Name: Kayla Wilkinson
Job: Digital Talent + Strategic Initiatives Manager
Company: Octagon
LinkedIn: Kayla Wilkinson
In 140 characters or less, tell us who you are and how you got to where you are today.
I like exploring who people are and what makes places unique. 50% black coffee, 50% red wine.
The journey: MD > UNCđ > ATLđđ > DCâ˝ď¸ > OCT
Whatâs one trend in media or marketing that youâre buying or selling?
Buying: womenâs sports. It feels like the industry is finally approaching a tipping point for womenâs sports in terms of consumption, distribution, media coverage, and partnerships. Iâm buying because I like the forecast but also because I believe in the quality of the product.
How do you define engagement?
Engagement = intent. The goal is to create content that drives intentional action â sharing with friends, leaving a comment, visiting a website, subscribing, seeking out additional related content, coming back to consume more content later, etc. Passive or unintentional consumption still counts toward metrics at the end of the day, but nurturing a core audience that demonstrates intent is where basic engagement insights actually mature into meaningful, omnichannel brand connections.
Whatâs the project or campaign that youâre proudest of? Why?
The projects most near and dear to my heart are the graphics packages I created for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl right after college. I had literally never opened Photoshop before and my boss essentially said figure it out, which was a great challenge and something for which Iâm now thankful, but at the time was the most daunting task in the universe. I watched a lot of YouTube, played around and created a lot of ugliness, and by some miracle cranked out graphic, GIF, Snap filter, and frame packages for the kickoff and semifinal teams. I felt like a badass, world-class designer since I started at 0 and finished slightly above 0.
What are you working on right now? Any exciting future plans that youâre able to share?
Everything we work on ties back to a core mission of empowering athletes and personalities to be their own media companies and 360° offerings in authentic ways. Itâs about democratizing content and access. Thatâs obviously very high-level, but thatâs the future, and I, at least, think itâs exciting!
As a connected fan, whatâs the best piece of sports content that you have recently consumed?
I love Kapâs âStill Readyâ videos. Anything typically unseen piques my interest, but this is a different kind of unseen. Hereâs an elite athlete who Iâm not going to see if I turn on the NFL or scroll through teamsâ feeds, but I can watch exclusively through his social. That small window of access into his life and current relationship with football is super interesting.
Whatâs been the biggest high and low of working in sports?
High: When sports transcend sports. Experiencing opposing teams gathering in MLK Jr.âs church days before they face off for a National Championship bid, or watching a player return to training after chemo, or being on-site for the first-ever all-female broadcast for a league â those are the kinds of moments that stick a lot more than anything in-game.
Low: The notion that if you get the chance to work in sports then thatâs cool(!) and all that matters(!), regardless of how youâre treated. Itâs silly. Someone once told me that if a negative work environment is changing you for the worse more than youâre able to change it for the better, then itâs time to move on. That changed the way I look at opportunity and this industryâs many cost-value tradeoffs.
Whatâs one element of the sports industry that youâd like to see change?
A wider variety of people at the table. From what Iâve experienced, thereâs greater diversity on the ground and coming into the industry, but the higher you get the more the key players start to look alike. Few industriesâ consumers are as diverse as sports consumers. We need to identify and nurture decision-makers of every gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, and so on so we can better understand and engage with consumers of every gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, and so on.
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