Ally Financial’s Pioneering Commitment is Changing How Brands Consider Investments in Women’s Sports

[Music] hello I'm Deborah Malone founder of the internationalist and host of internationalist marketing TV today's guests are Bridget sponsky executive director of brand and sponsorship marketing at Alli and Mariana dimitrova a managing partner and executive director at Essence Mediacom brid Mariana I am so delighted to welcome you to the show Ali is a brand that the internationalist has been following for a very long time you've won a number of our Awards but I think that your work on purpose just keeps evolving and I I hope that's what we say what we talk about today so welcome welcome welcome to you both glad well a pleasure to have you both well look let's let's open by by talking very generally now now Bridget maybe you're the best person to to answer that I I'd love the audience to know a little bit more about allies Origins its Mission and also why it's so important for a bank to reach new audiences and and build cultural relevance I I I think we we both know that um Banks aren't always the most beloved of categories um but yet Ally always breaks the rules on that particularly with metrics like likability and brand preference but before I say too much over to you and just talk about the beginnings yeah thanks for having me today Deborah I really appreciate it and I love to talk about the brand so you know I we're really unique Ally was born in 2009 and we were born in the middle of probably the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and it was at this time where the world didn't need another bank it it needed a better Bank it needed a bank with a better model that was customer first and so we actually launched Li the year that the iPhone was making its debut which is which is crazy in itself when you think about it but we took this huge bet that people would be doing everything in their life on this phone including their Banking and so it's always been this disruptive mindset in this innovative spirit that we've embodied at Ally and when you talk about you know why is it important from a culture perspective I mean culture is growth and we've always believed that culture is growth diversity is growth new audiences are growth and we have to go where the consumers are and in this new generation of consumers and the way that they're consuming media is in a totally different way than consumers consumed media in 209 when we were first launching the bank so if we're going to stay relevant and we're going to cultivate that next generation of consumers like we have been during our lifespan you know we need to learn where they are and how our brand can be most valuable to them and that that's interesting and I I love that um you use disruptive and Innovative because a lot of people use those words um but they don't always live up to it I just I just have a a quick question for you because I I'm I'm not sure in that I was so pressed years ago um when I first heard about Ally that I did become a a customer but is it is is the majority of of are the or is the majority of your customer base younger people or is is there now more of a let's call it a diversity of Ages I would say it's a diversity of Ages um you know our customer base you know when we started and we launched the bank was really of the mindset of being Trend Setters um you know you think about OA the first digital only Bank launched in the year that the iPhone was making its debut that was a turning point for culture um and as we've grown you know our our customer base and the way that we talk to Consumers is extremely diverse and I um I recognize that not only with your roots in Detroit and some of the things that you've done for the city but um I recall when you did the banks giving campaign and and just how extraordinary touching that was and again how how how different it was for a bank to literally Grant people's wishes with with uh with money um but anyway you talk about culture and I I think that that is you're right it it's something that's quite pivotal for you it's usually pivotal also for brands that that try very hard to be relevant and I think that we're finding ourselves in a in a cultural moment particularly with the Olympics coming up about women's sports so why don't why don't we move to that um be maybe you could tell us a little bit as you've been growing your audiences why allies involvement Sports and how did the sponsorship with women's sports begin and um talk about that and how the whole process of that growth yeah I mean we're we're fairly new in the sports sponsorship category we um we actually didn't um add our first sponsorship to our portfolio until 2019 um so we're fairly new in the space but women's sports was always a part of our strategy so the nwsl which is the national women's soccer league that was actually our second sponsorship in our portfolio and we did that in conjunction with our Charlotte football club sponsorship um you know back in 2020 2021 so you know we it goes back to the conversation of our brand is really built on this diverse and inclusive belief and with diversity as that sort of source of growth we really expanded our sponsorship portfolio intentionally and um you know in 2020 2021 women's soccer had this very intentional role it was the fastest growing sport in the United States the women's teams had a loyal fan base and we really saw that opportunity to add more fans to our brand through that through that portfolio and through that sponsorship but you know when we talk about women's sports there's a massive opportunity in itself to grow our audience and while the fan base is made of men and women you know what is interesting here is that when you're talking about women in women's sports you're seeing this totally interesting trajectory of the growth of the women consumer they're graduating at unprecedented rates from universities they're living longer they're actually making 90% of the household financial decisions so women are this opportunity of growth for any business but especially our business as a bank interesting Mariana do you want to chime in here because I know that Sports and and that element is something that you're pretty passionate about as well oh my got 100% and maybe just to add to what Bridget was saying um I would never forget when we had the discussion around um starting um in to invest in women Sports and that was a discussion with Bridget and with Andrea Alli CMO and Andrea kind of challenged us to figure out a way to do it and and I'm saying challenged us because the reality was that there just wasn't enough inventory rated inventory in women's sports games and or content for us to invest and the challenge was huge because um we what we wanted to do is we wanted to have 5050 investment between men and women sports um and um and and and again I had two feelings at the same time the first was Elation uh it was clear to me that this is going to be a pivotal moment not just for the brand we will be driving women's sports as an industry vertical it's got to be a pivotal moment for my career obviously doing something that is so momentous and will have an impact on again an entire industry and again as I was saying I was really dreading the fact that I then had to go back to my investment team and be like okay so how do we actually invest this money how do we do that um so I knew from the very beginning that we had to think differently that our job was Way Beyond media that we would have you know have to partner with um Bridget and her team with um a Legacy Media with emerging media to kind of create a new Marketplace um so to me that probably you know the beginning moment was probably a moment where uh we had to have a bit of a reality check and decide that we are going to approach this as a challenge as a team and we are going to drive change yeah outline just a a little bit more about the challenges because I I'm I'm guessing that aside from the fact that there's a disparity in in in athlete salaries for the most part between men and women and that's not what this is about this is sponsorship but there also seems to be a disparity as you start to mention with the amount of time dedicated to airing women's sports um which is why you came up with that challenge so so now just walk us through with that 5050 pledge how how did you actually make those changes or how did you push um networks to to our women sports how did you do that well you know it's it started with our sponsorship with the national women's soccer league and the national women's soccer league PA The Players Association and really listening to the players themselves and what they needed um from a coverage perspective from a brand investment perspective and really listening and learning and going through that process and it kind of goes back to our motto and the way that we approach everything which is this idea and you know Andrea brimer coins this a lot but Deeds over words and so whenever we go into something that's the mindset of which we approach it so that alignment with the PA was was really really important for us but um listening and learning is what really led us to this this notion of 50/50 media commitment pledge because what we were seeing was this vicious cycle happening right so the media companies aren't covering women's sports because the brands aren't coming to the table with investment and the brands aren't coming to the table with investment because the media companies aren't covering women's sports so we're just caught up in this cycle that was never ever going to change and it was really translating to a lot of things on the downward which was poor time slots it was lower value for the leagues it was low pay pay for the players like you mentioned so you know you just get caught up in this and and nobody was blinking like nobody was changing it and so we felt like we had that duty to Blink and to change it but the five years you know and just you know just to kind of level set our 50-50 pledge was for every dollar that we invest in men's sports media we were going to invest that same Dollar in women sports media and then what we said was we got to look and see if this is possible can we even do this does the inventory even exists and so we made that commitment over the next five years because we knew we couldn't do it alone we needed to have the media companies coming to the table to cover we needed other brands in the mix to be able to invest we had to figure out how to change the cycle um and we took a look at our own media mix and you know it was astounding because it was a bit out of web back when you look at our investment in men's sports and women's sports you know the the scale was completely unbalanced and so we had to change that but the hardest part about that was we didn't really know where our dollars were going because there wasn't the opportunity to truly direct investments into women's sports historically I think what women's sports has suffered from too was systemically being sold as a part of the men's sports package or as added value in some cases um you know to make sure that there were you know we were making the guaranteed Impressions and things like that so inventory was so few and far between and a lot of it was at low cost it was off peak time slots so could we even do this and that's what we had to really kind of look at and model out is over the next five years are we able to truly make that commitment and make that investment and you know two years in which is absolutely astounding is we've grown that investment in women's sports by 400% so we are almost at our 5050 commitment two years into our fiveyear pledge and that's a testament to the media companies and to the brands that are standing up and standing by us and making that commitment to congratulations Mariana I think you want to jump in here on a couple of things as well right yeah I mean Bridget said it so well and I kind of just wanted to add a a a little bit about uh the media companies you know it was interesting because they really came along with us um we we were inure when we went to our sales teams um at uh at at let's say CVS or Disney and started talking to them about buying women's sports separately if they will just come along and they did and and I have to say that a lot of this was also the fact that a lot of them were fathers or mothers and they had daughters who were in sports and they absolutely embraced that mission and then a part of it was just really we all Sports is where culture is and sports is growing Sports is the only place with guaranteed ratings and it really didn't make sense that there isn't um an investment in women's sports because we knew women's sports is growing too um so I just think that again we were um uh M driving that change at the right time um and we were I think really fortunate that we had Partners across the line from a media company perspective you also chose a Wonder time to do it because um the um the viewership in women's sports you know just has gone through the roof with so many different uh players and and and incidences and and teams and so on and um it's interesting because we covered um some research by a group called parody uh that that tries to do some work for athletes and uh women athletes and they they recently found um in surveying consumers around the world that that interestingly it's it's not what you think a high percentage of men also are watching women's sports particularly for for some of the Hallmark events in in women's sports and I I think that what's interesting now of course is that the Olympics coming up is and I don't know if a lot of people know this this is the first 5050 Equity Olympics as well so it's it's rather interesting but let me just follow on to what you both said um you you give a lot of Praise of course to the media but you also you you also talk about other brands now if I understand you also developed is it a women's sports club and you did reach out to other brands and platforms and sports innovators is that correct is that what helped push it is that what helped push this yeah it's definitely part of the puzzle that helped push it and that was very intentional and teaming up with the sports Innovation lab to create a place where Brands media companies athletes and everybody alike can come in and actually have decision makers in the room to decide on intentional investments in women's sports and try to move the model and um that's definitely been a a big piece of the pie of what's what's making the change and you know I know Mariana talked a little bit about just the media companies that have come to the table but you know part of what we've seen from that is you know not only were we able to work with CBS and move the first ever Professional Women's Championship Match to Prime Time which was a feat in itself and saw viewership Skyrocket 71% that year which was incredible but we've also been able to work with Partners like Disney and be able to direct 90% of our investment directly into women's sports through the Atlanta Coast Conference partnership that we have so that's you know that's a model mover in itself too so seeing a lot of this come to fruition from the women's sports club and then also being able to forge relationships with other big Brands who are in the space and who are becoming in the space has proven to be important for the movement forward too no again I I can't congratulate you enough it you what you've done is amazing and I I love um Andrea's words deed um sorry Deeds over words um but a lot of the things that you tackle tend to be real challenges so let let me just ask you for the fun of it how about this challenge was was it tougher than some of the other ones that you've done in the past or or um it's always challenging to create change but this one sounded like it was pretty tough It's it was incredibly tough and I think it's um to your point I think it's always hard to create change and um you know if it wasn't if it was easy everybody would do it and I think that's what we have to go back to but you know we still you know struggle in terms of you know Investments and opportunities you know we still are faced with off peak time slots on a lot of women's sports a lot of um exclusivity issues right because when we talked a little bit earlier about historically women's sports being sort of packaged with men's sports you know if if there is um a financial institution who's locked in with the men's sports they're kind of locked in with the women's sports in some cases so we can't get in there we can't invest there and a lot of the times that's the inventory we need um you know I think we've seen um you know it isn't just um a onetoone valuation and I think that's another area that we have to be really mindful of when we're thinking of um the contract process in sponsorships because women's sports have a different valuation than men's sports do um just because of where we are in the process so definitely challenges and I think just there's going to be challenges to come I don't think this is going to be you know a quick movement but it is certainly a movement and we're certainly seeing the momentum so I think we just got to keep added and chipping away and we'll start to see hopefully at some point in the future it just becoming Sports women's and men's equally no that you well said and I I think that one of the things about marketing now that people really do talk about is that it it goes beyond marketing and culture when it does become a movement and then that move mement brings it back to what it should be just Sports which is which is a a fascinating Evolution unto itself let me ask you something else because you are a bank um and um there's there's there's always accountability um and goodness knows there's there's a lot more accountability in marketing today than there ever has been um I I have no doubt that you know as worthy and as passionate as people were about this this sponsorship you still had to drive business results so um can you tell us about that um you I realize some of it might be proprietary but I I'm sure people are really curious about it and I and I also don't know if if there's if there is such a metric and maybe Mariana you know this better than than I would if there is also a metric that looks at driving cultural impact I'm I'm not sure but please let us know about that yeah we we actually look at um metrics in both cases so we actually watch the industry and then we look at our own metrics and you know from an industry perspective I think one of the most telling is the fact that media coverage has grown from arguably 4% to 15% I mean that's that's a pretty big metric in a two-year period of time and a lot of that is due to new and emerging media platforms um that are coming into play and I think Mariana can probably talk a little bit more about that but we're also seeing um sponsorship investment growing from an industry perspective and we're seeing records being broken all over the place when it comes to viewership um but from a brand perspective what we're what we're seeing since our 50-50 pledge is you know some of our Big Brand Health metrics that we look at have really grown in terms of um increase double digits and that's been incredible and when we're seeing that type of favorability so when we're seeing our likeability grow and our preference grow and our consideration grow that means for us it's those consumers are going to be more likely to convert and they're going to convert at a more efficient rate because we're already able to have built that trust and that preference and that likability um and then from a retention standpoint you know those customers tend to be more loyal too so we're seeing it play out for us in a brand metrics perspective hand over fist and I think what is really important to just kind of shed light on is that that's that is true culture impact because the game is tremendous women's sports game is tremendous and it always has been it's always been there the players have always been great and there's the talent has always been there and now it's being covered and people are seeing it and the viewers are growing because of it Mariana do you have anything to add to that I mean you saided so well maybe just to um you know one thing that maybe I want to mention is that we knew much measurement is going to be super important so when we started working on this this initiative we knew that measurement is going to be a journey just like the rest of the work we are we are doing uh um on Sports and specifically women's sports and um we are constantly evolving and we have to evolve because very often we are still investing in unrated inventory and then we have to figure out how to measure the impact but again to Bridget's point we know that the fence and consumers who are exposed to Ali advertising or Ali are six times more likely to convert and when I say advertising it really is women's sports advertising to the women's sports message and that is a powerful number like that is a number that we it sticks with you and and just makes a very compelling case and then you know we talked a bit about um impact on culture and and and do we want to make sure that we do that as a brand absolutely but again I feel like here we are going even a layer deeper and we are driving systemic change that in turn has huge impact on culture and we've seen that again to Bridget's Point we've seen increase in um a number of games that are now um part of rated um Legacy Media and or streams um we are seeing uh the increasing coverage all of this is I think between 15 and 20% depending on you know how you um which part of it you look at and and that's huge if in two years we can say there are 15% more games that are on on ESPN and ABC and CBS and NBC that is a huge huge change um and again look we just started um the marketplace is just being formed it's going to be a journey but it is more than a solid start it's just an exciting place to be now um let me just clarify um because you said um there was movement from 4% to 15% so are you saying that meant now women's sports was only 4% of possible viewership options and now it's moved to 15% I just want to make sure I have the stats correct so I think what Bridget was referring to is that the coverage if oh the coverage of coverage you know men and women coverage 4% was women's sports and then that route to 15 and you know maybe another really powerful stat to mention here if we look at investment numbers how much are we investing in men's sports versus women's sports we were at 2% investment in women's sports I mean this is just mind-blowing of the investment in sports only 2% goes to women's sports um so um a lot of work to be done as Bridget said no um and one of the things that we haven't even gotten into and I'm almost thinking it might be fun as as a a second series is just how um influential women athletes are in terms of people when they when they even support a brand or become an influencer of just the how the impact they have not only on other women but people tend to trust them more and so on again another conversation but I I think this is an interesting ecosystem you know in terms of looking at it from a a full marketing perspective let me just segue to something else because um Bridget you talked about uh the origins and obviously um Ally is a purpose-driven brand uh you were shall we say born with purpose as as some people like to um talk about the origins of purpose in that you started during the financial crisis um and what I find so amazing is how your ideas of purpose keep evolving um now do you have advice for any other marketers who are grappling with their own purpose and particularly ways of keeping it relevant yeah I I mean so just for context I've been with Ally for 16 years so I was one of the original teammates that came over here to help and Rebrand the company and so when we did that our purpose and our values were founded on were critically important to us and I think you know the notion of our conviction being that we're all better off with an ally and we're that Relentless Ally for your financial well-being that's always been at the Forefront of everything that we've done so you've seen our brand grow and you've seen our brand evolve over time but we've always stayed really consistent in our voice in what we believe and I think that foundation's actually given us the ability to always come back to Bringing value to the consumer and so we have to think about in our heads are we working to positively affect the financial trajectory of people's lives and everything that we do and I think that that's what leads to operating with Deeds over words and so I think my advice would be that's what's going to make the impact it's it's not it's not the assets that come with a partnership or a sponsorship it's the impact that you can make with that sponsorship or that partnership and the consistency of being there because if we just came in and out nothing would change so that consistent investment is so important when you're leading with purpose uh that's very well said and and I don't think I've heard you know and goodness knows and all the conversations that I've had on purpose and all the research that we've done on its Evolution I don't think I've I've heard people talk about the consistency of investment and and that that you you've raised an interesting a very interesting point um all right finally um I we could talk I think for three days um but um perhaps people wouldn't listen for three days but um just the last question um is there any way you can give us a glimpse of what's next or I I realize that could be a secret but um perhaps there's some things that that you're working on now that you can share yeah there's definitely some Secrets um and hopefully hopefully those Secrets will be broken soon but um you know we just signed a big partnership with the USGA uh the United States Golf Association both on the men's and the women's side so again just really getting at that Equity piece of it you know making sure that we I think another big important thing to understand is what what we're doing is not a men's versus women's thing it is a men's and a women's thing and and that Equity piece is so important and um we've also signed on with the Las Vegas Aces um a WNBA team who both USGA and the aces are the most premier Partners they're already breaking records it's been absolutely fantastic year for us in our first year partnership with both of those entities and you know you'll see us to continually invest intentionally I think staying true to our focus on media Equity um pushing this traditional sponsorship model into opportunities to really make long-term change that's the direction that we're going so I think you'll see some really cool things from us to come wonderful Mariana any final words um no secrets here um I think that probably the most important initiative I'm working on right now um and kind of pushing the envelope uh together with Bridget and and for you know the marketplace in general is um establishing a solid women's sports Marketplace um so groupm announced a few months ago that we are launching a women's sports Marketplace that also was something that wasn't in existence and and I have to say that without Andrea and Bridget and their team we most likely would not have launched the women Marketplace um when we launched it it would have taken us a bit more time so the push we got from um Ally was was very timely um so we are really working on making sure that there are the opportunities that will lead Brands to invest more in women's sports so we could drive systemic change so we can grow ratings and we can create more inventory that is attractive um um from an investment perspective and ultimately will lead to Brand growth well nothing's been better said and um Deeds over words and you're you're both much to be admired it's an honor to have you talking about this and um congratulations to you both and may you continue doing such great work thank you Deborah we really appreciate it thank you a pleasure the internationalist focuses on the continual reinvention of marketing by highlighting inspirational marketers around the world and their ideas as they move the industry forward internationalist marketing TV shares these perspectives through interview RS and personal stories thanks so much for watching if you find this kind of content helpful please click like or subscribe again thanks so much