Two Sundays ago, in a change to tradition, the Rogan kitchen table was covered not with roast chicken and vegetables, but a Subbuteo-inspired recreation of the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
If you can picture the scene, in an exciting and pivotal moment in the 1066 succession crisis, the English army under Harold Godwinson – represented by the 1983/84 Chelsea squad – was finishing off the exhausted Norwegians led by Harald Hardrada (Celtic 82/83).
In the distance, watching closely, were the Normans under William Duke of Normandy – in the distinctive green of the Republic of Ireland 1986 World Cup squad.
Welcome to school revision time in the Rogan household. The whole thing might sound daft, but this was the most engaged my son had been during the whole lead up to his exams; sport is an incredible vehicle to taking us back to the past – even as far as 1066.
The Subbuteo battleground started me thinking about the potency of history, and the power it has to tell stories in the present. Stories hit us in the oldest part of our brains – the part that deals with images, feelings and experiences. While our ‘New Brain’ is busy rationally processing the world around us, the ‘Old Brain’ is governing how we feel based on the stories we are told. And the past taps into the emotions of the ‘Old Brain’ like few other things.
In business, this can be harnessed for commercial purposes – as one entertainment story demonstrated two weeks ago. The third series of Stranger Things, Netflix’s original programme that follows a group of kids in 1980s Indiana, became the most-watched show in the first four days of its release on the streaming platform. Stranger Things is hugely popular with millennials but also, critically, Generation X – those born between 1965 and 1980, and a population sector with more spending power than any other.
.@Stranger_Things 3 is breaking Netflix records!
40.7 million household accounts have been watching the show since its July 4 global launch — more than any other film or series in its first four days. And 18.2 million have already finished the entire season.
— Netflix US (@netflix) July 8, 2019
Why might that be? According to Two Circles analysis, the period between ages 12 and 22 is the one we eventually become most nostalgic about, while the ages 35 to 55 are when we have the highest spending power. Bridging the gap between the two can be a significant part of both storytelling and commercial growth – as Stranger Things has demonstrated.
In the last 12 months we’ve been having increasing numbers of conversations with our clients about the best ways they can embrace their rich histories to drive growth among these demographics. I’ve picked out three examples of rights-holders doing exactly that this summer – and the key considerations to take for any rights holder inspired by their actions.
R&A: driving all-year digital engagement
The Open, which was won on Sunday by Ireland's Shane Lowry, leaned on Championships played at 2019 host course Royal Portrush to create content to drive awareness of this year’s tournament – and boost ticket sales and broadcast eyeballs – and give the event regular engagement touchpoints with audiences all-year-round.
This feature, for example – a multimedia piece telling the story of Rory McIlroy’s historic 61 at Portrush aged 16 – was used across The Open’s media channels to grow its following and drive traffic to The Open website as McIlroy took his 11th shot at the Claret Jug at Portrush this year.
“As golf’s oldest major, The Open has a rich heritage and is as an event that carries huge cultural significance globally,” says R&A Director of Sales and Marketing Malcolm Booth. “That gives us a unique storytelling position – and of course a huge amount of content – that we are increasingly embracing, in particular with our mission to innovate whilst respecting our traditions. We can see from how this content is being consumed digitally that it’s of huge interest to our audiences, and it’s playing a key role in delivering all-year-round engagement with them.”
Fundamental to this approach is smart use of demographic data and agile split-testing to ensure nostalgia-inspired content achieves maximum engagement among key groups.
Wimbledon: capitalising on the demand for live experiences
Wimbledon, like The Open, has iconic sporting status and a rich history, which it has harnessed to capitalise on a growing experience economy.
As UK events company Secret Cinema has demonstrated, there’s a huge commercial opportunity in nostalgia-driven live experiences. For the last decade, Secret Cinema has put on “mass participation” screenings of classic movies to Londoners dressed as the film characters of their youth, from Luke Skywalker to Marty McFly.
In sport, this is relatively unexplored territory. Last month, however, the consistently innovative team at the AELTC launched ‘Wimbledon Rematch 1980’ – an official, “multi-sensory” event held before this year’s Championships. Centring around Björn Borg’s titanic battle with John McEnroe, widely regarded as one of the best Wimbledon finals in history, Rematch’s immersive experience brought fans into the 1980s through film, installations, food and drink.
Our analysis last year showed the huge opportunity for sport in a society where we increasingly prioritise experiences over possessions. History can be an agile enabler of this.
Sacramento Kings: bolstering merchandise offering with a throwback
Retro jerseys are woven into the fabric of sport in North America – a rich and valuable part of all major rights-holders’ merchandising businesses. In Europe, it is far less pronounced, but previously niche sellers of “classic shirts” such as classicfootballshirts.co.uk have boomed in recent years.
At the start of the month, the NBA’s Sacramento Kings announced they would be celebrating their 35th season since leaving Kansas City by wearing an 'all-new Nike classic edition uniform inspired by the 91-94 design' for select games in 2019/20.
This is just one of tens of recent examples of how rights holders are designing jerseys that tap into their fans’ nostalgia for the team they love, with Chelsea the latest team to launch a shirt with a firm nod to the past only last week. The Chelsea away shirt is 'inspired by the Mod culture that thrived in 1960s London', and will resonate with both 35 to 55-year-old parents and their siblings alike.
Our industry often views ‘tradition’ as somehow an impediment to commercial growth. However, if driven by truly understanding a fanbase’s connection to the sport, it can actually be an enabler.
Treated with respect it can achieve some unexpected and enduring results – just like the Republic of Ireland Subbuteo team of 1986, in fact.
Two Sundays ago, in a change to tradition, the Rogan kitchen table was covered not with roast chicken and vegetables, but a Subbuteo-inspired recreation of the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
If you can picture the scene, in an exciting and pivotal moment in the 1066 succession crisis, the English army under Harold Godwinson – represented by the 1983/84 Chelsea squad – was finishing off the exhausted Norwegians led by Harald Hardrada (Celtic 82/83).
In the distance, watching closely, were the Normans under William Duke of Normandy – in the distinctive green of the Republic of Ireland 1986 World Cup squad.
Welcome to school revision time in the Rogan household. The whole thing might sound daft, but this was the most engaged my son had been during the whole lead up to his exams; sport is an incredible vehicle to taking us back to the past – even as far as 1066.
The Subbuteo battleground started me thinking about the potency of history, and the power it has to tell stories in the present. Stories hit us in the oldest part of our brains – the part that deals with images, feelings and experiences. While our ‘New Brain’ is busy rationally processing the world around us, the ‘Old Brain’ is governing how we feel based on the stories we’re told. And the past taps into the emotions of the ‘Old Brain’ like few other things.
In business, this can be harnessed for commercial purposes – as one entertainment story demonstrated last week. The third series of Stranger Things, Netflix’s original programme that follows a group of kids in 1980s Indiana, became the most-watched show in the first four days of its release on the streaming platform. Stranger Things is hugely popular with Millennials but also, critically, Generation X – those born between 1965 and 1980, and a population sector with more spending power than any other.
Why might that be? According to Two Circles analysis, the period between ages 12 and 22 is the one we eventually become most nostalgic about, while the ages 35-55 are when we have the highest spending power. Bridging the gap between the two can be a significant part of both storytelling and commercial growth – as Stranger Things has demonstrated.
In the last 12 months we’ve been having increasing numbers of conversations with our clients about the best ways they can embrace their rich histories to drive growth among these demographics. I’ve picked out three examples of rights-holders doing exactly that this summer – and the key considerations to take for any rights-holder inspired by their actions.
R&A: driving all-year digital engagement
The Open, which starts today, has leaned on Championships played at 2019 host course Royal Portrush to create content to drive awareness of this year’s event – and boost ticket sales and broadcast eyeballs – and give the event regular engagement touchpoints with audiences all-year-round.
This feature, for example – a multimedia piece telling the story of Rory McIlroy’s historic 61 at Portrush aged 16 – was used across The Open’s media channels to grow its following and drive traffic to The Open website as McIlroy takes his 11th shot at the Claret Jug at Portrush this year.
“As golf’s oldest major, The Open has a rich heritage and is as an event that carries huge cultural significance globally,” says R&A Director of Sales and Marketing Malcolm Booth. “That gives us a unique storytelling position – and of course a huge amount of content – that we are increasingly embracing, in particular with our mission to innovate whilst respecting our traditions. We can see from how this content is being consumed digitally that it’s of huge interest to our audiences, and it’s playing a key role in delivering all-year-round engagement with them.”
Fundamental to this approach is smart use of demographic data and agile split-testing to ensure nostalgia-inspired content achieves maximum engagement among key groups.
Wimbledon: capitalising on the demand for live experiences
Wimbledon, like The Open, has iconic sporting status and a rich history, which it has harnessed to capitalise on a growing experience economy.
As UK events company Secret Cinema has demonstrated, there’s a huge commercial opportunity in nostalgia-driven live experiences. For the last decade, Secret Cinema has put on “mass participation” screenings of classic movies to Londoners dressed as the film characters of their youth, from Luke Skywalker to Marty McFly.
In sport, this is relatively unexplored territory. Last month, however, the consistently innovative team at the AELTC launched ‘Wimbledon Rematch 1980’ – an official, “multi-sensory” event held before this year’s Championships. Centring around Björn Borg’s titanic battle with John McEnroe, widely regarded as one of the best Wimbledon finals in history, Rematch’s immersive experience brought fans into the 1980s through film, installations, food and drink.
Our analysis last year showed the huge opportunity for sport in a society where we increasingly prioritise experiences over possessions. History can be an agile enabler of this.
Sacramento Kings: bolstering merchandise offering with a throwback
Retro jerseys are woven into fabric of sport in North America – a rich and valuable part of all major rights-holders’ merchandising businesses. In Europe, it’s far less pronounced, but previously niche sellers of “classic shirts” such as classicfootballshirts.co.uk have boomed in recent years.
At the start of the month, the NBA’s Sacramento Kings announced they would be celebrating their 35th season since leaving Kansas City by wearing an “all-new Nike classic edition uniform inspired by the 91-94 design” for select games in 2019/20.
This is just one of tens of recent examples of how rights-holders are designing jerseys that tap into their fans’ nostalgia for the team they love – with Chelsea the latest team to launch a shirt with a firm nod to the past only yesterday. The Chelsea away shirt is “inspired by the Mod culture that thrived in 1960s London”, and will resonate with both 35-55-year-old parents and their siblings alike.
Our industry often views ‘tradition’ as somehow an impediment to commercial growth. However, if driven by truly understanding a fanbase’s connection to the sport, it can actually be an enabler.
Treated with respect it can achieve some unexpected and enduring results – just like the Republic of Ireland Subbuteo team of 1986, in fact.
Getty Images
