To Bring Back Fans, LA Rams Choose Live Events Vet as CMO

The Los Angeles Rams have been through many changes over the past few years. First, the team moved from St. Louis back to Los Angeles in 2016. Last year, they debuted a new logo, typeface and color scheme. They also played their first games in the new state-of-the-art SoFi Stadium without fans due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, this upcoming season the team expects to have fans in attendance for the first time. Amid this sea of changes, the Rams need someone to steady the ship as they look to connect with Los Angeles fans in-person again and establish the Rams as a premier sports brand. That person will be Kathryn Kai-ling Frederick, who was named chief marketing officer of the Rams. Is Putting Your Name on a Stadium Worth the Investment? SoFi Thinks So Frederick's previous stops include stints as chief marketer at Ticketmaster and Live Nation, connecting over 300 million fans worldwide to artists, teams and live events. Frederick spoke with Adweek about her new role with the Rams, opening up the one-year-old stadium for the first time to fans in Los Angeles, and her goals for the team. Adweek: What opportunities and challenges do you see with your new role? Kathryn Kai-ling Frederick: Very rarely do you come across an opportunity that shares all of the elements that you love and that are valuable to your own value system: the sense of community, mission and purpose; a willingness to take risks; and ultimately a culture that embodies winning together. Those are things that the Rams have in spades and are shared values to the way that I lead. This year will be the first time the Rams will be able to play in SoFi Stadium in front of fans. What’s that transition like? I’ve seen this come full circle. From my time at Live Nation and Ticketmaster as their respective CMOs, we got to see the beginning of the pandemic as events became shut down and fans had to react accordingly. And throughout my time there, the key insight is fandom has stayed as robust as ever, and that there is a desire to come back together, a sense of community, a sense of reunion, a sense of the ability to make those memories again. I know in my heart of hearts that live events, live sports and live entertainment is essential because it shapes our identities, it shapes our sense of togetherness and that celebration of shared joy. There's a renewed focus on how to bring people back out of that pandemic and to welcome them with open arms to a stadium that was built for Rams fans, and that's a special moment. As a marketer that is truly, truly unique, to be able to bring together that moment of really introducing fans to the new home of sport at a time when we need it more than ever. Rebel Wilson Welcomes Fans to ‘Her’ LA Rams Draft House in New Campaign How do you take what you learned as CMO at Live Nation and Ticketmaster to this role with the Rams? The insights that I've learned and the pattern recognition I have about fandom across live events is directly applicable to the job here I'm doing now. What we really tried to do was make sure that we were always fan-first. We were historically a b-to-b business. With this transition, it really enabled us to think consumer-first in our approach to brand development, marketing exigency and consumer experience. That is directly relevant to bringing a world-class brand to life here in LA. What shapes your marketing instincts? Having to engage hundreds of millions of global fans a year, I've been able to see what really matters. And it really does come up to, "What does the brand stand for? How does the brand show up? How does the brand choose to engage authentically and relevantly?" That has been a truly important thing for marketers to remember. It's not about broadcasting an agenda, but developing and shaping that agenda with your fandom. Is there anything you learned early on in life that you still carry into your career? Organizations are about people. And what I love about this club and franchise is from the leadership down to the internship, everyone works for one another. Everyone works with one another; everyone has a sense of winning together. You'll hear coach McVay say all the time, "We, not me." And that is represented throughout, top-to-bottom, in this organization and is one of the things that probably matters most to me in my leadership style, and turned out to be a real core of the shared belief that I have with the Rams. Are there any long- or short-term goals that you've set for yourself or the organization? The opportunity to build this lifestyle and identity brand that transcends just a sports brand—that allows us to build a platform for our LA fans and for Rams fans globally. Repping that spirit of our clubs and our players is developing that brand with fans and harnessing their fandom and meeting them in this incredible stadium. That stadium that we have, that majestic palace that we get to play in, is very much at the heart of what it means to be No. 1. I won't settle until the Rams are a globally relevant and respected brand, not only in this community but to sports fans globally. Inside Code and Theory’s Rebranding Plans for the Washington Football Team

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LA Rams Name Live Event Marketing Veteran Kathryn Kai-ling Frederick CMO as Fans Return

Former Ticketmaster and Live Nation executive knows how to put people in the stands

Rafael Canton

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Rafael Canton