Life At Relish: Our 2018 Resolutions and Goals
We asked the Relish team what their 2018 resolutions and goals were this year and how things are going so far. Here’s what they had to report:
Corey-Jan
I started the year with a resolution to do some form of short, high-intensity interval training (like the NY Times 7-Minute Workout) every morning before I get ready to start my workday. As of the writing of this post, I've been doing okay at it - but not great, often opting for a little extra sleep or a less-rushed breakfast instead. Even so, on the days when I don't get that workout in, I try not to beat myself up over it so I can start the next day with refreshed resolve, rather than guilt. I remain committed to the goal!
Amy
I set some exercise goals for this year moving forward. I hesitate to call it a "New Year's Resolution" because that makes it feel like something with annual limits. So, this year, I set a lifestyle resolution. I am working with a trainer on not only increasing the quality of my exercise regiment but also taking it more seriously. So far so good (albeit a little sore). I also set a goal to delve deeper into my passions, and take them more seriously too. That also seems to be producing some great results.
Jasmine
I set a few goals to accomplish this year, but two of my personal goals are to read a new book once a month and travel more. The past few years, my goals have been strictly business/career related, but we all need work-life balance. So, this year I'm challenging myself to unplug every now and then to enjoy a book and travel the world a bit more.
Ryan
I, like a lot of people, have a renewed commitment to exercising this year. It's been going well so far. I exercised pretty consistently the first couple of weeks in January and went on a snowboarding trip the third week of January. 2018 is going to be a fit year!
Mia
I am not really a New Year’s resolution person as I typically set overarching quarterly personal and professional goals and check against them monthly and weekly. I do use the end of the year to reflect on goals I’ve accomplished. I also have now implemented a two-week “mental check out’ period between Christmas and the first week in January by taking a vacation. This always helps me press reset, and I come back refreshed and motivated to hit the ground running for the new year.
Paul
My goal for the start of the new year was to get some new shoes because it’s been a couple of years. I’m glad to say that I’ve made good on that resolution by buying two more pairs of casual shoes for work, two pairs of sneakers for exercising and a pair of dress shoes.
Teresa
This year’s focus is self-care. In January, I completed the Whole 30 eating plan, and I’m slowly reintroducing foods to see how my body responds. Completing the plan was a huge accomplishment for me, and I had many NSVs (non-scale victories)! I’m also spending a lot of time on Skillshare finding creative classes to exercise the right side of my brain. Current interests are photography and watercolor!
Michael
My resolution this year is to draw more! Sketching with pencil and paper always helps me refine and clarify my ideas before I commit them to a computer screen.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward.
Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Celebrating New Certification (and why you should be, too)
Relish’s founder and President, Pam Willoughby, just earned her certification as an Employer Branding Professional from the Employer Branding Academy.
You’re popping the champagne too, right? Well, here’s why we’re celebrating. Relish has been helping our clients build and grow their employer brands for most of the past decade – with tremendous results. But a desire to learn and to keep our ideas current is deep in our corporate DNA. Which is why we’re always looking for examples of excellence, research-based trends, insights and best practices to deepen our knowledge, sharpen our skills and deliver results for our clients.
The intensive, eight-week educational program required for certification delivered it all.
In fact, it also gave Pam the opportunity to share her own experience and successes, contributing to the overall body of employer branding knowledge. Which told us we’ve been doing a lot of things right. The certification program also gave us some advanced information, eye-opening research and new perspectives – all of which will give our clients more advantages as they define their employer brands to attract, engage and retain employees.
Now, you see why we want you to celebrate with us. Better yet, let us bring the party to you as we share new ways to help you define, communicate and savor your employer brand.
Read the press release HERE.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward. Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Atlanta Employer Branding Expert Certified by Employer Branding Academy
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
January 23, 2018
For More Information Contact:
Teresa McCrerey-Wheat
404 889-4333
Atlanta Employer Branding Expert Certified by Employer Branding Academy
[Atlanta, GA] – 2018 promises to be a year in which businesses focus more deeply than ever on the best ways to attract, engage and retain top talent – and Relish Marketing is expanding its ability to help them do it. The Atlanta area marketing firm’s president, Pamela Willoughby, recently earned certification as an Employer Branding Professional from the Employer Branding Academy, following a rigorous in-person and online eight-week educational program that culminated in the presentation of an Employer Branding case study.
“The candidate-driven employment market requires employers to be strategic in the way that they communicate and engage with employees and prospective talent,” noted Willoughby. “Employers have an employer brand, whether they have cultivated it or not. The opportunity is to approach employer branding as a key business process just as you would financial and operations planning so that you have the right talent to support and grow the business. With research, trends, insights and best practices gleaned from the Employer Branding Academy, Relish Marketing is now better equipped than ever to help our clients strengthen their employer brands strategically and creatively.”
Under Willoughby’s leadership, Relish Marketing has provided employer branding strategy and implementation services to regional and Fortune 500 CPG, manufacturing and hospitality companies since 2010. Most recently, the agency’s employer branding work has attracted recognition from a wide range of publications including AdAge, Forbes and U.S. News & World report, as well as the North American Excellence Awards and the American Marketing Association AMY awards.
Relish Marketing fuses strategy and creative to unlock brands and propel them forward. Our employer branding, corporate branding, digital marketing, content creation and design experience help clients savor their brand and achieve winning results.
The Employer Branding Academy was founded in 2014 with the aim of teaching companies from around the globe the methods and techniques of becoming more attractive as employers by creating and executing their employer brands. Since its inception in 2014, more than 800 representatives from the world’s leading and most progressive employers have taken part in Employer Branding Academy courses. From building strategies from scratch, to implementing the coursework into their company’s ongoing employer branding processes, participants have used the knowledge gained from the courses to become stronger Employer Branding coaches.
Don’t Let Farewell be Forever: Leverage Your Alumni as a Secret Brand Advantage
Your Big Industry is a Small World
As businesses deliver increasingly specialized offerings, the number of qualified professionals can be limited. Which means that people who have worked for you in the past – your alumni – matter for four key reasons:
- Candidates trust them. What are the chances that your employment candidates will want to talk to former employees? Prettyhttps://relishmarketing.com/wp-admin/widgets.php good. In fact, according to studies cited in Inc. Magazine, job seekers are two-thirds more likely to make a decision about whether to work for a company based on feedback from former employees.
- Their reviews may be more candid. Current employees may “self-censor” their reviews on sites like Glassdoor.com, avoiding negativity for fear of being recognized and punished. By contrast, former employees have no reason to phrase their reviews so carefully – and may therefore be more open about their experiences.
- They’re likely to stay connected to your industry. Whether they go to work for a customer, competitor or partner, their knowledge and skill sets are unlikely to take them too far away. Stay friendly and connected, and they may be able to open doors to new partnerships, connections and even “co-opetive” opportunities for your firm.
- They may come back. You’ve seen the “boomerang trend.” Someone leaves a company, then, as they’ve acquired new skills and experience, they become newly desirable and return – often at a higher level. This is especially common at professional services firms because there are only so many professionals who truly understand your industry niche, customers and the way you do business.
In short, just because someone is a “former” employee, they can still play an important role in the way your firm is viewed by everyone from customers to competitors – and especially by potential new employees. Which is why alumni engagement can – and should – be a critical part of your organization’s employer branding strategy.
How to Engage Alumni
Staying engaged with people who have worked for you in the past has its own challenges. Here are five things you can do to keep your alumni network energized:
- Build and reinforce connections. Establish a directory that allows former employees to reach out to you – and to one another. Build an alumni social network where former employees can keep each other (and you) informed about their work and lives. Consider creating a regular publication that shares profiles of key alumni and keeps former employees informed of firm-related news.
- Get some face time. When asked what they liked best about any former employer, answers often include “the people.” Connecting in person reinforces those good, person-to-person feelings. Events that bring former employees together with key current team members are great ways to engage and continue to show them some love.
- Own the process (or define who does). Alumni engagement could realistically be the purview of many different functions within your firm – including HR, Marketing or Corporate Communications. To keep outreach activities strategically focused, involve stakeholders from all relevant departments in alumni engagement planning and execution – but clearly define one stakeholder to drive and manage the process and deliverables.
- Measure your success. Define how you want alumni engagement activities to benefit your firm – be it in terms of brand awareness, talent acquisition, business referrals or industry influence. With those goals in place, you can identify the right metrics to measure how well your efforts are paying off and where to invest further.
- Do it yourself (or not). Alumni engagement can be a streamlined component of your overall HR communication efforts. But it can also strain in-house resources, especially while getting your initial efforts up and running. Don’t be afraid to tap into the creativity and experience of a partner who can help you – whether with advice, support or full-scale program development and implementation.
The truth of any firm is that employees will come and employees will go. Use that truth to your advantage. That way, even when people leave your company, they can continue to positively reinforce your brand, support talent acquisition efforts, possibly return with new capabilities and contacts, and enable new opportunities.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward. Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Our Favorite Holiday Traditions at Relish
Happy Holidays! As the year comes to an end and we all take time to celebrate the holidays with family and friends, we are sharing our favorite holiday traditions.
Pam
My favorite holiday tradition is the annual decorating of the family Christmas tree. This is something that was a big deal for my mother as I was growing up that carried over into my adult life. Regardless of whether the tree was live or artificial, unlighted or prelit or the beverages are hot cocoa or adult in nature, my absolute favorite part is sorting through the ornaments (we have quite a collection) and determining which ones were destined for that year’s tree. We usually trim the tree as a family and often invite close friends to join in the decorating. There’s always holiday music playing in the background. The collective decorating experience allows us to remember previous holidays while officially kicking off this year's festivities.
Paul
Eggnog with nutmeg and bourbon.
Michael
Every holiday with my family, especially Christmas, revolves around food. We have done everything from frying turkeys for dinner to having a traditional Sicilian Christmas meal of seafood and pasta. My favorite holiday tradition is the all day process of cooking (and drinking) with family and finally getting to eat Christmas dinner.
Ryan
My favorite holiday tradition is Sibling Christmas. My wife has many siblings. Each year they get together along with their immediate families and we dress up according to the theme that year and have a white elephant gift exchange party. I’ve been a part of fun themes such as video game characters, Duck Dynasty, famous duos/trios, Christmas Vacation and this year we are doing 90s TV show characters. Fun times!
CJ
In our family, we celebrate Chanukah, but we also enjoy opportunities to share in our friends' holidays, too. Exchanging gifts, cooking, eating and drinking, singing songs, staring up at a star-lit sky and shining what light we can into these longest nights of the year, together - these are the traditions that connect us all and I love them.
Amy
My favorite holiday tradition is the tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve, and opening the rest on Christmas day. My family would gather around the tree when I was a kid and we would select one present to open and play with. I would always go for the present that looked the most visually interesting, in hopes that it was a cool present.
Mia
My favorite holiday tradition is enjoying all the delicious food and going to the movies to see a matinee of Star Wars.
Teresa
As a mom of two little ones, my favorite tradition is now Elf on the Shelf! We have two elves, Ollie and Snowflake, who travel as a pair to keep an eye on the kids during the Christmas season. Our elves aren’t as adventurous as some, but they do show up in different locations each morning once they’ve made their nightly trek to the North Pole to report to Santa. The sheer joy our children get searching for them every morning is fun but their belief in the magic of Christmas is the absolute best part.
Jasmine
Traditionally my family has always traveled to Jackson, MS to celebrate Christmas. When my brother and I got older and grew out of the Santa Claus phase, we started a tradition of celebrating Christmas in Atlanta a few days before we traveled. From my parent’s perspective, they were relieved that they didn’t have to continue lugging and hiding gifts on a 6-hour road trip, but for my brother and I, we were getting two Christmases! Now that we’re adults, we still continue to get together a few days before the actual holiday to come together as a family, eat, share laughs and exchange gifts.
Links We Savor: A Roundup of Our 2017 Favorites
As 2017 comes to a close, we take a look back on the most compelling, click-worthy and inspirational content from around the web in our 2017 Links We Savor post.
MarketingWeek | L’Oreal’s power of diversity ad
We’ve seen the acceptance and celebration of diversity flourish throughout 2017. L’Oreal knows that connecting with and broadening their audience is the right thing to do – and it’s good for business. In their recent campaign to show their full spectrum of skin-toned shades (23 total), they show why they are the number one brand for beauty and position themselves as having products for everyone (even men!).
Entrepreneur | What consumers really buy into when they purchase products
A late-night meal turned into a valuable lesson on how the customer experience goes beyond a retail transaction. As the right experience fills our shopping carts with products and our mouths with food, it can also fill hearts and minds with positive brand recognition.
Ted.com | How to find a wonderful idea
Everyone needs a little inspiration sometimes, including creatives. If you’ve enjoyed OK Go’s catchy tunes and awe-inspiring videos, you’ll love this TED talk about their creative process and how they find their great ideas. It’s a fun watch for the videos alone – and it might inspire your next great idea!
Glassdoor | 7 great employer brand videos
Employer branding continues to be a hot topic, and some companies are really taking it to the next level. See how seven companies communicate their employer brand using great storytelling from their employee’s perspectives and a variety of creative approaches (even puppets!).
AdWeek | The story behind LEGO’s brilliant “Build the Future” print ads
Ads that inspire can make you feel that anything is possible. Whether you’re a kid or still a kid at heart, LEGO’s “Build the Future” ads by Ogilvy Thailand, say it all, and embody their LEGO's vision to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow.
Verge | Google’s AI doodle bot will transform your crude drawings into glorious art
From brainstorming to doodling, wireframes to process flows, AutoDraw, is more than just fun, it’s practical. Created by Google, AutoDraw creates clip art out of your handmade doodles. Use your own sketches or choose from the neatly drawn images it suggests based on what you draw on screen. Plus, there's no software to download and nothing to buy, and it works on your desktop, phone or tablet. What’s a better way to market your brand than to make an innovative piece of free software that delights your audience?
Vox | Bad typography has ruined more than just the Oscars
Typography matters, and bad typography can have negative consequences. This insightful video by Vox shows how simple typographical changes could have prevented one of the biggest flubs in award show history earlier this year: #OscarFail. It also features examples of how poor typography ruins other experiences like taking medicine incorrectly because of confusing bottle labels and contested elections due to poorly designed election ballots.
Hurricane Strong Creatives | Our industry’s innovative response to disaster
We saw significant devastation and damage from hurricanes and other natural disasters this year, so we were encouraged by all the good news stories – like this one – that came out of these heartbreaking events. Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands – including their marketing and communications industry. While businesses halted advertising and other non-critical functions, some creative agencies shut down. The response: #HurricaneStrongCreatives, a platform and communications hashtag designed to connect creatives displaced by hurricane damage with agencies worldwide who are looking for talent.
You can see all the Links We Savored in 2017 here.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward. Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Life at Relish: Halloween Favorites
Happy Halloween! It's that time of year for costumes, candy and carved pumpkins. See what we love about this holiday at Relish.
Amy
I love how there's always a little more magic in the air around Halloween.
CJ
I don't go all-out for decorating – but I do feel compelled to have the largest pumpkin in my neighborhood, which leads to lots of fun carving projects – as well as cooking LOTS of pumpkin: Pumpkin pies, pumpkin soup, pumpkin scones, pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin!
Jasmine
My favorite part about Halloween is dressing up in costumes. It's the one day of the year where you can dress as anything you want and not be judged.
Mia
Halloween taps into the cleverness and kid in all of us.
Michael
Definitely the candy!
Pam
Handing out candy to the neighborhood children. And the creativity in the adult costumes.
Paul
I like dressing up and going to see a fun band.
Ryan
I love the fact that it's the one day of the year when everyone can act like a kid again.
Taronda
I enjoy seeing babies and children dressed up in their costumes. They are the cutest!
Teresa
Right now I'm enjoying the spirit of Halloween through my children's eyes. It is a magical time where you can dress up and be anything you want for a day. Plus, CANDY!
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward.
Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Links We Savor: Google Logo Debate, #HurricaneStrongCreatives, Hedgehog Adventures and More!
Google updated its logo a few years ago, but the debate is still alive and well today. Should logos be designed to be geometrically perfect? Good logo design is a combination of form, function, and an accurate representation of the brand – which may require a few steps outside of geometric ideal. Here, Google shows what our designers have known all along – that there’s a time and place for mathematical accuracy – but sometimes, the best choice is an optical illusion.
Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands – including their marketing and communications industry. Brands halted their advertising, and damage to power and water systems forced agencies to shut down, leaving talented professionals without jobs. But many of the people affected are responding with #HurricaneStrongCreatives, a platform and communications hashtag designed to connect creatives displaced by hurricane damage with agencies worldwide, looking for talent.
Azuki, a tiny Japanese hedgehog, is making a name for himself – and for the Coleman outdoor equipment company. Azuki embarked on an outdoor trip with custom-made, tiny camping gear, including tent, kayak and grill. The photos are just too cute to miss – as shown by his more than 171,000 Instagram followers.
When the 9GAG internet meme site teamed up with the GfK research firm to survey Millennials in a giant game of Would You Rather, they learned a lot. For those who don’t know, the popular game forces players to choose sides about what they value most in life. And this AdWeek infographic of those survey findings shows that the majority of Millennials are self-starters who value their real friends more than their Instagram followers. Check out the infographic to see what else Millennials value.
In addition to their Halloween decorated donuts, Dunkin’ Donuts has introduced new beverages, promotions and two social media campaigns. Winners of their Instagram Halloween costume contest will receive $2,500 cash and free coffee for year. And if Snapchat is more up your alley, their new matching game “Donut Pop” features special Halloween-themed geofilters, lenses and emojis.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward.
Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
What Trader Joe’s Taught Me at the Corner of Employer and Consumer Branding
One of the most important things that we share with clients is that branding – whether directed at consumers or at employees – must be dynamic and authentic. It can’t be something that sounds good but ultimately sits printed in binders on a shelf somewhere. It must reflect the real-world experience of engaging with the company – whether as an employee or a customer.
But is it possible to gauge whether employees really learn to “walk the talk” of your brand? Yes. In fact, you can see it every day at the one place where your employer brand and consumer brand come together: the consumer experience.
I remember when I first realized this. It was a weeknight when I had a bunch of errands to run and I was in a hurry. I went into one store – which I won’t name, for reasons you’ll soon understand. Looking around, I found most of what I needed, but it was hard to find an employee to help me. Then, when I did, the assistance was offered with a reluctance that made me feel sorry for having asked for help in the first place. I had to wait for a long time in the cashier’s line. And every employee I encountered seemed vaguely annoyed. I left feeling irritated, relieved to get out and on my way.
Then, I went to Trader Joe’s. Everywhere I went, everyone was so friendly. When I asked for help finding something, I wasn’t just directed to an aisle, I was personally escorted there to make sure that I found what I wanted. Everyone at the store was engaging without being intrusive. When the cashier lines got long, employees readily came forward to open new ones. The employees seemed happy to be working together and happy to be helping customers. Even not finding everything I wanted, I left with a smile on my face.
I was struck by the difference in my experiences as a consumer – and I wondered about what caused it. A few weeks later, I was back in the first store – and had a similar experience. But this time, when an employee greeted my request for help with a heavy sigh, I stopped and acknowledged, “You seem to work very hard here.”
He looked at me as if nobody had ever noticed his efforts before. Then, I asked, “Are you having a hard day today?”
He rolled his eyes and responded, “Same old, same old.”
The cashier also seemed rather distracted. And, very quietly, I asked, “Do you feel like management treats its employees well here?”
She looked at me and gave a rueful laugh, then whispered, “Not so much.”
I returned to Trader Joe’s. Once again, everyone seemed happy to be doing whatever they were doing, always pleased to assist a customer. I asked one of the staff members, “Do you like working here?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed.
“You all seem to work very hard,” I answered.
“Oh, we do,” she nodded.
Then again, I quietly asked the question whose answer I already suspected, “Do you feel like management treats its employees well here?”
“They do. This is a great place to work.”
I decided then and there that I wanted to support this business, as well as others that treated their employees well. So, I started to look for signs: Staff members who were eager to help each other, as well as customers. Employees who looked like they were engaged with their work. Managers who spoke to employees in the same positive tone they used with customers.
And I realized, I already was making that choice subconsciously. Whether I was engaging with a business in person, online or over the phone, when I felt well-tended as a customer, almost always, I learned that these were places where management respected and encouraged their employees. Likewise, when I encountered staff who seemed impatient, distant or disinterested, I almost always found that these employees weren’t being positively engaged – or in some cases, were regularly discouraged. And almost every time, the result was a customer experience I wasn’t eager to repeat.
The point here is that the consumer experience offers a great opportunity to gauge whether employees are merely memorizing the values and tenets of your brand or truly embracing them. It will show you whether the employer and consumer brands you envision for your business are authentic. And it’s the place where your employer brand and consumer brands come together to deliver real business results.
At Relish Marketing, our fusion of creative and strategy unlocks your brand and propels it forward.
Savor your brand. View our client work. Work with us! Contact here.
Marketing Victories: Building the Atlanta United FC Brand from the Ground-Up
2017 marks the inaugural year of Atlanta’s newest sports franchise, Atlanta United FC. The city is completely enamored with the new team, as it smashes records on and off the field in its first year of existence. But all of this success didn’t happen overnight. It took a deliberate and dedicated effort over several years to ensure such a successful launch.
Establishing a Quality Product
The first step in any business venture is to first develop a quality product. This team was built from scratch. And the success they’ve enjoyed on the field started from the top making good decision after good decision.
Arthur Blank, or as his adoring fans call him, “Uncle Arthur,” is most well known for being the owner of the Atlanta Falcons and co-founder of The Home Depot. In 2014, he won a bid to bring a Major League Soccer team to Atlanta and become the owner of Atlanta United FC. Blank promptly made two excellent hires to begin his road to success: President, Darren Eales (former executive director at Tottenham Hotspur FC, a top European club) and Technical Director, Carlos Bocanegra (a well-known, former captain of the United States National Team). The three men then went out on a search for a coach and man, did they find a good one – Gerardo “Tata” Martino (former head coach of top world teams such as Barcelona and Argentina’s national team). These hires gave the team instant credibility in the soccer world and made Atlanta an attractive destination for young up-and-coming stars eager to learn from some of soccer’s greatest minds. And come they did. Young South American stars Miguel Almirón, Josef Martinez, Yamil Asad, along with league veteran Michael Parkhurst and US National Team goalkeeper Brad Guzan – started shaping up the team. Players from all over the world came to join the club. And the design of the team was a fast-paced, goal-scoring, attacking team – an exciting brand to get the new fans invested.
Engaging the Audience
Atlanta is notorious in the sports world for having slow-to-adopt, fair-weather fans. The Atlanta United FC executives knew that to buck that trend, they would have to engage the city and its residents to generate awareness and create a solid, loyal fan base. So, rather than deciding what they wanted the club to look like and forcing it upon the audience to accept (or reject), they opted to literally and simply ask the fans what they wanted – then deliver.
Creating the Brand
It started with the name. What should we call this new franchise? – Let’s ask the fans. Via social media and online polling, fans were asked to submit and vote on their favorite name for the new team. It was a multi-week process, but the fans had spoken: Atlanta United FC. Now, I’m not very partial to the name personally. I think “United” is a little over-played and boringly safe. However, in a city as diverse as Atlanta, the word packs extra punch. And, I respect the heck out of the front office for listening to the voice of the people. Therefore, I can live with it, nay, love it.
Turning the name into a true brand, they infused meaning into every purposeful aspect of their new look and logo, which they revealed in this video:
Following the logo video, ATL UTD continued to rollout big, exciting reveals about the new team. They hosted a huge kit (jersey) unveiling at The Tabernacle (a local concert venue) that included a live online stream and post-reveal concert for fans in attendance. The team also paid huge respect to its growing fan base by reserving the #17 for the fans and the city of Atlanta. Often, a team may retire the jersey number of a beloved former player so that no player in the future can wear that number as sign of respect. Before the very first kickoff, ATL UTD decided to pay this respect to their supporters so that only fans would be able to don the number 17 representing the year of the inaugural season.
Golden Spike – The city of Atlanta got its start as a railway hub connecting the Southeastern United States. The team expanded on that history to create a pre-game and post-game tradition unique to the city. At the beginning of each game, a local celebrity hammers in a giant golden spike that is autographed by the players before the game. This tradition is a fun way to get the crowd going and excited for the game and is a special way to tie Atlanta’s history to its current pop-culture icons. After the game, an actual-sized golden railroad spike is hammered in by the player of the match.
Community Connection
Throughout the months leading up to the team’s first season, ATL UTD went out of their way to engage their audience and continued to create buzz:
Flag Friday – The team created multiple flag scavenger hunts where they gave out hundreds of free ATL UTD flags to fans throughout the city who were able to decipher their locations from clues on social media. This was a fun and exciting way to engage with the fans and increase social media followers.
SurPRIZES – The team also has driven around town, giving prizes to people with ATL UTD flags hanging at their homes.
Local Soccer Community Outreach - The team has gotten local clubs involved developing a true to Atlanta player development academy – creating a pipeline of future talent for the club.
MARTA Five Points station soccer field – ATL UTD created a new soccer field in the center hub of Atlanta’s metro lines. This is the first field of its kind in the world and has been an immediate success by providing the inner city with immediate and welcoming access to the beautiful game.
Supporters Groups – Unique to soccer, supporters groups live and breathe the team and are as much a part of the club as the players. Atlanta already has some of the best in its young existence. Terminus Legion, Footie Mob, Resurgence and Faction create a loud, passionate atmosphere inside and outside of the stadium. The team has fully embraced these groups, providing them with special access to the team – returning the love back to the fans.
Take a look at this video made by Major League Soccer that highlights the creation of Atlanta United FC’s franchise and how they did it.
Putting the Customer First (even when things go wrong)
As with almost every product launch, things inevitably don’t go exactly to plan. As the 2017 MLS season rapidly approached, it was clear that the construction of the team’s home, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, would not be ready in time for the first game. In fact, it wouldn’t be ready until the second half of the season. Making the best of what could have been a bad situation, the team made historic Bobby Dodd Stadium (the home of Georgia Tech football) the temporary home for the opening months of March-August. While the lack of a flashy, brand new stadium was disappointing, the atmosphere at Bobby Dodd did not suffer AT ALL. The team sold out every single game they played there and the feeling was electric – creating a level of energy that only made the ultimate opening of the new stadium all the more thrilling.
The team also made sure to take care of their season ticket holders expecting to be at the new stadium. Discounts at Bobby Dodd, free additional tickets in the new stadium and money towards merchandise were just a few of the perks that inaugural season ticket holders received. The team even brought those inaugural ticket holders into the ATL UTD brand, naming them “Founding Members.” By making sure that customers were treated right in an unfair circumstance, the team made creative choices that not only avoided a PR nightmare, but strengthened the positive feeling people were developing for the team, as well.
In the new MBS stadium, another fan-first venture has been realized: affordable concessions! $2 food items, $2 sodas with unlimited refills, $5 beers, etc. This new philosophy of fan-first, family-friendly pricing has received national coverage because of its departure from the norm at stadiums around the country that serve their items at outrageous prices. The idea is with the affordable prices, fans are more inclined to arrive early, stay late and eat/drink more at the stadium. And it has definitely worked. Here’s to hoping this trend catches-on!
Successes to Date
Atlanta is already one of the top-scoring teams in the league and has shattered every attendance record in the books (despite being temporarily displaced into Bobby Dodd Stadium for the majority of the season). This includes the largest crowd EVER for a single match with 70,425 fans on September 16, breaking a 21 year-old record. At season’s end, they will also inevitably hold the record for largest cumulative attendance for an entire season. Additionally, the club has already secured a playoff spot, making it one of just a few expansion teams in Major League Soccer history to make the playoffs in its first year of existence.
Atlanta United FC has truly set a new standard for launching a new a sports franchise, and we can apply many, if not all of these lessons to successful product launches and marketing initiatives across all industries. Unite and Conquer!
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