Scott Massey’s job is to bring attention to the names of his clients as the Jacksonville Jaguars senior vice president of corporate partnerships.
He joined the Jaguars May 29 after working as vice president of business development and title sponsor relations for the PGA Tour for seven years.
A lifelong golfer, Massey wasn’t looking for a career change when a friend introduced him to new Jaguars President Mark Lamping.
“She said to me, you couldn’t want for a better guy to work for and, if nothing else, you guys should get to know each other,” said Massey.
During their first meeting, Massey couldn’t help but notice Lamping’s enthusiasm for the Jaguars organization.
“I didn’t go into it thinking I might go to work for the Jaguars, but after that first conversation you could sort of feel the passion Mark had for his new role,” said Massey.
Massey understood Jaguars owner Shahid Khan and Lamping were successful in their careers and probably could be a part of any organization — and they chose the Jaguars.
“It was really an opportunity to be a part of Jaguars 2.0. I left that conversation and I told my wife that I really think that something special is going on with the Jags and I want to be part of it,” said Massey.
He is one of a handful of new executives in the Jaguars front office bringing new ideas to the organization. “Jax Lab” is one of those ideas.
“Because we are the only major professional team in this region, we have an uncluttered market and a very measurable market for people to partner with us to try innovative sponsorship concepts,” said Massey.
“Jax Lab” is an incubator where national brands and existing partners can try out promotional ideas.
“(We will) work very hard to find new ways of connecting our fans to our partners’ brands — getting our fans to interact with and to engage with their products in a way that really moves the needle for them,” said Massey.
The Jaguars are looking at removing the traditional barriers of entry that may have kept businesses from considering sponsorships.
“In most cases, the barrier to entry can be quite high because of the significant investment and long-term commitment that is required. What we are trying to do is take a different approach and not require those things,” said Massey.
“We want to say, ‘Hey, work with us on a trial basis, let us find programs that work’ and, hopefully, what will flow out of that is a lot of people who want to work with us who want to make greater investments and work with us on the long term,” said Massey.
Traditional sponsorships will continue to be a part of the marketing plan, but Massey said the Jaguars also want to create sponsorships that get people talking.
“One of the things from an intangible perspective that is important to me, and I’ll know that we are actually making inroads, isn’t so much about how much revenue did we drive, but it’s did we get people outside of Jacksonville talking about, ‘have you seen what they are doing in Jacksonville?’” said Massey.
Massey said the Jaguars can offer flexibility.
“We have the ability to do things on a game-by-game basis because we are that nimble. If it doesn’t work, we have the ability to turn and do something different next week for the next game,” said Massey.
The Jaguars also want to change how they deal with the tarps that cover some of the seats.
“We are trying to think up thoughtful ways to address that and we are working with our tarp sponsor to, hopefully, find a solution that everybody can get excited about in the coming years,” said Massey.
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