The stadium naming rights deal between Allegiant and the Las Vegas Raiders was the biggest ever within the NFL as of 2019, in keeping with Forbes.
The partnership was set to convey extra consciousness to Allegiant’s model and mission of creating journey extra reasonably priced and accessible. The Raiders and their enterprise companions additionally favored teaming up with a rising journey firm – notably one with native Las Vegas ties.
The sponsorship now looks like a no brainer for Allegiant, and the stadium is even scheduled to host the Tremendous Bowl in 2024. Exterior {of professional} soccer, the venue has been host to large occasion after large occasion, together with School Soccer Championship video games and mega-artist excursions akin to P!nk, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.
Nonetheless, the naming deal virtually didn’t occur, and it took over a 12 months of discussions to maneuver ahead.
Why did it take so lengthy? And the way did stakeholder administration assist get the deal finished?
Leverage knowledge to again your self up
Managing stakeholders is a ability that communicators — or any enterprise skilled — by no means cease creating. Each situation is completely different, as is each stakeholder. And the way you handle every can show to be essential in making brand-altering choices.
So, once I wished to review it a bit additional, Allegiant chief advertising and marketing officer Scott DeAngelo was somebody I considered instantly. Not solely is he CMO at a rising direct-to-consumer journey firm, however he additionally served in different advertising and marketing knowledge evaluation roles and because the head of product at one of many largest funds firms in the USA.
In different phrases, DeAngelo has at all times been an vital stakeholder and is somebody who usually finds himself having to promote large concepts to enterprise leaders.
In our interview, certainly one of my first questions was finest make your case to stakeholders. His high recommendation was to at all times include knowledge to again your self up.
Take the NFL stadium deal, the place he, in addition to others, believed that the Allegiant model would profit from being carefully related to the brand new, almost $2 billion stadium proper off the well-known Las Vegas Strip.
He additionally believed that it wasn’t going to be a straightforward choice. He wanted full alignment along with his govt friends, for what would change into a 30-year deal, reportedly valued at $20- 25 million yearly.
For context, this wouldn’t simply be some of the costly naming rights offers in sports activities, it might make Allegiant – not American, Delta or United — the one airline/journey firm with stadium naming rights within the NFL – the U.S.’ hottest skilled sports activities league.
“When getting signoff, I at all times deal with the enterprise case and I get as a lot knowledge as I can,” DeAngelo stated. “We checked out plenty of issues, together with impressions, NFL tv rankings and the way that each one could possibly be shared in a contextually related method.”
When reviewing the information, DeAngelo stated the corporate anticipated to get 4 billion impressions yearly from the sponsorship. Nonetheless, up to now 12 months, he stated it obtained greater than 80 billion – which he stated was roughly equal to $130 million in promoting spend.
Put all of your playing cards on the desk
As an govt main each advertising and marketing and product features, DeAngelo has been on the opposite facet of stakeholder administration as effectively. And when others come to him with their concepts – and the information to again it up – his strategy is easy:
“It can be crucial, simply to hear and get a two-way understanding,” DeAngelo stated. “When everybody places all their playing cards on the desk, that’s when the magic occurs.”
When you perceive all of the stakeholders’ targets and desired audiences, then “we’re off to the races,” DeAngelo stated. Gaining that early alignment permits the creation of the fitting tales and makes the flexibility to function them on the fitting channels a lot simpler, he added.
At first, the Allegiant/Raiders naming rights deal didn’t really feel like it might occur. In actual fact, after it first got here up, talks between the 2 organizations and Legends World Partnerships – the Raiders’ consulting agency co-founded by Dallas Cowboys proprietor Jerry Jones – stalled and didn’t decide again up till six months later.
And when it did, it wasn’t in regards to the naming rights, about journey packages for NFL video games in Las Vegas. When the edges mentioned journey, that’s when the momentum in the direction of a naming rights deal started once more.
“Allegiant prides itself on making journey accessible to those that in any other case won’t have the ability to afford it. We would like folks to go to an NFL recreation, who usually couldn’t attend, and we wish households to have the ability to spend an additional day at Disney World as a result of they spent much less on flights,” DeAngelo stated. “After we shared our mission with them, Jerry Jones really advised us that solely seven p.c of NFL followers have ever seen a recreation in particular person.”
The Raiders and Jones, who knew this new stadium was going to draw soccer followers from everywhere in the world, favored the concept of creating the NFL extra accessible. They have been additionally impacted by how Allegiant – as a Las Vegas primarily based firm – had the backing of neighborhood leaders.
The playing cards have been on the desk. And it was a transparent match.
“It’s essential to actively hear, get expectations and perceive the motivations of others,” DeAngelo stated of how he approaches stakeholders. “After you have that, and try this with an empathic strategy, we are able to begin to collaborate, tie the fitting issues collectively and discover the answer.”
Adam Kiefaber is a worldwide communications director at FIS, a Fortune 500 firm centered on creating modern know-how for service provider, banking and funding shoppers. Beforehand, he spent almost 10 years in journalism working for The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Cincinnati Publish and CNN. Comply with him on LinkedIn.
