On episode 262 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil chatted with Jason Lavine, VP of Content and Production for the Los Angeles Chargers NFL team.
What follows is a collection of snippets from the podcast. To hear the full interview and more, check out the podcast on all podcast platforms and at www.dsmsports.net
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Episode 262 Snippets: Jason Lavine of the Los Angeles Chargers
1. @njh287; www.dsmsports.net
On episode 262 of the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast, Neil
chatted with Jason Lavine, Vice President of Content and Production
for the Los Angeles Chargers.
What follows is a collection of snippets from the podcast. To hear the
full interview and more, check out the podcast on all podcast
platforms and at www.dsmsports.net.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
2. Jason’s Career Path
“I went to school at Northeastern University for sports broadcasting. I wanted to be in
play by play, that was my dream. I called play by play in college basketball for the
Northeastern basketball team. I enjoyed it. But in 2009, between my junior and senior
year, I was fortunate enough to get a summer internship with the just-started media
team at the New York Jets. I just like logged tapes all summer. They were building a
historical library, so I sat in this [area] with historical tapes and just went through
every single tape they had and started to digitize and organize it for them so they could
digitize and bring it into their system. This is back in 2009, so watching tapes, logging
tapes by hand, that type of thing. So I did that [and] they were nice enough to invite
me back after I graduated college as a part-time intern. So I was a part time intern
doing some other stuff too. Then I was a full time intern for two years, and then they
hired me three years later, I think in like 2013. I was an intern for, I think, three years.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
3. “Then I was a coordinator, Digital Video Manager, doing your normal
website video content at that time, which is primarily football- focused and
working with that team that was building. This was 2012, 2013, 2014, so a
lot different of a time. Then I was fortunate enough to get hired out here
with, at the time it was the Los Angeles Chargers, but I went to San Diego
for a couple months starting in like March of 2017, and then we moved up
here to LA. I was hired as the Managing Producer, and I was the only video
person at the time. We had a very small group, you know, Joel Price was
here. Everyone knows Joel, the great Joel Price, and we hired a social
person for the first time, which was cool. We had that, and then we had
Ricky Henne on digital, and that was really it. That was our team. And now
I'm, as you said, VP Content and Production.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
4. On leaning into digital and social in his young career
“I think I realized that two years after college, probably, it was more of
realizing, I was good at it, but I realized how tough it would be to be
successful in it and get to where I wanted to be with a job. I liked working
for the Jets, which are my favorite team growing up, and I was super
interested in what they were doing. I just liked the idea of being around
players and creating content. I thought it was cool. I didn't know anything
about it, but it was cool and that's kind of when the shift happened, in
2012.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
5. …[Early on] I was just doing what they're telling me to do, you know, log to learn. I was logging
a lot, shooting a lot, producing, writing scripts, working on TV shows, delivering tapes, getting
coffee, whatever people needed. You know, that's kind of how it worked. Dry cleaning, whatever
someone needed, I did. I didn't care, whatever kept me in the building. Then I think in like 2013,
2014 when I started working with the senior writer there and we started to build out website
video content, like live shows, those types of things is kind of like when I started to primarily
work on that stuff and started to figure out like what a content calendar was, and I started
posting content and just taking it day by day, like, okay, now I'm posting, what's next? And then
started to come up with ideas, go to the Combine those types of things, just learning from
watching others write, watching other teams websites. At the time, video wasn't primarily on
social, so it was very different. So, you know, going the teams’ websites, seeing what [they were
producing], I really liked what the Rams were doing back then. I was like, oh that's cool, we
should try that. The Niners were a team I looked at a lot. So I was like, okay, that's cool, you
know? And then we started bringing some talented people and like, working with others and
starting to expand it, you start to develop your own ideas as you go, but you're really taking the
lead of your bosses.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
6. On the evolution of diversifying content with football and beyond
“I mean, at the Jets, my role was primarily focused on football content at
that time. But we did a lot of lifestyle stuff [also], like we did a show called
Jet Life and that ran on CBS, and I would help create features for that.
That's like a player going, I don't know, go-karting or whatever. So [non-
football content] was existing, but it was the beginning stages of the
evolution of where we are now, which is obviously very different.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
7. “In terms of understanding what was performing, what wasn't, we weren't
really — like, it was still very new for everyone. I don't think anyone at that
time really knew what was working and what wasn't. I think everyone was
just kind of doing stuff. And then I think now, obviously it's very different,
very data-driven and you know what's good and what isn't. But at that
time, I mean, the audience was still adapting and learning and so were we.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
8. On balancing video responsibilities based on more casual social video and
produced, premium video
“Before you’re in your charge your balance plays out based upon how your
bosses tell you it plays out. So I just did what I was told to do. I had no
creative [licence]; I mean, your voice starts to mean more as you start to
develop your career. But [then] I'm following what my bosses want me to
do. I'm deferential to leadership always, so they were in charge, I do what
they tell me to do and how they decide to split up their resources is their
choice. You tell me where to go, I do it.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
9. “Now [it’s] very different. I mean, obviously, I'm deciding it. I mean, it's a
group decision, of course. But yeah, of course, now [with] everything — your
resources, how you structure your department, everything — there's a lot of
factors that go into that, in any department. Our decisions here are vastly
different than the the decisions made by the Green Bay Packers or the
Houston Texans. Those decisions are based upon resources, what you're
good at, what you want to be, what you are aspiring to be, what you believe
in as a group — and all those things help determine where you go. You can't
just have a strategy and be like, ‘We're going to do this.’ If you don't have the
people to do it and you don't have the organization to do it, then it doesn't
mean anything.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
10. “So in terms of a social team, yeah, you hire social people to create social”
community managers, having elite copy, creating social first content that
can be anywhere, a mix of something that is a video to something that isn't.
And then you're going to have your video team who's going to be producing
more of the fairly produced stuff, right, that someone went to college for
and learns and knows. Then you have a graphics team that's focused, so it's
that type of thing.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
11. On constructing a social and content team, whether looking for specialists
vs. generalists
“It's a good question. I mean, it depends. How we hired five years ago is very
different than how we hire now. How we hired five years ago was you had to
be able to do everything because we didn't have enough people. My focus at
that time was video. Now, you know, we have an entire social team, a rather
large one, but we didn't before. But when you're hiring social people, we're
hiring people who understand social first. We'll hire a video team to make
video and we need people on that video team who understand how to make
what the social team needs to be successful, that are not running in silos.
They run together. There's an incredible amount of overlap and having
success.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
12. “And yeah, like you want your person who is creating your TikToks on your
social team, which is, you know, more your organic versus maybe a
produced weird video that could also go on TikTok. You want that person
to obviously be able to know how to edit in some capacity because everyone
on video on the social team in some ways has to write because of how it is,
but we don't expect them to sit down and cut a hype video, right? We'll
have people who can do that. Your talents dictate where you go.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
13. On generalists that get social vs. specialists that work across mediums and
platforms
“The first part is that it's always going to depend on your team and who
your skill sets are. When you have someone like Megan Julian as your
Head of Social, you're covered because no one understands it better. She's
the best in the world. So, when you have Tyler Pino, who's the Senior
Director of Production, you're good, he understands video. So from there,
they know how to cultivate talent and know what they need. And that's
across the board digital, it's all the same thing. You trust the people you
hire to do their jobs and find the people they need and cultivate the right
talent.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
14. “But I don't believe in generalists overall. Like, in our department, that
wouldn't be helpful. If you're good at a lot of things, you're probably good
at nothing; at a young age, you can't be, it's impossible. I think when you're
hired here, we've identified a specific skill set and trait in someone that we
think can help us, that they possess that someone doesn't possess. That's
what we're identifying in someone at this point, when you have 30 people
in content.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
15. “And then it depends. [For] social, we certainly are looking for a specific type of brain, and
then depending on what they're doing in video depends on what we're looking for. If
they're being hired for storytelling then we're looking for a specific sentimental type of
edit. We're looking for someone who has really good sound design qualities [and] can
pace. Pacing is extremely important in storytelling. If you can't pace, you can't do the job.
And that you can tell within five seconds of looking at someone's reel. In my opinion.
Someone either knows how to pace or they don't, it's tough to learn. But if it's social video,
social video can match up a lot. If it's like hype videos, hype videos match up with stadium.
So typically those people edit the same stuff in my opinion. And then YouTube, it depends
what you're making, because YouTube is essentially just another large video platform that
takes basically anything over a certain amount of time for long form and then under a
minute or a minute 30 for Shorts, but that content could come from anywhere. So we're
definitely not platform-specific in any way. We typically look at it as create the best
possible content, which we have a plan for, which we understand, and we'll figure out
where it goes based upon where it needs to go, and it all adapts from there.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
16. On creating content for specific platforms vs. creating larger pieces and re-
skinning for various potential channels
“If it's a hype video, it's going everywhere. If it's, a customizable branded piece of
content, like camping out where we build a set and we sell that set to Toyota, and
we build this really cool set and we put players on it, we're doing interviews — we
know that's for YouTube to start, but we know it's going to be cut up into smaller
pieces, creating a social, engaging way for Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. Then we
know that little parts of it, far smaller parts of something like a branded content
that are just really funny, unique parts of it could go to TikTok, but TikTok is its
own typically UGC style. You know, the best content on that platform is always
going to be when the social team goes down to the locker room and asks the player
a question; like, that's always going to be what drives that. Or something from
mic'd up or something just unique and funny that you can't plan for in some ways.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
17. “You kind of just understand what works. But we also know based upon
what something is, if something's a good piece of content it should go
everywhere, but how it's distributed and what it looks like when it goes to
those platforms is why we hire a social team and why they're so good at
what they do. How you package something…you can have a good idea, but
a good idea doesn't mean anything if you don't know how you're going to
package it and you don't have the team members you have to package it
properly. Copy, if you don't have good copy, you have nothing, then it's not
going to get engaged with.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
18. On how content executions come together
“It changes based upon what it is and how important it is. You know, you're
creating for TikTok, you're trusting people who do that to just take chances and
do stuff. Again, if you're creating a hype video for a playoff game, there's a
considerable amount of thought that goes into that moment versus week seven,
and who does it might change too. Certainly if there's a bigger project — like,
we're anticipating Antonio Gates getting into the (Pro Football) Hall of Fame, so
we know next summer we've got a rather large moment coming and that has to be
planned out eight months, ten months in advance from a budgeting standpoint to
make sure that we have what we need and we know what we like to do. Then
there's always going to be that stuff that you can't plan for that we’ll just create.
And we know we can create and hopefully monetize when the time comes.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
19. “So and that's how we look at everything. We build a frame of everything and
typically throw that frame out pretty quickly depending on what's working, what's
not. [For] training camp, draft whatever it is, you have to come in with a frame;
otherwise people are not going to know what to do with their time. They’re going to
be sitting there, right? So they’ve got to know where we're going. The rest of it, the
reactionary content, the stuff that you can't plan for, that's why you pay people well
and try to cultivate the right place because it's the instinctual content, the instincts
in human beings that create a certain type of product, knowing in the moment what
to create, that we try to teach and adapt and learn so we can make the stuff that's
going to go viral. Now, if it's a meme postgame, we plan all those scenarios out
obviously in advance, but you never know what's going to come up that you're
going to try to create in the moment based upon what happened. So you gotta have
the right people in the right mindsets and not expect everyone to come up with
everything to be able to have the best product for the best possible situation.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
20. “And that takes a lot of time and years. We've been at this for six years, so we’ve built a
rather large group. We've cultivated a certain culture I believe in, that we believe in. So,
depending on what it is, yeah, there's a rather thorough evaluation process if we think
something's going to work or not, but we typically give people the freedom to find out
what's going to happen. You know, we might think something's not going to work, but
we still want them to try it, especially if they're young. We want them to learn; just
because we might think something's going to fail, maybe it's better if it does go on the
platforms and in a way, quote unquote, fails, whatever fails means. I mean, if someone
tries something and they're able to take something they thought of from
conceptualization to the finished product and it posts and it doesn't do well, so what?
But at least they tried it, right? So there's a time and a place for everything.
“I answer questions this way, which can make it confusing, but I'm a huge gray area
guy. I think you gotta live in the gray to do this job. If you try to make content black and
white, you're not going to get where you need to go.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
21. On working to develop the Chargers popular social media approach and
personality
“I was the first one here [when the team moved to LA], but I didn't
cultivate what this is now, a team did that. Like, if you're building a garden,
I didn't plant the seeds, you know. I didn't put the seeds in like this, I didn't
dig the hole, what I do is I water the plant. That's what I've always done, I
make sure the plant grows. You know, this organization put the seeds in
the dirt. And Megan Julian helped that plant grow by taking some chances
and doing what she did. And now, yes, I oversee this entire thing, but she's
a teammate. Like, I don't look at it like a superiority thing at all, we do this
together, we're in this together, with everybody else, it’s the same thing.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
22. “So what I mean is my role in this has always been to water the plant to
make sure that people are paid well, to make sure that people understand
what we expect of them, to make sure the organization sees why we're
beneficial from a monetization standpoint, from a revenue standpoint, that
there's data to back up why we're driving significant traffic or audience
development. You know, this is all about generational fandom. So how
you're able to find the younger generation of fan and cultivate that
audience and turn them into someone who is passionate about the team.
My job is to make sure that is communicated and understood for different
groups and help other groups understand that, so we can continue to add
resources and be successful and have the freedom to do what we do.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
23. “This all started really when Megan started posting — Megan is just brilliant,
she's just brilliant at it. And she is — I think she would take it as a
compliment — I'd say a content psycho. She is so invested in it. And I say
that as a compliment because I'm a psycho, too. But then we got fortunate.
We hired someone like David Bretto, who now is our Director of Creative
Video. You hire someone to do a job, and he turns out to just be totally
beyond anything you could have imagined. Then from there, yeah, we
cultivate — there were parts of this that I did identify certain people that we
needed to have here, and I flew and met with them and made sure they
needed to be Chargers so we could build this into what we wanted to build it
into. So Megan could have the support of video, which was my role. And now
my role in overseeing it is, like I said, the plant's growing, it's just watering it
and giving enough sunlight.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
24. On the Chargers essence and personality becoming instinctual and understood across the
organization
“They speak the same language because they speak the same language. You don't create a
culture by talking about culture. You create a culture by having people that are like minded,
and then you have an organization that supports creativity — that creates culture. Then
from there, like I said, it's watering the plant and giving it sunlight, meaning you're making
sure that your department heads understand what they're responsible for and what they're
expected to do. They're given the tools to be successful at it and that you're cultivating
talent because you have to be able to hire people to do a job and then when you're trying to
manifest a voice over video or younger people in a social department, so Megan isn't the
one doing it every day so she can have a life at some point, you have to be able to identify
what of your voice is repeatable and how to repeat it, and then find people who can create
the product for it. It's not a matter of sitting in a room and telling people, ‘This is the voice;’
I don't think we've ever once had an open discussion about that…People like to tell us what
our voice is, which I always find very interesting, but we don't talk about it.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
25. “We are here to humanize a brand, to connect a brand and its players to
this audience, to this city, to cultivate a fan base, to create generational
fandom. That is what we talk about. The actions to accomplish those goals
come from creating really good content, from understanding your
audience, from understanding data, and having really smart people who
know how to make really diverse content, right? And of course, our voice is
funny. It's personable. We tweet very serious things in no capitalization,
right? We try to be as if, you know us. We want our brand to be attainable,
to feel like you know who we are as the Chargers. But I've never sat in a
room and been like, this is our voice. [Nor has] Megan said this is our
voice. I think it's always just been understood through what backs it up,
you know what I mean? It's everything else that comes with it.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
26. “I guess the other thing I'd say to that quickly is you can have a voice and
you can have a plan on social, but if you don't have a video team that can
support it then it dies because it's not consistent. I think what we've been
able to do that might be unique is we've been very consistent across
everything we do for years, and that comes from having really good people
and an organization that understands how to prioritize creativity to get
where you need to go.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
27. On creating fans of Chargers social and fans of the Chargers brand as a whole
“We're not the brand. The Chargers content team, the social team is not the brand. The
brand is this organization, a family-run organization that cares deeply about the people
that work here and its fans and its community and its players and its staff. What we are
trying to do is create the best product that can stand out so people can see who we are.
You’re going to become a fan of our team if you're a football fan, hopefully. Or maybe
Justin Herbert's on your fantasy team or the other way you're going to become a fan of
this team is through engaging, creative content and having a voice that relates to the
person next door to you, to someone who's on Reddit who might think, man, they get it.
That's cool. I respect that and I'm going to follow them. And maybe someone who's ten
years or 12 years old who sees a meme or sees anything, he's like, I like that, that's cool.
And then they start looking at our players and they go, oh, I like these players because
they've been humanized on our platforms, right? And then they come to a game and
they have a great experience. And then you become a fan.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
28. “Becoming a fan nowadays — there's a variety of different ways you can be
introduced to a brand. Our belief is the more we can do that's going to
stand out above the rest is going to help us be introduced to people who
don't know who we are. And the more we can do that, because we can't
control product on field, we can only control what we control. We have
such a tremendous group of players and staff that try to win every day and
our job is simply to do our best to highlight the personalities of the people
that are here and make sure that, no matter what, you can always come to
our platforms and find that football is fun.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
29. On the different types of fandom
“Yes, for sure it can. It can be a passive fandom, just following us is important.
Then you're going to have people who are more engaged. We try to create content
for everyone. We are primarily not a football X's and O's type of group. 80% of
our content that you're going to see is probably not going to be football-focused or
very on the field, X's and O's driven. We did dive in X's and O's this year, but
when we did it we went and signed Brett Coleman, who has, 350,000 followers on
YouTube and [we] signed him because he's known for his film breakdowns of
football. So we went and got him to do it for us, because you're going to cultivate a
different audience. When we do things that are X's and O's driven or whatever
we're doing, it's not about us doing it, it's about finding the audience that wants to
consume it and bringing that audience to us so that when we do do it, it's able to
get the return on the investment and be introduced to different people.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
30. “There's a deeper layer to everything in terms of like, well, here's an X's and
O's, we're gonna have our team reporters sit down with the coach and
they're going to talk. We would never do that. Not because there's anything
wrong with it; there isn't. In our mind, we prefer to focus on finding the
audience that does want to see that at a higher level, because typically —
now, bear in mind this isn't true for everyone, but football content has a
ceiling, other content does not. So if you're trying to reach more people and
get outside of your ecosystem, you're going to have to create non-football
content, a lot of it which we do. Then your football content, if you want to
not have a ceiling and you want to reach a broader audience, then you have
to find the right people to partner up with to make sure it does get
consumed. And that's really how we look at it.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
31. On allocating and justifying resources being put to use for various types of
content
“Well, when you're at a point [with] resources, you have a solid resource
situation like we do, the way you develop that kind of depends on the factors
that are present for your team and your organization. Now, our goal is to sell
every piece of product that we have. We want to make as much money as
possible. Content should be sold. Look at it like Barstool (Sports) or Complex
or whoever, create the best possible product and sell that product. That's the
goal. Customizable piece of content, branded content — whatever it is, sell it.
Obviously what's sold will play a part, but then you're always going have your
foundational things that you're going to do no matter what, like you're mic'd
up, you mic'd up a player, you know you're going to use it. It's great content.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
32. “When I think about what football content is, football content is access,
which would be behind the scenes storytelling that is something you can't
find anywhere else. It's mic'd up, which you can't find anywhere else. It's
Brett Coleman doing specific film breakdowns that are super nuanced and
super technical to the diehard football audience that can gain the respect of
that football audience that consumes it, that's football content to us. Football
content to us is not two people who work for the team talking about it. It's
just not. We have a podcast like Chargers Weekly that we do that is awesome.
We don't do a lot of pods, but it is one of them that we do. It has Matt Money
Smith, who's our play-by-play guy, and Chris Hayre, who's a local TV
reporter, and they are brutally honest about this team. If you're going to do it,
you got to be able to talk about it, and they do on the pod. That's one place
you can do it. We just were super intentional. So that's football content to us.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
33. “Then the lifestyle stuff, we plan a billion of those things. What gets sold will probably
determine what we do in some respects. And then you're always going to want to make
sure you have enough room in your content plan and have enough resources that you
can do the things you can’t plan for. Once you can do that, then you're fine. If you have
a cake and you're piecing those parts of it, you're splicing up the parts of the cake, you
need to make sure that the cake is big enough that you can have the content that can't
get sold, your in the moment stuff that you can't plan for. And if you can do that, then
you can build a cohesive plan. Again, that's all dependent upon your situation. If you’re
in New York or another place it's a very different football audience, so you might do
more content; in New England, they had a coach show with Bill Belichick, they have
another show — like there's three television shows. It's not a priority for us here. Our
priority is if we're going to do football news content. It's like I said before, it's going to
be access-driven or it's going to be so over the top nuanced that it's really for that
football audience. Then you're going to have your lifestyle, which really, you know,
lifestyle can be anything that just simply helmet-off-type content.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
34. On how much football ops and football leadership affects the type and tone
of the content
“A lot for sure. I mean, we certainly have no idea what the future holds. We
will adapt to whoever is here and what their preferences are. What we do is
not more important than football. Our number one priority is winning
football games and to support and show and demonstrate. But another
huge goal is to generate fandom, consistent fandom that is not superficial.
It is real, and you do that through generational fandom. So I believe those
things should coexist. Winning football games and building a brand should
coexist together almost independently in some respects, and then in some
ways completely intertwined.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
35. “There are probably times even this season when we would lose a game and we
would probably post something that our fans wouldn't enjoy, like those die-hards,
but we have sponsor obligations or we believe in what we're doing long term, so
we do it. And the uncertainty of what could come with future football leadership
doesn't lead to stress or anything. Not because we think we deserve [anything];
no, there could be dramatic changes coming. We have no idea. It's more of we
love what we do and being creative is not necessarily about, like, being creative is
not always about creating the best possible product on the platform. It could be
about how you work internally, to work with people who don't understand what
you're trying to do, right? Like creativity is just how you go about your day to day
business, your attitude, and that's why we don't have any fears or concerns about
the future, because no matter what happens, we always figure it out. That is
something I do say all the time around here. Right? So that’s for the most part
how we feel.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
36. “[Teams having different goals and resources and situations] is why I don't like when
people say we're the best, because I think we're the best in our situation. I just I think
this is product-driven, situation-driven, context-driven — like, yes, we're good at what
we do, but I bet you if you put a lot of people in our situation they'd also be good at
what they do. Everyone does the best they possibly can. We're not special. We're lucky,
we're fortunate to be able to keep a group together for a long time. And certainly, you
know, we come up with some good ideas. I don't like those Twitter rankings that come
out that say, you know, we're number one on on Twitter. I don't like those things
because I don't think that's fair to the 32nd team on there because you don't know their
situation. You don't know what that person's going through. We want to make the best
possible product for our fans, and we are fortunate enough to be in a situation where
this organization appreciates what we do. That's not everywhere. Some places don't get
it, and I feel bad for them. And I tell anyone who's super creative, come work here. We
are super fortunate to be in a place that allows us to expand what creativity means and
work in an organization that allows us to try different things.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
37. “Then the rest of it — sure, obviously, you know, I'm not saying we don't
have good ideas that I think help us stand apart, of course I do. There is a
secret recipe to having a certain group together. But who is the best is not
as important as why someone could be the best, and that is always a
product of the situation you are in.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
38. On the reputation of the Chargers being so good at social and how it helps them do more and
work more effectively with partners
“That is the only part that matters. That is what we care about. The only reason anything is
valuable to us like that — here's how I'll explain it, and I've talked about this a lot around here. I
don't believe in rankings, but I want people to perceive us as the best. And the reason why you
want that, first, is we need to cultivate the right voice and create a really good product that people
would respect, and we do that because if you have two stand up comedians, one's Kevin Hart and
one's a no name and they both say the same joke, who's going to elicit a better response? It's
going to be Kevin Hart. We want to be the Kevin Hart in the space, we want to create the product
that we want to have a reputation so good that we can make something that we don't even believe
in and people are still going to think it's great because it's us and that we do get nowadays. That is
very helpful to building something that can maintain no matter what happens. The audience
trusts you, the people around you in this space trust that what you're making is the right thing
when we're not even sure what we're making is the right thing, but they believe it is because that's
the person who said it because Kevin Hart made the joke. He validates it.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
39. “Our reputation, once it's validated, it's validated and it's remains validated because we
don't make a lot of mistakes when it comes to what we do. But we don't make a lot of
mistakes because people trust us. So that's why you fight so hard to have a certain
reputation, not because we want a ranking above anyone else, but because of what it
means to validate the product and then help you monetize it. Then of course,
reputation matters when it comes to working in this business. We're in Los Angeles,
this is an extremely competitive market with a lot of sports teams and a very
sophisticated audience to boot, so we want to make sure that when we walk into a
room, you understand that what you're getting here is different than what you're going
to get at another football team or another sports organization in this market. We simply
believe we are better at it than anyone else and we're going to show you why. But that's
not because we actually might think that we're better than anyone, but more because of
the perception of it. And you have to play into that when you're working with partners
because they want that. They want to work with [who’s] perceived the best.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
40. “And then you mentioned players — of course. Players are the key. They have to
believe in what you're doing. You know, we made that video for Cameron Dicker a
couple weeks ago for the Pro Bowl, that comes from trust because they believe
that we're funny and we get it. And then that helps them see that what we do
helps them because that helps them get Pro Bowl votes. We are a creative agency,
an agency that supports the partnership group, that supports the players, that
supports the football team, that supports the fans, every part of it, and
perception, as you put it, or how someone believes you — that is the only reason
we care about it. It is in no way because when we think about going to a league
meeting in April because someone thinks they're less than us because of a
ranking, no chance. We are all the same built upon and become successful
because of the situations we're in. But if we're going to be in the situation we're in
and be perceived the way we're going to be perceived, then we need to ensure that
we use it properly to help maintain who we are.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
41. “It's positive feedback reinforced. So when people see you online and when
people are like, man, the Chargers are great at what they do, holy crap, the
Chargers did it again, that just helps these young people who are learning
this business who work here, it just helps them want to fight harder to be
great because they see that initial reaction. Then I think one thing that can
certainly help is, you know, when we need to go find people that we want to
work here, it's typically not that difficult. There's not a strong introduction,
like I need to sell someone on it. They get it. At this point, you come here,
you understand what's happening and what we're doing now. You got to
come here, you got to prove it. But when we want to hire people, typically,
being perceived as good at what you do only helps in what you're saying, the
self-fulfilling prophecy of reestablishing talent and finding talented people.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
42. About schedule release and the pressure in general of Chargers content/social living up
to their reputation
“[With schedule release], yes, there is a healthy pressure. As much as I try to tell
everyone when we start that process to not worry about that, they do. It's going to
happen. When like ESPN is coming out here to interview us about our schedule release
and what we're going to do, it's hard not for people to put a little pressure on
themselves. I mean, it's really crazy the reaction these things have gotten and then how
people then expect what they expect from us. Yes, there is a pressure. They feel that
pressure. I wish they didn't, but they do and they shouldn't or they shouldn't internally
because no matter what they do, if they have the right process, the results don't matter.
We don't control results, we just control process. We control our own actions. So we're
going to do the best we possibly can to come up with the best possible idea and what
happens past that we don't control, so we're not going to worry about it.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
43. “But you do worry about it. And yes, we've had two consecutive seasons of
doing a specific type of piece. If we do something else, will it be as good?
That's really tough to say. That was pretty good. Do you do the same thing
and run it back for a third time? I don't know. There's a lot of
conversations that happen around that. And the idea of the pressure, you
know, that's probably the one thing that I think people feel pressure on. It's
not anything else. But that one, because it's one consistent thing that we
have done very well there's for sure I think a creative pressure that people
feel that we try to relieve and make sure they understand like do whatever
you got to do. We'll come up with the best idea and it will be what it is.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
44. On the benefits and ‘ROI’ of producing high-performing schedule release content
“Look, if we create a good product, the byproduct of that is always going to be that it
helps our reputation, but at no time are we concerned about that at all. Our number
one goal is objectively business-focused. We are trying to make sure enough people see
it, so more people will become fans of this team and buy tickets. It is awareness around
a schedule so you can come out to SoFi Stadium and enjoy this organization and this
team and celebrate it. That is our number one and our only objective. Everything else is
not even thought of, we do not care about that. Now, I did just say that obviously
there's a creative pressure that comes with it. Of course, an internal human being is
going to feel a pressure to create something great and come up with something great.
But collectively, our focus is not on holding up our reputation. Collectively, our focus is
on this organization and helping them. We want to do the best we possibly can because
we want to sell tickets, and we want more people to be fans of this team. And if we do
our jobs properly, then that will happen.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
45. On activating with big projects and pieces around league tentpoles
“We all know what those things are, right? Some of those are going to be
determined by your team success. So if your team is heading to the playoffs, you
understand the opportunity that could exist there. We see that obviously in a new
regime coming in, there's a huge opportunity coming for us at some point soon to
do some really cool stuff, and we're very excited about that opportunity. Of
course, the Draft is another opportunity, free agency — free agency is not the ame
(for everyone), it depends on the team and if you're going to sign people. It's an
opportunity, sure, but that's more out of your control. Draft is the Draft.
Everyone's got picks. Everyone knows it's coming, so fire off your best stuff,
right? Like have enough bullets in the chamber. And training camp, same thing.
Have enough bullets in the chamber because you know what's coming. Everyone's
got the same situation.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
46. “Then the season comes and then a little bit is out of your control. It's
product dependent, situation dependent, but if you have the right
foundational approach to what you do and you have a brand voice that can
remain consistent, then you always have opportunity. 100% schedule
release is something everyone looks at. Schedule release and Draft are the
two things in the off season that everyone has at the same time, the same
type of situation. The rest of it's a little product dependent…
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
47. “Our system just flows. It's an engine. So it's just like, okay, we can't do it
here because we're not allowed to because it didn't go the way we want to.
Okay, take that idea and morph it for the next thing that comes up. There's
always going to be the next opportunity. The biggest thing is we're not
worried about the now, we're always worried about the future. We're
always worried about what's the next thing we're going to do, not the thing
we're doing now or the thing in the past, because you can't control if it's
already posted, you're on to the next. So we have a strong understanding of
those tentpoles as every team does. And by the way, not to be long winded,
but we marvel at what other teams do. I mean, incredible amount of
respect for these other teams and their creativity because it inspires us
every day.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
48. On breaking the cyclical nature of sports and the chances of slipping into
repetition and monotony
“It's a great question. We think a lot about it. So, take Hot Ones, for
example. First we did it, it blew up. Second year we did it the numbers
weren't as good, but were the numbers not as good because of the product?
I don't know, maybe. Maybe it's the players. We didn't have enough bigger
players in it. Maybe we didn't promote it right. Maybe we can change up
the style when we do it. So that's one of those things where we would bring
back for a third year. We don't bring a lot of things back for three
consecutive seasons, but we would for that because we believe in it.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
49. “But you're more looking at the other ways to make a product successful
versus the product itself, because those things are always evolving or you're
going to have a situation like hype videos. I've done hype videos for 12
years, but the person making them now has only done them for one. So
maybe he has different ideas, right? So it's monotony for me and for Megan
and for Tyler and for David and for Allie, but it's not monotonous for the
people who are young. So if we push them in the right direction, maybe
they come up with something that we're not even expecting. And that's the
thing is, like, it's not about what we want to do as a group of five, it's a
matter of what we want to do [as a] group of 30 and hearing those ideas
and giving them the space to try different things because you just never
know.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
50. “And yeah, we do like the core group of us that have been here together and
work together for a long time, we know we have a good belief in what's
going to work, and we know that in the moment we're going to be able to
come up with some good stuff. We know that. But our job is to cultivate the
next generation of talent. So you can remove remove monotony by allowing
other people to try things. I was just thinking about this the other day
because, you know, if we walk into a training camp next year with a new
coach, I'm like, alright, so we're going to mike the coach on day one. We've
done that 30 times, you know what I mean? But it's like that's not new to
23 year old ‘X’ who works here, so maybe they have a new way of doing
that.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
51. “Draft is a great example of that because Draft it's the same thing. So yeah, I
want to challenge myself to think about it differently, and I will. And then
I'm also going to challenge the team to share their ideas, because they're
going to see it differently than I've seen it, and it won't be monotonous for
them. You know, traveling is monotonous for me now, but for them, it's like
the greatest thing in the world. Like they get to go on the team plane and
they're a part of the team and they're on the field and these great
environments. But for me, I've done it for so long. There's new things that
challenge and inspire me, like game presentation or moving into a new
facility and doing that studio. That's not monotonous to me, that's my
challenge. So everyone's kind of got their own monotony and own rhythm
and you got to inspire people who haven't done things before to try things
because they haven't done them.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
52. On how the Chargers think about data and content strategy
“We are a huge data driven team, and we're fortunate, one of Megan's roles here is she
oversees content performance. And we have Kasey Perez and and a whole team of
youngsters that work together on it. We take in our own data, and this is not only
impression tracking as it relates to revenue driven opportunities, but also just we track
and price everything so we have an understanding of the value of our product. Then if
it's not sold, we have an idea of what we think it should be doing in impressions. And
then we look at weekly, we have goals that we set ourselves and across digital we have
goals. Social following goals, audience goals, engagement goals, demo goals — 12 to 24
is a significant audience for us, so we try to understand how people are consuming
that product if you're 12 to 24 and we look at like, okay, this YouTube Short did 50%
retention over a minute for 18 to 36. Why did it do that? And you got to understand
those things. It all depends on the piece of content and what you're trying to achieve.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
53. “When we think about digital and posting on our site our focus is editorial
and photo, not video. So we're going to have very different goals. We're
going to try to understand those barometers based upon what we think can
be successful and we're going to change what we do and adapt what we do
based upon what people are consuming and what the data is telling us.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
54. On thinking about owned and operated platforms vs, social media channels
“It's renting versus owning, right? We rent property on Twitter, we rent
property on YouTube, we rent property on Facebook, on Instagram. We
own our site, we own our app, so there is a priority in making sure that if
you're a homeowner versus a rental property it's going to be a little
different in how you view it, how you monetize it. We put a lot of thought
into how we do our digital work. You know, we're fortunate to have an
incredible senior writer in Eric Smith, a junior writer, Omar Navarro, a
Michael Gonzalez, our Coordinator of Digital Content. We have a great
group of people who are working on cultivating the proper SEO and the
proper editorial, the proper posting schedule.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
55. We have ways to go for sure. We're not as good on owned and operated, not
because of their talents or because of the product — the product's great. It's
just a matter of getting more people to that property, and we have to
cultivate ways to do that. We have to be super creative and intentional
about that so we can do that versus something on social where, you know,
we have a pretty good handle on. But, like I said, our focus on our owned
and operated is always going to be to create unique experiences for our
fans to make sure they have a positive experience and to make sure that
our editorial and our photo galleries are always what people want to see
and they’re top of mind, and they're easy to find.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
56. How social content helps feed into owned and operated
“Yes, I'll give you a perfect example. So look at BuzzFeed or any of those
places. They do this extremely well. But like our Cameron Dicker video
goes viral on social and we put up an editorial that reacts, that is just the
editorial version of it, which is how the internet reacts to Cameron Dicker's
viral video. So when people search it on Google, we should come up.
There's creativity that can be applied anywhere. We should be reactive in
nature on digital just like we do anywhere else. You [have] creativity, but
just apply it differently
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
57. “(Fans going to Chargers platforms) is going to be how good is the content?
How good is the voice, right? How out there are you? Like that's what it's
going to come down to. We have to. That's why on social we are so out there
because we are trying to get people to stop their feeds in that split second
you have to gain their attention and get them to follow us…
“Editorial is very football -ocused because people who come to your platform
are fans of this team. You're going to have a very different experience. You
need to have really good football content on your site, you need to be writing
for your fans in a way that they want to consume it. It's not like social where
just a random person's going to find you. It's not about the random, it's
about the people who know you. And in that instance, you have to know that
we create the product for them. It's a very different piece of content…
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
58. “That's why social is important though, because you're just getting them in
your ecosystem. And [if they] become a bigger fan, hopefully they do go to
our site because they become more of a football fan. If you don't get
introduced to us by football, then at some point, hopefully you will love
Justin Herbert because we've humanized them on our platforms and then
you might go to our site to read about him, or read five things you didn't
know about Justin Herbert or whatever we come up with that we're
writing. So you're going to take on a very different experience, and your
journey to those platforms is going to be different depending on who you
are. We just like to be ready for all those fans and all those different
situations.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
59. “That's no different than any team. It just might be different for the Dallas
Cowboys, who are typically number one in digital because they have such a
loyal and large following. That's no knock on our fan base, because our fan
base, by the way, is wildly passionate and I love them for all their passion.
They are the best, they are very online. The more we're able to create
generational fandom, the more we're going to create a volume to our site.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
60. On winning over fans’ hearts and mindshare
“I think the way we look at it is we want you to talk about the team. We want
you to own our product. We want you to have a keychain and all that. But
then also if you can discuss our Cameron Dicker video, then great, it gives
you another thing to talk about around the water cooler, right? There's
always a different way to talk about it. So that's why we're always trying to
create such a cool product because being a fan of this team means being
proud of this team, being proud of the colors you wear; and you can be
proud for a variety of reasons. It can be the product on the field, it can be
what we do on social, it could be a video we made, it could be anything, and
we just want to create enough talking points for people that they do have
something to talk about.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
61. “Yeah, of course, like buy a keychain, buy our merch, and you got to come
up with cool ways to do merch. You know, we did an incredible merch
collab this year with the Crenshaw Skate Club, and that was another
opportunity to try to create a new touchpoint for fans to buy our
merchandise. And we have to continue to do those things. I mean, having a
physical presence is different than having a large digital presence, and
certainly something that we talk a lot about around here.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
62. “There's always like, — of course you make an anime video, there's next
steps to that, right? Like, how can you take it to the next level? And
certainly that's always something we're trying to do. That's what everyone's
trying to do. That's marketing 101, in a way. So I think everyone and every
sports team and every brand is trying to achieve that and trying to ensure
that you're always surrounded by the ecosystem of that brand, and we just
have to continue to find ways to do that.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
63. On having a winning plan for his team ready for when the Chargers have a
special season
“Yeah, we have it. It's as simple as that. We have it, we're ready. When the
time comes, we'll be ready… I mean, you're always building a winning plan.
You're building both. You build the plan for the unfortunate of
circumstances of losing, and then you build a plan for winning. Having a
plan for making the Super Bowl is something that most people have. We do
have a plan. You wouldn't build it out completely because we're not there.
You don't know the situation you're in or exactly what you want to do or
the talent you might have internally.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
64. “Look, I'll say this though, and this is important — I say this to everyone
here, I said it at one point this season. You know, we unfortunately weren't
winning as much as we had hoped, which is, we didn't hire you all to make
content all the time when we're winning because anyone can create content
when you're winning. You all are here because you're the best at what you
do and that becomes far more challenging when a team isn't living up to
expectations. So put your creativity to work now more than ever.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
65. “Winning is easy. Creating content when you win is very easy. Creating
content when you're losing, when fans are upset — now that's a challenge.
And that is why typically when we look to hire people we try to find the
creative people who have been in some environments that have been
challenging because if you can create in a challenging environment, you can
create in an easy environment and a winning environment. And like I said
about having a plan for winning — we have that. Everyone sees that play out
almost when we do win. It's the memes and from there it just drives out to
it's just let your creativity take over, let the situation dictate what you're
going to do, and then let the in-the-moment content that you're going to
come up with that you can't plan for take over. Then for the Super Bowl, we
do know what that first tweet would be. We know what that would be. It's
been ready. It will remain ready. And I hope we get to use it.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
66. About going to Northeastern for undergrad and their work co-op program
“Yeah, work co-op. is a really cool program. If you don't know about it,
[it’s] a five year school…You spend a good amount of time getting work
experience. I highly recommend it to anyone. If I had to apply there today,
I probably wouldn't get in. I mean, it's a really good school. I'm fortunate to
go and my dad went there too, which was cool. And I have nothing but
good things to say about the city, the people. It was a great place to go to
college.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
67. Jason’s favorite question or prompt when interviewing a job candidate
“Depends what it is. If it's a leadership role, I like to ask someone if they
are a leader and they're coming here to be one, what did they perceive
leadership to be before they were [a leader], and what did it end up
becoming when you were one? I think those are two very different things,
and I like to understand that. And I like to understand what causes
someone stress. I'll ask anyone that. I want to know what gets you riled
up?”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
68. On becoming a leader himself
“It changes as the department gets bigger and the oversight seems to get larger in some
respects then it changes. I think the biggest thing about leadership is certainly it's about
managing the people inside your department, but it's being a good teammate to the people
outside of it. And those soft skills are really important, something that I really had to work
on in my 30s because I didn't really develop them in my 20s, and I still have probably a
long way to go. I think if you probably ask some people around here they’d probably say
I'm an abrasive person, they might not love me too much. So I got some work to do. And
then maybe some people will tell you that I'm passionate and I love what I do. I think
leadership is uncomfortable, certainly when you first become a leader, it's uncomfortable.
I've enjoyed the process, but I've enjoyed it because I've been surrounded by people who
have supported me and I'm surrounded by good teammates who work with me, and that's
made it really enjoyable. I live a dream every day because I get to work with people that I
really enjoy working with who are like-minded, so that makes the rest of it fairly easy.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
69. Jason’s favorite sponsored content piece so far in his time with the Chargers and favorite
social media post
“My favorite sponsored content is probably Hot Ones. That was a dream to do that. And
favorite post is tough, man. There's been so many that Megan and her team have done
that I'm just like, I marvel at what they do. It's tough to find a favorite. Maybe my
favorite this year because there's been a good amount I’ll say, my favorite this year.
Typically they send memes to me, I technically approve them, like I just try to give the
sign off of, like, okay, this is cool. But, you know, I'm not too heavily involved. But there
was something they did after the Bears game when we smoked the Bears, they did an
incredible meme that I did not see. They just kind of came up with it and did it and I
loved it because they knew they could do it. And I loved it because it was great and I had
nothing to do with it. So that's something that stands out to me of just like, Holy crap,
they're just so good at what they do. They're just incredible. I love being reminded on a
daily basis that they don't need me to be successful. That makes me feel really good.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
70. How the Chargers x Hot Ones collab came together
“It took a lot of work. I spent a lot of time on that one. A lot of negotiation,
finding the right partners and Chris and Melanie and Sarah and and
obviously Sean at Hot Ones for their partnership. It took a lot of time. I
bought tickets to ComplexCon, went out to ComplexCon, I stood in line to
meet [Hot Ones host] Sean [Evans] and I gave him the 30-second pitch on
who we were just like anyone else would. And I guess it worked. From
there, it just developed. That is and still remains probably my favorite thing
that we've done.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
71. Jason’s favorite guiding principle or mantra when it comes to content
“We have a department philosophy, a credo type of thing that's, like, we
want people to be their best selves and be super creative. So we have a
whole thing and then we lay out standards for each level in the department
so they understand on a daily basis not just what's expected of them, but
what's expected of their leaders. So I spend a good amount of time there,
more than I do on the content part of it, because I think, as we talked about
during the interview, we don't really sit there and go, this is our voice. It's
more of like we just want to create really fun, engaging content, right? So
my focus tends to be more on what can we do as human beings to be the
best possible versions of ourselves when we come in the building.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
72. The most memorable game Jason has been at as a fan
“I'm a die hard [New York] Mets fan, so it's obviously Mets. I'm trying to think
which one. The Robin Ventura grand slam double to beat the Braves in 2000.
That was amazing. I can’t [remember] what year it was, but there was a game I
went to with my parents [and] it was fireworks night in July and we were down
10-1 to the Braves going to the bottom of the eighth and Mike Piazza ended up
hitting a three run home run down the left field corner at Shea Stadium, and
I'll never forget it. That for sure stands out as a memory that I'll have forever.
“Then probably the other one, I was at the first Mets no-hitter [by] Johan
Santana. It's the greatest thing ever happened. I mean, I'll never forget that
night, calling my dad to tell him is something I'll never forget.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
73. About work life balance working for an NFL team
“I would tell others to figure out what makes their balance be their balance, because that doesn't
mean you have to leave at 5 p.m. every day for work life balance. Work life balance comes in
what you find peacefulness in, what makes you happy and doing those things no matter what
they are is important. I always make the joke with my parents, but like during the Mets season,
the staff knows this, the baseball game is going on every day. 4 p.m. that the Mets game is on.
You can come in, we'll talk, but I'm watching the Mets at work, it's happening because it makes
me happy. That's work life balance to me. Doing the things that make you happy either at work
or not at work. And as long as you do whatever is important to you, then that's great. I would
highly recommend anyone getting into this business to work their ass off if they want to
accomplish anything, and if they think they can get anywhere in life working 9 to 5, they got
something else coming to them. You got to bust your ass if you want to get somewhere in this
world, doesn't mean you got to work 9 to 7 p.m., 8 to 7 p.m., 8 to 8 p.m., 8 to 10 p.m., seven days
a week. It means you got to find what works for you as an individual, as a human that makes you
happy and do those things. And then if you do that, it will all work out…
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
74. “I mean, even last night, Megan and I are texting back and forth at like
9:45 p.m., some stuff we saw on social that we liked or didn't like — I don't
know if it's always the healthiest thing to do that, but it’s what we enjoy. I
don't know, it's all about the person, the individual. I've never liked on
social when people, whoever they are, who have a following, who try to tell
someone what it means to have a work life balance when that's an
individual thing. Having the idea of it is important, but what makes you
happy is what matters. And I don't like that that has to mean leaving at 5
p.m. every day. I don't know why you can't be happy working hard and
doing things you like to do outside of work. It shouldn't be independent of
each other…
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
75. “And take your breaks, man. Like when you get out, get out. I'm not telling people
to work till they die here. Take your breaks. Do what you gotta do. You gotta
police yourself. You gotta know when it's time to put your hand up and say I need
a break. We always say we're not expecting someone to come to work every day
and give 100% of 100% of themselves. If you only have 40% to give at work, give
40%. We understand that. If you got to come in at 10 a.m. one day because you
need some more sleep, that's fine too. Work-life balance starts with the idea of at
work you have to be a good teammate. You have to be accountable to the people
you work with and to yourself and you need to be a selfless, humble individual
who is there to help the people around them as much as helping themselves. Then
when you leave work, do what you got to do to make yourself right, not so you can
come to work and be good, just so you're a good human, right? See your family,
talk to your family, go to a Mets game, go to Disneyland, whatever those things
are. Be an agent of your own success.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
76. The best TV show Jason has watched recently
“The last thing I watched in detail, and the season's always tough is, I mean
everyone's seen it, I think, but The Bear is my favorite show. It is so
freaking good. Obviously that Spoons and Forks episode from episode
seven. There's nothing like that. Or the Two Fishes episode that is the most
chaotic just grueling 30 minutes of television…
“I just rewatched like five seasons of The West Wing. That show holds up. I
love West Wing. Aaron Sorkin's brilliant, West Wing is so good. If you
haven't seen West Wing, watch West Wing.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
77. The best meal to get in LA and where to get it and also the
food or restaurant Jason misses the most from New York
“There isn't one restaurant I miss in New York. I think I
just miss being able to walk down the street and grab a
pizza slice or a bagel that I really like. It's just like, you
can’t get it anywhere here, it's harder. Food here — there's
a restaurant, it's very expensive, I only go if my parents
pay for it, but it's called Damian. It's in downtown LA. I
freaking love that place. I've been there like three times
now. My dad loves it, too, my mom loves it. It's so good.
“Again, maybe make sure your parents pay for it if you're
going, but holy crap, is it good…It's a chef from Mexico
City. I don't know how to describe the cuisine. It's a
Mexican cuisine. It's so good. Just the flavors, the plating,
it's awesome.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
78. What is the off season look like for Jason and his team?
“For me, it's going to be making sure that we have a really cool content
studio at our new facility. We got to kill this new regime content. [When]
we bring a new coach, new GM and all that, we got to be all over that.
That's a tremendous opportunity for us to be relevant in the market and so
we're looking forward to that. Then from there, schedule release, Draft, it's
just great opportunities for us to continue to do what we do. I mean, the
most important objective in the offseason is give people an opportunity to
regroup, refresh, get their minds right, so they can be the best possible
versions they can be here. So we do those things, we're going to be okay…
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
79. “We're retrospective in the moment. You have to do it in the moment or it's
not going to happen. You can't go back after the season and try to regroup
on a season. I think that's why we're so fortunate to have weekly emails
that come to us from our content performance team that tell us how we're
doing so we can react. Because if you try to go back after the season, it's
really tough. So we have a pretty good handle on what kind of happened
this year. But then if it's not content related, there's so many other things
you have to look at like process, communication, how people work
together. We got to look at all those things to continue to refine who we are
as a department so we can just become smarter, faster and better.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
80. What industry trend will be top of mind for sports a year from now?
“Oh, I don't know if I'm your guy on this. I think you're going to continue to see
players own their own content. That's just going to be what's going to continue to
happen. Players are going to become more independent entities, and how we adapt
as content teams to work with them is going to be super important, because, you
know, you're not going to be able to just do a podcast with three guys on the team.
They're not going to go for it. They're going to do a podcast, they're going to go
work with Wave Sports and do what the Kelces did and get paid a million bucks.
They're not going to work with us. So our content has to adapt at the time so that's
something that’s just going to continue to evolve, I think that's and that is probably
where my focus is now is thinking about how do we fit into the bigger picture? Do
we create the content for them in their individual platforms? Can we become big
enough as an agency to do that? Those are all things we have to look at…
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
81. “I mean, you have to be big enough to [serve as an agency for them]. I
mean, I've loved to be the creative agency for the players across the board,
but they have agencies to do that. I think it's going to be really interesting, I
don't know where this is heading 3-5 years from now, if it will be as big or
as important. I don't know that yet, we're going to find out. But I think
what we're going to always try to do is remain nimble and be the best we
can be within the situation that we have.”
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
82. Where to find Jason, his team, and the Chargers on social media
“Well, I'm going to tell you the follow people who work in this department. So
follow the Chargers, obviously @Chargers. Follow Tyler Pino, our Senior Director
of Production, he’s the best (@tylerpino92). You got to go follow David Bretto
(@david_bretto on Twitter and davidbretto on IG). He'll hate it, which is why you
should do it. I think everyone follows Megan Julian, but go follow Megan Julian
(@meganbjulian). Allie Raymond (@allie_raymond). Eric Smith, our Senior
Writer (@eric_l_smith). Go follow all of them. Go on our website, see who works
here, and just go follow them because they're good people and people should see
their work.”
Find Jason primarily on LinkedIn
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine
83. @njh287; www.dsmsports.net
Thanks again to Jason for being so generous with his time to share his
knowledge, experience, and expertise with me!
For more content and episodes, subscribe to the podcast, follow me
on LinkedIn and on Twitter @njh287, and visit www.dsmsports.net.
Best Of The Digital and
Social Media Sports Podcast
Episode 262: Jason Lavine