Steve (00:00.731)
and we'll take it from there, okay? Great. So just give me one moment.

Steve (00:20.347)
in perhaps one of the most nuanced aspects of sports marketing. One that was certainly considered peripheral and perhaps even a benefit to a corporation that they did simply to show goodwill to a community in keeping up with the Joneses. But boy, over the last four, five years, how that has changed. Social impact is an issue.

that perhaps was, not perhaps, was being furtively engaged by corporations in the business of sports industry, corporate sponsors, for many decades, but in the heart and soul of the city in which Brett Taber, the vice president of social impact at the Minnesota Vikings Lives, where the tragedy of George Floyd took place, social impact.

became the buzzword in our industry. Things have changed since then. We're gonna get deep into the world of what constitutes effective and lacking social impact with our guest today, Brett Taber, Vice President of Social Impact at Minnesota Vikings. Welcome to the Transaction Report.

Brett Taber (01:38.69)
Thanks so much, Steve. Happy to be here and looking forward to the conversation.

Steve (01:42.921)
It's an interesting conversation. It's a conversation that frankly has been one that is very much case to case. Team to team, sponsor to sponsor, association to association, athlete to athlete. One that even in your own prior conversation on the subject can be so influenced by an owner of a team.

And you have been with an organization now, believe, for, well actually, let me just ask you, how long have you been with the Vikings?

Brett Taber (02:19.852)
This is heading into my 19th season with the Vikings organization. So it seems like a blink of an eye. And certainly, as you noted, a lot has changed in that time.

Steve (02:22.345)
Cheers.

Steve (02:29.587)
Brett, the story of life, when you get up to keep it, as we all know, all the cliches we learned as a kid come true. That's the shocking thing from our parents. Rebelled against them, but they all seem to come true the older we get. And it is a blink of an eye. And what was so prominent in our daily lives was dealing with the aftermath. Again, what you were in the...

the real base, the, I don't wanna say ground zero, coming from New York, and I don't wanna use that metaphor, but let's say the epicenter of where the focus of discussing what does it even mean to be in the world of sports today and have a relationship with a community, with a broader community beyond your particular market.

depending on what your KPIs are, what your objectives are. And recognizing as well, by the way, just I haven't thought about it till this discussion, that for so many, there's the assumption that social impact means diversity, equity, inclusion. That it's presumed that it is very George Floyd Colin Kaepernick based.

But it's, not to diminish that, but it is so much broader. That is a singular aspect of social impact.

Brett Taber (04:00.568)
Yeah. I mean, I think the interesting part of the conversation, as you alluded to, is that the nomenclature change in the world of sports has changed so dramatically over the time, at least that I've had the opportunity to work in the industry, going from something that was typically corporate social responsibility to social impact. There was often this need to make up for the negative deeds of our players off the field, this penance, if you will, of what these

players and organizations were doing negatively. So let's do this positive PR story off the field, get the good press, get the good photo op. And that was enough. What I have seen and what I have enjoyed most about this journey is that sports organizations, leagues, teams, players have started to understand the incredible platform that they have to make a difference in our world.

And so that shifting nomenclature, see teams now changing from community relations to community impact from social responsibility to social impact, because there is such an intentionality behind these organizations of trying to leverage all the resources that they have at their disposal to address pertinent issues that are existing in their own communities through the powerful lens of sports. And so that I think is been one of the real joys of kind of moving forward in this space.

And as you noted with here in Minnesota and being at that epicenter of where the killing of George Floyd took place, there truly is a lot more intentionality behind the work and it doesn't just extend to DEI or social justice issues like people might naturally allude to. It can be a whole host of things, but I think it really should be centered in what are the issues that are facing your community and how can you help support them in a measurable and impactful way.

Steve (05:50.377)
You know, it's interesting. I recall back, I went to grad school in the 80s, and I remember in our general business management classes, there were very weighty discussions about what was considered and constituted as frankly just wasted cash. The companies feeling this obligatory allocation of capital.

that somehow to go back into the community and you had to be frankly keeping up with the Joneses in many ways because there had to be some mechanism and very often these are tax write-offs as well but you had the opportunity, the discussion was how much does, what does it mean to be a good corporate citizen? And I think those were in fact the words that were used back in the 70s and 80s.

And there were raging debates in the essence of debating capitalism. And because of course, when you look at the discussion, there can be certain elements to it that scream out, but this is not capitalism. This sounds a little more socialism oriented and beyond. Why do I have a responsibility? I'm not a community leader per se.

We have a civics department in our city for that. What is a Minnesota Vikings team that's bringing so much joy, presumably, to the fans routinely, perennially, have to be tethered to the community with some what appears to be quote unquote charitable engagement.

Brett Taber (07:39.128)
think there's kind of two points to that. And I love that question. One, as you think about general corporate businesses outside of sports, you look at the next generation of consumers. And as you look at the younger generations, Gen Z millennials, there's a greater shift in terms of what they want to do in terms of their engagement as consumers with the companies that they're supporting and the companies that they're they're purchasing from in terms of what is that company's impact.

What is that company doing? They're not giving from a dollar standpoint in the same way that maybe previous generations have from a philanthropic standpoint. What they're giving of is with their time through volunteerism and their energy and they care more statistically than previous generations about the impact that the brands that they're supporting have. And so I think just general business sense there's you can say why are we

Steve (08:19.486)
Mm.

Brett Taber (08:35.086)
pushing these dollars into these spaces. Why do we care about a major fortune 500 and the work that we're doing? Because your consumers care a great deal and you risk now more than ever in this digital age about the negative sentiment that you can create for a wrong misstep or for not showing up in the spaces that matter to your consumers.

Steve (08:42.867)
Mm.

Steve (08:54.729)
100, just to interject one point, because I want to just fortify for our viewers, the numbers I recall having spent an awful lot of time in this and having been a property owner of many, different sports events throughout my career, having to be engaged in this. Gen Z, if I remember correctly, is about 70 % are deeply tethered to the fact that they will be influenced by a brand that relates philosophically to the causes of

the entire amount causes of that particular member of that target market. Millennials might be 5 % less than that. And I think 95 % all deeply feel that it's a fundamental importance. But again, as far as affecting buying behavior, it's astronomical. So there's a business, certainly a business reason for it. There's no question about that. The question is to your point, and I know you had,

to share, I just want to make sure that we covered the issue of the younger gem. So first, would you just give us a quick, quick understanding of your demographic market? And that's both demographic for live spectator and demographic for TV viewing audience. And of course, we'll get into the demographic for your social impact activities.

Brett Taber (10:18.424)
Yeah, so from a Minnesota Vikings perspective, our pan population skews 45 plus with a larger percentage male. And that's both those season ticket members that we have as well as our fans that would be consuming on TV. But

Steve (10:34.621)
What percent of season ticket holders bred are male?

Brett Taber (10:39.214)
If you look on an account holder basis you're probably looking at about 70 % or so of our STM population.

Steve (10:47.881)
I would have thought it was around 85. If you had asked me, I just never thought about it, but I would have thought 80, 85%. But then again, some of those on the 70 % could be we're putting it in my wife's name, my mother. It could be, we don't know the reason by which that ticket holder is holding it. Is that a fair statement or do you believe the distribution is 70-30 based on interest?

Brett Taber (11:13.998)
No, I think that there's probably other circumstances that weigh into that. We have a much stronger growth, especially recently in our female demographics and our women that are supporting the team. think a lot of our makes up our season ticket member base and why that desperation between those numbers is because a lot of times, honestly, corporate or brokers or skew those numbers. But the change over and why we're seeing that shift maybe.

Steve (11:33.459)
for free.

Steve (11:37.8)
Hmm.

Brett Taber (11:42.498)
A lot of our accounts, whether positive or nature, the team started in 1961. So a lot of those original accounts are transferring hands now. And so as you move to that next generation, they're not leaving the family, but oftentimes we're finding different people that are taking assumption of those accounts.

Steve (11:50.185)
Yeah, exactly.

Steve (11:56.753)
Yeah, that was cross my, I didn't want to get into that cross my mind. The other one was, unfortunately, if a husband predeceases a wife, you know, she gets the tickets. And unfortunately for a whole nother discussion of ambulance chasers who call the next day to acquire those tickets. It's one of the more unfortunate aspects of the reality of how coveted those tickets are. But as you said, it's not necessarily an indication. You made the point about

this very growth oriented market in the female side. I haven't heard that a lot since my discussions on NASCAR. And again, I haven't spent a lot of time in that. I'm very deeply embedded in women's sports, but I'm not as far as the women demographic, woman demographic, female demographic of an increasing popularity. So first and foremost, without the answer being social impact,

What do you attribute to the Minnesota Vikings reason that we're seeing this increase? And as someone who's deeply embedded every day, sports business, company is an AI analytics sponsorship platform. We're deeply involved in the statistical side. I would always be obligated to ask you, are we talking about a 0.5 increase?

percentage-wise over five years in female interest? Could you give us a statistical understanding of how robust is that? How do we quantify that?

Brett Taber (13:28.854)
Yeah, no, and can start from a when we look at that and we talk about that growing market. The first thing I would say is that the fans have always been there. It's just how are we capturing them? How are we better understanding them? When we look at our five band personas that we as a Vikings organization religion prescribed to a tremendous growth market for us has been our Sally persona. Sally's are those Vikings fans.

who want to show up, because they care about the community engagement of the team. care about the familial aspect of sport. and they're the decision makers in their household for the sports that their children might play the vacations and activities that they might do. they control a lot more of the purchasing power, in their household. And so that, particular demographic in that fan persona or as the ones that we have targeted more as an organization.

You when you talk about what is that statistical variance and the growth that we've seen in female fans, I wouldn't be able to off the top of my head give you that answer on like our fan personas or overall fan base as we track our get our BSA our analytics team on here to help quantify some of that. But with some of the information I can give you would be

especially as we look to the younger generation, that growth over the last 10 years that has helped skew that growth in the female demographic. Our kids club, for example, you would imagine that young kids who are interested in sports and interested in Minnesota Vikings might skew higher towards a male population. Whereas our kids club has gone from something that was 60-40 boys versus girls.

to now something that's closer to 65 % girls versus boys. And so younger kids as they're kind of growing up see themselves in sports and one area that I'm most invested in and we as an organization and the NFL have made a tremendous priority. And if you haven't seen it, I'm sure you will shortly. And that is the growth of girls flag football because we have an entire demographic of girls that don't play the game.

Brett Taber (15:39.98)
We see through our statistical information, our survey data that about your four times more likely to become a fan or an avid fan of the sport and a team that you support if you play the game. And there hasn't been an outlet traditionally for girls to play tackle football. They certainly can, but the demands of that sport didn't allow for many opportunities. Flag football has opened up an entirely new demographic for not only fandom, but also for engaging in the game in new ways.

Steve (15:48.713)
If you

Steve (16:04.015)
So, yeah.

Brett Taber (16:09.822)
And that is one of the main attributions to why, you know, we are able to kind of grow the game at a grassroots level, both fandom for the Minnesota Vikings, fandom for the sport, but also then reaching more global audiences as well too, as we move forward. And so I'm excited to see where flag football will take us. It's a sport in 2028 in LA. The NFL has a stated goal of getting it sanctioned as a high school girls varsity sport. Yeah.

Steve (16:18.985)
Hmm.

Steve (16:32.029)
Fleck football is a sport for, just to clarify, fleck football for men or for men and women? By the way, is there any such thing, and forgive my complete lack of awareness, is there, and I should know this and I don't, is there any such thing as an Olympic sport that is only one gender, or is every Olympic sport by definition required to have dual gender?

Brett Taber (16:38.733)
Both.

Brett Taber (16:57.548)
That's a great question. don't actually know.

I wonder about like some of the trial sports they've done in the past, like when they did like field hockey for the women. I don't know that they had men field hockey playing.

Steve (17:11.233)
But they have men's, I believe men's because I know in Australia the hearts of Asia feel dracke for men is very, very popular. I'll check that. It's an interesting question. But so it's going to be both male, female in the 28 games.

Brett Taber (17:19.436)
Yeah, that's an interesting point. Yeah.

Brett Taber (17:25.454)
Correct. And so I think that's a huge opportunity. We'll see a professional men's and women's flag leagues in the United States before long. That's coming. It's on the horizon. And I think that that growth area we see in flag football, last kind of statistic I'll give you about that, that helps that growth of the female demographic is that 50 % of the girls that are playing flag football, that's national data surveyed by the

sports that currently have it sanctioned. There's about 14 sports that have a sanction at the high school level. They survey those participating athletes, about 50 % of them don't play any other team sport in their high school. So you're opening and unlocking a whole generation of athletes that see themselves as football players, female football players, where in the past, they didn't identify with any sport, they didn't play any sport, they didn't see themselves in sports in general. Maybe their dad played, maybe their brother played.

Maybe they have close friends that love the game and they didn't have an outlet and now they do and they can engage in that game. Their local NFL team is supporting them and now here we are blossoming into fans, not only a flag football, but NFL football and the sport is growing in ways that we haven't seen before.

Steve (18:40.46)
You know, it's interesting with that ad, I recall with Super Bowl, I think 50 with Diane Flores with the famous ad, I think was a 60 second spot from the NFL or more, maybe 60, where she's running and, you know, ultimately ends up back at her house with her mother in the kitchen where everyone's trying to grab her flag.

and she's running with the ball and she's really dodging everyone and famous persona are trying to corner her. And then ultimately the mother's in on it as well with the conclusion of multiple women in flag football running down the block. I thought it was perhaps one of the greatest creatives that I've seen, certainly ever from an association. It was very, very memorable. One that's one sticks in my mind, obviously me and Joe Green and the Pepsi ad, but I do feel that that floor is ad.

coming out as one of the first real novel stars being made in flag football. So what you're saying is, which is fascinating, for the Vikings, there's this growing, you are proactively reaching out. You did mention community outreach, so that goes back to your role as VP of social impact, so obviously that's having an effect on some of the campaigns that you're doing to really curry favor in a positive way, mutually beneficial way with.

Brett Taber (19:37.037)
and

Steve (20:00.025)
female fans. And I want to circle back now if we can to this, please.

Brett Taber (20:07.914)
And, and really quick, just before we circle, circle back, I just, you mentioned the Superbowl ad and in my role, I oversee kind of our youth and high school football development as well. So that's why I I'm so passionate about the topic. this last year's Superbowl commercial. Also, it didn't feature Diana Flores, but it did feature, girls flag football and a number of, girls flag athletes. And to give you a story that's very hyper local to our region of what happened after that ad this year from the Superbowl.

I got a call from an athletic director in North Dakota where five football yet doesn't exist. Who said that the day after the super bowl, he had 12 female students walk into his office and say, why don't we have a girls fight football team at our high school? saw the super bowl ad. And so then he picked up the phone. He's like, I don't know. I'll find out. that, it really speaks to what you're talking about. The power of advertising, the power that the super bowl has as a platform and the interest that exists in girls fight.

Steve (20:57.949)
Yeah.

Steve (21:06.313)
I think, Brett, think before that commercial, I think most of us, perhaps we're not, we knew the debate from a concussive standpoint of dealing much more than concussion, but the protocol behind trying to protect from more severe brain damage and therefore the discussion of parents permitting their children to play tackle football at a young age when the brain is very, very susceptible, sensitive.

And therefore, flag football put on the table in that context. I think what that ad did with Flores is it first of all took that entire factor out of the discussion. It made it something of a sport, which is I'm doing this because this is fun. It's athletic, competitive. It's going to have all the vicissitudes of the highs and lows of of what sport has to have. It requires enormous athleticism.

And yeah, to me that was probably a tipping point with having no statistical knowledge of what that did do. I can only imagine that opened up the floodgates. And as you're saying, is one of the spokes contributing to the growth. One thing that crossed my mind as we were talking earlier about being in Minnesota.

Steve (22:31.111)
was the issue of, thinking about how does social impact in the world that our lenses come from professionally of the idea of optimization in sports marketing. That historically when sponsors were choosing an athlete, for whom they were gonna have an endorsement deal or

They were choosing an event to sponsor in their local community or nationally, an association to put their brand behind. It's been very hard to understand, did I make the optimal choice? Extremely difficult. There was a lot of intuition, a lot of brand, know, brand leaders, global heads of sponsorship will tell you it felt right.

some of the third party augmentation that they'll be getting from a sports marketing agency or an ad agency or the actual team owner, in the case of a property owner, will be able to share with them compelling statistics of why that athlete has some really great goat-like statistics. But I have X thousands of choices to make.

How do I know that the choice I'm making with your social impact is a choice that is an optimal choice? So if we could kind of unravel a little bit, the idea that you have a whole host of options for companies.

that have a relationship with the Vikings. My first just quick question is, to be a part of a Vikings social impact campaign, do I have to be an official partner of the Vikings?

Brett Taber (24:27.096)
From a corporate sponsorship standpoint, if we're gonna leverage their name associated with it, then yes. If they're gonna be involved in terms of how their corporate name is included on it, how they engage with it. From a nonprofit standpoint or an engagement on that side in the community aspect with those large organizations, then no, that's about the impact.

Steve (24:47.443)
So just to be clear, you're saying taking a donation would be a no, but if you're saying if they're activating, the answer is yes.

Brett Taber (24:58.271)
Right. That's correct.

Steve (24:59.837)
So if there's some form of activation where you and that sponsor, that contributor of revenue is not just writing a check because they believe you need to be supported for your, let's call it, incredible outreach that you do with Winnebago, believe, XL Energy, and perhaps nine or 10 other brands.

that go to the streets and feed over the last five years approximately 60,000 kids during the summer who typically will miss a meal during the summer in the inner cities. And you're out there with on occasion athletes, whether they are legacy players, veterans, or whether they are retirees or they are active players, you're engaging in this social impact circumstance with

companies that might write a check and just say, so believe in this, we want to help you. And others are saying, we so believe in this, we want to write a check as well, but we want to participate in making this even more successful, reach broader channels of distribution, and attempt to quote unquote show a benefit to our brand for being a part of this. Is that a fair assessment?

Brett Taber (26:20.984)
Yes, absolutely. And when you see those companies, think that's the, your question about optimization, you know, it truly is on the social impact side, that partnership aspect of it. Because when you can find that like-minded company that shares those similar sort of values, that cares deeply about a similar issue, that's when it's going to have greatest success. And it's ultimately going to yield some of those ultimate business outcomes that they're hoping for as well too. Because if...

I'm sure you've seen it plenty of times in your career as well, too. When you have a partner, a corporate partner that wants to engage because of the excitement of the Vikings brand and they write that check and they don't really care where it goes. So, yeah, include a community thing in there, you know, and stuff like that. That's not going to move the needle for anybody. And and that's not good. What we want and what we strive for is exactly that. When we're finding Excel energy that is so focused on their low energy efficiency.

programs in especially their urban core areas where they want to reach those same families, help lower their energy burden costs that aligns so much with the biggest issue that they're seeing, is poor nutrition, lack of meal access in some of these food deserts in the urban core. And so there's that natural alignment. We're reaching the same audience. We're trying to help the same community. And so when they can partner in on that, it's helping them reach some of their own philanthropic goals.

and we're reaching our same and we're working together towards the same population. That's when you get those win, win, win scenarios.

Steve (27:52.137)
So let's try for Kate that if we can. So you've got Xcel Energy is your presenting sponsor. So every single time you're sending out a release, any type of nameification, you will, branding, are we calling it? How do we identify if we've got, it's interesting because you call them the presenting sponsor, but then you have two on your website and correct me if I'm outdated in any capacity, but you have two naming rights partners.

So usually presenting will be just one under what we would call a title sponsorship, where it is the BMW Championship. But in the presenting form, we might have the Arnold Palmer invitation on the PGA Tour presented by MasterCard. So just so we can get our nomenclature aligned, with Excel, from a presenting standpoint, since they're the bigger logo on the website,

Are they within the name of the actual social impact program?

Brett Taber (28:51.372)
Yeah, so the Minnesota Vikings Foundation, our Vikings Table Food Truck program, we don't really have a to your nomenclature a title sponsor, nor would we have a title sponsor. So in a way, Excel, when we say that presenting sponsor Vikings Table powered by Excel Energy, that is the kind of highest threshold that we would have in that regard.

Steve (29:09.351)
Is that a legal obligation, by the way, every time you reference it in print or advertising or in catalogs or outreach? Is it always powered by Xcel Energy?

Brett Taber (29:19.182)
So the foundation is a separate legal entity. It does its own sponsorships with the Excel energy in that instance. And so a lot of that is based on thanks and recognition that we provide them as a donor. So it doesn't specifically call out in those deals the same way that you would have on the team side program, like a team side program. If we operated, let's say the vets voyage program we do with high VR grocery partner.

That is written into the deal as like, they're the naming rights everywhere. appears on the foundation side as a nonprofit organization. when they're doing those contracts, it's much more thanks and recognition. So there's not as a clear delineation of the contract, but we are both both. So I serve as the executive director of the foundation. So I have to live in my nonprofit space and I serve on the team side. So there's just that little bit of ambiguity and I don't want our legal team to yell at me.

Steve (29:46.429)
Okay.

Steve (29:56.093)
But you're on which side? Just for clarity, you're on both sides. Okay, so.

Okay, okay, gotcha.

Okay, so this campaign of this Meals on Wheels, if you will, the table we call it, is that what we're referencing it as? The Minnesota Vikings Foundation, Exile Energy, present Vikings Table. Okay, the Vikings Table is a food truck program. Again, we know the 250,000 kids, according to your assessment, in the inner city area and periphery of Minnesota.

Brett Taber (30:18.562)
The Vikings table, yes, that's a foundation program.

Brett Taber (30:27.458)
Yes.

Steve (30:36.389)
are going to go skipping meals during the summertime. And therefore, this was established to help feed and not have kids go hungry at a very, very sensitive time when they're out of school and also in a much greater, know, for your.

for your city where it actually gets warm and dehydration can take place on a serious note, most unlikely during the other months, but more so at this time, although you can get dehydrated in cold as well. With that said, so this sponsorship, you said you're coming in from both sides. How does Excel perceive its sponsorship and the other sponsors? Are they coming in from the foundation side or are they coming from the team side as well?

Brett Taber (31:17.742)
Well, it's taken a lot of education with our sponsors because in years past and across all sports industry, they were one in the same, right? And the public looks at a lot of that one in the same. It's very hard for the public to differentiate the two, which is both a positive and a negative. Well, positive because the team is gleaning that positive PR value off of the foundation's work.

Steve (31:28.585)
100 %

Brett Taber (31:38.84)
But we do have to be very separate. So that's why we have separate deals, but they will do marry together. So while the foundation has a deal with Excel energy and the team has a deal with Excel energy, those things can have interplay in terms of how the team and Excel are talking about the work that the foundation and Vikings table is doing. so that they have a separate deal with both. but it's hard to ignore the fact that you're not going to have a deal probably on Vikings table on the foundation side.

if Excel wasn't already partnering with the team and wanting to deepen its relationship in the community.

Steve (32:10.825)
So my question is, because you said it's about saying thanks, there's kind of gratitude for their contribution. I'm just trying to understand if I could, and I'll just cut to the chase on this, the accountability. In other words, if you could just give us a simple response. All of your responses have been very clear. I just meant in just a clarity of are these companies right now, and I count around 10, that have a relationship with the table.

Brett Taber (32:18.55)
Yeah, sure.

Steve (32:39.003)
Are they doing this and saying, here's my capital, I'm part of the team, I'm involved with the foundation, do whatever you want? Or are they saying, hey, listen, I'm implementing this relationship, I've got accountability to my C-suite, and I've got to show and justify why we've allocated six figures to this or five figures to this. I have shareholders to be accountable to.

Where are we in the spectrum? And I know it might not be a universal yes or no to all, but if you could give us a sense of how do the sponsors themselves in this social impact, very, very high profile one, with feeding inner city youth and providing meals with prominent athletes, what is their mentality and outlook towards their sponsorship of this undertaking?

Brett Taber (33:31.542)
Yeah, to the clarity and simplicity, I would push towards the much more towards the, yes, here you go. Here's the check. We entrust you to do it. That's much more the dynamic that it is with that and the accountability side. Then it's incumbent on us as the foundation to prove the impact of their funds that their committee.

Steve (33:52.457)
So do you come back as the head of the group and provide what is again, not again, I've only heard, mean, know your reputation is sterling and I know whatever you do is by the book. But when you look at, and I don't even wanna talk about your team, a sports marketing agency that recommended a certain sponsorship that they might even own, very often can come back with, we sold you the sponsorship, we're gonna help you activate.

And guess who's coming back and telling you how much value you got? We are. So all we're doing is measuring our own performance. And we're not going to tell you it wasn't good. Right? So the question I have for you is, I understand in this circumstance, the US bank and Twin Cities orthopedics and Molson's and...

Hy-Vee, I recall, was one of them. And obviously you have something called, in the two that I mentioned earlier, US Bank and the orthopedics group, Twin Cities Orthopedics, they had a naming rights designation. But in this case, because you are high profile with this social impact activity, that they feel what's being done is done good. But they're not gonna hold you to

Did we generate in Twin Cities Orthopedics 250 new patients throughout that calendar year?

Brett Taber (35:20.258)
Yeah, no, not on the foundation side. They're not measuring the ROI based on the business performance. They're measuring the ROI based on the investment to their dollars, having a community impact. Community impact is hard to measure, but we work with third party evaluators to try and do that data and to understand the outcomes that our program have both on a short term and a long term success program to help them understand the difference that they're making. But no, to your, to your point, they're not making those decisions to invest in something like Vikings table.

because it's going to generate new patients, new consumers, but it's ultimately going to generate a community good.

Steve (35:55.241)
So on social impact, what I want to get to, because I know you have much more than you do than this very significant undertaking. So from community outreach, as a team, you have independent community outreach. Is that correct? And as a foundation, you have independent community outreach.

Brett Taber (36:11.672)
Yes.

Brett Taber (36:16.098)
Yes.

Steve (36:17.167)
And when it's on the foundation side, you've made it clear, and I'm sorry if I'm a little slow on this, but I think it's become very clear to me that on a team side, which you are also the VP of social impact of the team, you're an executive director on the foundational side, let's shift over, if you will. what would be the highest profile community outreach that you're proud of, that you're engaged with, that is an ongoing concern?

Brett Taber (36:21.239)
no.

Brett Taber (36:44.958)
on the team side. Yeah, team sides. Let's pick, for instance, was social social justice, for instance, is a major issue coming from the epicenter of George Floyd. And so we have programs that are dedicated towards those causes that we're really proud of the word.

Steve (36:46.057)
Team Sun.

Steve (37:04.393)
they have a direct affiliation with the name George Floyd.

So they're independent of George Floyd. Are they independent of anything that Kong Kaepernick or anyone else has done to date? Okay. When we look at that social impact in the form of racial justice, social justice.

Brett Taber (37:16.077)
Yes.

Steve (37:27.239)
When we see dollars going into a specific campaign that might be perennial, can you give us one citation of in the last 12 months, a social justice campaign engagement that the Minnesota Vikings are proud to communicate to the market at large.

that reflects your philosophical bent as a company of ownership of employees in what you believe your values are and that this was emblematic of that.

Brett Taber (38:09.4)
Yeah, a great example back in April and May, I worked together with a nonprofit organization called Project Success, where we took inner city students from Minneapolis high schools who are graduating seniors, students of color, who were pursuing post-secondary education. And we took them on an experiential trip to Washington, DC, where they toured the National Museum of African American History and Culture, as well as the Holocaust Museum and Memorial in DC.

and historically black colleges in the area as well too. They had before and after programming with Project Success on social emotional learning and leadership to help them progress as they pursued that educational platform. But the program is really geared towards how do we provide educational opportunities for students of color in the urban core areas that might not otherwise have those kinds of resources or opportunities. So it's supported by our players.

Steve (39:03.037)
How many students attended that program?

Brett Taber (39:06.638)
75.

Steve (39:09.085)
Was that one of your social justice engagements?

Brett Taber (39:13.166)
Larger from visibility and perspective, smaller probably from impact. But again, when you look at that, like we're impacting a smaller number of people, but you're having a greater impact on those than you would if you're just giving out a meal, say to one person. So it's, yeah.

Steve (39:26.112)
Absolutely, 100%. And perhaps one of the critical, critical opportunities we have in the realm of AI today and where we are going in technology is narrowing that gap. On the one hand, experiential marketing, there's a lot of talk of the smaller impact activities on experiential marketing.

that the bang for the buck on the smaller side without a question, an opportunity to really get that niche. And you see that, by the way, interesting over the last five, six, seven years with the discussion on influencer communities where you see these niche micro influencers who might have five, 10, 15, 20,000 followers, but from a brand standpoint, they could be having far more impact.

with that type of influencer than they might with a Ronaldo that has a billion followers throughout his broad social network. With your good self, so let's go back as if you don't mind as a use case and we'll do this efficiently. I'm, know, we're gonna really just tactically execute and we'll, I'm sure have another conversation down the line. If you will, so sponsorship, 75 folk going down south to Washington DC.

cumulative trip four days four days so we've got three nights four days we're dropping on average I presume you flew there from Minnesota I hope but it could be a great drive with the kids so you have a ratio of what chaperones to student would it be a fire eight eight to one ten to one ten one

Brett Taber (40:58.999)
Yes.

Brett Taber (41:11.182)
about 10 to one.

Steve (41:13.481)
So we've got another, let's call it eight, so we've got about 83 people, right? So we're in it for seven figures, right? If we just had to pay out of our pocket with no special consideration, more or less, somewhere in that 75 to 110 grand zone. Is that a reasonable, not knowing what the agenda looked like, is that an okay estimate of what kind of base cost might have run? Yeah, okay.

So when we look at that, how many sponsors did you have?

Brett Taber (41:48.106)
One, one primary sponsor. This year it was Trade Home Shoes and the past Delta Airlines has been a partner.

Steve (41:49.031)
Which was...

Steve (41:55.945)
It's a good partner. It's like being, when you have a golf tournament coming into town, tennis tournament, good when you have your, as everyone knows watching the show, official airlines, official hotels are quite vital to property owners and save you an awful lot of money and make it a win-win very often. Because what they get out of it very often is a nice barter part of it that saves a lot of money for people like Brett Tabor and his team. And for them,

while they'll claim it's still cash, even if those seats were empty on that plane, we know that they did get a good deal. So with that said, when we go to the shoes company.

Steve (42:39.721)
Could you walk us through what would be the three most salient benefits? And let's just say, I'm not here to unfurl the depths of their financial investment, but let's just say they underwrote 100 grand to 125K for the undertaking, and they said we're all in, and we're not doing this just to be thanked. We're doing this because we are involved in social responsibility, social impact, because we also believe there has to be a quid pro quo.

And by the way, that was the argument we discussed at beginning of our discussion, which was in the 70s and 80s there was the rebellion. Hey guys, you're just throwing away money. There's no reason to do that. Social impact can absolutely be a win-win. This is not about you just writing a check and saying this is a charitable undertaking. You're missing the boat.

There's a lot to glean and that's good. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, there's everything good with it because you're not going to churn. You're going to stay with it far longer because you're getting as receiving as well. If we had that partner of yours, the CEO of that company or CMO, join us at this moment. Special guest joining us from, was it Homeshoe? Trade Home, thank you.

Brett Taber (43:59.544)
Trade home. Trade home.

Steve (44:02.505)
And the CMO, CEO of Trade Home is now with Brett and Steve. And we said, you know what? Great campaign. Very meaningful, very substantive. Can't deny it. mean, factually, everyone in the country should go through that. And what it's gonna do to them long term, you never know which kid's gonna come president of the United States, and a darn good one, because those museums and those colleges you brought them to, somehow something shifted in their neurons.

something shifted in the way they see the world. And for the base of that memory, every time something triggers them, they're gonna remember what the Minnesota Vikings did in a way that is very, very, very seminal in their life. What would the CMO or CEO tell us were the three commercial benefits that justified that, let's call it 100K investment?

Brett Taber (44:54.582)
Mark is his name that I love to work with. if Mark were sitting here right now, I would think they have three. So he kind of sits more on the community HR and that side versus the business and president side.

Steve (44:56.539)
Okay. Is he CEO and CMO? Which one is he?

Steve (45:09.459)
Okay.

That's really interesting, by the way. So you did the deal with that. So they have a dedicated personnel that's human resources, but also social impact community relations.

Brett Taber (45:23.274)
Yeah, so he does all the sponsorships over there as well, too. So they work on kind of multiple hats at their executive level. But if talking to Mark, I think the three things that he's going to point to that are of greatest value to them are going to be one, the storytelling that they can do with their own consumers about what they represent as a brand.

Steve (45:26.707)
Hmm.

Brett Taber (45:47.15)
in terms of how they aligned with this project because there's a huge storytelling aspect with the content that is created from this and pushed on team platforms as well as trade home platforms to help our their consumers and our fans understand the values that are associated with this. That's that's got to be number one in that storytelling aspect to the employee engagement opportunities. A lot of times as a business.

setting your values for your consumers, but setting your values for your employees and your stakeholders on that side is important. So they had, we've had numerous employees from their side being able to engage as part of the program on boots on the ground, not only on the trip, but in the pre post activities. And so being able to help your employees understand those shared value is another key thing for your stakeholder group. When you look at that investment and third,

as a value as a company, you know, at least in our relationship with trade home, they're going to tell you the impact as they look across their portfolio that they're trying to make and the things that are most important to them. And so they truly are going to measure it based on the impact they have. So they're not going to look at it, at least in trade homes example by how many poor people that they draw in the stores, a direct correlation to doing this program. But instead, how did we help better equate and measure the value, the values alignment?

with our fans or their consumers and their product. And then aligning behind their stakeholders. And then third, obviously, as you kind of dive into that, the actual tangible impact that a program like this made on their community.

Steve (47:16.626)
Interesting.

Steve (47:27.155)
By the way, is their demographic is a strong core part of their demographic inner city youth?

Brett Taber (47:35.146)
not necessarily inner city youth, but they, think the unique thing about trade home is you look at a lot of other like shoe brands and other, other brands, you know, that they're selling the Nikes, the underarmors and the Adidas is, and I don't want to put words in Mark's mouth, certainly, but from at least my understanding of it, the brick and mortar store and being connected with the community in a tangible way. you can go to trade home in a local store in your mall or next door.

And you can help in that journey to find a comfortable pair of shoes or find something that footwear that you need. Whereas, you if you're ordering on Amazon, you're ordering something like that, or you're doing the big box store, you don't have that relationship. So that community tie, wherever they show up in the urban core is one of those areas. Building community connection is paramount for them as a brand.

Steve (48:23.091)
clear. By the way, did they do any call to action? Did they have any type of come to our store, participate, either whether it's acquisition or whether it's just simply fill out for social media purposes, your name, email address, and five students from our store who are patrons or friends of the store are going to get an opportunity to join that trip to Washington, DC.

Brett Taber (48:52.94)
No. And part of that becomes.

Steve (48:54.757)
Social impact in your mind provide that platform. Do you believe that social impact as call to action should be a core part of social impact so that the brand feels more engaged with what they've chosen to sponsor?

Brett Taber (49:11.982)
It can be, um, and it certainly could be used in a way that you're talking about it from my perspective. I think that it's stronger when you don't, because if you do what we were just talking about there, um, and, say, a call to action register, somebody's going to get the opportunity. The team's going to select. How does that change the intentionality of the program and what you're trying to serve? If all of a sudden you add that layer, that component of selection into the mix.

Steve (49:40.979)
That's a good point. Right.

Brett Taber (49:41.09)
versus working with the nonprofit organization. So when you get to some of those activations that like dilute that, what I would rather see like say, you know, using the same example of that, how do we in stores, you know, the kids as a part of the project success program, what kind of opportunities can they provide to those students discounts at their stores? How can they?

funnel those kids back in their communities. How can they storytell around this so that when people come into their stores, they can leverage that in their own piece in some different activation ways a lot.

Steve (50:19.227)
I like that, by the way, the idea of, know, again, it's an investment, but the idea of you, of this novel campaign, they're the sole provider. And literally, if in store, there was almost like an education element to it of what they're doing and what's happening this month. And literally having perhaps a mini

which they have these traveling slides from museums where you could perhaps, you know, have some form of educational forum from it. Obviously, they're post-event opportunity for images, really high quality visualization and obviously testimonials of what it was like for these young people to have gone, 75 of them with you to DC. And you make an excellent point by the way. We don't want someone showing up at the airport.

with their father driving a Ferrari to drop them off. Because they won a random lottery at store and literally, they were really not a good demographic fit because of the randomness of who might have participated in that draw. Good point.

Brett Taber (51:34.786)
And you might've helped me solve my pitch to Mark as we go into next year, just because one of the exhibits at the National Museum of African American History and Culture is obviously on sport and how that shaped the black experience in America. And they have some of the original Air Jordans there. So what I need to do is get some photos of that and like, here's how shoes can shape our cultural history in America and connect that tie in there. So I think I...

Steve (51:52.681)
Mmm.

Excellent.

Brett Taber (52:02.956)
I'll jot that down and keep that as note for next year.

Steve (52:05.179)
I love collaborating with you anytime. So with that said, listen, so interesting. There's so many more layers to explore. And it seems like you've had a heck of career from a guy who was at University of Iowa, literally thinking he's gonna get his PhD in archeology and anthropology, and ends up hearing from the athletic director that there's an opportunity somewhere in Minnesota.

to get a job at the Twins, you might want to apply for it. And you heard about that on a Saturday, you applied on a Monday. On Wednesday, you had your interview. And on Friday, you were confirmed for the job 19 years ago, just about. And there you went from anthropology, archeology, all the way to becoming the vice president of social impact, one who's obviously making an enormous impact in his career, on his community, and with his team.

And Brett, a real pleasure to have you on the transaction report today.

Brett Taber (53:10.382)
Thanks so much, Steve. No, it's been tremendous in the last, know, as we wrap the words I would leave with, we kind of talked about it earlier just to bring that full circle about sports and that incredible power and platform. That's why I've stayed in this industry for 18, 19 years now. And why ultimately I didn't end up in a career in archeology is because it is so unique and powerful. And the Vikings, I believe this to be true. Someone can challenge my claim on it, but...

Uh, in 1961, when the Vikings formed as a franchise, were the first professional sport in America to call ourselves after a state and not just a city or a town. were the Minnesota Vikings. Up until that point, had been St. Louis, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, all these other other sports. So we were the first, was a Minnesota Vikings, the twins a couple of months later joined us in that, in that nomenclature. And so what sports offers is that unique thing where

You talked about it earlier and asked the question of like, why, why sports? Why should sports businesses have have that impact? well, can businesses are doing it from a consumer standpoint and their stakeholders sports are doing it, especially now, and especially with us at the Vikings, there's that shared ownership. We are the Minnesota Vikings. I am a part of this team. I am a part of this franchise. It's not just like they need to do this in order to drive that ticket sale or drive that additional Jersey sale. But I expect that from them.

because they're my team. They're part of my community. They're a part of my history of my family in ways that big brands like Apple or Target or Best Buy or things like that just can't become. And I think that's both inspiring. Um, but it's why I continue to do the work that I do and why I love this so much is because it's different than if I was doing social impact at a fortune 500, where some of those same conversations come into it. But in sports, you have that great visibility and incredible platform.

Steve (54:38.59)
Mmm.

Brett Taber (55:06.07)
And you have that deep rooted expectation and familial piece because sport and teams are such a part of the cultural fabric of our communities.

Steve (55:15.891)
Very well stated, and I have to tell you, now we have one degree of separation. We had two as of an hour and a half ago, and that was that the gentleman who actually hired you, the CMO of the beautiful Minnesota Vikings, is actually on my board of directors at sports biz, Steve LaCroix.

Brett Taber (55:33.204)
there we go. I'll text Steve right after this and then let him know.

Steve (55:36.329)
I just thought, I thought, you know, should I share this? Should I not share this? But just the way you just spoke about your family at this point at the Minnesota Vikings, I felt obliged to just let you know that Steve is in our family. And so it's a real pleasure again, Brett, to have you in, kind of in the family now peripherally and directly and looking forward to getting to know you better.

Brett Taber (55:53.838)
other.

Steve (56:04.406)
And again, wishing you continued success and a great, great, great honor to have you today on the transaction report.

Brett Taber (56:13.176)
Thanks so much, Steve. It was a pleasure. Really enjoyed our conversation and our time today.

Steve (56:17.181)
Me too. We're gonna hold for one moment. Ryan is gonna pop back.