Breaking the Marketing Mold: Tom Leone of Brkthru On 5 Innovative & Non Traditional Marketing Strategies That Can Engage Audiences Like Never Before
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Second Screen Viewing: With the rise of second screen viewing, particularly in live sports, businesses can create more interactive and engaging experiences. This strategy taps into the behavior of viewers who are actively using their phones or other devices while watching live sports, making it a cost-effective way to reach a highly engaged audience.
Traditional marketing methods are no longer sufficient in today’s dynamic and fast-evolving market. To truly engage and captivate audiences, businesses need to think outside the box and adopt innovative and non-traditional marketing strategies. What are these strategies, and how can they transform audience engagement? I had the pleasure of interviewing Tom Leone.
Tom is the VP of Media Services at Brkthru. Previously, Tom was the VP of Programmatic Strategy and Operations for GateHouse Media. Tom currently lives with his wife Janie in Sandy Hook, CT, and is the proud father of Bobby, Alice and Mary as well as their recent new addition, Hazel, their Yellow Labrador Retriever. When not working, Tom enjoys cheering on the NY Giants and Yankees, listening to music, and of course, spending time with his family.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! To start, could you share when and how you got started in marketing?
I have always had a passion for sports and envisioned myself as a professional baseball player. Which was going according to plan until I realized I didn’t have the height, strength, speed or talent to be one….so, I looked at the next best option — a sports journalist! It wasn’t until I began freelance sports writing out of college that I began to truly understand the impact of ad dollars on journalism and vice versa. There was an entire business dedicated to funding quality journalism, and one I became curious about. This was around the time of the .com boom and newspapers republishing their print articles online, inevitably monetizing that content with banner ads. It was at that point I was hooked on the benefits of both journalism and the economy, and I decided to pivot from journalism to marketing. This was an easy, seamless transition for me as both are ultimately rooted in storytelling.
What has been the biggest shift in the marketing industry and can you give us an example of how it impacted you?
With sports marketing, athletes are becoming their own brands and entities, particularly through NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals in college athletics. Athletes are bypassing traditional media channels and directly connecting with their audience through social media. This direct connection allows them to monetize and advertise their personal brand, further changing the landscape of marketing in sports. For marketers and advertisers like me, it means changing the way we’ve previously thought about celebrity partnerships.
Can you explain why it’s essential for businesses to break away from traditional marketing and embrace new strategies?
The way we used to watch sports — like sitting down to watch a game in its entirety — has changed. When you’re watching a baseball game on TV and see shots of the crowd, everyone is on their phones and refreshing between pitches. Attention spans are shorter. Watching sports has been replaced by more accessible formats like watching highlights on Yahoo Sports or through the MLB app. People now consume content in non-traditional ways, and marketers must adapt to these changes.
Could you share and briefly explain the first major change you made to break the trend of traditional marketing that was not so common?
Understanding the rise of second screen viewing, especially with the legalization of sports wagering, has changed our perspective on how to reach new audiences. People are now engaging with live sports betting and using social media to comment and interact with fans during games. This creates more engaged viewership and new sponsorship opportunities, such as in-game overlays that provide real-time data and statistics.
What specific results did you see after implementing this change?
Advertising has become more accessible for smaller brands. It used to be that only big brands could afford to advertise during sporting events. Now there are options for budgets of all shapes and sizes.
How do you ensure that these new marketing strategies resonate with your target audience?
With any new sports marketing strategies, it’s important to understand the audience’s behavior and preferences. With the shift towards streaming and second screen viewing, we know that viewers are engaging with their phones or other devices while watching live sports. Advertisers need to create more interactive and engaging experiences that align with these behaviors, like placing ads next to social media content about sports science (how fast was that pitch, what was the launch angle, etc.), updated real time betting odds, or streaming audio content specific to a consumer’s favorite team.
Can you share an example of something you tried that didn’t deliver expected results or ended up ended up becoming a financial burden, and what you learned from that experience?
Historically, advertising in live sports, particularly MLB games, was quite expensive. The cost to reach the audience through traditional in-game advertising was high, and it didn’t always yield the desired engagement or return on investment for our clients. While live sports advertising has a captivated audience, the cost associated with it can be prohibitive.
Understanding this has taught me the importance of exploring more economical and effective ways for our clients to reach their target audience. By targeting viewers who are actively using their secondary devices, we can achieve better results without the high costs associated with traditional live sports advertising.
Great. Now, let’s dive into the heart of our interview. Could you list “5 Innovative & Non Traditional Marketing Strategies That Can Engage Audiences Like Never Before”?
- Second Screen Viewing: With the rise of second screen viewing, particularly in live sports, businesses can create more interactive and engaging experiences. This strategy taps into the behavior of viewers who are actively using their phones or other devices while watching live sports, making it a cost-effective way to reach a highly engaged audience.
- Streaming Services: Embracing streaming services for advertising can be a game-changer. Platforms like Netflix, Apple TV, and Amazon are investing heavily in sports content, creating new distribution methods and advertising opportunities. Advertisers can reach a broader audience and take advantage of the changing ways people consume content.
- Influencer Marketing: Leveraging influencers to promote products or services can be highly effective. Influencers have a direct connection with their audience and can create authentic and engaging content that resonates with their followers. This strategy bypasses traditional advertising channels and allows businesses to reach their target audience in a more personal and way.
- Programmatic Audio: Audio has been around for a long time; it’s an effective branding medium. The continued rise of personalized audio creates immense opportunity to reach a highly contextually targeted audience. Sports podcasts, live game broadcasts, streaming sports talk shows, niche topics, the possibilities are truly endless.
- Digital Out of Home: Utilizing Digital Out of Home (DOOH) is another effective tactic to utilize when looking to reach sports enthusiasts. From purchasing large billboards in or around stadiums, to targeting screens outside sporting good stores or sports bars, there is always an opportunity to reach your audience when they are on the go.
What challenges might companies face when transitioning away from traditional marketing strategies, and how can they overcome them?
One challenge we see is resistance to change — mostly because people aren’t aware of the new marketing and advertising options that exist and the type of results these new strategies can yield. At Brkthru, we focus on education and ensuring our clients feel confident in the ads they are buying. And we have awesome clients who trust our expertise, so once they fully understand their options, they’re usually game to try non-traditional options if it makes sense for their brand.
How do you measure the success and ROI of these new marketing strategies?
Depending on the client goals, measurement will take on different forms. We work with each client to understand their key objectives and tailor measurement accordingly. It can be as simple as trends or unique visitors to their website to actual onsite or offsite conversions.
Looking forward, how do you see the role of innovative marketing evolving in the next 5–10 years?
We will see continued fragmentation and disruption in the sports broadcasting space. Sports will become more of an a la carte viewing package rather than provided in a cable bundle. It will lead to a more cumbersome, fragmented buying environment, aggregating inventory into packages.
What advice would you give to business leaders who are hesitant to move away from traditional marketing methods?
Think about cost. Traditional ads during sporting events are expensive. Today, you can still reach your audience through more cost-effective approaches that won’t break the bank.
Can you share any upcoming initiatives or plans you have for further innovating your marketing strategies?
A major initiative and partner opportunity for us at Brkthru is our One Day Sale in September. The entire company gathers, and during this event we offer special one-time only opportunities on new paid digital media campaigns to close out the year and kick start the next. It’s exciting for our teams and our clients, who are eager to participate.
How can our readers follow your work and learn more about your approaches to modern marketing?
You can follow me on LinkedIn, connect with Brkthru info@brkthru.com ,on LinkedIn and Instagram, and read the Brkthru blog.
This was great. Thank you so much for the time you spent sharing with us.
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein is a seasoned entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience as a Founder and CEO. While attending Ohio State University, he launched his first company, Choice Recovery, Inc., a nationally recognized healthcare collection agency — twice ranked the #1 workplace in Ohio. In 2013, he founded [re]start, helping thousands of people find meaningful career opportunities. After selling both companies, Chad shifted his focus to his true passion — leadership. Today, he coaches founders and CEOs at Built to Lead, advises Authority Magazine’s Thought Leader Incubator.
Breaking the Marketing Mold: Tom Leone of Brkthru On 5 Innovative & Non Traditional Marketing… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.