In this episode, we get the inside scoop on sponsorship in sport as Dalton and Andrei Roper discuss Sports Sponsorship and Branding in the Caribbean.
Roper is currently the Brand Manager at Restaurants of Jamaica (franchise owners of KFC and Pizza Hut). The issues and challenges in sponsoring events locally are examined, while Roper also gives advice to sporting entities on how to develop their brands for sponsorship.
Roper has twenty years’ experience in marketing, communications, sponsorship and event management, spanning the fields of telecommunications, sports marketing, and sports betting and gaming. He uses this experience to give us insight into the sporting industry in the region, as well as the way forward.
In this episode, we get the inside scoop on sponsorship in sport as Dalton and Andrei Roper discuss Sports Sponsorship and Branding in the Caribbean.
Roper is currently the Brand Manager at Restaurants of Jamaica (franchise owners of KFC and Pizza Hut). The issues and challenges in sponsoring events locally are examined, while Roper also gives advice to sporting entities on how to develop their brands for sponsorship.
Roper has twenty years’ experience in marketing, communications, sponsorship and event management, spanning the fields of telecommunications, sports marketing, and sports betting and gaming. He uses this experience to give us insight into the sporting industry in the region, as well as the way forward.
Welcome to the drive phase podcast. It's the best podcast for information on issues surrounding sports business in the Caribbean. On the dry phase, we have discussions with sport administrators, coaches, athletes, and various stakeholders in the sporting industry and examined in their contribution to sports and entrepreneurship. Here's your host Dalton buyers.
Speaker 2:Thanks Colleen. In this episode we look at sports branding and sponsorship and here to discuss. It is on j roper. O J is currently the brand manager for restaurants of Jamaica. He has 20 years experience in marketing, communications, sponsorship and Events Management and has been involved in field of telecommunication, sponsorship, marketing, sports betting and gaming. Of course, he's a passionate sports lover and sports history fanatic with a particular lo for cricket, basketball, football, the NFL and track and field a and R to show which one are the cricket teams are[inaudible]. Andrea, welcome. Glad to be here on the drive fears podcast for the first time. Yeah, I'm glad that you decided to join us. Listen, so you are proud. Camp and college old boy. Yes. Proud. Couldn't be Prada. All right. A Liverpool Fan, which is very important. Definitely a Miami Dolphins Fan. Struggling and struggling. Hard to keep the fade, but just as pro 76, that's fun. We're getting back there. It's a miracle. I know it for this year. I know St Louis Crickey supporter. No comment. So let's say you love p and Mr. Go for sports speed because none of these teams less except for Liverpool before last, right. So after Campania went to University of the West in this university, west indies, um, played junior cop, um, into college at cricket. Um, those are some good times as well. Definitely enjoyed my time playing cricket at on campus. Chris, I was also on the team as well. He was one of my teammates, but it was for those few years I thought I was on campus. Definitely enjoyed those years.[inaudible] for what you, you, you wanted to get to get into because you are doing, uh, media and[inaudible] communications, correct. Uh, at Caremark, definitely. Kinda just talk to us a little bit about what those definitely. So I actually, I actually went to Caremark with the intention to get into a career in advertising. I was passionate with advertising in high school and it was a field which really, really appealed to me. I had a passion for sports as well. How is this one of our cricket coach, our father has with our cricket quarter or then my father played senior cop back in his day. So I had the passion and a love for sports. Um, I grew up in a sporting family and my brother played football at Jamaica College. My brother played club basketball in his day, you know, before basketball was as popular as it is. Right. And my brother was playing at the time Division One basketball for his club. Um, and he was a national youth table tennis champion way, way back in his day. So I come from a sporting family. Um, but, but I had interest in journalism, so I was time we died there. When I got into Caremark, um, I knew I was going to do all the necessary, you know, go through all the necessary electives and all necessary courses. I wanted to make sure that I was as well rounded as possible. So I figured that Kara Mac at the time would have given me the best opportunity to, um, get that solid foundation in public relations marketing. Um, there were some sports media courses at the time and of course, yes, yes, yes. Christine taught me sports and sports and meat at a time. Um, but of course I also wanted to get a foundation in television, radio, print and to some extent graphic design and I got all those. Um, yeah, I learned all those principles are the, all those core principles during my years at Caremark. So it gave me a good phone. The Ashanti gave me a good, um, platform and you know, it, it, it, even at 22 years old when I left and I finished my degree, I was able to, um, I had a few options at the time. You know, I thought about going directly into journalism, going into the sports media, which was appealing, but then, um, I stuck with advertising because I figured that going into advertising and by extension PR would have given me an opportunity to work with a lot of different companies, a lot of different brands by way of declines I would have engaged with figured they would have given me a much more of a broader scope to develop as a marketing professional. Um, as much as I love journalism, I thought it would have probably been edited a bit more limiting at the time. So I said in order to hit the ground running, you know, Greens advertising, and I have to say it was a good issues at the time. Um, I got a great start that Pearl Communications, I'm working in PR and advertising with g Laura Chin. It was a small firm, so I was able to really learn a lot because he had to do a lot. And one of the things at a time, interestingly was one of our biggest clients back in the day was Alaska and last score, last score being the huge, I mean national brand that it was and still is, um, sperm to sponsorship standpoint. They were involved in all aspects of[inaudible] life from, um, entertainment or culture to sports to Gospel. You know, they had teacher of New Year, I wore the firmest of the year award, the police officer of the year award, and then they had the Lascaux my, my favorite event at a time, which I was involved in the Lascaux club championships, um, the entire club track and field championships, which was, that was really my first exposure to sponsorship earned PR activation on our, on our sporting event was when Lasko was sponsoring the club championship. And I remember going to that event and seeing how the track and field athletes and you being involved in the activation and the coverage on a smaller ship around, and this would have been back in about 2001 our Daryl boats with those and one 2002 and then of course, um, in addition to Alaska we had dd cell as a client. And so back in back in 2001 did sell. It was just entering Jamaica and markets and so they were looking to get them set up and trenched and get themselves really established in Jamaica and marketplace. And so what better way to do that than through sponsorship. That's amazing. And I mean fast forward you also then went to supreme ventures. Correct. Had to do a lot of work with, with superior ventures at that point. But first I was sports smock skiing before it's free shows. How could we forget sportsmax sportsmax was before sports pages to our cool show. There goes, those two are better crew shots. I'm leaving the advertising industry where, you know, I got some exposure to sports marketing and sports sponsorship, but limited because of the type of clients I had at a time going on to sports mocks, Snow Sports, mocks, joining the sports, maxtv in 2003 sports, my close less than a year old. And at the time they were building out their sports and marketing department and that department was responsible for building and creating events that would provide value for sponsors, corporate sponsors, and would also provide good content for that channel. And so that smaller team at the time, which was growing into a much bigger team, knowing what's at the time, we worked with organizations at Jamaica Basketball Association in revamping what is now called the NBL NBA, worked with or worked with Jimmy or Cricket Association in revamping the club competition, creating the Super Club. We've gotten millions and millions of dollars in sponsorship from different companies such as supreme ventures, um, KFC flow, then called be more by like the time to try to revamp these competitions. Um, revamp the marketing, revamp the whole look and feel of competition. So from 2003 to 2008, I was project manager in charge of sports marketing. And that was really where I, where my, you know, I really got engulfed into the world of sports and marketing, sports, television, sports media, that the entire sportsmax journey, not just working on so many sporting events but also being involved on the production side and seeing how all of these programs are created from script writing to well, feeling, being any team, seeing the entire process, um, and being involved in all the elements of the process. So that was really, um, those were really some informative years at sportsmax. Talk to us something though about what the, this pretty adventurous part, because again, I'm betting in sports was because it was something new to the landscape. Yes. And you are a part of this working with yeah. Many persons including, uh, currently[inaudible] group. Yes. Yes. So at the time, um, this would've been 2009 after I left sports mocks and I left because, you know, I wanted a new challenge. I wanted to branch out of media, sports marketing and embrace a new challenge. And at the time if you said sports betting to anyone in Jamaica, they would have thought of horse racing. Know what I've thought of horse racing and if you said betting and gaming that would have thought of either the casino business or lots of cash pot pick three. Alright. So what we, you know at at a time fixed odds, sports betting as a college fix, odd sports betting, um, was pretty new. You had bookmakers in the, across the island who were offering it, but it never gotten nearly as much publicity or as much, um, coverage as the more, the more big tickets. Right. The more popular games as lack of the, like the ones that was mentioned that supreme benchers has done a great job of making our part of Jamaica night. When you say cash spot, I mean it's like it's a part of life, but in 2009, um, at the time joining just bit, yeah, that was a tremendous opportunity coming in from the ground level, from pre-launch stage, helping to really build a brand from scratch. Um, and helping to not just create on help to build out the sports betting industry as it is. No, but really to educate customers and educate the public as to, you know, the fact that hey, sports betting is one of the biggest businesses on the planet. And super combined shows played a big role in that because at the time, you know, they had this, a lot of people that had this notion of sports betting as being kind of this underground, um, almost dean g, um, on a rip it taboo. I mean, some people still have that perception of sports. Yeah. And you know, historically because of the association with crime and the association with even much fixing on, you know, in other sports, not just cricket, but in the NFL, in baseball, the entire world of sports. So the association between sports betting and match fixing on and illegal activities that does that from time to time. It has put the industry of sports betting in a really negative light, but factor to my thighs, it's big business. It is no governed and monitored quiet extensively quite intensively in all the markets. Um, and we see where it has matured and it has grown to be a com, a multibillion dollar industry to the point where in the United States it's no legal in as many, you know, more states than ever before or it's in Jamaica when the legislation passed in 2009 it was the diner by new era in sports baiting is in Jamaica. Yeah. But isn't that part of the challenge? No. For us, Andrea, as we talk about support betting that I think we have put in so much title legislation in trying to protect, uh, against the sport industry in Jamaica that we are so tight knitted and we may not benefit as much as we can and also can create more room for the underground mark for the black market because sports betting is here to stay. Um, so that the passage of the legislation to make sports with illegal in Jamaica, um, it was a lengthy process in one, it was not a short process. And I was tell you, because I joined supreme ventures in 2009, it was a year before we're able to launch just back in Jamaica, even before that, the license had been purchased years earlier, but it just took a while, latrice and really took a while and there were a number of factors involved. But, um, I even know, I would say it's not at the stage where it's allowed the industry to mature, um, in deposits that were challenges. For example, with betting on local sports. Any reasons? Um, you do have bookmakers know who offer bets on things like Premier League, um, other local leagues. So I would say it has called my far away. I know that this, you know, all the bookmakers involved with a supreme ventures. Um, any bet island bet, um, they have all the carved door to a nice niche, right himself. Um, online sports betting is no our reality in Jamaica. So you'll see where the betting market has really, really growing. You'll see where, um, things like fantasy sports. I've also continued to really, really grow and grow and grow. Find the Super Marion from fantasy earning from just definitely there were creation other than that person and not myself. The recreational, um, benefits that comes from and find that support sports where, you know, you have all the leagues that are fall pretty, pretty attractive monetary incentives for persons who would do well with our fund. Has a premier league find that say NFL fantasy basketball. So it's probably 10 policy. As the business of sports continue, continue to grow, sports betting, you know, through to continue to grow. Fantasy sports will continue to grow. And it's just for those, you know, we see how the Americans and the Europeans have done a great job in maximizing and we see how the players have done a great job in um, you know, making sure that they capitalize and they create their own personal brands and they make sure that they maximize on picking it because, you know, it's a limited amount of time, especially if our players and so, but definitely, um, it has gone from just these sports being played for recreation and a few of the elite stakeholders making big money to a lot of people making a lot of big money. But part of the challenge though is that the, the, the, the players here in, in Jamaica and probably in the rest of the Caribbean, they don't always earn a lot depending on the sport. And so they are into a lot of restrictions for them to fix a much, you know, meaning that the, the, the punishment either from their clubs or otherwise are not necessarily restricted because you're not making a lot of money. So if you, if you fix that much, you may just end up earning more, way more than, than you're earning. Um, played a good 90 minutes of all game. And I remember, I remember while I was at supreme ventures, that was one of our considerations. Um, persons used to ask us, why don't you offer betting on a premier league, local premier league? And it was our ascertation our, our, our stance at the time that we didn't want to risk, um, ordering our can of worms at the time and even up to know the premier league is not a fully professional league. Um, and we know the situation with players and we know that the financial situation with big league and a lot of other clubs and so we felt that it was dangerous to start offering bets on a local premier league because it could open, you know, it could open us up to our own, the league up to our own matches up to being manipulated simply because you have a situation where players are not earning enough to really create a livelihood. Um, you know, anything is possible at that point. Among this amount, realizing can earn a couple of hundred thousand by fixing how much, you know, that type of thing. So at the time we took that stance to not offer, but you had other bookmakers at the time who decided to go ahead and just lay everything out, no call premier league, no problems. So every week and not just that international online sites have been offering bets on the local premier league for years. Bet three 65 on a number of others. I've been offering baits on local probably for a years. So that's what a lot of for Jamaicans doing to realize that whether or not we have legislations here that open up the bitten and gimme an industry that oversees people are actually making money for sure. I'm supporting Jamaica and the odds are pretty good actually. I know because there's some that I've monitored for years, but yeah, definitely. Um, it's, it's taken a long time for us to get to this point. Um, but definitely I would say there is definitely still room for growth would still, we'd still, as long as these leaks, however, are not our semiprofessional then you always have to be careful about local bookmakers, offering bets on local leagues. It's just after super ventures quickly. He took a little break from, from, from the Quartet who at NATO five. Yes, yes, yes. And then you went to restaurants of Jamaica where your brand manager, not just sports, what sport is a big part of it because you know, you'll be there at lunch for schoolboy football and many other sporting events in Jamaica. Definitely restaurants of Jamaica has been one of the four more supporters and sponsors of sports, especially youth sports in Jamaica for a number of years from, well before my time, um, especially youth basketball for years we sponsored the basketball league, um, track and field football. This is probably the second or third iteration of KFC being a sponsor of schoolboy football. And I mean definitely be ECI brand night KFC. That is an international brand, but it is seen as, it's, it's really seen as a part of Jamaica. Um, and a big part of that is because of how it has, apart from the food, apart from the fact that, um, clearly the food as is loved by Jamaicans, but a big part of it is how the brand has basically supported and endorsed and helped to grow and develop on, um, propel forward basically all industries, education, um, Gospel music, entertainment, dance or music, um, culture, you name it. So the brand has been a supporter of all those industries and are those elements of society that are real, that really mattered to Jamaica and really bring Jamaicans together, our creative, um, I'd be tough. Um, opposition, healthy opposition and sports is right up there. So whether it is, um, the Olympic team, whether it is, um, youth basketball or whether it is cricket[inaudible] all through the years, KFC and to some extent pizza as well because pizza is also a part of the restaurant and make a family. But I mean definitely sports provides such a platform for connecting with your audience for not just promoting brands more than new products, but in some instances making a difference. Because I'll give an example, something like the star search camp that you start search camp, which is the annual camp where the top basketball players at the youth level come together every year. Um, they get coaching from local and international coaches. Scouts come down from overseas colleges, NCDs players every year. The KFC has been the major sponsor of this camp for almost 15 years. And we have tons of kids getting scholarships. Um, all of that camp, including kids who have gone on to play division one kids who have gone onto the NBA right out of right out of our Germany, Yukon shores and kids who have gone on to play professionally in Europe, South America, Asia, um, and all this is because of this one says, let restaurant search Amico who believe in sports as a platform for giving youngster that chance. Let me touch on that. Um, Andre. Oh, so how do you determine as, as a brand manager or a person need those streets determine what events you're going to sponsor? So, so if, if there's someone out there who's listening and saying, okay, cool, well I need to get through to Andrea, how do you make that determination? And, you know, how do you deal with activation at these respective events to ensure that you're getting good return on investment? So as you can imagine, we get tired. We get that tone, we get a ton of, um, requests we get, we get hundreds, literally hundreds of, um, requests for partnership sponsorships. But we're specifically, we're a sports our concern, we, there, there has to be their house, sleep and alignment. There has to be, um, ideally you're looking for a sporting property that is, that has some sort of national interest on something which, you know, our property which really galvanizes the country, galvanize is, um, all customer base and really beat up, brings it, brings people together and you know, really creates that atmosphere and creates that platform that would have been beneficial to everybody or that would really no create excitement, create, you know, create that passion. So at the top of the list of course track and field football and to some extent basketball, um, you know, you're looking for sporting properties that are going to tap into our customer base as well. So, you know, it's, it's, it's not to say that we would never sponsor a golf tournament or a squash event or a tennis event because we sponsored those events from year to year. We sponsor lawn tennis, we sponsor swimming, we sponsor boating events. We're pretty much have our brand aligned to a majority of the sports. Um, the level of which that investment, um, is realized or it has to do with what type of hope it has to do with whole well that sporting properties are going to allow us to connect to our consumers. It has to do with, you know, what type of impact that sport is going to have nationally or internationally. And of course it has to do with return on investment. Um, from time to time we align the sponsorships with some sights of return. It could be a sales component, you know, not all the time, but there are times when that happens. But definitely we're looking to see whole, um, whole, well they are lying. There has to be an alignment. There has to be some talk about marriage and in terms of activation, I know you know it's one thing to sponsor an event, but you know, we just sponsor an event and sit back. You sponsor an event and you have to go and execute and you have to go and make sure you get the full return. And so far every dollar you spend to sponsor an event, you may spend$2 or$3 or$4 not just to activate but to assist with advertising and public relations support and PR support and digital support. Because you may sponsor an event and at the end of the day, the sport in organization would only have so many phones available to the, with operations at that event and actually make the event happen. It's up to the sponsor to make sure that all the other marketing elements are realized. And so schoolboy football for an example, the spine says about come together to ensure that Issa has enough funds to make the competition run. And you know, make sure that all the basic technology, all the components needed to execute the competition and from start to finish are, are done. However, in addition to those sponsorship monies which have come through, which is the case with any sponsorship, the sponsors always come to the table and invest more in things like fan activation, digital promotion, um, incentives for additional incentives for players. Um, prize is for funds, I mean additional advertising, additional marketing support. So once you call and sponsor, it's up to you as a sponsor to make sure that you maximize your investment. And so it will come at an additional cost, but it will help ensure that you get the return on investment once you're a sponsor, once you've made the determination that you're going to, um, invest in a property, you have to go all the way. So you have to manage your budget. You have to know that in on top of whatever your response saying you are going to invest an additional x to make sure that you get your return and to make sure that your customer base and the patrons are satisfied. So, um, something like school football for example, I define out the patrons would pay you to come into our Monaco feral or our Champions League final, the sponsors of all paid to make sure that Isa has spawns to rent the venue, right tool, PRD or fissures, make sure that prize money's there for the winning team and the runner up team. All the operational costs are covered fine. However, to make sure that there is a complete fan experience, which will be a proper representation of the sponsors brands and we leave the patrons satisfied there has to be further investment. And usually there is. So whether it's um, artists at halftime where there's giveaways right through the day, whether it's our pregame shore, whether it's our poor scheme, shore spot, as I sponsor you, you have to make a determination that these investments are necessary. Because generally speaking, what normally happens is you have three, four, maybe five sponsors, maybe a been more, um, everyone wants to make sure I get near pull enough finish. Everyone wants to make sure that they connect with their consumers and connect to the patrons on the day. And everybody wants to make sure that when they leave that event, they leave that event with your brand is still in their mind. Whether they leave and say, well I, they were key. KFC was giving away vouchers at the much with, I never get one. I wouldn't go KFC. Knowing something has to be as the guys that we chat, which happens a lot, I'm like, you made that decision that you have to invest to get the best return. Make sure that you leave your customers a patron satisfied. You make sure that after the event is finished on patrons have that recollection or that brand recall your brand was top of mind being associated with whatever the property was. Ooh. Let me touch on another part of that day. I know one of the things that I know that you do you do with blogging, you um, you have done commentary or college statistics on radio program for NFL, NBA, et Cetera. Meaning that you focus a lot on the, the analytical part of sports. How challenging is that in the Caribbean landscape to look at our sporting events and touch on statistics to make analysis or just to do activation. It's somewhat challenging for local sports. I remember being at, I remember going back to my sports max days when we used to cover um, the NBL, a local basketball league and we had to produce free game shows, produce highlight shows, um, produce cupboards at the live games. And I remember getting proper in depth statistics was a challenge and it is sometimes a challenge with local leagues. But um, of course we know that we are talking about NBA, NFL, um, premier league champions, League, Major League baseball, whatever the cases there, there is no end to the office to stood out to data that is available, especially baseball, which is so numbers driven. And so data driven, there is no end to the amount of data you can get because copper reasons one, these, a lot of these sports I've had, oh by the time they have had a lot more resources to capture data over the years, but they have been very numbers driven and statistics driven historically. So the numbers of numbers have just been a part, part and parcel of the history and the tradition of body sports and that's what make them do what they are in terms of being able to generate revenue because they can sell that statistics or use that statistics in terms of, you know, fan support or activation, et cetera. Isn't it? Definitely. Definitely. Oh yeah. I mean all those, all those things play a part in helping to build up property. Um, build popularity, build support. So, you know, you know, using, using numbers, using data to kind of build, you know, build that tradition. Um, when you hear that Jim called cottage one, the mining cost five times in six are, you know, you're here. How many times Kingston cottage has one, the corporate area basketball, the title, our home, many times. Kingston College, one sunlight. Oh, you know, all these, all these statistics and all these accolades they feed into, you know, creating that whole experience for funds and, you know, making the whole experience more memorable. And, you know, in a lot of respects, these statistics exist, you know, but my, from my experiences, they're not readily available online. So if I want to go online right now and I wanted to find the winners of every sunlight, copper, every George Hedley going back to 1900, I can't readily find that information with one or two clicks. I can go online and find who won the Florida State High School Basketball Championship every year for the last 50 years. You get what I'm saying? And so it has always been my challenge. Um, and I know the statistics exist that may exist at east side that may exist that, um, the, the respective governing body, but just being readily able to access historical statistics and numbers for local leagues, High School Club Competition Online, um, not where it should be. And that that would really be something which I think would add a nice dimension tool. Being able to build the popularity of sports and being able to really ensure that, um, you know, we're kind of fashion, you know, fashion, the whole support into our, you know, to a level where it's released. But that's one thing that's missing. The, the ease, easy online accessibility of all this data and all these statistics and all these numbers of our local leagues and competitions online. That's one thing I have been in sports for awhile. Well what other, you know, advice would you give to a member association governing body in from a, you know, a sponsors perspective, some of the things that you wish you could see to make life a little bit easier certainly for you on that side and just with the sporting landscape. Yeah. Well I understand the challenges. I understand the challenges as specially for sports which are considered um, non traditional, non traditional sports. I understand that the challenge, I understand the challenge. It's a chicken and egg situation because you need sponsor support to help to build a sports to our level where you can start gaining more sponsors and you can start building out your program. I find that in a lot of instances sponsors have been burned in the past investing funds and not seeing their investment come to full fruition. And in some instances you see a case where governing bodies are a local sporting bodies in Purdue will have the resources to dedicate to things like, you know, marketing, um, sponsorship management. So you may have persons who God blessed them, have a full time job on, are trying to run an organization part of time, which is the reality because, um, the, the body might just not have enough resources to hire full time persons. So it's, it's, it's, it's, it's very, very challenging. I would def the one thing I would definitely urge all of them or all of whichever sports in the organization is just start with a vision and a clear plan for the organization that shows how we are going to build out, um, build out your organization and show how you are going to give sponsors value for their investment in the short term and the long term. That's where I would definitely start with um, utilize digital, utilize social media, utilize, um, the inexpensive tools that will allow you to grow your organization, grow your Prodo, grow your, growing your different competitions without having to invest at ton of money. Um, definitely I would drop that in there as well. And um, definitely transparency is key. I know that sponsors in the past, I've had problems with transparency with a number of organizations, so that goes without saying, but definitely I'd say the vision, the plan, um, showing that you have a clear vision, ensuring that you are willing to invest in, um, personnel if even on a contract basis to manage sponsorship and manage marketing and manage, um, the sponsors entitlements and the sponsors activation so that sponsors can feel that they're being taken care of. Let me just ask you a question. US, most persons have sat in that year, uh, if, if there is a youngster who wants to get into your area, you know, they, they enjoy following you on social media. Um, they, they enjoy your sports travel, which is something you take very seriously in terms of just enjoying the sport or to be some of the advice that you'd give them in terms of, you know, that young caring about Grad coming up and looking, you know, looking for, to get into the working world. Yeah. Well as I said, be prepared to be prepared to work at small companies, small firms, small lesions is be prepared to volunteer, be prepared to go attend work as a PA on our, on the production of our much, be prepared to do things like internships through your door, get much in return where they get valuable experience. Um, I'd say don't get caught up in trying to get a start at, uh, at a big company. It won't always happen. We know that. We know that those opportunities are very limited, but definitely if we can get an internship with our paid or unpaid, tried to get one. If you can volunteer at events, concerts, promotions, parties, um, try to get yourself in, in that, in that frame of mind, try to get yourself in the door. Where are you getting the undergrown experience where you're beefing up your resume even at an early age so that by the time you are 22 or 23, you have some events that he can show that, okay, you know, you have that experience. What, um, don't be afraid to get out there. Get some experience if even it's on Pete. I know it's difficult, especially at that, especially when you might have student loans to repay. Believe me, I've been there, but um, it sometimes needed to look but that, but as I said, definitely just definitely be prepared to go there. Volunteer. Um, just get some experience where, where you can get it. I didn't ask this earlier on and of course I have to ask it. No. Well, what is that one project that you have worked on that you think is just to this day is one of your best projects ever that you, you talk about? You know, I did, it's a big project. I mean you've worked on so many over the years. There have been a few, ah, I would say right up there at the top would actually be probably my first major project in the working world and that would have been the digital launch. Okay. The launch of beauty sell in 2001 simply because I was just 22 at the time and I had never managed any PR execution before. But my boss at the time said, boy, Andrea, this is you're going and you're going to deal with a PR for all of the duties, lunch for all our kind of all sponsorship that year. It was their first year doing carnival for every activation. If I do this sell in these four months leading up to their launch in Germany in 2001 you are going into the the pin points. Are you nervous or were you just excited about, hey listen one, I can do this? Both. Both. Because I mean I knew I had the tools but you know, you don't want to feel because you know, if you feel not only would they be letting down your boss and the company, but you have a client who is paying you quite a bit of money to achieve certain deliverables in terms of PR and all of that. But I'm definitely had the support. I had the leadership, I had the guidance. Um, and definitely I back myself at the time and the launch was a success, failure and success without giving me what hole did you deal with? You know, a particular project that you think wasn't as successful as you wanted it to be? Certainly in the professional realm or probably even personal. How did he deal with that for certainly, you know, the youngsters who are, who are listening to this in terms of just making that comeback bones back from that and, and you know, moving on one of the first golf tournament I ever managed at Sportsmax. Um, this, this one, this one six out in my mind because it was the first golf tournament that ever done being sponsored by a financial institution. I knew I was wearing Nike toe to the park. I was already, we had nice big media launch. We had the youth clinic, we had um, registry. Your son was going well and Dan leading up to the day of the tournament. No. Um, the week of the tournament, I think everything is going smoothly. We, you know, think branding, everything, everything going nice. I sought to know what everything I saw to note food for the day. I saw to know decor music, um, all the operations in the operation side, the score and making sure everybody taken care of everybody, have them pretty polar shirt and them and them. Nice Greg nom and type Straw hat, you know the boots they had to them where Greg Gnomon you Sawyer and then we realize a couple of days before that we shadowed the tournament and the same d of a one day much at Sabina Park. No time. The West indies team wasn't where there were no, the mon was still the moaned, the MON party standard. Savannah Park was still an extremely popular attraction and the clientele for the tournament, both, both competitors and persons who would come over to the clubhouse and party. You can build a vibe where many of the same people who would have gone to the mound to, to watch cricket that day. And when I was said and done, the turnout was poor. The vibe wasn't the same because you could sit at some, some of the top players decided not to play in the match.[inaudible] the tournament because they were going to go to Sabina park and enjoy themselves on a moan. And the event just turned out to be a bit of, I don't know, it didn't really come off. Some of the top players were in there. We executed it, but it really wasn't. And you know that something as simple as shedding something as simple as that could have been avoided. So that was one of the first ones that really, really, really, it taught me a lesson because a lot of money could have been saved. Um, but yeah, that, that one stands out but, but didn't you? Okay. So some sportsmax came after you worked with the[inaudible] group with the moment because he had worked on that[inaudible] because what at the time[inaudible] was, well, I caused a clash because I could have rescheduled the golf tournament, wasting this cricket board shadowing the tour. So that cam move, right? Yeah. And that's done. But yeah, at the time sports mocks for a few years, sports max was up, was also the company that managed to[inaudible] skirt. So that was also a part that my portfolio dealing with the party Stan and I'm sure you were there activities during the activation for the moment. Definitely. The funny thing is know when, when you were kinda moaned, you actually don't get to watch the cricket because you literally are on your feet. It's, we're hunting one is difficult because literally people think that the under and Oh, you work on pneumonia, pipe down, drink all day. I literally, all I do is I'm on my feet and I drinking water for the whole day because you're there from 5:30 AM I need to leave until it's over and you're back and forth. Because I was in charge of the entity and man, I was in charge of the song, the artist, the concessionaires, um, the security, clean up, stuff like that to bar the bar staff. So it was just that, that is a tough one because especially when you have, um, under the, that you have roadie patrons, they getting intoxicated. So that working on the Moan can be challenging. What was rewarding? Definitely[inaudible] am on the moon. I don't get to watch much squeaky Terrio goal. Here you go. The moment is a special, it's a special part of, of, of the groans. I don't know why they're there shaking their head. Well, I mean doubt, they'll find that CPL is coming up and they have a new, a new iteration of the party, Stan. So that has been doing pretty well for the last couple of years. Um, we do we in which CPL is rt 20 cricket is no, you know, when you walk, what do you see in the horizon? Um, Andrea in terms of support, uh, sponsorship, branding opportunities and just a Jamaican sporting landscape and not just Jamaica, certainly about the Caribbean sporting landscape. Well, um, definitely there will continue to be more opportunities. What, what needs to happen though is that, I mean, you will always do the talent. The talent is there, the talent is there across the region, um, or by what, in addition to developing the talent, what needs to happen is we need to develop our players and our associations as brands. So we have where I would, I wouldn't say where we're coming out of. We're still in an era of an era where Jeremy and gun truck on field in particular because of the dominance of you've seen both and the sprinters really created a very unique and um, special brand, you know, Jamaica truck, the Jamaica truck on beauty brand is, you know, that, that that is something which has, has had a lot of equity and there's something which has done a lot for Jamaica. So the thing is to really make sure that we, in addition to developing talent, make sure that we build a culture within our athletes of realizing that in addition to focusing on bettering their skills better in their game and what type of sports it is they have to create and make sure that the cultivated their own personal brand. Um, whether it's your social media presence, whether it's your, um, your profile, making sure that our athletes understand that there are brand and the ability to leverage. They have a lot of marketability if they are managed. And you know, if they are, if you had to bet a properly, you know, we have to change the mindset of the athletes and the mindset of our associations. Um, you see looking at, oh, looking at sports, I have basketball, the NFL English premier league Champions League. You see that players market themselves in a completely different way. The level of their social media platforms level at which they promote and make the best of their, you know, corporate social responsibility, their personal, you know, their foundation. They create personal brands which do so much for them off the field or off the pitch or off the court. Um, and we're not talking about superstars, we're talking about players who are not all stars, not pro bowlers, not in the top 20 or top 50. But when you go to their social media page and you see how they and their team has, you know, has created, you know, created a plan for them. Um, you can sit at a lot of thought and a lot of insight has gone into making sure that these players maximize the shot time that they have. You are doing whatever they do. So definitely our players need to understand that whatever level they are, they are our brand. They have to maximize and they have to make sure that they position themselves in a way in which will be, um, a good representation of themselves. Some that will be appeared into sponsors, um, and some that they can really monetize because I ended the day. That's what it's all about. Amazing. This isn't Andrea. We could talk forever, especially we haven't even talked about liberal class. Right. Which is cool show. But we won't do it today. We can't, we can't. Tarcher your producer, who is that? Who is a suffering Chelsea supporter? I didn't even know how people support. I'm trying to say. Well, we'll leave that for another day. Andre, thank you very much for stuff in waiver and glad to be here. Glad to be here. So on behalf of student engineer, Andrea, producer Rashika, uh, thanks for joining us on this episode of the dry fees. As always, make sure to subscribe to the show on apple podcasts, Google podcasts or Stitcher, which is also one of my favorite. So you'll never miss an episode. Remember, we'd appreciate a rating on iTunes or any podcast that you use. 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