If you’ve ever flipped on an NBA game in the last few years, you’ve probably noticed one small little detail embroidered on the left shoulder of your favorite NBA superstar. A logo. Sponsorship opportunities are plentiful in professional sports, and the relationship between a team and the community in which it plays is a critical aspect to take into account when it comes to their jersey patches and what brand gets that prime real estate. The Orlando Magic partner with Disney, the Milwaukee Bucks stay true to their roots and have a relationship with Harley Davidson. For the Charlotte Hornets, which are owned and operated by basketball’s biggest star, Michael Jordan, the partnership it has with LendingTree is rooted in the brand’s history in the community.

“Sponsorships are more of an investment in the greater good of the community and the long-term relationship with your consumers…. You make the investment with the understanding that you’re going to get unaided awareness and aided awareness. Aided awareness is seeing the logo on your chest. You see the benefit and aided awareness from that logo being on their chest, and when they’re on television. When you see those jerseys in there, it’s spread across the country. The unaided awareness, that’s a bit slower. And we’ve just determined that the value of those points over time, coupled with the things that we’re going to do offline is where the value lies.”

Cornell McGee is the Senior Vice President of Marketing for LendingTree, an online loan marketplace based in Charlotte, North Carolina. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Cornell opens up about the company’s long-standing relationship with the Charlotte Hornets and the value that brings to the brand and its customers. Plus, he explains how marketers need to be thinking about partnerships more generally, and how every marketer can deliver high-value content to their consumers.

Main Takeaways

• Air Jordan: Some partnerships are meant to simply drive brand awareness, while others serve multiple purposes. When thinking about partnerships, make sure you are investing with the understanding that you are going to get both unaided and aided awareness from your partnerships. Your aided awareness will consist of your visibility and you will see immediate benefits. Your unaided awareness will build at a slower pace but will help over a longer period of time.
• Are We Exclusive: The lifetime value of any particular customer should be a fundamental baseline to your customer success strategy. Once you think about their long-term journey, you move past simply reaching a customer at the point-of-sale, and you create a more long-term problem-solving relationship with them.
• Just Give the People What They Want: It’s a simple notion, but can never be overstated: Feed your customers the content that they crave. Make sure you are constantly listening and understanding what their needs are and then act appropriately. Don’t act based on your own intelligence or desires. Produce your content based on what the consumer is asking for in order to meet their needs, delight, and serve them.

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