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00:00Hello, my name is Angelique Jackson. I'm one of the senior entertainment writers at Variety,
00:03and it is my pleasure to lead this wonderful panel. We have Darren Abbott, Chief Brand Officer
00:10for Hallmark. We have Lon Rosen, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
00:17We have Janina Lundy, EVP and Head of Marketing and Brand Partnerships at Heartbeat. We have
00:22Christine Segrist, Global Head of Consumer Marketing for Canva, and we have Tim Clark,
00:27Chief Brand Officer at NASCAR. I want to start, actually, this ended up working perfectly,
00:33Darren, with you, because when we were talking, I guess, last week a little bit about this
00:38conversation, you said something really powerful about, you know, the way you all look at things
00:43when it comes to marketing at Hallmark. And the ethos or the general idea is that it's really not
00:50so much about advertising as it is engaging. Can you tell me a little bit about how that came to be?
00:55Sure. You know, I think this is probably something we all can relate to. I think the idea of how we're
01:02interacting with our consumers, with our audience, is evolving, you know, really quickly. Like, it's sort
01:07of changing under our feet. And I think part of that forces us to challenge some orthodoxies about
01:14the way we even think about that. And so, at Hallmark, what we're doing right now is actually
01:19moving away from the idea of marketing and advertising through a more traditional lens
01:24and really thinking about how are we engaging with our consumers and our fans and actually doing it
01:30in a way where we're creating experiences. A little bit, kind of, choose your own adventure. Let them
01:35decide how they want to work with us. You guys know about Hallmark. We are a brand that's been grounded
01:41in, we've been around over a hundred years. Obviously, we got started as selling greeting cards,
01:47continue to be the leader in that space. But increasingly, we see ourselves as a content-driven
01:52company. The fastest-growing business segment that we have is our entertainment business.
01:56And about a year ago, we wanted to tie those two businesses together. We used to think of those
02:01as completely separate operating units, one based in Kansas City, one based here in LA. And when I came
02:07into the role, one of the first things I wanted to do was acknowledge that consumers don't see our
02:13organizational structure. They don't care where the business is based. They just want to have an authentic
02:18relationship with us. And what we wanted to do was connect all of that together. And we've done that
02:24through a series of things. We launched a new streaming service, although we don't even really call it a
02:27streaming service. It's Hallmark+. It's a membership service. It gives you access to ways to care and connect,
02:33free greeting cards, other tools, obviously some really great content. But what it really is,
02:39is a digital 360-degree experience. We've also launched physical experiences. So for the first
02:45time ever, we created a new event. We called it the Hallmark Christmas Experience. We did that in
02:50Kansas City. Four weekends in December, we invited people from around the world, and we literally had
02:55100,000 people show up. It kind of took off. Obviously, we almost bit a little bit off more than we
03:01could chew. But it was great. And it created, for me anyway, someone who's worked at Hallmark for a long
03:08time, it forced me to look at that a little bit differently and think about our consumers as fans.
03:14You've got some folks up here that, you know, on the sports side that truly lean into fans. You
03:19wouldn't necessarily think about Hallmark thinking about it that way. But we do have a great fan base.
03:24And what we're trying to do is move away from talking to them or talking at them, and instead really
03:30engaging them with these experiences that I was talking about. So kind of new territory for us,
03:35but something we're really excited about. And we got a lot of ideas about where we're going with it
03:39from there. So that was kind of a long-winded answer. But I think that addresses what you were
03:42talking about. It does. And it's the perfect answer. Because, you know, when I think about
03:46Hallmark fandom, I do think about my grandma and how every time I, well, not just my grandma, but she
03:51lives off Hallmark Christmas movies during the season. And it's a family activity. And now
03:57it's even broader than that. But, you know, to your point about fandom lawn, I mean, the Dodgers
04:02are definitely a fan-based forward type brand. How do you, how have you all leaned into that
04:10even more in the past, you know, 365 days?
04:14Well, it's a thing working. We're just a little entertainment company here in Southern California.
04:20We've been very fortunate the last couple of years to be a very successful baseball team
04:27on and off the field. And about a year and a half ago, we had a cosmic shift.
04:33We were able to sign Shohei Ohtani, who is a unicorn of an athlete.
04:42An incredible baseball player, but a really great person.
04:45And it really positioned us in a different way in the world. We were always known throughout
04:53the world, but now with Shohei, who is arguably the most famous athlete on the face of the
04:59earth, it's helped us in so many different ways. We've always had a very diverse fan base.
05:04But when you go to Dodger Stadium now, it really looks like the United Nations, which we love.
05:10What's interesting about our business is we've sort of been like a rocket ship.
05:17Our business has obviously improved quite a bit. It was always successful. But when we signed Shohei,
05:22it's helped us with ticket sales, with sponsorship sales, all types of different things.
05:26But our friends at the Los Angeles Times pointed out the other day, or put an article in the
05:31newspaper that said, the Dodgers are unaffordable. And we all read the article and we go, what does
05:38that mean? We lead the league in attendance and every other metric. So I called the guy
05:44at the LA Times and said, what exactly were you writing about the Dodgers? He goes, well,
05:49we just wanted people to read the newspaper a little bit more. So we thought we'd put something
05:54there that's controversial. I was like, okay, thank you. It's a roundabout way of saying,
06:03we try to be, we try to be affordable for fans as much as we can. But as you know, the entertainment
06:10segment, there are different price points. And we've done a really good job to, you know,
06:15really market to all different segments of people worldwide. Our games are on all over the world.
06:21But whenever we play, our Japanese fans are watching our games day and night. So we really enjoy that.
06:28Since we're talking about sports, Tim, I'm actually going to jump over to you with NASCAR and the same
06:35type of fandom. I mean, I think they're just in terms of how you grow and expand that audience.
06:44Yeah, I mean, I think there's, we talk all the time about the NASCAR brand. It is a, we don't have a
06:50brand awareness problem. It's, you know, I've never picked up the phone and introduced myself of NASCAR and
06:56got a quizzical look in response. But I do think there's, there's a bit of a perception that comes
07:02along with NASCAR. I think people feel some kind of way about that brand or, or, or the fandom or
07:08the sport or, or the athletes that participate in it. And I think a big part of my job and our
07:13collective job is to, you know, not, not let those perceptions drive how our brand is interpreted.
07:19And one of those, the ways that we can do that, and I think from a marketing perspective,
07:22from an event perspective, we can ask people to come to us, or we can kind of take the show on
07:28the road and take it to them. And I think of the last few years, we've been way more aggressive in
07:33doing the latter. So we had a race here for a couple of years inside the LA Coliseum.
07:39We've taken a street race into downtown Chicago around Grant Park. Later this year, we're going to
07:44go to Mexico City. But at the same time, we're racing at, you know, some of the oldest racing venues,
07:49including one in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to start this season. So I think there's, you know,
07:55there, there's diversity in the brand, there's diversity in the schedule, there's diversity in
07:59the product, but all of those things are, are important to us. And it's not a matter of, you
08:04know, favoring, uh, uh, an avid core fan over a casual or a new fan. It's a little bit of, we need
08:10to have an offering for all of the above. Um, but at the same time, we've got to be true to who we are,
08:16both as a sport and a consumer product. So, um, yeah, I think how, how we allow fans and
08:23consumers to sample that brand has to be a little bit on their terms, but it's, it's got
08:28to be authentic to who we are. And of course, one of those ways is full speed as well. Another
08:33way to kind of bring more and newer fans in by quite literally, you know, putting them
08:39in the car. Yeah, it's, um, for, um, I'm certainly not going to plug or maybe I am. Uh, but over the
08:46next, the next 30 days, we're, we're going to have a pretty aggressive original content slate. So
08:51season two of full speed is, is going to debut on, on Netflix. And then we've got two, um, shows
08:59coming out on Amazon. One of them is, uh, uh, an episodic documentary series that, uh, imagined did,
09:06uh, on the Earnhardt family, specifically Dale Earnhardt senior. Uh, and then we've got another
09:12one about, uh, NASCAR's entry into the 24 hours of Le Mans called American thunder. That's also on
09:17Amazon. So, uh, it will be very easy to get your NASCAR fix, uh, on any streaming platforms over
09:23the next few weeks. Well, Janina, that actually brings me over to you. Um, because when it comes
09:29to kind of like multi-platform experience, I feel like heartbeat really is at the center of that and
09:35navigating that. Tell me a little bit about how you think of how and where to find your audience.
09:43Yeah. Well, we have the benefit of being founded by a, a small local comedian named Kevin Hart. Um,
09:50so finding audience, um, is a little easier maybe for us than, than some, um, he's a global superstar,
09:58obviously. And so, you know, he's known around the world. I think for us, it's about thinking about
10:03the next generation of comedians and the next generation of talent and leveraging him to,
10:08to find audience for them. Um, we have a mission as a company of keeping the world laughing together,
10:14which, you know, there's not much better than that. And there's not much that connects people
10:20globally more than laughter. And so like, that's what we're thinking about as we're finding audience
10:25and as we're, as we're looking for our fans. Well, and when you have something like, for example,
10:31Kevin will be, um, he will be hosting the BET awards, for example. Oh, thank you for knowing
10:35that. Yes. I do a little research before we come on stage. Um, but you know, in, in that you are
10:42working with a partner. So you're working with a partner in BET, but you're also creating your own
10:47content to, you're not necessarily marketing heartbeat, but you're also marketing Kevin,
10:51but you're also marketing BET awards. How do you, how do you navigate that, that lane?
10:57Yeah. I, and for me, that one is really full circle. I was at BET for several years and at BET plus,
11:03um, after that. So it was a full circle moment to kind of work with that team as we brought it to
11:08life. So Kevin is hosting the BET awards. It's their 25th anniversary. And we had, we took the
11:15opportunity to really be the ones who are marketing that and announcing that to the world. And the spot that
11:20we created, which launched a couple of days ago really is rooted in culture. So we took moments
11:27that are happening in culture right now and use them to talk about the BET awards. So in there,
11:32we have Jennifer Hudson and her spirit tunnel as a part of it. There was a moment about, you know,
11:38the chicken nugget with caviar that Rihanna, um, had as a social moment. So we brought that into the show.
11:45Um, there's been a lot of jokes about, you know, Kevin's height and stature. Um, and so we built a,
11:53a, um, BET award that was taller than he is, um, and took a photo of him there. Um, there was the,
12:02uh, viral moment that happened recently with, um, the influencer that had the morning routine with
12:09his tape on his mouth and his head in the bowl of ice. And so that's how we started the spot.
12:14So I think it's a moment for us to think about, you know, Kevin and where he plays in culture,
12:20but working with BET as a partner, it helps to put them, uh, kind of at the top of, of the cultural
12:26conversation in a time when, you know, award shows, you know, it's challenging to, to find audience
12:31and stay relevant, particularly on, you know, on the linear side. And so it was an opportunity for us
12:37to really put them at the forefront of conversation. Christine, I want to go to you
12:42because that is essentially what you all are doing at Canva. It is, is working with those partners
12:48and allowing them to, to find ways to engage with their brands while also kind of maintaining your
12:54brand identity. Tell me a little bit about how you navigate that. Absolutely. And also I just can't
12:59watch enough spirit tunnels if I'm having a low moment. So love that. Yeah. I mean, I think, um,
13:04it's interesting, we have such a diverse community that we serve, you know, we have the good fortune
13:08of trying to empower 230 million people who use our platform, um, day in and day out to try to bring
13:15their ideas to life, whatever that means, whether it's a website or a presentation or social media
13:20content. So we need to think about that really diverse community and what their needs are. So
13:25whether it's, you know, a business who wants to make sure they're making on-brand content at scale
13:29and, uh, might have, you know, folks in offices around the world and they may have a mighty group
13:35of five designers who are like, I'm tired. Can we please empower these folks to, you know, have things
13:39in their hands? But it also might be, you know, um, teachers, uh, in Wichita who just want to bring
13:45learning to life for their classroom. Um, so I think we just really need to understand what are those
13:50needs for our community. They inspire everything they do, everything we build. Uh, and when we think
13:55about, you know, social impact in the places where we're kind of placing our bets, um, we really want
14:00to understand what's most important to them and what's that through line where we are being very
14:05aligned to our, um, ethos, which is that we really just want to empower people and have an equal
14:09playing field. So that's true if you're a nonprofit, it's true if you're fortune 500 and, um, we want to
14:15make sure that everything we're doing is kind of grounded in that. Um, so when we think about content
14:20and marketing, of course we do traditional things, but a lot of what we do is what are the wild,
14:24wonderful, imaginative things our community is doing when they have these tools in their hands.
14:29Um, and that drives a lot of our communication. I love that you mentioned how much you love the
14:34spirit tunnels because it did kind of, uh, I don't know, underline something that I think you all
14:38have very much been talking about is, you know, that is something that is taken over the internet
14:43organically. It's this fun thing that they tried to do and has kind of turned into something bigger.
14:49I think all of you have various experiences with that where there was something that you couldn't
14:53imagine was going to, um, you know, transform your business the way it has. And I'm actually
14:59curious, uh, to hear some of those examples. I mean, you know, Darren, without saying, you can't
15:06imagine that the biggest superstar pop music superstar in the world is going to start dating a Kansas
15:11city football player leading then to a hallmark Christmas movie about their love. Well, not about
15:17their love story, but inspired. And then now adjacent, adjacent is the appropriate word,
15:22basically the allegedly of this conversation. Um, and now we will have a Bill's love story.
15:28We're with another big superstar and, and our NFL MVP this year just happens to be a Bill's player.
15:35Uh, when you have those kinds of organic moments, how does it then kind of spur the creativity?
15:41Yeah. Well, I, you're right to call that an organic moment, but I think as marketers and brand leaders,
15:46we have to also realize that you have to find those organic moments and then create a, you know,
15:51a business opportunity around it. That's one of the things we were thinking about last year as we
15:56were starting our discussions with the NFL on this partnership. Everyone knows what a hallmark
16:01rom-com is at Christmas, right? You, whether you want to admit it or not, I know all of you have
16:04watched one. Um, but at the same time, we're trying to create, you know, a kind of fresh approach to that.
16:11And we want to be in the cultural conversation. And the way you do that is you kind of go find
16:15those sparks and the zeitgeist and insert your brand into that space. The NFL partnership that
16:21we did, we had a lot of people ask, you kind of scratching their head at first. In my mind,
16:26sports, football brings people together. Hallmark brings people together. That's at the,
16:30at the very base of our, um, purpose and our mission. And so it, to me, it was a very natural,
16:37uh, way to bring those two brands together. Our fans loved it. NFL loved it. And as you said,
16:43we were moving into year two and we got a bunch of other ideas that we're thinking about right now
16:48as well. So think Hallmark rom-coms adjacent to what's happening in the cultural conversation.
16:54Some fun stuff there.
16:55I feel like I read something that like 75% of your audience crosses over around the holidays
17:00between sports and Hallmark.
17:02Exactly. We did some research on this again, just to make sure that we were going to get this right.
17:06And it was fascinating that the people that are watching NFL are watching, um, our movies. And so
17:12why not bring them together and create a moment around that? So, and we, to be really clear, we
17:17never said, this was never about doing a movie with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey. Uh, but, but we had
17:24a lot of fun with it and, and it created an, a tremendous amount of buzz for us, uh, on the earned media
17:30side, uh, probably the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time. And it inserted the Hallmark
17:35brand into that cultural conversation. And, and I think we learned a lot from that. It's set up a
17:40new playbook for us. And, um, as I said, we've got a lot of other ideas we're cooking on, on that.
17:45So it's been fun.
17:46Lon, what is an opportunity to kind of set up a new playbook for you all?
17:51Well, again, we're lucky we have those opportunities quite often. Um,
17:55we, uh, for some reason, bobbleheads are a big, a big fan favorite here in Los Angeles.
18:02You know, other people, other teams come to us and go, why is it so special there? And
18:06I gotta admit, I don't know. It's something that fans like here. Um, well, when we signed
18:12Shohei, we said, we're going to, uh, we'll do multiple bobbleheads and see how it turns out.
18:17Uh, last year we did two of them. And, uh, the first one, um, it's, we said it's for the
18:23first 40,000 fans and our game started at seven o'clock at night and people were lining
18:28up at night in the morning, um, down the streets, all around Dodger stadium. And within that release,
18:34we also did a limited release where in the first one we did a gray Jersey, which within
18:41hours was on eBay for $5,000 a piece. Um, we did a second release of a bobblehead last
18:48year. Um, and we put a gold one in there. It was just gold paint and people lined up,
18:53up at nine in the morning. Um, so we all got together this year and go, oh, we did two
18:59last year. We're going to do four this year. And, um, so we've, uh, taken advantage of that
19:04opportunity. We also have, uh, another one, uh, because of really our Japanese fan base
19:10and now it's transcended all our fan bases. There's a very famous, um, Japanese artist named
19:17Murakami. And, um, about a month and a half ago before we went to Japan, there was a limited
19:23release of Murakami Dodger products. There was hats, jerseys, t-shirts, hoodies, and again,
19:32we had the lines at nine o'clock in the morning and it sold out immediately. Um, so we all
19:36put our heads together and on Monday night at Dodger Stadium, we have, uh, Japanese heritage
19:41night and we reached out to Murakami and said, Hey, do you want to do a limited release that
19:46day? And lo and behold, he's putting out t-shirts and hoodies and slides. And I'm sure people are
19:54lining up at Dodger Stadium right now. Again, we look at the opportunity where we can serve
19:58our fans best and what we think they want. Um, and we do a lot of surveys to try to find
20:03out what it wants, but you know, for us, we have a program every day. We have a, our, our games
20:09are almost daily. We have 162 games and 81 home games. So every day we have to recreate
20:15ourselves. So what I tell everybody that works for me is I want you to look at as 81 separate
20:20events. So we're always coming up with different ways to encourage people to come to our stadium
20:25because it's a big stadium to fill and a lot of dates to fill. So thank you all. If you come
20:29and if you haven't buy tickets a lot, when you just said 81, uh, that, that was very overwhelming.
20:36That's, that's a lot of events to be thinking of as, as an individual each time. How many seasons
20:43have you been with the Dodgers now? Uh, this is my 13th season. Uh, overwhelming is, uh, the
20:48understatement. Um, my friend runs the Rams and I think they have eight home games and Kevin will
20:56call me and go, Oh, it's mid season. It's such a long, I go, Kevin, I have eight games in one
21:02homestand. What are you talking about? Um, again, every one of our business is different
21:07and unique. You have to adapt and adjust to anything you do. Um, but again, we have to
21:12look at it much differently than other businesses. Um, we're in a really competitive market here
21:17in Los Angeles. There's, uh, basically 11 other professional teams and then you have the college
21:23teams that are near professional with USC and UCLA. Um, so you know, we're all trying to
21:29get the same entertainment dollars. So again, we always need to think about our fan base, think how
21:35we can market to them, think how we can put on the best event. And again, we're just an
21:39entertainment product. That's how we look at ourselves. Um, so we try to put on the best
21:43event each night and a different event each night because people get bored just seeing the same thing.
21:50Again, we're in a great marketplace for that. You look at the great teams here with the Lakers and
21:55the Kings and you know, some of the other teams here, they're all doing really, really special
21:59things here. And again, it's, it's, it's a way to, to give the fans something, you know, that's
22:05different each night, but then they can go home and watch the Hallmark channel. So we encourage that.
22:11Love it.
22:12We're over here fostering more partnerships as it is. You guys, please be sure to let Variety know,
22:17um, when you want to announce that movie, uh, starring Kevin Hart, maybe I like it, uh, Janina,
22:26what does that look like for you in terms of, you know, approaching each project as a different
22:33event? Because as you mentioned, you know, obviously a lot of heartbeat is driven by Kevin
22:38Hart. Um, but it's about, as you said, uh, setting up the next generation. So how do you look at
22:44leveraging the work that you're doing in, um, you know, helping these other creators?
22:49Yeah. I think, um, a lot of it is about the authenticity and, and that comes from working
22:54directly with creators. I think even with like going back to the spirit tunnel for just a second
22:59for that, we brought in the actual spirit tunnel people from Jennifer Hudson's team. So those were
23:06that, those were the people that really do it every day. Um, and you know, we could have done that
23:11with a group of extras and just put it together or a group of actors, but it was important for us to
23:17connect with the people who are actually creating this and driving those conversations. So we had
23:22that, that partnership. Um, and I think we're just, we're doing that kind of across the board,
23:26finding ways to connect with younger audiences and younger creators. I mean, uh, I'm going to give
23:32a couple of examples that are, are Kevin related. There's a lot that we're doing that isn't, but
23:36you know, we just, um, did the NPR tiny desk. So, um, Kevin has a character, chocolate drapa
23:44and we went to DC to tiny desk and he performed, uh, he completely freestyled all of that. Um,
23:55but it's a way for us to be in the conversation culturally. And it dropped on April Fool's day,
24:00um, on April 1st, but the response to it was amazing. Um, and more than, than what we could
24:07have even imagined, um, like millions of views, um, in the first few hours and we've built social
24:12handles for the character and everything. So, um, you know, it's a way for us to be a part of the
24:17conversation. And then we're also, you know, he is on live streams with Kyson at Andruski and it's
24:24another way for us to extend our audience and be a part of the conversation and understand what's
24:29happening in culture. And I think that's really important for us is to, to really be immersed in,
24:34in what's happening. Can I ask you what the conversations look like when you're developing
24:39an idea like tiny desk, like how are you, you know, finding and locating and figuring out how,
24:45how, and what would make sense? Um, you know, obviously in this case, knowing Kevin's skillset.
24:50Yeah, so much. It's kind of, I mean, I guess you might even imagine this, but so much is like
24:55things that happen as a joke. Like, so we're sitting in a meeting and we're talking about different
24:59things that we want to do. And it would be like, and somebody's like, you know, it would be really
25:03funny if we did a tiny desk and then, you know, everybody's like, ha ha ha. And then he's like,
25:06no, let's do that. So a lot of it comes from that. And I think we have the benefit of having,
25:13you know, his creative vision and comedy, but we have that in our team as well. People really just
25:20thinking about sort of funny things that could happen and how we can connect that to business
25:25outcomes. You mentioned, and I want to pivot a little bit to the audience. You mentioned
25:30finding those younger audiences. I am always curious, and this is kind of a question to all
25:36of you. What do you find is maybe not like the worst way of going about targeting the younger
25:42audiences, but what do you, what do you find is maybe a mistake or a misstep that people make when
25:48they're going out to attract somebody new? Well, I think for us, you know, like I said,
25:53it is about bringing in the creators and, and letting them kind of lead the show. So we might
25:58give them a brief on something, but we're really letting them create. So it's a co-creation between
26:04us and the creators. I think that's a huge piece of it. It's also about having a team that reflects
26:11the audience that we're going after. So, you know, a lot of times I don't know like who some of the
26:16creators are that we're talking about or what some of the jokes are, some of the languages, but the team
26:21that I have does. And they're really involved every day and thinking about that. So I think one of the best
26:27ways to connect is to make sure that the team that's working on the projects behind the scene, whether that's
26:31internal, whether that's your agency, whether that's your partners, really is immersed in this culture and can speak to it.
26:38Oh, I was just going to say it's, I love what you said about authenticity, too, because I think that's the worst thing you can do. Back to, you know, how we started the conversation about not talking at, but engaging people.
26:50It's interesting working with Canva, young people use Canva in droves. So it's more of the discussion of making sure that, you know, a CIO and a company also knows the value and how that can unlock.
27:01So it's a little bit of maybe the inverse of some of those discussions. But I think a lot of it's meeting people where they are, not having, you know, if people are on platforms that have short form or they expect a feedback loop, they expect transparency.
27:15It's delivering that every day and setting up your teams to do that. And I think listening is really important. You know, we look at one great thing about Canva, when you open it, you're not staring at a blank page being like, oh, God, what's the first thing I'm going to write? You know, you can access a template or something beautiful to get you started. So we're always listening to our community. What are they searching for? What are they buzzing about? And then trying to strike those partnerships, whether it's, you know, working with Pantone when they drop their color of the year to do something quite fun, or we have a
27:45partnership with Pinterest when they had their yearly trend predicts. We've been working with Disney. And, you know, we're seeing people are looking for whether it's Star Wars fandom or other things they care about. We want all those design elements to really be at their fingertips, so that we're listening and continually closing the loop with that community. And then to your part about culture, you know, sometimes it's like, what are those moments that matter? I think the one sport we don't have represented up here is the NFL today. Maybe that's the next panel. But we had this kind of fun insight.
28:15that the number one day people call it sick in the U.S. is the day after the Super Bowl. I mean, millions of people get, you know, the Super Bowl flu. And we're always trying to transform work, transform work to be more fun, more visual, more collaborative. So we did a whole social campaign to salute those who just slogged through with bleary eyes and pulled up to their desk. And just kind of being in that moment with people, having a bit of fun, not taking ourselves too seriously and knowing what's the conversation in our community and showing up there in a light way.
28:45Has really helped us to make that connection in a way that feels authentic.
28:49Can I build on that?
28:51I'll just say one quick thing. On the listening thing, I just would mention, like, we are so deep in the comments. That's really what we're doing. So, like, the biggest way that we're listening is sorting through comments and trying to see how people are responding to creative, who they're talking about, what they're looking for. And that's something that we're leveraging quite a bit as we're thinking about our audience.
29:11I was just going to make an observation, listening to the two of you, repeatedly using terms like community, authenticity, and back to your original question about, you know, how do you reach a younger consumer, a younger audience?
29:23I actually kind of cringe when I hear that, to be real honest. I mean, those discussions happen. What we're doing at Hallmark is trying to shift the conversation away from a demographic approach.
29:35Yes, we want younger consumers, but instead leaning into our fans and our community and being true to who we are as a brand. And then when you're authentic to them, as you guys were just talking about, the consumers will come.
29:47Right? And so, I think all of us as marketers and brand leaders need to be thinking about that piece of it. Think about the psychographic profile. Think about the people that, for us, aspire to a caring, connected life that want to put goodness back in the world.
30:01And that's universal, regardless of your age. And so, I think all of us need to kind of move away from this sort of myopic view on demographics and start thinking more about who these people really are and how to have an authentic connection with them.
30:16And that's, I think, a good theme for what all of us have been talking about today.
30:19I think we also have to look at where the younger audience is watching us or looking at us. When I grew up, I watched the television set. There's no way I'm watching that anymore. So, in sports, it's all shifting to streaming and different devices.
30:36The cable industry obviously is in a little bit of trouble right now, the way people look at it. So, as a sports league, a sports team that works within the sports league, the league spend a lot of time figuring out how to get that programming to the consumers.
30:51And we know for a younger consumer, it has to be on different devices. And that's most important for us. And to pick up something on Kevin Hart, this is how smart this guy is.
31:01A couple years ago, he called us and said, I want to train with the Dodgers for one day. I go, what are you talking about? He goes, no, I'm going to do a whole thing. I'm going to get it with my YouTube channel.
31:12So, he shows up. I forgot which Kardashian sister he comes with. And he spent four hours with our players who loved it. He literally went through a day of training. And it was incredible for us, for our players, for our fan base.
31:26But also, that shows you how forward thinking Kevin Hart is. He thinks, what other fan bases can I find? And it was a blast to work with him, I'll tell you that.
31:36Thank you. I didn't pay you for that.
31:39I'll pick it up later.
31:41I think building on that, we're thinking about audiences and where they consume content. So, we are creating content for whenever and wherever they're consuming it. So, that way, for those who are still watching traditional cable, we have content for them there. And for those who are fully on a mobile device, we're thinking about how to feed them content as well.
32:04And Tim, that sounds true to you as well and what you were explaining about all the different places we can find our NASCAR.
32:11Yeah, I mean, I think the original content piece is no longer content for us. It's marketing and awareness. It's just through a different channel and form of distribution.
32:22And, you know, to build off of, I think, a lot of the great points that were made, this is such a kind of a small thing, but it's indicative of how we have to transition the way that we're reaching new audiences.
32:34You know, anyone that's been around sports knows that people that have historically covered the sport, whether that's media beat writers, whatever the case may be, they're in a media center, they're in a press box.
32:43And, you know, it occurred to us a few years ago, that's not, if we're going to bring streamers or creators or influencers out to a racetrack, putting them in the media center next to, you know, a newspaper reporter that's covered the sport for 35 years is probably not the right way to do it.
32:59So we've invested, you know, mid seven figures into building out a dedicated mobile content space so that when, you know, a content creator comes out to the track to experience NASCAR for the first time, that's their place where they can be creative with other people.
33:14And, you know, I think like Janina said, the best thing I could do for our social team is stay out of their way because more often than not, if they make a post on, on Instagram or Tik TOK that I don't get, it probably means it's going to be even better.
33:26Um, I am certainly not the target audience.
33:29So, but we have to lean into that.
33:31We, we have to create those opportunities in those spaces for that content to be developed and, and kind of stay out of the way.
33:38I'm just being nosy. What was your favorite piece of content that's been created?
33:42The one where you're like, yes, this was the entirely right move to make.
33:46That's, that's all I do. I smile and nod and I take credit for it. Um, and pretend I know what's going on. And then I Google it off to the side.
33:53Oh, I'm just Googling all day long. I'm like, who?
33:56But that's why what you said is so important. It is also about surrounding ourselves with a team that is, you know, swiping on Tik TOK 50 times a day and, and can tell you what my Shayla means.
34:11And I don't know what that is.
34:13So, um, thank you all so much for giving us a little bit of insight into your worlds and how honestly they all so much intersect.
34:22So thank you all so much and stick around for the rest of our programming.