Tag Archives: sports

Melissa Fry, Hooters’ Senior Director of Marketing

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Rick talks everything Hooters this week in terms of marketing and sports with Hooters’ Senior Director of Marketing, Melissa Fry.

She has over 23 years in the hospitality industry, from management to marketing with proven success in guiding brand messaging and delivering impactful marketing solutions.

Hooters, a long-running partner of both Chase Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports, has officially unveiled the newly designed No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro that will appear three times throughout the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.

The brand-new paint scheme, which features a primarily orange and black base design, will make its on-track debut in the second event of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 25.

NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver will then carry the Hooters colors on the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro for a second time at Texas Motor Speedway on April 14, before the scheme makes one final appearance at Richmond Raceway on August 11.

The company, which has developed a pedigree in the NASCAR Cup Series over the last three decades, is widely known for its stint as primary sponsor of the late Alan Kulwicki from 1991 to 1993.

Hooters has been involved with many different sports over the years. From golf to NASCAR and everything in between. The Hooters brand is about empowering women and part of that is their annual Hooters calendar.

Give a Hoot Background 

During this year’s annual October Give a Hoot campaign, Hooters raised $786,000 in the fight against breast cancer. The funds were presented to the V Foundation for Cancer Research during last night’s 2023 Men’s Jimmy V Basketball Classic held at Madison Square Garden. 

Since the program began in 2002, Hooters has raised a cumulative $9.4 million towards breast cancer research, reinforcing the cause as a priority for a company whose workforce is roughly 70% women, most of which are made up by the iconic Hooters Girls whose numbers have reached nearly 10,000 worldwide.

Consumers can still support the cause with calendars available for the holidays. For every 2024 Hooters Calendar purchased, Hooters donates $1 toward the Give A Hoot fundraising effort.

Enjoy this interview with Melissa and learning about Hooters.

Andrew Corkill, Vice President, Global Marketing and eCommerce at Targus

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Rick talks about Targus with Andrew Corkill this week. Targus with a bunch of new products coming off CES.

Targus EcoSmart Backpacks and other sustainable products that travel well for the sports-minded consumer, and how Targus utilizes recycled plastic, some from the Oceans!

At this year’s show, the industry leader in laptop cases and mobile computing accessories, is celebrating their 40th anniversary with the launch of several new products, including those recognized as a CES 2023 Innovation Awards Honoree, designed to help empower a seamless life and a sustainable future.

Targus will unveil new products under the EcoSmart line, including:

· extended collection of EcoSmart tech accessories

includes three new EcoSmart keyboards)
· Backpack made from Ocean bound plastic

+new Zero Waste Backpacks
· Women’s Collection of laptop cases in various silhouettes

· Laptop bags made for Dell and Lenovo

including a lineup of gaming backpacks

· Plus, the Award-winning MiraLogic Workspace Intelligence System

Scott Deans, BeONE Sports Founder and CEO

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Rick talks to Scott Deans of BeONE Sports this week.

BeONE Sports – developers of a platform where accomplished athletes’ movements are digitized into a phone app with the goal of creating a training paradigm for athletes to learn – today announced the first-of-its-kind collaboration with Mass St. Collective and the University of Kansas to bring a Collegiate NIL NASCAR car to the upcoming NASCAR race on September 9 at Kansas Speedway.

The collaboration also includes JD Motorsports, eleven (11) University of Kansas student-athletes being featured on the race car, and Mass St. Collective – the KU NIL Collective founded in 2021 to help Jayhawk student-athletes build their personal brand and benefit from their name, image and likeness.

“Our goal at Mass St. Collective is to find new and unique instances where we can grow the brand of our KU student-athletes in new and meaningful ways through name, image and likeness.” says Dan Beckler, President of Mass St. Collective. “To partner with BeOne Sports and have 11 Jayhawks on a NASCAR is something that has never been done before, and it’s an exciting way to bring NIL and college athletes to the racing industry. Brand loyalty is the best among NASCAR fans, and we hope this car only adds to that. What makes this even more special is to debut the car in our home state at Kansas Speedway.”

Additionally, BeONE Sports is developing technology to level the racetrack. With the technology available from BeONE Sports, JD Motorsports hopes to become more competitive with the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ top teams and is exploring a variety of applications using comparative training within the team.

“We believe athletes are everywhere, and we are very excited to bring new and interesting NIL opportunities to student-athletes. The KU NIL NASCAR is a great example of collaboration and driving innovation…literally,” says Scott Deans, BeONE Sports Founder and CEO.

BeONE Sports will be on location in Kansas from September 7th-9th. They will be kicking off their collaboration with athletes from the Kansas Chiefs on September 7th, working with University of Kansas athletes on campus on September 8th, and at the NASCAR race on September 9th. For more information, visit beonesports.com.

BeONE Sports has developed cutting-edge, sports training technology based on body mechanics within any sport. They’ve invented “Comparative Training,” where accomplished athletes’ movements are digitized into the technology, creating a catalog of learning potential. Using their patent-pending AI on a mobile device, young athletes around the world can train with their heroes! Athletes, coaches and parents receive immediate feedback on technique and body-position improvements, and BeONE Sports is revolutionizing the use of NIL where athletes and coaches earn income while training the next generation. For more information, visit www.beonesports.com

Shomron Jacob, Iterate.ai on ChatGPT

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ChatGPT is all the rage.

Shomton Jacob joins Rick this week.

“In an era where data privacy is paramount, Zoom’s decision to train its AI models using certain customer data, as per their updated terms, underscores the delicate balance tech companies must strike between innovation and user trust. While the move aligns with Zoom’s AI ambitions, it also amplifies the broader debate on the ethical boundaries of AI training. As consumers, it’s crucial we stay informed and exercise our rights, especially when our data becomes a pivotal asset in shaping the future of technology.”

ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. Many people are eager to see how it works and use it themselves, but some people may have questions on how to actually use it.

When it comes to sports, Shomron helps clear up some of the mystery.

ChatGPT is great. However, it needs to be used as a tool, not a substitute for actual content creation. It is helpful for building outlines. Most importantly, remember that it cannot generate new ideas. It can only analyze information.

Iterate.ai is a developer of AI-powered low-code software intended to accelerate innovation projects within large enterprises. They have deployed at scale with several global enterprises, such as Circle-K, Pampered Chef, Ulta Beauty, Driven Brands, Jockey, and others.

Ophir Gaathon, Chief Executive Officer of DUST Identity and Sports Collectibles

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Rick talks with Ophir Gaathon of Dust Identity.

Under the NCAA name, image and likeness (NIL) policy, among other benefits, college athletes are able to profit from signing autographs and essentially selling their jerseys and wares as collectibles. Having products of college athletes on the market in season ramps up excitement and growth of the industry. But the NIL also presents inherent challenges including the need for athletes to know which jerseys, helmets, and so on are theirs and which autographed wares are authentic and not knock-offs. For the individual athlete, there are not a lot of good options out there for authenticating their own products and protecting their investment.

At DUST Identity, the answer to this challenge is small — nanoparticle small. Using engineered diamond particles embedded in high-performance polymers, DUST gives physical “things” — products, parts, and packaging — an unclonable fingerprint to offer full tracking, indisputable authentication, tamper-free validation, and data transparency throughout the object’s entire lifecycle. Compared to existing identification methods, DUST is more cost efficient at less than $0.01 to apply at scale.

Ophir Gaathon – Chief Executive Officer

Ophir Gaathon is a supply chain security expert who has a deep understanding of the complex security challenges associated with global value chains. In his current role as CEO, he is responsible for the company’s overall vision and strategy, product commercialization, and overseeing technology and R&D initiatives. Prior to launching DUST Identity in 2018, Ophir was the CEO and founder of Diamond Nanotechnologies for seven years, where he developed the underlying technology for DUST with his cofounders. Prior to that, he was a Research Affiliate for the Synthetic Neurobiology Group in the MIT Media Lab for 3 years and served as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics’ Quantum Photonics Lab in 2013. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Columbia University and B.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering. He has led research projects at MIT and Columbia, and he holds several patents.

Courtney Jeffries, CEO of Virtual Tables

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Sports fan engagement.

Brainstorming dynamic and fresh approaches to fan engagement by combining traditional experiences with the digital era can be a challenge. Organizations in sports need to begin to understand the idea of extracting the lifetime value of the customer.

In professional sports 1% of all fans will go to a game live, but in today’s globalized digital world, why aren’t all sports organizations taking advantage of this connectedness?

Rick is joined by Courtney Jeffries, CEO of Virtual Tables. Virtual Tables is a startup that provides tools to organizations to help bridge the gap between themselves and their global audience.

Their flagship product is DigiSign, a 1:1 digital autograph platform product that allows sports fans to receive a personalized autograph and a meet and greet session with fans all over the world.

DigiSign has been used across 30+ countries with multiple sports organizations. Including the Formula 1 team, Williams Racing, The Connecticut Sun WNBA Team and the Athletes Unlimited sports league.

Courtney talks about:

The importance of platforms like DigiSign in the NIL era

Innovative fan engagement strategies for sports teams

Transforming traditional collectible experiences in the digital age

Eliminating the need for geographic limitations by taking advantage of global fan engagement tools

A great talk with Courtney.