Manager, Sports Brand Solutions

About the position

The Sports Brand Solutions groups serve the Disney Advertising Sales team as experts on specific sports/properties (i.e. College Football, NBA, NFL, Women’s Sports). The group is vital to the sales process and drives significant advertising revenue via the creation of cross platform sponsorship opportunities and turnkey, customized marketing solutions. The Sports Brand Solutions group oversees the development and execution of all sponsorship deliverables, to ensure sponsorship elements and enhancements run correctly. The group works closely with internal stakeholders including Sales, Production, Programming, Editorial, Revenue & Operations, Consumer Marketing and Legal to strategically maximize the revenue and sales opportunities across our sport platforms inclusive of linear, digital, social, streaming, on-site, and more. The Sports Brand Solutions group is a team of experts that provide creative marketing sponsorship and integration opportunities across ESPN’s vast content portfolio. The team is responsible for the complete sponsorship process including, but not limited to, rights negotiations, strategy, ideation, and execution. The SBS team also manages the day-to-day external sales relationships with our various League and 3rd party production partners to ensure we are following the contractual guardrails and maximizing revenue opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Develop multimedia sponsorship packages for NBA properties across TV, Digital, Social and On-Site activation platforms
• Serve as Ad Sales liaison to Production/Content
• Serve as a point person aggregating intel, managing timelines, and ultimately delivering completed opportunities to sales/clients
• Assist respective Executive Director and Senior Manager with their efforts to drive sponsorship opportunities across TV and digital platforms for NBA
• Act as first line of defense to Associate Manager & Coordinator
• Grow and develop relationships with content and league partners
• Collaborate directly with content partners on sponsor opportunities and positions
• Manage all aspects of the on-air feature enhancement process
• Manage the creation of sponsorship related graphics and similar assets from start to finish, in partnership with colleagues in Sports Brand Solutions and Creative Services
• Assist in creation and distribution of linear and addressable sales obligations
• Maintain current awareness of competitive sponsorship marketplace
• Research and create customized added value opportunities to maximize advertising sales revenue
• Provide recommendations on deal point letters on front end of negotiation
• Participate with Management in understanding more complex issues and resolutions
• Attend client meetings and participate on client calls, as needed

Requirements

• 5+ years related work experience
• Must be able to thrive in a fast-paced environment that requires a high level of responsiveness
• Proficient with Outlook, PowerPoint, Keynote, Word, and Excel
• Excellent written, verbal and listening communication skills
• An optimistic, solution-oriented, team player who leads by example

Nice-to-haves

• Experience in digital media sales preferred
• Experience in sports marketing, sales, or partnerships preferred
• Thorough understanding of NBA landscape
• Detail oriented and strong time management skills
• High level of creativity
• Strong written and presentation skills
• High level of customer service
• Self-starter with ability to work independently, while being accountable to team
• Flexibility to travel during week and weekends

Benefits

• A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package
• Full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered