NFL, the biggest reality show...AdAge interview with Lisa Baird

Advertising Age - Q&A With the NFL's Lisa Baird: How to Market the Biggest Reality Show

Excerpt:

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Lisa Baird joined the National Football League from IBM Corp. last year at a time of transition: the extension of TV deals with CBS, Fox and DirecTV; a new pact with NBC; and the shifting of Monday Night Football to ESPN -- not to mention a new commissioner who took over on Sept. 1.

Ms. Baird, now senior VP-marketing, took over the top marketing spot after the departure of ex- General Motors Corp. executive Phil Guarascio. As the NFL's big kickoff weekend begins, Ms. Baird took time to talk about matters including the league's future in a digital world.

The NFL is the ultimate reality show: It's unscripted and unpredictable, played out in front of the biggest TV audience each Sunday and Monday night. Mark Burnett couldn't come up with "reality" like the next 21 weeks of our season.

Changing demographics and emerging technologies continue to mystify those companies that are five to 10 years down the road. We're also in a unique brand position with the NFL and the 32 clubs having such massive audiences. We continually need to protect our brand from companies that look to redefine the NFL image to their own advantage.

We've talked a lot about better understanding how our most important constituency -- our fans -- interacts with the NFL, consume media and spend their time and money, particularly given changes in American demographics.

We hold the keys to some of the world's most valuable content -- NFL games. We need to keep finding compelling ways to deliver our content, while protecting our network packages which have been the underpinning of our league and what makes us unique.