TD Bank locked in a 20-year naming rights extension this month with Boston’s TD Garden arena, home to the Bruins, the Celtics and hundreds of mega entertainment events each year. From a marketing perspective, awareness is the obvious play here. But it’s one tactic out of many that supports community-building in specific markets.

“Our brand health is incredibly strong as a result of the fact that we are actually present in the community,” TD Bank CMO Tyrrell Schmidt told Chief Marketer. “And community is core to what we do from a sponsorship perspective.” In addition to the naming rights, TD has a slew of activations and incentives designed to connect with fans and locals, including $15 million toward community programs, TD-themed events, concession discounts and rewards, and more. We spoke with Schmidt about the sponsorship, digitization of the customer experience, how the brand is using CTV to drive consideration in local markets and its overall strategy for growth.

Speaking of sports sponsorships, the USAA, a financial services association for the military community, celebrated its 100^th anniversary at the most recent Army-Navy football game with a fan-friendly look back at the game’s 123-year history, including personalized engagements, interactive tech, artifacts and memorabilia, and more. Here’s how the activation’s myriad touchpoints enhanced the game-day experience.

How’s this for a sobering statistic: only 14 percent of marketers have achieved a 360-degree view of the customer, according to a Gartner research survey. Nor does achieving full customer data integration necessarily result in value creation, the research shows. Enter the digital twin of the customer (DToC), a virtual representation of a customer that can simulate behavior and learn to anticipate it. Here’s how this fledging technology could be a potential alternative to that illusive 360-degree customer view.

Lastly, with online shopping now the norm, a sound ecommerce merchandising strategy is crucial to keeping customers’ attention and driving conversions. We look at five tips for creating an engaging online shopping experience—from responsive websites to filtering methods to product bundling.

Until next week,

Kaylee Hultgren
Editor
Chief Marketer

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