Digital & Dirt
00:42:38 · Ian Dallimore, Monica Ellingson
[00:42:38] S0: Oh, Okay. [00:42:38] S1: So so yeah, you know, both the USTA and the partnership there and Wimbledon are over thirty years. But I think it was Wimbledon first, then the US Open, and then the Masters soon after. But but all of them, you know, are are around the thirty year mark for a partnership. [00:42:55] S0: Yeah. And I guess the question comes a little bit deeper because it's... Do you find taking data from certain sporting events and then seeing like, hey, this makes sense to move this. Obviously, the sports, the data itself different, but how you present that data. Does the tennis side help with the golf side and vice versa? Like, oh, here's a stat we haven't thought of. Like, I think about the swing quality. Like, do you then transition that over to the swing quality in golf? Like, do those transition over in a way or at least inspire to think about different data points that are similar?
00:43:29 · Monica Ellingson
[00:43:29] S1: Yeah. I think it I think it inspires, you know, you know, because there are themes that are consistent across, you know, all of the different brands or challenges even that we're trying to... That we face. You know, one of them I've already mentioned in terms of, you know, being able to free up, you know, valuable editorial resources, you know, to focus on storytelling and using their creative energy. You know, another is, you know, representing the the the brand and its own voice. But in terms of inspiration, yes. You know, because at, you know, all three of the the major partnerships that I talked about, US Open, Wimbledon, and The Masters, we're lucky that we have vast volume... Access to vast volumes of data. So we're able to process that, analyze that, and help with storytelling and, you know, auto generational content within that space. But just thinking about sports as a whole, you mentioned momentum. Momentum is something that I can't even think of a sport that wouldn't have some kind of a momentum shift. So and thinking about the different components of performance. So performance in terms of physical readiness. How does the weather contribute? How does the physical space, the environment contribute to a player's performance? What about mental toughness? I mean, that's something that I've been chasing for over a decade in terms of being able to better capture and analyze a a stat or insights related to to mental toughness. And, you know, all of these things definitely inspire us.
00:45:07 · Ian Dallimore, Monica Ellingson
[00:45:07] S0: So obviously, tennis men... Mental toughness is key. I mean, fact that those women and men play four to six plus hours deep into the night sometimes is mind blowing to me. But I just wrote a note down, the mental toughness side on golf and then tying in that historical data of a golfer that's been at Augusta, you know, the last seven years and on this hole, they did this, this, and this. So for you guys to dissect that down, like, that's wildly exciting as a fan to be like, woah, I had no idea that Rory was at this hole four years ago and he eagled it. So today, statistically, what is his chances of eagling here and then watching the momentum and maybe it start sprinkling. See, look, my mind works like yours. [00:45:51] S1: See, you're already brainstorming. [00:45:52] S0: What else can we do? I know. Can I come intern for you? Let's do this. [00:45:55] S1: You just stepped inside my mind right there. I know.
00:45:57 · Ian Dallimore
[00:45:57] S0: Right? It's fun and terrifying as well as mine. But the thing that you talked about, which I love in shifting over to The Masters and and Augusta, when you open that app and, you know, I had the US Open app just because we met, and I was like, I'm gonna download this and actually see their work in life to at least prepare for the podcast. But The Masters, I've I've had that app downloaded. I've never been been invited a few times, haven't gone, which most people are like, you're crazy. I know. Trust me. We have a we have a Lamar office in Augusta. We have digital right outside of the gates. Like, it's... I don't want say it's easy for me to go, but I have had opportunities. But to your point, like, I'm looking to my left here because I have a little iPad stand where when you turn on and open that app, you're not just showing data and statistics and just the basic players when they tee off. To your point, it opens up. And maybe because I'm also a geek and I love landscape architect and all that thing, but it's almost like you guys have also captured the brand itself within the app and expressing each hole and the importance of it and the history of it. It... I feel like in that one, you're storytelling more than anything beyond just stats and data. Like, you're you're bringing to life. And to your point, like, the accessibility of fans to the Masters is extremely difficult to get to, but it lives right inside your your phone in such a meaningful way that that's more than just a typical sports app.
00:47:23 · Monica Ellingson, Ian Dallimore
[00:47:23] S1: Well, thank you so much for that on behalf of my team and also, you know, the... You know, Augusta National hires, you know, some of the very best photographers in the world. Their editorial teams are unbelievably talented. So I I feel so lucky to work around people who are able to capture, you know, such beauty and to put put it together in such an elegant way. I mean, it's... It takes an army to pull that off, to be honest. And, you know, so I'm I'm I'm glad. Thank you for that on the path of everybody behind me. [00:47:58] S0: Of course. Yeah. So let's pivot over. So as we kind of... The last ten minutes here, you know, your mind, as you had mentioned, your team is constantly bringing new things. But, you know, with AI becoming more prevalent, to your point, like, on the team needs to have some sort of use and the tool of it. But where do you see the biggest opportunities for AI and data in sports? And I know you're harnessing it already, but what are those new opportunities moving forward?
00:48:25 · Monica Ellingson
[00:48:25] S1: I think the biggest opportunity is we have with with AI and, you know, tools like Claude and Bob and others that enable us to be able to, you know, once you have an idea and to create a working prototype of that idea sometimes within hours or or or days at the longer end, which means that you can succeed fast and you can fail fast. You know, in the past, if you if you think about it, you know, we would we would have, you know, ideation sessions with, you know, Wimbledon and USTA, Masters, others, you know, after each tournament. And then, you know, we would... It would take, you know, weeks or months to pull together our proof of concept behind these ideas. And by that point, even that's a big investment in time and money and etcetera. And especially when, you know, the event's not gonna move. So you have to, you know, the idea that you have, if you're gonna bring it forward, you have to get it, you know, in development and test it out and hardened, you know, very, very quickly. So I think the fact that, you know, you can pull ideas forward and prove them out so quickly means that the speed of innovation is going to move lightning fast. And I think that's really exciting, you know, because, you know, again, just the investment in an idea and being able to prove it out so quickly. You know, it's always been certainly very disappointing in the past when, you know, you have an idea, you spend all the time investment on it, and then you're like, maybe it wasn't as, you know, great as we thought it was gonna be. And, you know, that happens. But now you can you can honestly abandon something, you know, faster without spending all that that time. And, so I'm really, really curious and excited to see, you know, how that's gonna affect not just the sports industry, but, you know, the entire consulting industry and technology as a whole. I mean, we've already seen just massive ripple effects, in this evolution of the speed of innovation. And I think that we're all trying to sort of figure out like, what does this really mean and how do we need to change the way we work, the way we work with our clients, the way we work as designers, as writers, as developers, it's going to touch and has touched every part of our lives.