Episode 213 Snippets: Devin Dismang, Athlete Content, Production, and Marketing

@njh287; www.dsmsports.net
On episode 212 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil
chatted with Arielle Moyal, veteran athlete/sports marketing pro with
experience in NBA, MLB, and College Athletics.
What follows is a collection of snippets from the podcast. To hear the
full interview and more, check out the podcast on all podcast
platforms and at www.dsmsports.net.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 214: Devin Dismang

Devin’s career path
“I started working in sports when I was 16…The town I I was living in
at the time, the Chicago Bears turned that into their training camp and
the Community Outreach team hired their all city team, pretty much
football players and I was lucky enough to be on that list. They hired
us as extra hands. And that turned into ‘Oh, snap, you forget that
sports is a business. It's not just a game you watch on Sunday…there's
a whole thing around it. And that's where I first learned about game
presentation and live events.

“That sparked my interest all the way through college, to where I
worked for various teams. The Bears, the Chicago Fire and Chicago
Sky when they first started up as well. Then when I graduated college
and I wasn't tall enough to go to the NFL, I decided to go work for the
NFL and worked for the Atlanta Falcons for a year. Then I bounced
around from there to the Thunder, then came back home and worked
for the Fire on the game presentation role, which ultimately took me to
the Warriors, as well in a game presentation role, which evolved into a
video production role and helping to build out the in-house video team
there.

“Then in 2019, I decided to go solo, go freelance — honestly at a great
time. I started a business where athletes essentially hired me to be the
storyteller about their lives, not just on the field, but off and more so
humanizing their story. It couldn’t happen at a better time. I had
signed a bunch of folks who played on the Lakers and as well as a
couple of (Warriors) players, which happened to be a great time
because then the NBA bubble happened and it turned into how do we
now tell a story in a nontraditional manner?

“I pretty much was in the frontline of turning an athlete into a content creator
and into a storyteller in a way that you may have seen vloggers do, or now the
TikTok folks are doing, but it was not really in the sports world. People have
maybe attempted to do it, but it just never really caught on. And I think from
that standpoint, that turned into my passion and we're editing documentaries,
we're editing — whether it's a YouTube series, a series on Twitch that guys are
not getting paid for — how do we optimize that athlete voice as well as tell a
true and honest story in a way that standard national media cannot do or won't
do because they have an agenda as well as teams, right? Teams have a filter that
they have to abide by and sometimes a player story gets pushed away from that.

“That then turned into my role here at STN while I still do the freelancing thing. Here at
STN I really help athletes turn that content into cash. That's what I pitched them on and
tell them ‘Hey your story is something that the world is seeing and we are here to turn
that into a revenue stream for you without losing the quality of your voice’, where some
brands have the issue of turning an ad campaign into something that doesn't feel natural
for a brand — (whereas) someone like me comes in and I'm like, hey, that doesn't fit [the
athlete]. So let's protect his voice, but let's find out a different thing that works out.
“So my [career] path is definitely a little different than others. I didn't go to school for
video, I didn't go to school for sales, I barely went to school for marketing — it all kind of
stemmed into the same thing of, like, I understand the athlete’s voice. I understand what
they look to do. And, that's the common thread between it all [in my career path].”

On how he decided on and then went after a career in sports
“I lucked out a little bit more than some other folks where I was able to get into the
sports world a lot younger than people are able to now. Being able to get in with an
NFL team at 16 years old versus post-college is very tough to do even in a part-time
capacity. So being able to learn those smaller things [helped]. Like part of my job
when I first started was unraveling and inflating inflatables outside of Bears games
for fans…Like if you remember going to any games growing up and they had big old
fans zones — that’s what I helped lead [it] from [age] 16-19. At that point they just
needed people who could help move these heavy-ass inflatables back and forth and
inflate them, deflate them and roll up and throw them in a storage bin.

“That then turned into, okay, well, you're doing great on the outside,
how can you help us on the inside? And that turned into, hey, we need
help organizing our [National] Anthem singers, we need help
organizing our halftime acts…we're doing a rehearsal where Q1…and
I'm doing…[said] I'm directing a show, this is awesome. I'm doing
something that, as a kid, I used to watch the [at Bears games]. There'd
be all this crazy stuff [and] I'm now helping bring this to life. This is
nuts. It was something I never knew could be a career.

“So that kind of turned into, okay, how do I learn this business side
while going to school, while playing football, while doing all this? So
when it wasn't [football] season, I'm working for teams, I'm going
back and forth to Chicago from school to learn the day-to-day stuff. I
had a lot of great managers or people who — I would ask them a ton
of questions, probably annoyingly so — I'd be like, ‘Hey, why don't
you do it this way?’ Or ‘Hey, why don't you do it that way?’ It was
never in terms of challenging them. I was more so just trying to learn
their method and why certain things were done in a certain way.

“It was really just to be a part of the action without being the action
itself, I think. And as a sports fan and anybody who has ever worked
in sports will tell you, you always want to feel like you're a part of it;
even though your time is up on the field or on the court or wherever it
may be. So this was really the closest I could get without being a
player at the time. And that's really what drove it for me in regards to
the game presentation side.”

On starting out in game presentation and picking up creative skills
along the way
“I'm glad I went the way I did because the operations side taught me
process and structure where sometimes the creative side can be very
chaotic, right? Like sometimes we'll get into a call or a meeting where
everyone is just throwing ideas at the wall and like ‘Hey, this is great.’
However, there's no structure to that and a lot of these ideas are going
to fall flat. So how do we build processes out for certain ideas? So it
helped me to think both ways.

“I've always been a creative individual; I just needed to understand the
structure of how certain businesses work, because we don't want to
waste time or assets. I'm very big on time and energy management to
where I don't want to waste that just on a hunch or someone's feeling
or like, this is cool —we gotta make sure it works for the brand, it
works for the messaging, it works for everybody because we don't want
to go down a path that’s 95% ready to go, and then we get that one ‘no’
because it didn't match a sponsor's name or this and that., and you
know, the several no’s you get marketing side on a daily basis.

“So the process and the organization where it was; whether it was script time — for
instance, how long do I have for a time out? — well, can I do a game — speaking from a
basketball standpoint — can I do a game within two minutes that's going to be enough
to not only make sure the sponsor is showcased enough, that the audience is going to
enjoy it, to where it's not invasive to the game or the timeouts, and also doesn't cause
issues for the stadium and our operations staff within the building?
“So there's all of these things you have to juggle to make sure you can have a decent
product when it is showcased. A lot of it can be trial and error, right? There's certain
leagues and certain areas [where] you can do trial and error to see if it works, but
there's also just understanding what your limitations are, and the operation side really
allowed me to do that, especially when it was combined with the creative side.”

On evaluating success of game presentation elements
“The way to kind of see if it works is almost a two-pronged thing to where, first and
foremost, you want to see from a fan standpoint how engaged they are with that
product. For instance, using basketball as a reference, if you go to a basketball game
and you notice fan cams, right? There are 30,000 fan cams it seems now. That is an
idea that probably will never die because it works every single time because who
doesn't want to see themselves on a [jumbotron?] That’s just getting to the
psychological nature of a human being; [it’s the] same with t-shirt toss, right? That's
going to be in every building, every stadium for the rest of the time, because who
doesn't want free stuff? There are certain things that are going to just stand the test of
time — half court shots for $30,000, [for instance].

“The other part is if you tie it to a brand, especially to see if it works and you
tie it to a brand, does that brand make sense? Because there are some games
where you do it and it doesn't work the way you want it to because the brand
was so tied to something. I did a game in Santa Cruz for the G League team out
there, and it was tied to a pizzeria and they wanted to do human bowling —
but there was nothing else tied to [the sponsor] naturally — there wasn't the
bowling pins or breadsticks; there wasn't anything that really tied in the brand
to it…And while the game was fun, from a branding and an almost [relevance]
standpoint, people didn't know who the sponsor was until you see it on the
video board or you get the $25 gift certificates at a restaurant or something.

“So I think that's a two-pronged thing…and another one is like another great
example is the 100-point challenges, right. Again, using basketball as a
reference, you'll have 99 points or someone will be at the free throw line and
someone's like ‘Tacos! Tacos!’ Like they're chanting for what the prize is.
That is not only just an activation that works, but is also product placement,
right? Like, I'm going to Jack-In-The-Box for the tacos, man. I can't wait. So
it's all these things that people need to understand when they're putting the
games together and putting just overall entertainment together for an in-
stadium experience — those are the two things that are going to make it work
because now you have product recognition as well as fan engagement.”

On creating good branded content activations for athletes on social
“Well, first and foremost, the number one priority thing is that the athlete's voice
must be tried and true in any piece of content that comes out. So if a brand wants
to throw their name to anything that an athlete is doing or [is an] original concept
that concept needs to be authentically that athlete's voice first and foremost.
Because that is what's going to get the engagement, that's what's going to get the
sell, that's what's going to get the views or whatever the end goal is for that brand
for that concept. Because how many times have we seen a brand integration with
an athlete or a team or whomever and it falls flat because it is such a
commercialized piece of content? And you see it when the athlete’s not involved,

“I'll use one [example]...While we love the in-arena ‘Try and Copy
That’ concept, where an athlete will do something like a behind-the-
hoop shot, and they'll say try and copy that. And it's a random piece of
integration. Fans don't really get too involved, especially in-
arena…But [another example] when they do the doodle and it’s
almost like the Newlywed Game — that is strictly playing off the
personalities of two athletes and showcasing them truly while having
a brand integration with it. That is much more well-received and we
see those go viral all the time versus the other one.

“Now talking strictly content on athletes’ [social] pages the brand's mission first and foremost
usually has to tie it to what an athlete is tied to. So if an athlete is a gamer, the brands that we're
going to look for to, where I'm going to look for too is gaming — to where they can now have some
sort of product integration, they can have some sort of tie into that organization. They can have
some sort of return on that partnership that is not just monetary, but it's also something that the
athlete is truly interested in and could really build an authentic relationship. Because there are too
many one time only deals where they just want brand recognition and they kind of go away; and
people read through that like no other. We see that nowadays with influencer campaigns more than
anything.
“So, for an athlete, you gotta be much more protective because while they are influencers, we don't
want to devalue their voice for a paycheck. So making sure whatever that piece of content is is
authentically them because that's also what the fans are gonna want and then finding brands that
really tie into that piece of content naturally.”

On players becoming more aware of the brands, how the team and its content
can help build their brands, and then when players become bigger than the
team brand
“I would say maybe there was a big shift in 2017. There was a huge shift in that
type of knowledge for players. I think pre-2017, only a few got it and even the
ones who got it didn't know how to optimize it. They were really just trying to
figure it out. Look at someone like Steph Curry, for example. Steph was
building his SC30 empire at the time and also trying to do content; like smaller
content pieces, but they didn't really do the best so he ended up stopping. If you
go to his YouTube page, you can see that.

“So they took a break to really figure it out. But then as he got more and more
cognizant, you'll see some of the activations he no longer participates in. For
instance, him realizing how much his voice was worth — he would only do a small
amount of Warriors-specific content that really featured him on camera because he
knew at the end of the day, if he does that, he's not getting a piece of whatever that
pie is. So if he goes now and does the same concept on his channel, he's now able to
make not only money there, he's able to tell it without me or without the team,
essentially…without the team almost controlling the narrative. Now he controls the
narrative, what story he tells. He controls that final edit, he controls how it's posted
and any brands or monetary deals that come, that's all him; that doesn't have to go
through the team to where he sees nothing, he is just a patsy for it.

“Now as we evolve we see this more and more — and especially with
the evolution of the platform TikTok. I think TikTok is a huge
platform that we all needed to gauge for a year and after seeing it for a
year and what it's done, it's really turned into I'm going to say the
second top platform in the world, because I still can't believe there
was a day last year that it took over YouTube as the most watched
platform online. It was the craziest stat I've ever seen because I don't
think I've seen YouTube lose that battle in 20 years or something...

“So we've seen the evolution of that. We’ve seen the evolution of obviously YouTube
channels, Twitch channels, partnership deals with things like a YouTube or Facebook or
Netflix or whomever to where now these athletes stories no longer need to participate with
the teams unless they are those let's call them tier two or tier three athletes who still need a
little more publicity and this is the way to kind of build that recognition out. But I think
after 2017 — and ironically I'm going to kind of fault that championship team of the
Warriors — is when Kevin Durant came over to Golden State after that 2016 Finals…That's
where you saw the evolution of Thirty-Five Ventures, of The Boardroom, ofKevin Durant's
YouTube channel. That's the words devJaValeel started Parking Lot Chronicles, like all
these things were really popping because this one team has started to optimize their
content. Draymond [Green] is now almost a media personality, essentially, because now he
has a show on Uninterrupted, but a lot of that started building from that 2017 year.

“So I think there was a huge shift that year with athletes across the board. Cam
Newton is another great example of that, where he started telling this story. He
even has his own production company now because he understood like, Hey, I
don't need the Carolina Panthers telling my story, I don’t need the New
England Patriots to tell my story. I'm going to tell it in the way I do it. He
released a video after he got released from New England talking about his side;
it was a full-on production,I think he got 1.1 million views or something like
that. But he made money off telling that story. If he had done that with [the
Panthers] after he signed with Carolina, [then] Carolina would have gotten that
revenue. He really wouldn't get anything but the brand recognition, which he
doesn't really need.

“So the athletes are learning this now and younger and younger — can talk
about NIL as well, [athletes] are learning the importance of their voice, their
brand, their personality, their everything now an 18, 19 year old — you think
about 17 year-old Mikey Williams out there in San Diego — they are going to
really put pressure on teams, media, etc., because they're not going to be giving
those same opportunities away for free. They’re going to have to come with a
dollar sign and that is something I think is going to be fantastic because we're
not only gonna get the tried and true version of an athlete, but we're also going
to pretty much revolutionize how brands integrate their names, their brands,
their voices, their products, whatever it may be within an athlete partnership,
which is clutch.”

On how it played out for Devin and the Warriors as players became
bigger brands and didn’t need the team’s publicity as much
“I'm gonna use that 2017 example. Between 2014 and 2016, the
Warriors were what they were right there even before Kevin came over
and they were still like, Hey, we're going to tell this story. There was a
lot of [internally produced content]. There was a lot of like, this is
Steph’s biggest game, this is Klay’s biggest game, we're having fun,
we're doing this, they're really incorporating them with us and then
obviously that's when the national media take over…

“At the time PR’s role was to really optimize the national media. So you would
see us get bumped for national media, which [was] understandable, like ESPN
comes in, I’m not going to say no to Rachel Nichols, but we were just like,
alright, cool. We get it. But then it was more newspaper writers — we'd have the
[New York Times] come in or we'd have The Athletic come in or we would have
local stuff like the [San Francisco] Chronicle or whomever, and they would start
getting stories over us to where we would have to essentially fight for time with
players. And then that changed immediately when Kevin [Durant] came to
where we were pretty much bumped to the back and be like, Hey, get in when
you can. Like, if you get to see him for five seconds, try doing it.

“But there was also a lot of hurdles, right? Everyone wanted to talk to
them at that point. Everyone wanted to be somewhat involved with
what the team was. So we had to tell the story from different angles to
where now we can't get to our big four — Dray, Klay, Steph, and Kevin
— well, let's talk to everyone around them. Then this is really the start
of what I was thinking of, like, everyone is so worried about these four,
[nobody is worried about the other 12 [players]. So let me talk to the
other 13…Hey, Jordan Bell, let me get you for five seconds. Hey,
Quinn, Cook, let me get you for 20 minutes to talk about your life. Nick
Young…my boy Javale [McGee]; when you get here, let's talk.

“So getting to know those guys allowed us to tell the story of the team in a different way than
using the top four. And I think that was important because it showcased how all athlete voices
are important, not just your top tier ones. And because of that I won an Emmy with Quinn Cook
for his documentary because no one had really spoken about him…When he got a nominated
award for just funny stuff we did with Nick and JaVale during that year because Nick and
JaVale, their dynamic is great and everyone loves to see that. Then from there, I [formed]
relationships with Shawn Livingston to where I helped him out with his retirement
announcement.
“So it was all of these to were everyone ignored these other ones and really tried to go after the
top four to where we had to pivot and kind of go the other way, which allowed us to then tell the
story. And I think now with the importance of players having their [own] voices; now, everyone
up to the last person on the bench is telling their stories.

“Let's use an example recently of one of my good friends, one of my boys
Alfonzo McKinnie — he used to play for the Warriors, used to play for the
Lakers, now out here with the Bulls after just going through the G League,once
again. He is still dropping little videos here and there on Instagram that kind
of tells and showcases his story because he just signed with his childhood team
the Chicago Bulls. So while his story might not be the most appealing to
national media at the moment, that's still a story that should be told because it
is still an important life achievement for him to be playing in his hometown for
his hometown team while his family is all still here, while his friends are all
still here, all of these things that are super important.

“It's going to be more and more tough for the team-athlete relationship, because at
some point they're going to be like, no, you're going to have to contractually make me
do stuff for your team. Because right now they do the same thing with the media — hey,
you gotta have 12 media availabilities this year. Okay, cool. But if he misses one, guess
who gets fined? So they're going to have to start making those [contractually
mandated] I feel at some point — and then teams are just going to have to be creative
on how they tell the stories with highlights, with behind the scenes stuff that other
people can’t get. And again, building those relationships to where some guys may not
care and really enjoy being on camera or even enlist the team to be like, Hey, we would
love for you to help us out with this documentary, it is still going to be my project, but I
would love for it be a collaboration with X team. But there is going to have to be a
contract, there is going to be some money split up…

“I just think at that point, teams are going to have to figure out how to
navigate that because the athletes more and more are gonna
understand that their voice from the first guy to the 16th guy, especially
talking from from basketball standpoint…they're going to have to
figure it out now because the more and more that these — and with NIL
athletes — it’s going to be even worse once they go pro because they're
gonna be like, Hey, you’re the number one draft pick, Hey, we need to
do this behind the scenes. They’re gonna be like ‘No, I've, I've teamed
up with Tom Brady’s Shadow Lion and they're actually my production
house. So you need to work in tandem with them.”

On the role of the team in working with athletes on content moving forward
“Honestly, the teams first and foremost should probably offer support, but also I think
they're going to have to be contractually obligated to do it because…we see it all the
time. I will [use] TikTok as an example, because it's just taking the world by storm, but
like, we're not doing this stuff for free, right? I’m already playing basketball for you,
I'm already playing football for you, I'm already coming to practices, I'm already
coming to meetings, I'm already doing community events that I'm contractually
obligated to do, I'm already doing media availability I’m contractually obligated to do
— now you want me to sit with your video team to do an in-house piece on this athlete
or about me for 25 additional minutes of my day with no return?

“So how is a team going to then tell a player what the return is? ‘Hey, this is good for
your exposure. Hey, this is good for your PR.’ At that point…even the smaller [athletes]
are kind of like, nah, I'm cool. We have sports agencies now that are threading the
needle and pushing the envelope with athletes, even smaller tier ones. Look at Klutch
[Sports], right? Klutch just did a great job recently with Talen Horton-Tucker. He’s still
coming off the bench for the Lakers, but they push him on their platforms and now he's
getting deals with Gatorade to tell his content. Those types of things are happening to
where teams are gonna have to figure it out because at that point, teams are just going
to have to be almost an additional audience member to tell the story. And all you're
going to really get from them is cool highlights, behind the scenes stuff, maybe some
locker room [content]. They're still going to get great access, but I don't know if you're
gonna continue to get one-on-one access. And I think that's the key.”

On the NBA Bubble vlog Devin produced with JaVale McGee that earned
millions of views per episode
“To give a little backstory JaVale was the first athlete I signed [for] my company
from post-Warriors. My first project was with Shawn Livingston,I mentioned
earlier doing his retirement [video], but JaVale was the first retainer client I got
to where you were like, let's work on your content and really tell your story. At
the time, the media really told JaVale’s story his entire career and obviously we
all know the difference of what was going on TNT and how people are really
identifying [him] as this kind of like goofy player within the league whereas he's
much more than that.

“He's an entrepreneur. He's actually one of the smartest athletes you'll ever
talk to because of the way he knows the game on and off the court. He's
also big into investments, so he's doing some crypto right now, he's doing
something in NFTs. He's vegan, so he's big into health food and fitness.
He's also a techie, so he's always messing with the new equipment. [He’s] a
gamer, a huge guy on Call of Duty…And we all know his personality. So
there's all these things that were like, he had a ton of avenues. He could tell
the story is what the media was focused on this one thing to where and he's
quoted saying ‘If you put in a mix tape of Michael Jordan's worst plays all
together, you would probably make fun of him, too.’

“So I was like, yeah, that's a good point because they're just putting
low-light mix tapes together, so that's really what it was. So let's paint
this picture of him. He's now a starter on the Lakers; he’s playing with
LeBron and they just got AD. This is a big year. I'm like, let's tell it,
let’s showcase it. So I'm going to LA, I'm filming with him every game
day and traveling with him to really tell the basketball story, because
he's starting on the most watched team in the world at the time.

“Then the pandemic hits in March 2020,. I’m in LA, they play the Nets
and the next day, [that’s] it. And we are pretty much like, what do we
do now? Now I'm pretty much restricted [and cant] record with him
due to COVID protocol within the NBA with the world at the time. The
CDC says pretty much like don't talk to anybody right now because we
don't know what to do, so just stay in your houses. So now I'm like,
Hey man, you're going to have to capture this content yourself and I
will walk you through it. And it turned into like, Hey, you've done
vlogs before, but I'm going to really coach you through these.

“So as he was packing for the bubble, we got word from the NBA — we
reached out to the Lakers to be like ‘Hey during the playoffs — because
you're allowed bring family at the time — can Devin come?’ IIt's one of
my funniest claims to fame is you had to get a written signature from
Rob Pelinka saying yes or no, and mine was obviously no. So, it was
funny that they had to go this high up because they had us in their
hotel room. So I'm like, while you’re packing for the bubble — had a
current contract with a sponsor for his gaming side, so I’m like, okay,
pack this, pack that. He’s like ‘What about my camera stuff, should I
pack?’

“I go, yeah, just pack it. Let me think about it, but I think we could do
some stuff in there. That's all I said and then I went to bed that night and I
go wait, nobody else is going there but the team photographer and I think
one broadcaster. So I was like, ‘Hey, I need you to record everything. I
don't care what it is. All I need you to do is to hit three things ever vlog.
The first one, for example, I need you to give me your goodbye with your
daughter. I need you to give me your arrival…And I need to give you a tour
of your room. I just need those three things. I don't care about anything
else. If you capture anything else in between those great, but those three
things alone, that's going to be a good enough video.

“He does all three. We get a bunch of stuff, right?...You got Alex Caruso interacting
guys popping up on camera — it goes great. Hey, what do you got going on tomorrow?
Well, I got a practice. I’m like okay, show me the court, show me your locker, show me
what you eat. That's it. Get everything else. Do it again. Cool. Second one works. Then
we put out a third one, I think that was the first scrimmage for something of that
nature.
“And I was like, alright, show me the bus ride in, show me your COVID, show me
something from the scrimmage. Well, the NBA at that point, [started to] figure out we
were getting game footage, the practice footage and they kind of shut it down… like,
don't showcase that. We're like, oh, okay. Whatever. So we showcase the post game…
all these things that just went viral next day.

“So these first three went out and every time I'd do it, I'd always close YouTube and I wouldn't
check it for a day. After the third one, I'm like this one just hit a million [views]. This one just hit
half a million. This one just hit a quarter million in four hours. Now we're number two trending
on YouTube, we're number three trending on YouTube. All of these things happen and we’re
like, holy crap.
“So I'm like, dude film as many of these as you can. I don't care [what] at this point, film
everything, and I'll just figure it out…Just make sure your stuff is charged. So at that time it was
like him and Matisse [Thybulle], going almost like we were going back to back…So that all starts
happening because of that. I was also semi-working with Troy Daniels at the time. Troy hits me
up [saying] yo, I kind of want to do the vlog stuff you're doing with JaVale. I said alright, man,
well, I'm going to give you the same phone that I gave him. Alright, capture these three things
and send it to me.

“His first vlog he's like it was my birthday, I want to do something for
my birthday…We do these two things, it goes crazy. Oh, okay. Well
now Troy Daniels wasn't a starter. He's on Denver, he's like the ninth
guy on that team. Third one goes viral, second one goes viral. I’m like
geez this incredible.

“At the end of the day, it was that people were absorbing this raw content from a
player during an experience that nobody else can experience. And you really got a real
behind the scenes look at what this life was for these athletes. And because of it,
obviously a lot of opportunities open up for me, open up for these players because they
were able to showcase their truths through a camera they control, which is awesome.”
“It's nuts, man. And now a lot of them — I think it opened their eyes to is that
anybody can do it. Throw Matisse (Thybulle) in there. Like you didn't have to be a
LeBron or a Steph or a KD or Giannis, right? Like those are already great. But you
could be anybody on any team, as long as you're comfortable with telling your story,
even if you're not that comfortable telling your story. Troy was not that comfortable
doing the vlog stuff, I had to do a lot of coaching with him, but I was like, Hey, if you
do these three things and you just have fun with it, it's going to be great. And a lot of
people overthink it.

“I always equate it to picture day as a kid to where, Hey, you always gotta
look your best when the camera's on you, so make sure your outfit is
good, your smile's good, your hair is good. And I'm like, yo, just let it all
down, man. Nobody really cares as much as you think about those things.
Sure, there's going to be one or two comments that nitpick like, oh, damn,
did you know his jersey was on backward and something like that. Half
the time people aren’t going to care, they're going to make a funny joke
about it and keep it moving. And if you're able to have fun with it — any
sort of content — right now, we have with this fascination of this micro
content with TikTok, the sky's the limit for a lot of those athletes.

“You see it now, using Isaac Rochell and his wife from the Colts as an
example — Isaac is a good player, but I wouldn't put him in the Pro
Bowl right now. But he and his wife are comfortable telling their
story. So I think it's cool that a lot of athletes understand that their
voice is important no matter what their stature is, no matter what
their rank is, no matter hat their place is in a league…It’s real cool and
I think we're flipping a script, essentially with athlete storytelling.”

Devin’s favorite memory from his time doing grassroots marketing for teams
“I think my lasting memory would be — I would say when I was a kid. So when I was 16,
I worked for the Chicago Bears grassroots side. [It was] one of my first jobs in sports
and we were at Bears training camp and my job was to drive the golf carts around to
and from practice for the athletes to get back to their hotels. So my most memorable
moment was I got to drive Devin Hester, who at the time was like a god in Chicago…I
believe this is when the Madden came out and he was on the cover recently, right
around that Super Bowl and he had just gotten a bunch of copies of the game. So
afterwards they were like, yo, we're going to try out this Madden. Because again,
training camp is pretty much like summer camp for a bunch of guys on the team]. And
I got to do that job every single day.

“Then one day he was like, yo I got something for you. He brought me
a copy of the game. At 16-17 years old to get a copy of Madden from a
guy that you kind of look up to me and ironically had the same first
name as you…I was like, yo, my boy, you know, as a kid, when you
read somebody has the same first name (as you) you’re like this is
dope. So that's one of the first ones; and then piggyback off just to
give another [memory] quickly.

“[When] I was with the Chicago Fire, we did the Chicago Fire versus the Mexican National team
at Soldier Field. And at the time standard grassroots stuff — you'd give out t-shirts you’d sign
people up — and I remember this family came up to us as we were shutting down the shop and
it was this little kid, her brother who was a little older, and then the mom. And the mom was
pretty much talking to us about, ‘You know, my son is a huge soccer fan. We couldn't get tickets
to the game because they were sold out, but we just want to be out here and be in the
atmosphere.’ And we had this collaboration — Mexican national team scarfs mixed with a Fire
logo. And I remember giving it to the kid and the little girl. And for some reason, I don't know
what it was, but the little girl started crying. She was so excited to get this thing. And the mom
was like, thank you so much. They were worried they weren't going to be able to see anything
and this has made their whole day. I remember the kids — it looked almost like a Disney film —
the kids were skipping away and singing the song for the Mexican national team.”

The first athlete on social media that stood out to Devin
“The first athlete that I thought was doing well on social media was Cam Newton. I
think Cam Newton was one of the very first athletes — I think we spoke about it
earlier, a lot of guys tried YouTube. I think Cam really was like, ‘This is my narrative.
I'm going to tell the narrative’ and really invest into it in a way that folks were able to
get the inside look into his life. It’s something that's a lot more common now.
“So I think Cam Newton is definitely the guy I think about. And I speak about his
content often. I don't know if he's technically the blueprint, but for me, I think he
was the first one — Cam not just from a social standpoint, but from a storytelling
standpoint, he's doing it right and he's making sure his narrative — especially
someone who the national media has told his story his entire career, he's been doing
that since prior to the Super Bowl appearance…He would be the guy.”

Devin’s memory of the Warriors first championship of the Klay-Steph-
Draymond dynasty
“So actually [in] 2015, I did not travel because that's one that they won in
Cleveland, I believe, and I didn't travel for that. That was before Warriors
Studio really [developed]. I think we sent one camera guy, Julie Phayer was
there from a social standpoint, but everyone else did a watch party at Oracle
[Arena]...They gave all the front office employees suites…and then fans were
able to buy the lower bowl. And I remember being in the suite after we won —
you know, there's a classic thing of Steph and those guys throwing the ball into
the air and hugging and all that stuff.

“But I remember we all had water bottles and everyone just started throwing those
things like we were in the locker room…I remember our arena contact told us the
cleanup crew said there was so much water in the seats and the suites because
people were just opening up bottles and going crazy.
“And then Oakland itself went nuts. We went out into the city and people ran out to
bars and people were just celebrating. It was the first time I really saw anything like
that. Even being in Chicago when the Bulls win or the Blackhawks – it was insane
that night. It was good to celebrate with your friends and coworkers and people that
you really grinded with that season in a way to where you didn't have to work for the
first time. And then after that, all the other [championships] I definitely worked…”

“When we won in Oracle in 2017-18 (in) Kevin's first year, I was in the locker room for that,
getting interview questions, I'm filming on a GoPro just to get additional footage, trying to
interview guys while celebrating at the same time. It was crazy — I'd go from an interview — and
I saw this video on my phone where I'm interviewing James Michael McAdoo, and afterwards,
we took a selfie video and we're celebrating and they’re throwing Moet at me. It was nuts,
man.It was one of those things that you’re in the trophy room, taking photos with the trophy in
the portrait area, and guys are just drinking a lot, champagne bottles and they're screaming.
“And then like, Hey Draymond, quick question, tell me how you're feeling. [He said] ‘I feel
great, bro! I feel great!’ And I'm like, I bet you're trying to contain your excitement because you
know, this is footage that's going to last a lifetime. And then once our camera guy left, I was
dabbing guys up. We were taking photos, all this kind of stuff…That one I think we celebrated
the hardest.”

Devin’s tips for an athlete just getting started on social media
“I would tell them to really think about what they want to showcase.
Every time I have a meeting with an athlete, especially a new one, all
they'll tell me is ‘I want to up my content game.’ That's usually the
request I get. My second question then is have you looked into athletes
or looked into celebrities that you like on social media? Like, who do
you follow? You're obviously getting this inspiration from somebody —
who do you follow? You really got to break it down to like, okay, [this
is what] this person has done

“Let's say it's Will Smith. Will Smith is one of the biggest celebrities in
the world. Along with that, he has one of the best social media
presences in the world, in my opinion. So it was like, I want to do stuff
like Will Smith. Okay, cool. Well, let's break that down. Will Smith
has, from a logistical standpoint, he has his own studio team, he has
these people in place — so that's a team that you gotta pay for. And
then if there's concepts,from a 3D standpoint, from a lifestyle
standpoint, from just a general capture stance, we gotta think about
that too. And then also the time commitment for the content.

“For your sake, being an athlete, you need to batch record, which is essentially setting a
shoot day one day a month to record essentially 30 days of content…Think that stuff
through. So you're going to need somebody that you trust that can tell your story. That
goes into my final point, I [would] tell him to work with someone that you truly trust to
tell your story authentically. Because anybody can come in there with a camera and tell
you what to do, but if they don't know you, they're not going to be able to tell your story
better than you.
“So, and I mentioned this earlier, if you don't have someone on your team that you're
fully open with about your life, your situation, your career, your ambitions, whatever it
is, your content is not going to be pure. So you just really need to think this stuff
through.”

Devin’s favorite content piece that he worked on during his time with Warriors
“The one that sticks out the most would probably be the Quinn Cook
documentary. And then one that I didn't really get to see all the way through,
which is a bummer, but I started a series called Rituals — with every player we
were supposed to go through their pregame ritual and talk about why it was
[their ritual], the evolution of what it was. And we started it with Steph and I
think the last episode we did was with Jonas Jerebko, but we were supposed to
hit all the guys and talk about what really gets them in a mindset for the game.
So that's something I really had wished had gone [forward] because it was the
first social piece that had an animated component to it.

“But Quinn’s always going to stick out to me because that's a personal
story. It's something that I have not just a professional tie to, obviously
with the Emmy that came with it and everything, but just the raw
feeling of learning someone's story and to showcase it to the world.
And more importantly, it made his family proud because I remember
watching the final cut with his mom, his sister and him. He hugged
me. His mom was crying, his sister was crying and then they ended up
just watching it again, like on repeat for like three straight hours. So it
was one of those things I have a very emotional tie to. To this day, I
talk about that piece all the time, because it's definitely my favorite.”

Devin’s perspective on the exodus of social media and sports pros leaving their jobs
“You know, pay first and foremost, burnout, and lack of appreciation just combined
into one [big] mess. Being on the sports side and working with a lot of my close friends
who were in the social space for teams — speaking strictly from my experience — with
who I've talked to, whether it's an NBA, NFL, MLB, whatever it may be — is that the
social media position has been such a glorified position over the last eight years to
where it was easy to tell someone at 23, like, ‘Hey, you're going to be in charge of the
Twitter account of the Golden State Warriors’ and they would be thrilled about it
because it's more about the opportunity than everything else. And there's the perks of
the job, right? Tickets, travel, being around players, having experiences you probably
wouldn't have anywhere else, things of that nature.

“I was recently having this conversation with a close friend — the pandemic
showcased the fact that if you take away all the perks in 93% of sports jobs and
you just leave the job, nobody likes their job. Nobody does. Because at the end
of the day, if I'm just a video editor and, again, I love to edit video — but if I'm
editing the same type of video day after day after day, and I'm not interacting
with players, I'm not traveling, I’m not having fancy dinners, I'm not getting
merch, I can't have my family at games and I'm only getting paid $54,000 in
California, [then] this isn't rewarding. The sacrifice doesn't make sense
anymore. So I think from a social media standpoint, for a job that you have to
be on 24-7-365, and you need to be in the know with common trends and the
continuous updates of platforms and new platforms that come around.

“No one's really talked about with the inclusion of TikTok over the last two
or three years; I remember leaving the Warriors and we were having
conversation about how we started TikTok account, and I'll never forget we
were in a meeting and someone said, yo, social media coordinator —
someone who I helped get into that position — they go, you do it. It seems
like it would be something that fits your personality and she kind of took it
and ran with it, but at the time, that's how people were thinking about these
platforms versus throwing real strategy behind it. So she probably did all
this work for that TikTok account and maybe she's a senior coordinator
now, probably getting paid 50-55 grand maybe to live in San Francisco.

“That isn't worth it to where you could go to a Netflix and be one of their
various social media supervisors, managers, whatever it may be and probably
get paid 105K, 125K and say, Hey, we got a new show coming out, respond with
a few tweets and you're good. You don't have to be in everything and it allows
you to really utilize your skill. And I think the burnout portion of it is just so
detrimental. Because speaking from experience, the sports side is a 24-7 thing,
and you miss out on so much and that you don't really realize how much you
miss out on until you're probably 28, 29 [years-old]. Like for me, I remember —
and this is a personal story — I remember I missed out on my grandma's
funeral for a Warriors event because I was essentially told there's no one else to
cover [the event].

“People are missing out on birthdays. We talk about birthdays, Christmas,
holidays, things of that nature, but there's a lot more little things people don't
think about until those things happen. And that really sits bad with a lot of
folks. So I think with the team side and with how everyone is leaving for let's
call it more secure jobs, more peace of mind, things that we're focusing on with
mental health and all of that is super important. The sports toxic culture of if
you don't want this job, we have a thousand people in line for you is now
becoming null and void because, sure, you're going to have people apply for it,
but you're not going to get the person that you want with five years experience
to do a job at $32,000 is no longer going to happen because people have finally
understood their worth.

“And with the evolution of remote jobs like myself here at STN — if I don't have to be in an office,
I'm not going to be in an office. Teams can't have that now? So there's gotta be a lot of change within
]teams], and I think they're playing a lot of catch up to almost make the sports space appealing
again.
“And I think this is waking up a lot of people, and I’m glad it’s happening the way it’s happening
because I think it’s also waking up the younger folks. The younger professionals who will hit you up
or hit me up and say ‘Yo I want to work in the sports space, but I really have questions about your
experience.’ Versus ‘I want to work in the sports space, can you get me anything?’ And I always tell
them before you apply you need to ask what this job entails. And a lot of them would be like ‘Well,
you just get to be around Steph, right?’ And like, yeah for sure. One day a week. The other four days
I’m around people who don’t listen to my ideas or will take credit for my ideas or will say no to those
ideas and then pay somebody externally to execute an idea that was very similar to what I said. So
you really need to understand what you’re asking for at that time.”

The best meal to get in Chicago and where to get it
Everyone always pulls up to Chicago (and asks)
where can I get deep dish [pizza]?
I'm always hit or miss with deep dish [pizza]. So if
I take someone who's never been — recently I had
a friend who just pulled up and she's like I want
deep dish pizza, we got her Lou Malnati’s, butter
crust, sausage and pepperoni pizza. That's, in my
opinion, the best deep dish in Chicago. Giordano's
is cool, I think it's underrated.

“If not that I'm taking you to what is more of a Chicago
staple, but it's now in the suburbs and that is I'll call
[it] a semi fast food place called Portello's. They
actually catered my wedding and they're known for
their Chicago hot dog. They've got a lot of meals there,
but they have something called and this is going to be
— let's call it Devin’s fat kid moment of the day — it's
called a chocolate cake shake, where essentially what
they do is they make a shake and ground a piece of
their chocolate cake, which is super famous, into the
shake. And it is the craziest concoction, but it is so
fucking good. But it is something you can eat once and
you're probably never going to eat the rest of the day
again.”

The athlete whose social media we should all check out today
“JaVale McGee, so I can get those followers up. But, next to that, I
think a great athlete you should check out on social media — if you
haven't checked out Alphonso Davies, the soccer player from
overseas, please check [him out]. His numbers are crazy, but the
concept there is even crazier. So I think he would be a great person.”

Devin’s Social Media All-Star to Follow
“I've already praised him a couple times, but Will Smith is such a great follow,
not just from telling his own story, but telling a lot of other people's stories. I
think it's great. His pages [are] half lifestyle, half what he's doing and like half a
meme page. And I think it's always hilarious.
“Another person who I really enjoy I would say is…Jeremy Fitch. He has a
YouTube page, he has a TikTok page…but he does a lot of visual effects with
Marvel characters, so then all of a sudden he'll become like Iron Man out of
nowhere and things of that nature…

“Oh, and I don't know the girl's real name, but she's the girl that a lot
of sports collaborate [with] where she's like, do you know what her
job is? And she does the same TikTok song over and over and over...
She is hilarious. And then keeping on the TikTok creators theme —
the corporate Natalie, just the corporate funny people who make fun
of 9-to-5 lives. Those accounts are hysterical. So shout out to those
people…”

Where to find Devin and STN Digital and digital/social
Find Devin on Instagram. TikTok and Twitter @dismayne and find
his YouTube and Twitch (search Devin Dismang)
STN is @STNDigital across social media and visit their website
STNDigital.com

Thanks again to Devin for being so generous with his time to share his
knowledge, experience, and expertise with me!
For more content and episodes, subscribe to the podcast, follow me
on LinkedIn and on Twitter @njh287, and visit www.dsmsports.net.

Episode 213 Snippets: Devin Dismang, Athlete Content, Production, and Marketing

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Was ist angesagt?

Was ist angesagt? (19)

Ähnlich wie Episode 213 Snippets: Devin Dismang, Athlete Content, Production, and Marketing

Ähnlich wie Episode 213 Snippets: Devin Dismang, Athlete Content, Production, and Marketing (20)

Mehr von Neil Horowitz

Mehr von Neil Horowitz (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

Episode 213 Snippets: Devin Dismang, Athlete Content, Production, and Marketing