In last week’s article, I connected with Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard.

This time around, I tracked down Ed Erhardt, President of Global Sales and Marketing at ESPN, which came in at number 31 on the 2016 Forbes list of the World’s Most Valuable Brands.

Erhardt – a veteran ESPN executive of 18 years – has overseen the multimedia sales team at the company since 1999. In 2015, he was appointed President of Global Sales and Marketing.

In an interview (which has been edited, but not condensed), Erhardt talks about the changing face of advertising, the future of viewer-generated content and the branding influence of ESPN’s parent company, Disney.

Ed Erhardt during the ESPN Upfront event. Credit: JOE FARAONI/ESPN IMAGES

Ed, Disney owns an 80 per cent stake in ESPN – the lion’s share of the sports network. What influence (if any) has a legacy brand, like Disney, had on the evolution of the ESPN brand?

Disney’s keen focus on customer and consumer experience has been a core principle that we’ve embraced and applied to our fans and the marketplace generally.

President of ABC Sales & Marketing Geri Wang and Ed Erhardt during the ESPN Upfront event. Credit: LORENZO BEVILAQUA/ESPN IMAGES

In one sentence each, summarise ESPN’s core approach to:

....advertising

We deliver high-value audiences to our advertisers, which drive their business goals.

...branding

We distinguish ESPN’s content from that of other sports offerings by creating a relationship with our fans that’s authentic, familiar, built on good authority and with plenty of personality.

...content

We serve all sports fans anytime, anywhere on all platforms.

What value proposition does ESPN offer to advertisers? How has advertiser behaviour changed in the last 10 years or so?

Our value proposition is to deliver performance-based solutions. We drive our customers’ businesses with multi-screen scale and engagement in a live environment. Advertisers are much more precise and demanding in what they require from their media partners. Today, they look for data, creative expertise, target-oriented research insights as well as large audiences of valuable consumers – and they want it all connected and measurable. We believe we’re uniquely positioned to do this daily because sports sit at the top of consumers’ passions every day. Our mission to serve all sports fans anytime, anywhere will be the ‘North Star’ of our success.

Last year, the ESPN brand was valued at $16.9bn and ranked number 31 on the Forbes list of the World’s Most Valuable Brands. What are the main features of a valuable brand?

A unique position and consumer proposition that allow for pricing power and marketplace strength enhances the value of a brand to serve its constituents’ needs – in ESPN’s case, this means our fans, distributors and advertisers.

ESPN finished Nielsen’s 2016 as the number one rated full-time cable network among men and adults aged 18 to 34, 18 to 49 and 25 to 54 in day and prime time viewing. Moreover, ESPN has been a favourite among men each and every year since the Clinton administration. What steps has ESPN taken to attract and grow a larger female viewing audience?

Six years ago, we launched espnW – a dedicated digital product suite designed to “serve, inspire and inform” the female athlete and fan. We’ve since become the preeminent voice and platform for female sports fans. Our female talent leads the industry – in quality and quantity – across TV, digital, radio and print. We put the first female Major League Baseball game analyst for ESPN in front of the camera (Jessica Mendoza) and the first female editor-in-chief of a general interest sports magazine (ESPN The Magazine’s Alison Overholt) behind it. Establishing quality talent with a point of view – coupled with an authentic integration of female perspectives – allows us to fully serve all sports fans, including our female viewing audience.

Visa Olympic Spotlight, Striving for Excellence Individually and Together, Olympians Ashton Eaton (right) and Brianne Theisen-Eaton (left) with Major League Baseball Analyst Jessica Mendoza (middle). Credit: ROBBY KLEIN/ESPN IMAGES

ESPN’s SportsNation is a poll-based show involving audience engagement, which includes content generated and suggested by viewers, such as internet videos and athletes’ tweets. To what extent do you agree with the prediction that audience-inspired content is the future of sports programming?

We think that fan-created and inspired content will continue to be an important part of ESPN’s coverage and programming mix. Our industry-leading social media following and strategy drive that success with interaction built into a number of our shows and multi-screen offerings across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. It’s lifted us to the top sports media brand on social media, generating nearly 550 million total actions last quarter – 55 per cent more than our next closest competitor.

Former two-weight world champion boxer Evander Holyfield on the set of SportsNation. Credit: LARRY STRUMWASSER/ESPN IMAGES

What is on the horizon for ESPN?

We’ll continue to serve sports fans with content that’s unique, timely and valuable. We’ll also take advantage of the technological pace that’s driving all business. ESPN is in a unique position because of our lead in technology-based fan enhancement through live streaming, global digital leadership and our culture of innovation. Rather than being disrupted by technology, we embrace it to make the sports experience better. Fantasy sports, e-sports, virtual and augmented reality experiences are all spaces ESPN is leading in – driving the industry forward with the next generation of sports fan in mind.

America’s Navy Virtual Reality at X Games Aspen 2016. Credit: DAVE CAMARA/ESPN IMAGES

ESPN: the power of prophecy

Former five-weight world champion boxer turned boxing promoter Floyd Mayweather on the set of SportsCenter event. Credit: MELISSA RAWLINS/ ESPN IMAGES

1978 : Bill Rasmussen came up with the idea for ESPN after being dismissed from his job as the Communications Director for the New England Whalers hockey team. Together with his son, Scott Rasmussen (and Ed Eagan ), he founded ESPN after having a ‘spirited’ conversation with Scott in a Connecticut traffic jam.

: came up with the idea for ESPN after being dismissed from his job as the Communications Director for the New England Whalers hockey team. Together with his son, (and ), he founded ESPN after having a ‘spirited’ conversation with Scott in a Connecticut traffic jam. 1979 : On 7 September, ESPN launched with the slogan, ‘The Worldwide Leader in Sports.’

: On 7 September, ESPN launched with the slogan, 1983 : ESPN branched out, distributing its programming internationally.

: ESPN branched out, distributing its programming internationally. 1996 : In the second-largest corporate takeover at that time, The Walt Disney Company acquired Capital Cities/ABC (which owned ESPN).

: In the second-largest corporate takeover at that time, The Walt Disney Company acquired Capital Cities/ABC (which owned ESPN). 2001 : ESPN2 became the fastest - growing US cable channel , reaching 75 million subscribers in 89 months.

: ESPN2 became the - , reaching 75 million subscribers in 89 months. 2002 : ESPN agreed multimedia NBA coverage and became the first network to televise all four major professional sports – National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Baseball (MLB) and National Basketball Association (NBA).

: ESPN agreed multimedia NBA coverage and became the – National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Baseball (MLB) and National Basketball Association (NBA). 2016: ESPN completed its most-watched week ever for prime time (averaging over 9 million viewers).

An acronym for ‘Entertainment and Sports Programming Networks,’ ESPN is synonymous with sport. Whether it’s a game of basketball, hockey, baseball, football or soccer (and other competitive sports, like boxing and the ever-popular Mixed Martial Arts), fans almost always want one of two things – ESPN channels to showcase the event live or ESPN pundits to break it down for them into bite-sized portions during highlight shows.

Since forming the first 24-hour sports network in 1979 to creating the number one sports app in the market, ESPN now operates globally through more than 50 business entities and holds the most extensive portfolio of multimedia sports assets in the world. ESPN is no one-trick pony though. Television networks aside, the company has a hand in audio (ESPN Radio), digital (ESPN.com), publishing (ESPN The Magazine), event management (X Games) and multi-platform business (espnW).

The success of the ESPN network and its more colourful (and occasionally heated) sports programmes, such as First Take, has seen ESPN programming transcend the dedicated sports arena and become a part of pop culture. ESPN makes its own films, features in films, won its first Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards and has even had babies named after it!

Co-hosts Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim, actor Mark Wahlberg and co-host Max Kellerman on the set of First Take. Credit: MELISSA RAWLINS/ESPN IMAGES

The ESPN slogan is, ‘The Worldwide Leader in Sports.’ Given that the company was founded over 37 years ago, its slogan has proven to be eerily prophetic. (Not bad for a man who conceived the ESPN concept after being fired from his job.)

*Since the above video was made, Max Kellerman has replaced long-time First Take co-host, Skip Bayless.

Thanks for reading! Got an appetite for advertising? Want to “brand it like Beckham”? Captivated by ‘cool’ content? Check out Regal Content where we aim to make your brand reign supreme by creating content that’s fit for a king…or queen.















