On this episode of Fired Up, Lisa Woodward, Manager of Sports Sponsorship for Anheuser-Busch, provides a view of the importance of sports sponsorship and the sports fan in the success of the broad portfolio of brands that are part of the Anheuser-Busch family.

Chris McAdoo:

Welcome to Fired Up, an original podcast from Ignite Fan Insights, powered by NASCAR, the National Sports Forum, and the Association of Luxury Suite Directors. This is a podcast for sports business pros like you. We go behind the gates and beyond the numbers to keep sports fans coming back for more. Our host, Chris Wise, is the brains behind Ignite Fan Insights with a commitment to research and innovation for over 30 years. He knows the right questions to ask, and more importantly, what to do with the answers. Get ready for engaging in-depth conversations with sports industry leaders that will inspire you to take action and connect with your fans. I’m Chris McAdoo, and this is Fired Up. On this episode of Fired Up, we bring you Lisa Woodward, manager of sports sponsorships for Anheuser-Busch.

Chris Wise:

Yeah, Chris. We’ve got another great one. Lisa unpacks the power of authentic influencers, and how Anheuser-Busch, a large company, is built to pivot quickly to engage the audience. We’ll also hear how she encourages personal growth.

Chris McAdoo:

Yeah. This is a really exciting conversation. So Lisa, take it away. We are live from the National Sports Forum here in Atlanta, Georgia. We are super stoked to welcome Lisa Woodward, the manager of sports sponsorship for Anheuser Busch. Lisa, thank you for being with us today.

Lisa Woodward:

Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Chris McAdoo:

Absolutely. Well, Chris Wise?

Chris Wise:

Yeah.

Chris McAdoo:

There you go. Our general manager and the man that asks the right questions to get the right answers. Chris, I’ll hand it over to you.

Chris Wise:

Thank you, sir. So Lisa, tell us about yourself. Your career, just more about yourself.

Lisa Woodward:

Sure. Thanks again for having me here. Excited to be here. I’m Lisa, like Chris mentioned. I’ve been with the Anheuser-Busch as our manager of sports sponsorship about four and a half years. Prior to that, I grew up in Central Illinois. Went to University of Illinois. Worked for the football and basketball team while I was there. Once I graduated, started with the St. Louis Rams as an intern. Was there eight years. Was able to grow within that role. My last position there was overseeing our marketing department, and then had the opportunity to go over to the brand side, and join AB in the sports world. My role here is really focused on our sponsorship strategy, our contracts, our negotiations, working with all of our team partners on our current partnerships as well as future partnerships.

Chris Wise:

Great. From a professional standpoint, what makes you tick? What really ignites your fire?

Lisa Woodward:

Just the changing sports industry. I’ve been in it for 13 years, and just seeing where it’s gone, even in my past four years with AB, just seeing the growth of the industry, the new opportunities. Then from a personal standpoint, just having the ability to be a female working in sports, bringing as many females with me as I can because we still need a lot there.

Chris Wise:

We’ve noticed that.

Lisa Woodward:

Yeah. I said in one of my sessions the other day that, not to stereotype, but most of the people selling to me look the same. We need to change that a little bit.

Chris McAdoo:

Well, I actually want to jump in on that one because what are some of the concrete steps that folks have taken for you, and then the steps that you take to help other females come into leadership positions, come into-

Lisa Woodward:

Sure. When I started at the Rams, there was one woman in particular. She was a VP in the group, and at the time one of the only female VPs with NFL teams. So, she had a plaque in her room, in her office that said something along the lines of, “When a door is opened for you, it’s your responsibility to bring two more with you.” She really lived that philosophy of really building up other females in the industry, and so she’s one that really helped bring my career along.

Lisa Woodward:

Luckily, I’ve worked for and with a ton of people that have really supported that growth, but I think just continuing to open those doors. As the industry changes, you see a lot more females, and people of color, and diversity coming into the world. But it’s just everybody’s responsibility to continue to reach out, and look outside of who they may typically hire, and bring in more people.

Chris Wise:

You live then, though, with feet in two kind of worlds with AB, that was probably very sensitive to diversity and whatnot, and then over here in the sports world where you’re helping bring it along. Right?

Lisa Woodward:

Yeah. Absolutely. The National Sports Forum being here, I mean, give them a little plug. They do a great job with that. They have a Business of Diversity in Sports and Entertainment group. They give scholarships to, I want to say 30, 31 people every year to attend the Forum. That’s actually how I came for the first time seven years ago, and then now I’m on the Steering Committee, and helping to grow that platform. It’s always an interesting dynamic, but I think that the more … In the 13 years I’ve been in the sports world, more and more people are starting to look outside of their own group to help grow that.

Chris Wise:

Well then, let’s continue on then and talk about National Sports Forum and the impact it has across the board for sports, and for young people as well as for seasoned professionals.

Lisa Woodward:

Yeah. I mean, Ron’s done an awesome job with the Forum, and I know he talks a lot about it being a family, but I truly feel that way where it’s so fun coming back and seeing everybody that you’ve seen year over year, meeting new people, and then also seeing the next generation of young professionals coming in and really making a mark on the industry. Then as the industry changes and grows, it’s just going to get better. Right? It’s not just the big four leagues anymore. There’s so many different spaces that we play in as sponsor, and so many different worlds where daily we’re getting something new sent to us saying, “Hey, have you seen this? Check this out. Check out this opportunity.”

Chris Wise:

Wow. Wow. So, you’re on the Steering Committee?

Lisa Woodward:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Chris Wise:

What triggered you to take such an active role in the Forum?

Lisa Woodward:

I think just my experience from my first few years here, the people I’ve met, and the relationships I built through the Forum. Having the opportunity to step on the other side and really help plan the Forum and bring new people onboard was just a really unique opportunity.

Chris Wise:

Talk about how you look at engagements in sports. What are some of your filters from a fan perspective and how it supports the brand? How do you assess opportunities?

Lisa Woodward:

Sure. There’s really no one answer to that because we are such a large company with so many different people that are touching our brand and that are getting these opportunities, but my role really works directly with Nick Kelly and his team. He’s our head of US sports marketing, and so it’s really looking at what’s our strategy across the board? Now that we have so many different brands that are playing in the sports space, it’s what brand is the right fit as the lead brand, whether it’s Budweiser, or Bud Light, Michelob Ultra, one of our new brands Bud Light Seltzer, et cetera, or is it more of a portfolio approach?

Lisa Woodward:

It’s looking at the target audience, the target demographic for the property. It’s looking at the target audience, the target demographic for our brand, and then it’s seeing where those may fit together. Then it’s always looking for new opportunities too, right? We have 96 partners in the big four leagues, but then we’re always looking for what’s that next thing? Last year with the National Women’s Soccer League, it was a very unique opportunity. It was something that we had never done before, but it was the perfect way to tap into a new market, and help another league come along with that.

Chris McAdoo:

How many brands do you guys currently represent?

Lisa Woodward:

It changes daily. I mean, one of the most exciting things is within the world of Anheuser-Busch is just how much innovation we’ve had over the past few years. When I started four years ago, our sports sponsorships were pretty much Budweiser, Bud Light, and maybe a little bit Michelob Ultra. Right? Now, with just one team partner, we may activate six different brands. If it’s a Major League Baseball team, it may be Budweiser, our Budweiser Reserve series, our Budweiser Limited Edition that’s coming out. But then we also do something with Ultra. We do something with the craft brand that’s in that market. We do something we our canned wine that we’ve released.

Lisa Woodward:

It’s hard to keep track of everything, but it is something that we’re really focused on is how do we take our full portfolio, and really activate that, and bring that to life? One of the key things with our partners is that we don’t need a ton of brand awareness for Budweiser, right, or Bud Light. Most people in the United States know those brands, but they may not know about Bud Light Seltzer. They may not know about Bon Viv, another one of our Seltzers, or Goose Island, whatever that may be. So, it’s how do we use the power of our partnerships to still have our key brand lead, but then bring along these other brands for trial and awareness as well?

Chris McAdoo:

And speaking of partnerships, particularly when it comes to partnering with either individual influencers, I mean, I’m thinking about how the Post Malone series leading up to the Super Bowl, right? You had two completely different commercials shot, and even he in his own head, “Is it Bud Light or is it the Bud Light Seltzer?” Being able to take advantage of those opportunities?

Lisa Woodward:

Absolutely. We’ve been very lucky and also strategic with the influencers and the celebrities that we’ve partnered with. In some cases, like in the case of Post Malone, we get in with them at the perfect time. We partnered with him, I want to say about four years ago. Some people knew him. Not many people, right? Then you look now. You can’t look anywhere without seeing Post Malone, so he is one of our best brand ambassadors. He lives it. He loves Bud Light, and so you can’t really get a better marriage than that because that’s what you want. Right?

Lisa Woodward:

You want someone that is drinking your product, that’s promoting your product, that’s not just grabbing a beer because they’re paid to, and then they walk across the room and get something else. It’s something that we’re continuing to do more of, and as more teams and leagues are allowing us to work with players as well, that’s something where we’re starting to dip into that space. We’ve done a lot more over the past year or two working with current players, retired players, celebrities, influencers, singers. You name it, but it’s something that you see, obviously, outside of the sports world in marketing in general, but something that’s really paid off well for us.

Chris Wise:

Colleges and universities more are offering alcohol for sale in their stadiums. How are you approaching that?

Lisa Woodward:

It’s definitely an interesting world, right? We’ve had partnerships with quite a few universities for a long time that are tied to more of the marketing rights, the IP usage, et cetera. So, those aren’t changing much and the world we work in, it’s an interesting dynamic because technically, I’m not negotiating anything to do with what’s poured in stadium. Based on alcohol guidelines, I can’t. So while these teams and schools are allowing it, it still has to be looked at a little bit separately. But then obviously when they’re doing it, then having the ability to do these marketing rights with schools is something that we’re really interested in.

Lisa Woodward:

Obviously, we’re trying to hit that legal drinking age plus. Getting those 21-year-olds and plus is important to us, so where are the right partnerships for that? I think that it’s a challenge, right? Because you’re not just working with a team or a league where everybody’s doing the same thing. Every university has different president, AD, boosters. They can make a decision, and then three months later change their mind. It’s how do you find the right partnership and build something that works because the great thing with the universities is that with our distribution network, our wholesalers, there’s so many of them where they’re based in the cities where these schools are. A lot of them went to the school. They’re very passionate about these universities, so we can really get these great activations with these schools as long as it makes sense.

Lisa Woodward:

Then the other things that’s important to us with that is looking at not only these partnerships for marketing rights and IP use, but then how do we also bring some of our responsible drinking messages to the universities? Then a lot of times it’s getting the boosters comfortable with that piece of it as well, right? We’re not just trying to sell beer to your students. We’re trying to educate them. We’re trying to provide tools. We’re trying to build platforms and programs that is giving that message and talking about responsibility, and drinking and driving, and everything else. It’s more of a 360 campaign around it all, not just selling beer in a stadium.

Chris Wise:

Right, right. For your work, could the sports industry do more to support what you do?

Lisa Woodward:

Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, I think it’s understanding where our company is going, understanding where we as a portfolio of brands are going, and working with us. Some of our best partners truly integrate themselves into our brands and know what’s important to us, and they’re not coming to us just expecting the same thing year after year because we’ve been one of their longest-standing partners. We pay them the most money out of most of their partners, and so they just expect that to continue on. So, it’s looking at what are our needs as a company, and how can we work together? Because the reality is we may not be spending less money with our sponsorships, but we may not be spending it all with teams anymore. So, what can they do to help set themselves apart to continue to get that investment? Because like I said, every day we’re getting a new opportunity. Right?

Chris Wise:

Yeah.

Lisa Woodward:

So, how do we be smart with our budget, but then still meet those needs with the different teams?

Chris Wise:

How do you nurture those or encourage those deeper relationships where they really integrate with you to understand you, and you them?

Lisa Woodward:

Something that we’ve done for a few years now that I think is very unique coming from the team side, I had never seen another brand do this, is that we have what we call our different league summits or partner summits. We started this probably three, four years ago for each of our leagues that we partner with where we’ll bring in all of our team partners for a two-day summit. We’ll have someone from our brand teams present. Nick will present. Someone else from his team will present on our strategy, but we more or less tell the teams, “This is what we want from you. This is what we need from you.”

Lisa Woodward:

I think it’s unique because we peel back the curtain a little bit, and a lot of brands don’t do that, to say, “You do this for us, we will be happy.” So, putting out our brand priorities, our brand strengths, our brand platforms is something where we’ve really tried to start to build those relationships, but then also give them the tools that they need to be great partners to us. Then we have an amazing group of people that are at the local level, the regional level, that are the day-to-day relationship-builders with the teams, but then even things like this. Coming to the National Sports Forum, being at the Super Bowl, being at NBA All-Star, and seeing the teams, and spending the time with the teams is a great way to nurture those relationships, too.

Chris Wise:

You’re not the only company in the space, so you have competitors. Compare yourself. What sets you apart from those others that play in the same space you do?

Lisa Woodward:

I think two things. One, just the breadth of our portfolio. Nobody has the portfolio that we have, right? I talked about a few of the things, but we have a great innovation pipeline where they’re looking at everything from Kombrewcha, to hard coffee, to whatever that may look like, so being able to really … You just got excited there, right?

Chris Wise:

Yeah.

Lisa Woodward:

But being able to really innovate and bring forth those innovations is something I think that’s very unique to us, and some of our competition is doing great things in this space, but not maybe at the level that we are. Then the other thing I think that, and this isn’t necessarily the world I play in, so I can brag on them. I don’t think anybody can activate a partnership like we can. Our marketing team is phenomenal. They come up with some amazing ideas. You look at just what we’ve done over the past year between the Nationals, and catching the beers, and just latching onto viral moments the second they happen I think is very unique to us where we’re able to be nimble as such a big company and immediately react to these things through social media, through videos, through activations. Whatever that may look like.

Chris Wise:

Your opportunities, have those increased since InBev, or have you always had that strength over everyone else?

Lisa Woodward:

I think it’s changed, but I think we’ve always had that strength. I think when you look back at Anheuser-Busch 25 years ago, they’ve always been the leader in this space. From my time on the team side, I always viewed them in that way. I think it’s changed and there’s been different opportunities, but I think when you look at the history of sports marketing, AB has always been a very strong player.

Chris Wise:

It’s all I ever knew growing up, right?

Lisa Woodward:

Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Wise:

St. Louis [crosstalk 00:17:19].

Lisa Woodward:

Well, I was going to say growing up in St. Louis, there’s not much options, right?

Chris Wise:

I saw that eagle all over the place.

Lisa Woodward:

You can get Bud Light everywhere.

Chris Wise:

[crosstalk 00:17:26].

Lisa Woodward:

Yep. You get bud Light anywhere you want to go.

Chris Wise:

That’s right.

Lisa Woodward:

Yep.

Chris Wise:

Go ahead.

Chris McAdoo:

Well, speaking to being able to respond quickly to viral moments, I want to ask. For a big company, how do you set yourselves up to pivot so quickly? Because that has to be an internal culture that encourages someone to raise their hand to be like, “Hey, this thing. We need to do this now.”

Lisa Woodward:

Absolutely. Yeah. It’s amazing with being such a big company how nimble we can be. I think that it stems from the top, right? Our leadership have put the right people in the right places to give them that ability and that flexibility to run with it. When something comes up, you have to go through the proper channels to a point, but you’re not having to run this up the flag pole, wait for a response, adjust. It’s just, “Okay, cool. Let’s go with it.” We have a great team of people who are always talking about, “Okay. What’s coming up? What’s the next thing?”

Lisa Woodward:

Two years ago we did a great thing for Mother’s Day with Budweiser, right, with the NBA so, “Hey, Mother’s Day is coming up. We’ve never done anything for Mother’s Day. What can we do? What makes sense?” That’s where that stemmed from. Something like that, but then also we have a great social media team, people who are always looking at, “Okay. Hey, this is trending. This is what’s going on. Let’s immediately react and get a response.”

Chris Wise:

Wow.

Lisa Woodward:

It’s a great place to be because it is so dynamic and so exciting, and one of the things that AB prides ourselves on is the thought of a meritocracy. You don’t have as much of the, “Hey, this person’s been in this role for 10 years. He needs to be promoted.” It’s you’ve got young people coming in, new ideas, new things, and they’re put in big roles, but they’re given that flexibility and ability to pivot and do what they need to do.

Chris McAdoo:

Well, and I think to be able to act and react so quickly, and to empower people to make those decisions, probably also allows you the ability to control a message in the way that you want that content thread, from big idea, maybe it’s a big commercial or activation, all the way down to the small social pieces. Right?

Lisa Woodward:

Absolutely. Yeah. It’s impressive to see. Again, I’m not working on that part of it daily, so it’s impressive to just watch internally and see how every little piece is thought of, to your point. It may be something that’s as massive as a Super Bowl commercial, but then how does that translate on social? What’s the messaging behind that? As people are tweeting about it, how are we responding? What tone are we using? It’s impressive how so many people come together for this one idea, and then it just spreads out from there.

Chris McAdoo:

That’s great. I do want to ask before we let you go, for someone that wants to take that next step, and open that door, and bring two in, right?

Lisa Woodward:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Chris McAdoo:

What would you say to maybe a young person getting into the industry? How does someone say, “All right. I want to be there in 10 years”? Or how does someone come up and do the right things to put themselves in the right places?

Lisa Woodward:

One of the things I love about the sports industry, and I feel is a little bit unique to maybe some others, is that for the most part, every professional I’ve met is so willing to open that door, and talk to someone else, and to give advice, and to tell them some thoughts on how to get there because I think that when you look at anybody here at the conference, anybody that works in sports, there are certain people that they can look at and say, “That person helped me with my role. That person helped me get to where I am.”

Lisa Woodward:

So, I think for anybody that’s looking to break into it, it’s tough. Right? I mean, more and more people are in sport management programs. More and more people are trying to get into sports, so I think it’s two things. One, keep an open mind as to what the sports industry is because everybody thinks that my role at the Rams as the director of marketing is the sports job, right, but-

Chris Wise:

There’s so many.

Lisa Woodward:

… there’s brands that you can work with. There’s agencies. There’s universities. You can volunteer at events. You can work for different groups where you’re still a part of it, so I think the open mind part. Then two, just reach out to people. Go on LinkedIn. See people that maybe have taken steps in their career that you find interesting and send them a note. They may not respond, but I think that you’ll probably get some responses. I try. Pretty much every week I have a 30-minute phone call with a student or someone that’s asking, “Hey, can I just pick your brain?”

Lisa Woodward:

Then I think from there, it’s building the relationships with those that you really click with because at the end of the day, it may not pay off immediately, but 10 years from now someone may be trying to fill a role and say, “You know what? Let me give Chris a call because I talked to him a few years ago. He was awesome. I don’t know where he ended up, but he may be a good fit now.” So, it’s keeping that in mind and really being able to build those relationships is key.

Chris McAdoo:

That’s awesome.

Lisa Woodward:

Yeah.

Chris McAdoo:

Lisa Woodward.

Lisa Woodward:

Thank you.

Chris McAdoo:

Normally at this point we ask folks, if you want to learn more about your organization, where can people go? But I’m just going to go ahead and tell people go on anywhere.

Chris Wise:

Go on anywhere.

Chris McAdoo:

Literally look up. Probably there’s a billboard.

Lisa Woodward:

Yeah. Go try a Bud Light Seltzer. They’re delicious.

Chris Wise:

That was a plug. That was a plug.

Chris McAdoo:

I had multiple of those last night.

Chris Wise:

He fell in love with them right away.

Chris McAdoo:

Thanks for listening and if you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe. If you really like what you heard, please leave us a five-star review and tell all your friends. Also, thanks to the good people that power Fired Up and Ignite Fan Insights at NASCAR, the National Sports Forum, and the Association of Luxury Suite Directors. To learn more about Ignite Fan Insights and what that exclusive content can mean for you, visit IgniteFanInsights.com and subscribe today. It’s a wealth of information all about the fan, at no cost to you.

Chris McAdoo:

Your Fan Club Subscription includes our E-publication, podcasts like this one, exclusive blogs, quarterly E-newsletters and timely webinars that keep you not only up to speed on what your fans are doing, but ahead of the curve and ready to take on anything that comes at you. Fired Up is hosted by Chris Wise and myself, Chris McAdoo. Thanks again for listening. Tune in next time, and as always, y’all stay Fired Up.