Travis LoDolce is a bit of an anomaly in the sports world. As senior manager of digital marketing, he is in his 11th season working for the Oakland Athletics.
During those 11 years, Travis has seen his career flash before him in an award-winning movie, and skills beyond his job description take him to a far-off land.
Listen in or watch as Travis shares:
- How the A’s stand out from their competitors in the fan experience
- What skills are important no matter your position in an organization
- Why you should stay in a good situation when you find it
Sports Job Interview – Travis LoDolce
Travis LoDolce – Interview Transcription
Hi, this is Sam Miller with Sports Networker.com. I’m here tonight with Travis LoDolce. Travis is the Senior Manager of Digital Marketing for the Oakland A’s.
Travis, thanks so much for coming on this Skype call with me. How are you tonight?
I’m doing great. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
I guess the first question is, how did you get into this gig?
This is actually my 11th season with the A’s. I started shortly before the 2002 season. I sort of happened into baseball by random chance. I went to the University of Santa Barbara. I didn’t study sports or journalism or marketing or anything like that. But when I got out of school in 2000, I decided I wanted to work for a Major League Baseball team. This is my hometown team, and I thought nothing could be better than going to a ballpark every day.
I did a couple odd jobs. Then, before the 2002 season, I had a very fringe connection to the front office. One gentleman shared a job notice with me. I sent in my resume and was able to get a job out of it. I worked part-time throughout the 2002 season in the ticket services office assisting season-ticket holders, but that was only part-time on game days. That same season, I worked for the San Francisco Giants across the Bay on their game days as the suite concierge. After the 2002 season, which was a great season for both teams (the A’s won 20 consecutive games, the Giants went to the World Series), the A’s hired me on full-time.
Since you started in 2002, when “Moneyball” is based, what was it like seeing first the book and now the movie with Brad Pitt?
It’s funny. I worked every single game in 2002 except for one game. There was one crossover game between the A’s and the Giants. When I originally looked at the schedule, I looked at it and went, “That mid-week game against the Royals, nobody will go to that game. I can easily miss that game.” That ended up being the 20th consecutive win. Leading up to it was so fantastic during the 20-game win streak. Years later, to hear rumors about the movie possibly being made, seeing Brad Pitt walking around the offices, seeing some of the filming go on here, and sitting in the stands watching the movie be filmed was surreal.
I have family members that have never had much interest or known about what I do or the team I work for, but when they saw the movie, they were asking me all sorts of questions. “Isn’t that the team you work for?” “Do you know that Billy Beane guy?” It’s pretty fun.
What’s the A’s social media strategy?
For a long time, it’s been to build up our followers. We were probably in the bottom-third of followers on Twitter and on Facebook. We wanted to expand that by engaging them. It’s grown exponentially in the last year. Major League Baseball teams, in general, were maybe a year or two behind getting into Facebook and Twitter full board. Now that we have, it’s been fantastic. MLB’s Twitter handle is one of the largest, I believe. We try to engage them on a daily basis and make it an interesting collaboration. We post lineup cards, updates during games, wins and losses, things like that. But we love to do extra gifts when we can. We sometimes watch if somebody is coming to the game that night and try to find out their seats in order to bring them a little gift. We’re always trying to think of something different to get people involved. In December we ran a promotion called 31 Gifts in 31 Days. Every day at 11 a.m., we’d tweet out some sort of engagement where people could tweet us back. One of those people would win a certain prize. It was things like a flip cam, batting practice visits, an inning in the radio booth.
I’ve talked to several other MLB teams. They are kind of a one-man or a one-woman show in social media. You’re a manager, and your boss is a senior director. What are your responsibilities, and what are his responsibilities?
My responsibilities are basically that I am the Major League Baseball Advanced Media day-to-day contact. For people who aren’t familiar with how teams are constructed, all the teams work very closely with Major League Baseball to oversee the Web site and oversee anything we have online and mobile. I’m overseeing the Web site, making sure that portions of it are OK and up-to-date, keeping things relevant, putting together e-mail blasts, targeted blasts and overseeing portions of social media as well. Luckily, I’m not just a one-person operation. We do have somebody, our marketing manager, who is very involved with the day-to-day operations of Facebook and Twitter and the other social media that we have. PR is very involved as well. There is a core group of about four or five folks that is engaged on social media here at the A’s.
As you mentioned, there’s a lot of baseball to be had in California. What can set the A’s apart and make them successful?
From a ballpark perspective, we offer a great family atmosphere. We try to do the same online. We try to come up with unique and innovative promotions and events to draw people to the ballpark. We had a Father’s Day catch, for instance, when after the game, fans could come down and play catch with their kids.
It’s just engaging and always responding to fans, as well. If a fan has a question, a concern or a thank you letter, it’s getting back to them right away. It’s being open and available and having some transparency. We have what we call AFAC, The A’s Fan Advisory Committee. That’s one of my responsibilities, to partially oversee that committee. It’s a group of A’s season-ticket holders who have an invested interest in the team. They come to a lot of games. They sit down with us about every six weeks during the season. We ask them, “How’s it going? Are you enjoying the experience? How are the front gates? Are the ushers conversing with you? What do you think of our marketing efforts? What do you think of this commercial?” We give them things to look at and things to look for. They report back to us on whether we are doing a good job or whether we should change, or on what they’re hearing when they are sitting in their seats. It’s making sure that the fan experience is top-notch and everything that it can be.
What are some skills in your job that you have had to use consistently?
My job has changed so much over time. Starting in the ticket operations department, it was very fan-oriented on an individual basis. Talking with season-ticket holders all day, picking up the phone and engaging with them, seeing them in person. Not only season-ticket holders but also individual-game holders. Really getting to know what their interests are, and what they are looking for, and what kind of questions people will have.
As I’ve moved into marketing over the last number of years, I’ve taken that individual approach and tried to apply it to everything that we do online. What are fans going to be interested in? When I’m building or writing copy for a Web page, what kind of questions are people going to ask? Should the page have an FAQ area?
One skill that’s come in handy is one of my hobbies, photography. One of the great things about the A’s and the managers that I’ve had is that they’ve let me spread my wings in a lot of areas. If something interests me, they will let me go for it. I’ve taken a lot of photos for the team. I’m not the team photographer, but I’ll take photos here and there. They have been used on social media, and they are all over the Web site now. Earlier this year, I got to go to Japan as the team photographer when the team opened the season there. It was a lot of fun. I was doing social media from there and taking photos during games.
Tell me a little bit more about that experience of going to Japan. What did you take away from that experience, maybe how they do baseball or how their fans engage with baseball vs. the fans here?
If you had told me 10 or 20 years ago that I would be riding on the team plane to Japan to take photos for the team for the opening game, I would have laughed in your face. I wouldn’t have believed it. It was something of a dream come true. Going over there was great. We played a couple Japanese teams in exhibition games before we ended up playing the Mariners. It was funny. Between innings, every half inning was a little bit different. When the A’s were on the field, the crowd was very loud singing songs, drumming and chanting. When the Japanese teams were at bat, it was very quiet so the team could concentrate. Here, usually when the home team’s at bat, everybody’s yelling and screaming, trying to get their team energized.
As far as the country and seeing portions of Tokyo, it was fantastic. Everybody’s so friendly there.
Getting back to the A’s fan experience, I saw on the A’s Web site, there’s something called “My A’s Story.”
That was something that my boss, Troy Smith, dreamt up this past offseason. It’s something that we have been running in games. A few years ago, we brought in an in-game host. Her name’s Kara. She’s done a fantastic job engaging fans in the stadium, going around with the camera crew. In between innings, she interviews people with different stories. She’s a fan herself, a former season-ticket holder. Through her engagement with the fans, it just sort of came to be that with the A’s rich history of over 40 years of baseball in Oakland – World Series wins, and memory after memory – what better way than to let fans tell their own story? What you saw online is fans are able to write in a memory. If they are local and can come to a game, and if it’s something that’s very unique in some way or just a really touching memory, we will invite them to a game. When they are here, we will record that memory, and it will end up either online or playing in the stadium in between innings.
What lessons have you learned that you would pass on to budding professionals in sports media?
I can’t stress enough to be involved and to try anything. It’s hard to get your foot in the door. If you can get in somewhere, be confident. Don’t be cocky. There’s definitely a difference. The willingness to do whatever is asked of you is phenomenal. People will pick up on that. If you know somebody at the place you are working and you are interested in what they do, feel free to talk to them about it. If somebody leaves and you’re in a position where maybe you can take over a portion of their job, the best thing you could do is to ask to take over that position or portions of it. Knowing what people do around you will put you in that position to be able to do that. From my own experience of working in ticket operations, when a former marketing manager left, I had already been helping him and dabbling in portions of the Web site. When he left, I got to take on a larger portion of that. The reason why I got to work down in Spring Training is because a couple people left. When they left, I walked into my boss’ office and asked him, “Would you mind if I work on this? I’m willing to help in any way that you need me.” He ended up giving me the lion’s share of work.
I’d also say, if you’re lucky enough to meet somebody that you really respect, somebody who can mentor you, that’s a positive thing. I was fortunate to work with Steve Fanelli when he was in the ticket department. Now he’s the [executive director of ticket sales and operations] here at the A’s. He has been phenomenal in helping me and letting me work in a number of different areas. Just trying to pick his brain and get information from him has been a great thing.
It seems like most people move around a lot, especially early on in their careers. You have been with the A’s for a while. Why, and what’s that been like?
Friends of mine say they couldn’t imagine being anywhere for 11 years. It’s great to work here. It’s a great company. It’s a lot of fun. The fans are fantastic. The team has always been good. I have a personal interest in the team because it is one of the teams that I grew up enjoying. It makes it even more fun for me. But I was also fortunate enough to work with Steve Fanelli and Josh Ziegenbusch, along with the folks in the marketing department now. The collaborative effort that we have had worked really well and still works really well. It’s easy to get along with people. If you have that kind of situation, you don’t want to leave it too quickly.
Photo Credit: Oakland Athletics (Facebook Page)
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