By Don Packer
In a time when the advertising and production industries are experiencing changing business models and increasing competition, one thing remains true: If you succeed in working with your client to significantly and efficiently grow their business they will keep coming back. Case in point: Boston Back Bay’s Conductor Productions and Fanatics.com.
In 2018, Fanatics called Conductor Productions looking to boost their presence on the national stage and their overall sales. Conductor had proved themselves in the sports/celebrity arena having previously worked with sports celebrities like Tom Brady along with golfers Keegan Bradley and Brendan Steele, to name a few.
Recognizing the opportunity, Conductor Productions got to produce their first campaign with Fanatics and it was quickly embraced.
The requirements were to conceive and create a broadcast campaign to celebrate the fans, highlight the apparel and provide a greater return on investment ( ROI).
They had to strategize a plan to efficiently shoot fan gear from all the major brands, leagues and teams (NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL)
It was also requested by Fanatics that they provide multiple national spots as well as market-specific versions to run locally in their top fifteen sales markets. In addition, there was a need to quickly and easily update creative to accommodate multiple offers, which would be tested in order to optimize media and (ROI).
Quickly moving forward in their creative design, Conductor built and lit staging that looks like an authentic entrance to a sports stadium. The set was created to be reusable so that they could organize multiple shoots throughout various sports seasons over and over.
Using scores of models and actors to portray fans in hundreds of different outfits with the scalable production workflow was critical to the final delivery and any future spots. This enabled Conductor to continually update Fanatics library of footage within each shoot. From there, the post-production team of editors and designers took over and created spot after spot for all channels.
Using 2017 Sportscaster of the year Kevin Harlan and Emmy Award Winner Mike “Doc” Emrick as voiceover talent along with music from Grammy Award Winners, Greta Van Fleet; the impact was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. The first shoot went off in April of 2018 and has continued with fresh work into this year.
“We were honored to be competing against much more established companies for the business, so that helped focus our resolve.” said Co-Owner and Director of Conductor Productions, Noah Lydiard. “We won by listening to the client and valuing their investment as though it was our own. By understanding what was at stake for them, we were able come up with a unique and efficient style that generates massive amounts of sales without compromising the company’s brand.”
When the spots launched, Fanatics realized and reported robust and exciting heightened brand awareness, increased visitors to their websites and more importantly, they got a drastic and immediate boost to their sales revenue. In fact, they reported six times more effectiveness than comparative league spots in 2018.
This further led to a full campaign rollout, with expansion into Canada and other key international television markets continuing well into 2019. Television spots with known sports celebrities such as, Tedy Bruschi, Mark Messier, Ed Reed, and Jim Kelly, as well as Sportscaster and television personality Erin Andrews were also created.
With over 300 television commercials, roughly 120 Social media posts and radio ads, the proof was in the pudding as they say, culminating in spots for the Stanley Cup championships, the Super Bowl and the NBA Finals.
We are starting to look at new designs and strategies for the campaign, but currently the creative continues to grow in effectiveness. It just goes to show the value of good team and honest, hardworking creative,” stated Noah Lydiard whose team included Ryan Donavon, SVP of Marketing at Fanatics and Scott McKinnon, Producer and Copywriter at Conductor Productions.
For more information about Conductor Productions, visit www.conductorproductions.com.
