NFL. Zack has “bottled” those emotional mements. And he’s just zany enough that he could even pop an antacid, on camera, before some crititical play in the game, or after eating too much sausage in the tailgate lot.
Speaking of bottled emotion, why wouldn’t Coke want to place its product into Zack’s world. There’s plenty of room in a tailgate party (and inside the stadium) for Coke products to appear naturally. It wouldn’t seem too canned.
And speaking of canned, instead of high priced athletes on Chunky soup containers, why not Zack? He could really help to drive sales.
And speaking of driving, why wouldn’t Chevy want Zack to drive to games - and tailgate off - one of its great trucks…heck, Zack could even appear in the local Chevy dealer commercials.
Zack could even help us with our social network. He could be our equivalent to Tom in Myspace. Imagine if every new member of MyColts.Net was automatically linked to Zack’s profile. How many of those people would go check out Zack. We need to do something like this anyway so that fans feel welcomed into the system.
And if Zack has some cool promos to announce on his page - like a Coke rewards program - fans would be exposed to a sponsor message through a “friend”. Well, sort of. There’s risk associated with Zack pitching product, but his style is campy enough, I think, that he could get away with somewhat tongue-in-cheek product schilling while still getting the sponsor message across.
The limiting factor to all of this, of course, is money. Right now the Colts don’t make a dime off Zack’s videos. And neither does Zack. This is a labor of love. He does a lot of work to prepare them and send them to us, and we’re happy to post them, but there’s no measurable economic value. I think sponsorship could change that.
But it won’t be easy to sell. Sponsorship of content like this has never been done on our site before. We are just learning how to talk to sponsors about investing in our Website’s traditional inventory (banner ads and football content sponsorship). These wacky videos are on a whole other level.
Still, I can’t help thinking that one of the big brands might get it. Zack’s got a mini cult following on his Myspace page and on Colts.com. He gets recognized out in public. He gets fan mail. He’s got some brand equity as a “Colts fan”. Hey, 50% of AVID NFL fans will never attend a game in their lives. Zack gives these fans a window into what it’s like to be there. People do live vicariously through him.
Here are some of my favorite Zack videos:
Zack at AFC Championship vs. Patriots
* What* should you do with Zack Legend? Maybe the question should be *why* should you do anything with Zack Legend? Is anyone unhappy with the current arrangement?
I really have mixed feelings about situations like this. In its current state, Zack’s work is amazing, it’s pure, it’s about how in a world where most people don’t go the extra mile, here’s a guy that just loves the Colts and spends his own personal time, energy, and resources to share it with the world. People love that.
But if you “take it to the next level” and it evolves into the “Coca-Cola Zack Legend Fan Show Presented by Chevrolet” then Zack becomes a paid actor in many people’s minds and even if it doesn’t lose a quantity of viewers immediately, the work would almost certainly start to lose quality and originality. How long would it be before the sponsors demand that nobody could be shown drinking Pepsi or tailgating in a Ford? How long before the Zack Legend bobblehead comes out? And how long until someone becomes unhappy and there’s a contract dispute?
I don’t want to sound completely negative about the idea. I do understand the desire to maximize revenue for the Colts and (hopefully) for Zack. But sometimes you have to ask “Why ruin a good thing?”.
Those are just some thoughts. I just recently found your blog and really enjoy it… keep up the good work. The transparency into the process of building MyColts.net is interesting and refreshing.
I agree with Paul on this. I’m sure there is room and benefit (for fans, too) to have corporate involvement and “friendship” access to these points of contact, but the product here is a person just doing his thing. Forcing a corporate presence on this would likely taint the product, especially for new fans coming into Zack’s world for the first time. The value here is social, and this kind of participation is vital to the health of the network.
If Zack wants/needs some financial help to keep the content going, a PayPal donation plug - or better, some Free Cycle kind of social bartering system - would be much more valuable to MyColts than another hook for corporate sponsorship.
Do you think fans would contribute to a “Save Zack Legend” campaign? For just $10 ($1 per home game), Zack can get the help he needs to continue pouring his passion into making these videos. I’m half kidding, but in a way this kind of thing might really take off.
Yes, I do. You’d probably want to survey both the open source community and bloggers who ask for donations to get a sense of what kind of click rate to expect, but user-supported user content is a workable model.
I’m not sure that donations would work… it would depend at least in part on the definition of success. I haven’t done any surveys, but anecdotally, for most people web site donations don’t work. They’re usually better off trying to sell something. Then again, perhaps most people don’t produce content that’s good enough to attract donations.
But does Zack Legend really need to be “saved”? Because the last thing you should do is cook up a phony “Save Zack Legend” campaign just to generate a few bucks. Obviously Zack has what he needs to continue pouring his passion into making these videos. He has his camera, editing software, season tickets, the right personality, original ideas, and most of all his passion. Now if he was out of work, or his equipment broke, or there was some other issue then perhaps it would be okay to ask for donations to “save” him.
I’ll agree with that interpretation. Donations do work, but they work best when their is a plight (perceived as real) or expectations for income are low.
I say go for it.
If Zack’s talent is strong enough, his performance won’t be compromised. Not any more than any natural personal disaster might. Whether Zack is influenced by the pressures of pleasing a sponsor or falls down a flight of stairs and gets brain damage… they’re both possible.
Our society is so used to seeing advertisements on everything, I don’t think they’d think twice about The Coca Cola Zack Legend Show presented by Chevy, as long as the content is entertaining.
Contract disputes? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Again, I suppose it’s possible in the future, but it’s not an absolute.
If sponsorships will help Zack continue on his journey’s, get him more resources, and get him in the homes of more people, I don’t think there’s a question of whether or not you should pursue this.
Think big and go for it. You only live once.