The Buy Side is our series talking to brand marketers about sport and sponsorship.

Guest: Monica Robbins, Global Partnerships Director, Microsoft 

Unofficial Partner: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to Unofficial Partner, the sports business podcast. I'm Richard Gillis. Today, we're talking about how Microsoft views sport with Monica Robbins, the tech giants global director of sports partnerships who oversees relationships with, among others, the NFL, the NBA, and more recently the ECB, the governing body of cricket in the UK. 

[00:00:20] So this is a conversation about tech, the cloud purpose based marketing, how devices drive, consumption patterns and the view from Silicon valley of sports role in showcasing brand and other types of messages.

[00:00:30] If you like the podcast, you'll love the Unofficial Partner newsletter that goes direct to the inbox of thousands of senior executives across the global sports business, every Thursday. To join them, sign up by Unofficial Partner dot com. Here's Monica Robbins.

[00:00:44]   

[00:00:46] First of all,  whereabouts are you 

[00:00:48] Monica Robbins: [00:00:48] I'm in California, San Diego. 

[00:00:50]Unofficial Partner: [00:00:50] and what time is it there? 

[00:00:51]Monica Robbins: [00:00:51] 8:00 AM.

[00:00:52]Unofficial Partner: [00:00:52] Okay, so early start. is this your first podcast of the day or are you 

[00:00:55] just got them lined up? 

[00:00:57] Monica Robbins: [00:00:57] And my first coffee too

[00:00:58]Unofficial Partner: [00:00:58] let's talk about sport and Microsoft, because there's a couple of things that strike me  I probably need an upgrade in terms of my knowledge of Microsoft. And what it is that they're selling. And I'm also interested in what the conversation is between you and sports rights holders.

[00:01:16] So we, as mentioned on the podcast who Tom Harrison is the chief executive of the ECB. Cricket over here. and he referenced the Microsoft relationship. We talked about it a little bit and I was then wondering, Okay.

[00:01:27]That's interesting, but I dot that there are other questions that came out of it.

[00:01:31] So let's start with, what defines the conversation? When you first sit down with a governing body or a Federation. 

[00:01:38]Monica Robbins: [00:01:38] Yeah. 

[00:01:38]So I think that the thing with us and when a property approaches and looking to establish a relationship with Microsoft I think the first thing we need to do is shape the conversation. So too often, a rights holder starts with the sponsorship play. We're a big company and they're looking to come to us to see if we can invest from a sponsorship standpoint.

[00:01:57] And I think the first thing we end up having to discuss is the fact that Microsoft, we don't have an a brand awareness issue, so for us sponsorship  only drives awareness of the association. But what we're really trying to do is showcase innovative applications of our technology. So it's often about shifting the dialogue and saying, Hey what are your challenges as an organization or what are your goals in as an organization and where can technology actually help you meet those?

[00:02:27] Because for us, the value comes from showcasing those innovative, impactful applications of our technology.

[00:02:34]Unofficial Partner: [00:02:34] When you then look at sport governing bodies, even the big ones, there is a, there's always the issue of that. They tend to be in the, in the scheme of things, the size of their profile and the size of them reach and their community is completely out of whack with the actual within the office, and there are a few exceptions and there were some massive American rights holders obviously, but they tend to be much smaller than people expect.

[00:02:59]And with that comes a whole load of issues. When technology is the question, because obviously they then start to say, people have expectations that they're going to have customer service, or they're going to have the way in which things are presented are going to be framed by our relationship with big tech.

[00:03:16]And that is really difficult if not impossible for effectively, small to medium enterprises on a sort of revenue scale. It feels like an imbalance. And I'm wondering what it is that they can do. What do you notice as you go around rights holders? What are the challenges that they have from a  tech perspective? 

[00:03:33]Monica Robbins: [00:03:33] Yeah, there are definitely some challenges from a tech perspective, but it really does vary by organization. I'll show you, I'll talk to you a little bit about an interesting tech trend that we're starting to see, but the reality is the organizations, the front offices are small. And for the fan bases, they reach, they are lean and needing to be able to support a variety of different business objectives.

[00:03:55] So I think one of the things that we're seeing is they're turning to technology to help them solve for those too. Systems that are going to make things a little bit easier for them to reach those mass audiences. But that does mean that they're now starting to bring more resources. In-house returning to partners to develop those relationships that can help them scale and grow.

[00:04:17] Knowing that they're there they're limited on an overall staffing stamp. But it's been interesting. We're starting to see some trends where those organizations that have leaned in early into the technology space and developing new technologies with partners, et cetera, have actually seen successes and are starting to spin off into their own tech offerings and taking that to other people across the industry.

[00:04:43] So you have the Miami heat with 6 0 1 analytics or.  tech and our offering now and going to other entertainment properties. So it's really being been interesting to see that evolve in that trend develop.

[00:04:57]Unofficial Partner: [00:04:57] And so just unpick that, then they are taking a tech product to market in a way they're acting like a tech startup in that way. 

[00:05:05] Monica Robbins: [00:05:05] Yeah, that's exactly right. So they, I think, I it'd be best to speak to them on it, but the reality is they're seeing the opportunity and the impact to their own business. And knowing that there's there is, as you spoke about earlier, there's limited resources in many sports organizations, especially as it applies to them.

[00:05:23] To the tech roles and tech front. And so their idea is if we can actually take what we've already been able to develop and roll it out to other sports properties and organizations, there's a big opportunity there and there's efficiencies that they can drive for those other organizations.

[00:05:41] Unofficial Partner: [00:05:41] So in terms of the Microsoft end of things, as I said I'm, I have a sketchy idea. I think, probably an out of date idea, it's very devices based and actually what we're looking at here. You tell me, what is it that your offering, what bit of the product suite do you think is the most. 

[00:05:57]Monica Robbins: [00:05:57] So over time, we definitely do span quite a few products at Microsoft. we've really been moving more so towards solution sets. So it's less about an individualized product and integrating that. A specific sports organization or industry. And it's more about starting with the foundational challenge and problem, and knowing that do with the suite of products and solutions that's that we have at Microsoft, we're bound to find the the right, right fit. There's definitely quite a bit in our portfolio all the way through, from the devices that you talked about to cloud technologies and AI. So we're really trying to expand what it is that we're integrating across the sports industry.

[00:06:40]Unofficial Partner: [00:06:40] So if I was a a governing body and I say okay, we need Help because we know it's expensive. We're going to make expensive mistakes. If we're not careful in the decisions that we take, the routes that we take, these are longterm issues. I'm wondering where Microsoft stops being a sponsor and becomes a consultant or  consultant.

[00:07:03] And w whether that's the relationship that we're looking at, rather than a traditional sponsorship, I can see that from every governing body, they'll see Microsoft and see money and want a check. But then the second bounce of the conversation presumably is help. 

[00:07:18] Monica Robbins: [00:07:18] I think that's where the greatest value lies. It's not just on the check. It's really on that. Co-innovation and, looking for opportunities and for how technology can solve real business challenge. We've started to see a trend that for those sports organizations, it tends to fall into two core categories.

[00:07:38] One is on the performance side and utilizing technology to, improve team and player performance heavily through data. The other one is really on the fan engagement side. As we look at a global economy global marketplace, these sports properties actually. Very, in many cases, very global audiences.

[00:07:57] And they're looking to find new ways to interact with them, to engage with them, to develop more personalized content and really deliver what it is that they have this amazing offering to them where they are when they are and how they want it. And so it really does tend to fall into those two core areas.

[00:08:15] And so what we want to do is really lean in with them and see how we can develop something new that helps them meet those goals.

[00:08:22] Unofficial Partner: [00:08:22] Okay. So let's say, take each of those interns. So the athlete side, their performance on the field performance data, which is obviously a massive growth area for sport and has been, we're looking into the Moneyball story here and where, what is it that, that you do there? 

[00:08:39]Monica Robbins: [00:08:39] Yeah, over the last several years, we've seen an incredible growth in the volume of data that is being captured around sport, everything from wearables to optical tracking, there's just an immense amount of data that is now available in sport. And so I think what we are really focused on is to.

[00:08:59] Organizations make sense of that data, get the insights that they can then turn into actions that can drive their strategies on the pitch or on the track or whatever it might be. So it's really about taking incredible volumes of data and turning it into real estate. And I always like to joke that I've had the experiences with sports scientists over the years that they started out on Excel and they kept coming and saying, we're pushing Excel to its limits with the volume of data we're trying to process and trying to make sense from, and now fast forward to where we are today and the incredible robust solutions that are available to actually try to, derive insights from that. It's just been incredible to watch the journey.

[00:09:44]Unofficial Partner: [00:09:44] In terms of. The marketing benefit then to Microsoft. And you mentioned at the beginning, you don't need awareness and everyone knows what Microsoft is, but again, to the nature of this conversation, that they might not know the specific storylines beneath that brand. So is that, it feels like that's a great showcase for the tech.

[00:10:01] How do you measure that? How do you know that it's working for you as a company? 

[00:10:06]Monica Robbins: [00:10:06] First of all, you're exactly right. So for us, it's about the showcase of the technology, right? So customer evidence is at the heart of storytelling for us, as long as I can remember. what we're trying to do within the sports industry is that customer evidence, so real, authentic, Stories around how our technology is changing the game or helping fans engage with what they love.

[00:10:29] So we're definitely trying to do that. and then what the added benefit that sports brings to it is that emotional connection. So as a customer or a business decision maker, whoever you might be, you now see the connection of the story that's being told, and it might even apply. Toy manufacturer or whatever it might be.

[00:10:49] You might see the synergies of the scenario when we're talking about the LPN F1 team and how we are helping them within their factory. And you might say, oh wait, that's interesting. That applies to what I'm doing on the, in my own factory. So you see that rational connection, but when it comes to sports, there's also that emotional connection.

[00:11:09] So you see it. And it's now talking about your favorite team or your favorite. Support. And now you not only rationally connect and say, oh, that could apply to me, but now you emotionally connect and you see the value of, Microsoft working with your favorite organization. So that's what we're trying to achieve.

[00:11:25] So when it comes to measurement, I think it's always a growing conversation of how do we enrich our measurement, strategies, but for sure. many of, the partnerships that we're doing, we are looking at brand love. So doing research to see how this storytelling actually, affects the favoribility overall of the Microsoft brand. And that's at the master brand level or of the individual products or surface, services that we're talking about.

[00:11:53]Unofficial Partner: [00:11:53] Do you think people love brands? So it's an interesting word to use in relation to marketing. 

[00:11:58]Monica Robbins: [00:11:58] I think people connect with brands and that's really what you want to drive. You want to be top of mind, but also connect with them in a way where we are seeing increasing. That people are choosing about the brands that they want to purchase from, or to be involved with. And they have a very, high bar for what they're starting to expect from those brands.

[00:12:20] And they're looking at how brands behave also, who they work with, how they work. And, yes, I do think that people really do establish a connection with brands. And that's what we're trying to do.

[00:12:31]Unofficial Partner: [00:12:31] what you're getting at. There is a sort of purpose was behind the brand. So there's a brand purpose element to this. What does Microsoft stand for? What is it that when people say that, that what's the purpose, the why, where do you go to with that answer? 

[00:12:45] Monica Robbins: [00:12:45] Yeah, our mission is truly about empowerment. So it's about empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. And it's very simple to actually see how that mission applies to our work across the sports industry. Because as I mentioned earlier, first thing we do when we sit down with them, it's not about, Hey, how much signage are you going to give me?

[00:13:05] Or, Or where am I going to show up in the broadcast? It's about what is your challenge? What is the opportunity? What is it that you want to achieve? And so when you start with that, that actually is in my eyes, the perfect representation of of our mission and what we try to do. It's about helping the organizations that we work with achieve their objectives.

[00:13:24] And obviously there's also marketing benefits throughout that journey, but when it's authentic and when it's impactful, that's when it's most effective.

[00:13:33]Unofficial Partner: [00:13:33] Do you think that exposes a risk? That, you're raising the bar in terms of people's expectations of the company's behavior  more broadly by emphasizing, going to purpose going the purpose route and a couple of things then happen. One is that people say I'm going to now look at you very closely if that's how you're going to present yourself and then.

[00:13:53] Because we're always, everyone loves a hypocrite and we always go for  the area where we think there's a kink in the story.  

[00:14:00]Monica Robbins: [00:14:00] It's a valid question, but I think the truth of the matter is. There's accountability for brands and organizations and transparency is key. So the, we should be held to a high standard and so showcasing, real scenarios where we are living out our purpose or living out our mission, I think is something that we should do, right. expected to do, and we should be, held accountable and by our customers and held to a standard. And that's what we should all strive to, to achieve. So I think, yes, people love to call out any mistakes, but also that should be on organizations and brands to own it. Steaks and remedy anything that, that does happen, your second question about the increase in purpose-driven activations and marketings and initiatives.

[00:14:45] It's interesting because we talked about two of the core scenarios on sports property, side, being the. Performance and then fan engagement. Another increasing trend has really been on the engagements with athletes themselves. And when we talk about, what is it that we, starting a conversation with, what is it that you want to achieve?

[00:15:05] More and more athletes are recognizing their own voice and their own brand and platform as an opportunity to further social causes or any positions that they want to do as well as have impact in their communities. And so I think they are looking to brands and I. It is the brand's responsibilities as well to help them in the further, instead of that objective.

[00:15:29] So yes, you're seeing an increase in it and it'd be interesting to look at how much of that is at the organizational level, as well as at the athlete 

[00:15:37] level. 

[00:15:38] Unofficial Partner: [00:15:38] That's really interesting. From a sponsorship perspective, you have. We are partnering with organizations essentially. And one there's two bits, two questions that, that, that jumps to my mind one is, does that lead you then your point about, the athlete, the trend of athlete is activist.

[00:15:56] Does that lead you to a, almost more of a Nike sponsorship strategy where you are going the individual route, you're going to, partner with superstars and I can see an organizational challenge there in terms of that's not going to do the showcasing as well. The NBA or the NFL or the ECB.

[00:16:13]And the other bit is that sometimes the organizations are seen as the parties that the athletes are activating again, or, Pushing back against him. Was that certainly one of the trends at the moment is that athletes are saying that they need greater voice at the table, greater autonomy, 

[00:16:32]we're seeing it at the Olympics that friction playing out and will play out over the next couple of weeks where we've got people wanting to make statements on the metal podium, for example, And if I'm one type of sponsor, I'm all for that. I'll jump behind that. And I'm the Maverick supporting the outsider.

[00:16:51] If I'm an IOC partner, I'm thinking I'm on the wrong side of the story here. 

[00:16:56]What'd you think? 

[00:16:56]Monica Robbins: [00:16:56] I think it's important to have be having the conversations. And I don't necessarily believe you can, you have to fall into one camp of the, or the other. And there is truly just the, Maverick versus the wrong side of the history or the story. I think it's about being a part of the conversation and driving for change in every relationship that you have in every way that you structure it. And the. think it's an exciting time to see athletes and I don't think it's new, but we are seeing an increased trend in it. Of athletes really using their platforms to drive change and the most exciting. Times I believe is when everybody comes collectively to do it. And you started to see that where the leagues or the governing bodies have teamed up with the athletes.

[00:17:41] So if the, as the athletes started to raise their voice, the governing bodies or organizations leaned in. We embraced it and tried to find ways to both elevate that the athletes voices as well as make their own changes organizationally. And so I think that's what we should really be striving for.

[00:18:01]Unofficial Partner: [00:18:01] Yeah.

[00:18:01] There was a piece in the New York times, actually this week about the Olympics and it probably echoes exactly what you just said in that it's probably the athletes who were. Push for change. And they will be the actors that, that will have the most effect in terms of evolving how the organization behaves.

[00:18:17] And that might be the case across the board, because they have got just such enormous sort of social media power. 

[00:18:24]Monica Robbins: [00:18:24] They can often be the catalyst, they don't always work in isolation. And I've seen so many examples of the athletes driving for changes within their leagues and the leagues leaning in and creating, social justice councils or whatever. Be that helps in the furtherance of the mission or a for equality.

[00:18:43] And so I think it's really great to see, the different properties teaming up, versus trying to isolate or to stop the conversation.

[00:18:53] Unofficial Partner: [00:18:53] Let's just switch to a different topic when big tech and sport are referenced and that, the fangs or however we want to define them. And quite often, it's that Facebook, Google, Amazon Less. So Microsoft and less so apple, but that's moving. They are seen as the sort of next media platform for sport.

[00:19:20] And I'm wondering what the conversation within Microsoft is and whether that's an area that they talk about or discuss again, part of it at the end of the conversation, when the sports end is all, I'm hoping there's a massive check coming in the form of a media rights deal rather than a sponsorship deal, but you get where I'm coming from.

[00:19:38] That actually the framing of big tech is that  Netflix for sport is going to appear and  the only. Organizations really capable of doing that on a global scale are the other tech platforms,  is that a live conversation? It was just, that's just conjecture on the sports side. 

[00:19:52] Monica Robbins: [00:19:52] Okay. I think the conversation for us is slightly different to that because we aren't pushing heavily into the rights and distribution side of things for us. What we're actually focusing on at Microsoft is where we're seeing the trend of rights holders, holding back more of their rights and bringing their content direct to their fans.

[00:20:15] And so what we're really focusing on doing is as they venture into that space, it's around helping them with foundational technology that they can use to create the best, most innovative, most personalized offerings directly. So it's, it's a slight nuance to what you asked. It's less about.

[00:20:32] Becoming the distribution channel. know that's not the case for other tech companies, but in the case of Microsoft, it's more about enabling the sports properties as they, take hold of their own rights and distribute directly to their fan bases.

[00:20:47]Unofficial Partner: [00:20:47] That's interesting. And sport can be, both global, but he's also. Can be very local. And I'm wondering when you're looking across your portfolio Vizio, I can see they're American and there, there are bits around the world in terms of how you approach it. But how do you view that?

[00:21:05] Do you view it as there's one department covering sport for the whole world? Or are you more localized than that? 

[00:21:12]Monica Robbins: [00:21:12] So we're predominantly managing our sports partnership from our corporate offices, but working closely with some of our teams around the world in manifesting and activating it because you're exactly right. Sport is both hyper-local as well as incredibly global. And so you want to make sure that when.

[00:21:32] When connecting with a sports property, you can hit on both levels with them. So it is a bit of a combination to it. And it actually leads to that portfolio approach that we actually take when it comes to developing our sports partnerships, we all know there's a finite set of resources. And so how can we create the most effective and efficient portfolio of sports partners?

[00:21:58] And oftentimes audiences, one of those first pillars that we look at when we're trying to build the portfolio. It's what is the audience of this sports property and how does that index against our core audiences that we're trying to communicate with? So that's definitely the. Pillar and market obviously plays a big factor in that.

[00:22:18] The second one is on the technology, you we've spoken about, there's so many different scenarios and solutions that we would love to showcase across the sports industry. So we look at how innovative is the scenario or solution that we're talking about with that property? How, how exciting is that?

[00:22:35] How endemic to the game? How transformational is this? So that would be pillar number two, the third one. The most standard and basic one around ROI and is the ROI there for that one, but the unique one that the fourth one and the last one, that's quite unique to the portfolio strategy as a whole is what gap does that partnership fill?

[00:22:55] That's not met by our existing relationships. So that really speaks towards the efficiencies and making sure that we can build the most effective portfolio. 

[00:23:06]Unofficial Partner: [00:23:06] I wanted to run another theme Parsi, which is generic to the industry. And it's one, I hear every now and then, and I'm just interested in your view. So it's a diversity question and a diversity and inclusion question. And there is an argument to say that when you look at a lot of sports governing bodies, and again, I'm not picking on the Olympics, it's just current in my mind, that they've had.

[00:23:25] And I think I found the fact that they nine they've had nine white men running it for 125 years. You've got, it stands for a lot of things Olympics, but actually it's a very narrow lens from the top. When you look across sport diversity, across senior level and through the board is on every, lens, gender, but also, in terms of race, One argument is that's big sponsors will demand change  in exchange for the check they want to see, or they will reward organizations who are more balanced, both at the top, but also, the, through the sport.

[00:23:59] Is that again, is that a conversation that is had at a series of that? Do you ever see that shaping. The way in which you approach your selection process? 

[00:24:11]Monica Robbins: [00:24:11] Yeah, I I think it does. I think you're going to start to see that continue to grow. When we talk about something, when making a decision to partner with an organization inherently, you're associating your brand with theirs. And so you need to ensure that there is brand alignment. And when elements such as what you discussed, diversity and inclusion are at the forefront of a company's.

[00:24:34] Mission and objectives and really driving, trying to drive change, then that is inherently a part of their brand. And so when looking to partner and associate their brand with another organization, they're going to come to expect that there is a similar commitment to diversity and inclusion at that partner level.

[00:24:57] So I do think you're going to start to see a great emphasis on that across the industry.

[00:25:02]Unofficial Partner: [00:25:02] Let's talk about cricket for a moment because I'm actually going this evening to the, to To a cricket match, which is the first time in years. Cause we've all been locked up, but the the hundred, which is the CBS new event program, what will I notice when I get there that will have Microsoft's fingerprints on it. 

[00:25:21]Monica Robbins: [00:25:21] So we're still at the early stages of the relationship with the ECB. It's really focused on three core pillars. One is the performance one. Spoken about earlier, the other one is really about community and the final one is about a culture. And making sure that we share some of the learnings that we've all gathered along the way.

[00:25:41] So I think there's more to come on the horizon. I am a bit jealous that you're already getting to go to sporting events. I look forward to hearing how your experience.

[00:25:51]Unofficial Partner: [00:25:51] But it's it's the first I, there was, we've had a couple be everyone's obviously got their fingers crossed. The doors remain open and we carry on that, we've had the euros recently which was very exciting until the end and then various things and cricket has actually led the way in terms of  behind closed doors type offering you, just keeping the games going through the pandemic.

[00:26:13] So they've got a lot to be praised for from that perspective. Let's just. Finish off by pushing forward. And I'm wondering what you see when you're within one of the most, the biggest tech companies in the world, what absolutely you think is going to happen. So I'll just give you a case study.

[00:26:32] I have been waiting for VR. For most of my adult life and I'm only half joking, but I do remember people at sports conferences saying we're going to be watching sport with masks on blah, blah, blah. And it still hasn't happened. But very informed people are various tech companies say, yeah, it's definitely going to happen.

[00:26:50] It's definitely going to happen. That's just one example. I'm just wondering what do you see you think? Yeah, That's really going to change things in terms of the, just the audience.

[00:27:03]Monica Robbins: [00:27:03] That's a great question. And there's so many things that I think are going to truly transform within the sports landscape. It depends if we're talking near term or how far into the future, we want to go with this conversation. But I actually think one of the most unique things is because of the incredible trend consumption, changes, consumption, habit changes.

[00:27:24] I think truly it's going to be about. When, how and where people access sports content. I think that is going to be the biggest change it's going to be when you want it wherever you want it tailored to you. Maybe you're not going to want to watch the whole game. You're going to want the highlight.

[00:27:45] From everything. And so how are we going to be delivering that in new and exciting ways, but I truly believe it's about personalization and it's about, the camera angles I want when I want it with overlaid data so that I know exactly how amazing that play was and can compare it to things of the past.

[00:28:06] And so I think. Is where the biggest changes and yes, formats like mixed reality and other elements will also come into play in that, how you want it. But I think it's the personalization that, that is going to be the biggest 

[00:28:20] change. 

[00:28:21] Unofficial Partner: [00:28:21] And 

[00:28:21]as you were saying that I was wondering it suddenly, I was wondering about X-Box is that a completely different. Or is that something that do you cause that, the coming together of sport and gaming is an obvious trend, which will be part of that, but yeah. Is that the same bit of the world from your perspective? 

[00:28:38] Monica Robbins: [00:28:38] Yes. So X-Box is one of Microsoft's products and gaming is, continuing to rise and grow. And I think the other trend that we're seeing in the overlap between gaming and the sports industry is the. Astronomical growth of e-sports. And I think that is another area where we will only continue to see growth and, new leagues and new teams develop very quickly and brands taking a very hard look at that landscape 

[00:29:10] as well. 

[00:29:11] Unofficial Partner: [00:29:11] And that's, you're central to that anyway, because you're, it's. You'll selling shovels in a gold rush there on you. 

[00:29:19] Monica Robbins: [00:29:19] It depends. Yes. In many respects, there, there is incredible synergy between e-sports and our X-Box line of business. would actually also argue that some of our other scenarios and solutions sets would, you might not initially. Two e-sports like AI and our cloud solutions are actually hugely relevant because these teams and leagues are leaning into the performance side of of the house.

[00:29:48] And they are looking at their, there. Their players and trying to see how can we optimize strategy? We actually have a relationship with an e-sports team called cloud nine, and it's very much about strategy and gathering data around gameplay that they can then use to inform their strategy to train more effectively.

[00:30:09] So it very much so is more on the cloud and AI side. So some people might be surprised to hear that I am not. Not, but I've had quickly learn about the e-sports and the industry as a whole. And I find no way with, would qualify myself as a subject matter expert there.

[00:30:33] Unofficial Partner: [00:30:33] Do you find yourself in meetings with, classic gen Zed gamers? 

[00:30:37] Monica Robbins: [00:30:37] Sure I do. I do. And I have incredible members of the team who are in fact, gaming experts and e-sports experts. So I lean heavily on their expertise, but I also think that's one of the exciting things about, and why I feel privileged to be in the position that I am is that every partner that we work with, it's a new challenge.

[00:30:56] It's a new problem. I get to know their business. I get to understand what they're trying to do. So it keeps things exciting because no, no two problems are exactly the same. No two objectives are exactly the same. So that means that, it's always fresh and new thinking. And so it keeps things interesting.

[00:31:13] Unofficial Partner: [00:31:13] Listen, Monica, thank you very much for your time and I appreciate you getting up. I'm assuming you get out by eight anyway each morning, 

[00:31:18]Monica Robbins: [00:31:18] advance,

[00:31:20] Unofficial Partner: [00:31:20] but thank you anyway. And I'm going to, as I say, I'm off to the off to the hundred this evening, so I will feed back. What

[00:31:26] it's like, and if I see any, if I see any Microsoft, messaging, 

[00:31:29] Monica Robbins: [00:31:29] I look forward to hearing how it goes and thanks so much for the time today. 

[00:31:33] Unofficial Partner: [00:31:33] Jasmine, thank you very much. 

[00:31:35] 

[00:31:42]