 So, there's this idea of a fourth wall. I think that's the next frontier for sport. Figure out a way to bring fans even closer to the action. Hi, I'm Stephanie Paderec, Executive Editor of AdWeek, and I'm here with Julian Duncan, who is the CMO of the Jacksonville Jaguars with the NFL. And we are in the Google headquarters today for our CMO Move Summit here in New York. Julian, thanks so much for being with us today. Thanks for having me. My pleasure. Julian, what is the thing that you're most excited about with your job right now? So, I'm really excited about our opportunity to transform Jacksonville through the power of experiences, which is something I've been hearing a lot about today. You know, a lot of times you think about the game of football and that's kind of it. But we have a portfolio of experiences that we have to offer at the Jacksonville Jaguars, but it starts with putting a great football product on the field and then we expand out into music and concerts, events. We even have wrestling. We're also going to be launching a new news channel targeting news that's important to African Americans. So, being able to transform the city of Jacksonville through the power of sport, transforming it into an experiential destination is super exciting for us. What's the thing that keeps you up at night? Like, is there a problem that you're trying to solve? There actually is. When you look at the front offices in the realm of sport in general, they're not super diverse and they're not the best reflection of the communities they serve or of the athletes that are on the field, on the pitch, on the diamond. I'm on a mission to help change the face of that. I believe that, you know, you've got women and men that are out there that are performing. They're also college-educated, they're entrepreneurs, they're creators, right? They're thinkers and I don't know that they've been encouraged or exposed to the front office in a way that would invite them to come in and actually work there and lead there after they're done with the sport of their choice. So, I'm on a mission to help transform the face of the front offices. In terms of the lack of diversity on staff in all industries, it's so systemic that it can be hard to pinpoint where do you start? How do you really get beyond the talk and make a difference? Is there something that you've done or implemented that you think has been a good step towards recruiting diverse teams? One of the things that I have the privilege of having at my disposal is I have a direct connection to our athletes. I'm always blown away at how young these athletes are. When you see them on TV, you kind of think about them as, you know, just like an athlete. They should be super mature, they should be super learned, they should know everything about their sport and everything about the world around them when actually they just graduated from college. They're kids. They're kids. And a lot of them don't have a full grasp on anything outside of the things they've been exposed to at that point. So, when the rookies come in, I have an opportunity to sit down and present to them and share with them what the world of brand looks like, what it means for them to have a personal brand, what it means for them to use the things that they're passionate about to essentially pave the way for the second act after they're done playing football. So you're encouraging them to think about the career they're going to have after the game from a very early age. They have the benefit of having an off-season. Really, there is no off-season because they're always working, they're always investing in their bodies and training and things. But they're also very passionate about things outside of sport. That passion point is a great place to start with respect to figuring out how you want to use that passion to take you into a career after sport. How can you monetize that passion is something that we talk about. What innovation do you see coming down the pike that is changing the way that you do things? No, honest answer, I don't know what the innovation is, but I know what the problem is that I need an innovation to help me solve. I'm curious. Is it okay if I reframe it? Yeah. So, there's this idea of a fourth wall. I think that's the next frontier for sport. Figuring out a way to break through that fourth wall, right? Like, figure out a way to bring fans even closer to the action. We experimented with a platform called Your Call Football. There's an app that you can download that allows you to actually call the play. You get four plays from a coach. You get a chance to pick the play and the play that gets selected by the majority of the fans is the play that they actually have to run. That's a great toe in the water for breaking the fourth wall. Talk about interactivity. Exactly. So, I think that's the next frontier. I'm not exactly sure what the innovation is, but I would love to work with the right folks to figure out how to break through that fourth wall. I love this challenge. We need someone out there to innovate a solution for this problem. Exactly. Let's go. So, last question for you. What is a piece of advice that someone's given you that really stayed with you? That's a great one. During my time at Nike, there were a couple of mantras that you would always hear in the hallways. One was, always listen to the voice of the athlete. And the other one was the consumer decides. Now, the one thing that is the tie that binds those two things together is like, open your ears and listen. That's the best advice I can give to a marketer or a single piece of advice that I can give to an up-and-coming marketer is listen to the voice of the consumer. I love that so much. Listening with humility. Absolutely. Julian Duncan with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Thank you so much for being with us today. Thanks for having me. And thank you all for joining us for Top of Mind.