PepsiCo Partner FanAI Brings Accountability to Sponsorship at the SBJ Brand Innovation Summit
Justin Toman, Head of Sports Marketing at PepsiCo, spoke for brand marketers everywhere when he wondered aloud, “How much more product am I selling because I have partnership XYZ?”
Toman was on hand at the 2022 Sport Business Journal’s Brand Innovation Summit, a premiere event from the award-winning publication, to discuss PepsiCo’s deepening partnership with FanAI, a platform that enables brands to quantify their sponsorship investments.
“FanAI was innovative when they released their attribution product, but it took relationships with the likes of PepsiCo and OMD to refine the product so that it can be used in the industry for decisions to be made,” said Adam Holt, SVP Sales and Partnerships at FanAI, who added, “The relationship will continue to drive innovation resulting in the data and metrics becoming more and more accurate and deterministic.”
PepsiCo initially partnered with FanAI after OMD’s Senior Director Amy Jost brought the two parties to the table. For Jost, partners like FanAI enable her agency to move fast when seeking to understand the true value of a sponsorship.
“Being able to measure the sales impact, rather than just top-of-funnel metrics, of sports sponsorship and fan engagement means that we can assess the value of all activity against the same benchmark, allowing us to make holistic business decisions for all activations,” said OMD’s Jost.
Justin Toman (PepsiCo), Amy Jost (OMD), and Adam Holt (FanAI), during their panel “Driving Innovation Through Data Analytics & Metrics - How Transforming Sports Sponsorship Measurement Can Influence Your Brand Spending” at the 2022 SBJ Brand innovation Summit.
On the brand side, one of the key unlocks is matching the retail data with fandom, said PepsiCo’s Toman. Access to that data informs their position as it allows them to better enter negotiations, investments, and partnerships.
How does the retail value of the sponsorship compare to other metrics to justify the need to negotiate?
“When taken into context with other metrics, like broadcast and social media exposure, and in-stadium consumption, retail value helps us complete the picture of how a particular sponsorship helps support our business goals,” said Toman.
PepsiCo has since expanded their relationship with FanAI to benchmark all of their North American team partners on the beverage side. They are projecting a savings of 20% or more across all partnership deals, and also looking to build revenue-based guarantees into its sponsorship contracts.
At the close of the panel discussion, there was universal excitement among the participants following the presentation of new ideas and insights.
“For years at events including those hosted by SBJ, the industry has called for actual sponsorship attribution,” said FanAI’s Holt, adding, “For leading brands and agencies such as PepsiCo and OMD to lead the conversation and industry forward is important as we look for a currency by which sponsorships can be benchmarked.”
The brand partners were no less enthusiastic about the experience of presenting their findings together. “Being able to share our case study with the sport industry in a forum like the Sport Business Journal’s Brand Innovation Summit - It’s like sharing academic research. Once you share it, it helps the industry’s body of knowledge,” said PepsiCo’s Toman.
Were you unable to join us in Chicago for the 2022 SBJ Brand innovation Summit? Click here to watch the entire panel presentation, “Driving Innovation Through Data Analytics & Metrics - How Transforming Sports Sponsorship Measurement Can Influence Your Brand Spending.”
FanAI helps brands understand and measure sponsorship impact on sales using unique insights to maximize investments. Our mission is to help brands realize the true value of sponsorships by proving their impact on sales, and our vision is to be the leader in optimizing brand marketing performance.
