The Power of Partnership: Truist Partnership with Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium

The benefits of a bank partnering with a sports team include increased visibility, community and business engagement, and expanded market reach. But it takes more than just slapping a team logo on the bank's marketing materials. In this session, learn what it takes to build a purposeful partnership that drives awareness and impact in a meaningful way. Panelists will discuss how to create unique experiences for clients and customers, how to create synergy between both brands, and how to drive value together.


Transcription:

Mary Ellen Egan (00:11):

Hello, everyone. Please excuse my froggy voice. I usually sound better than this. I'm Mary Ellen Egan, the Senior Director of Strategy and Content, Live Media for American Banker. I'm here with Chris Clements, who's the SVP and Chief Financial Officer of the Miami Dolphins, and also with Sherry Graziano, who's the EVP and Head of Digital Client Experience and Marketing at Truist. Welcome, everyone. So let's talk a little bit about your journey to your job. Sherry, how did you end up at Truist doing what you're doing?

Sherry Graziano (00:54):

Yeah, good afternoon. It's good to see all of you. So I've been with Truist for 13 years now. My journey is a windy, curvy road, but I will take you back because I'm in my home state of Florida. I was born and raised here, so go Gators.

Mary Ellen Egan (01:08):

Go Gators.

Sherry Graziano (01:09):

Go Gators. Sorry, I have to say it. I'm in my home state. In terms of my career in all things banking and financial services, I spent the bulk of my career in mortgage lending. For anyone in the room that's been on the journey of giving people the keys to their first home, that is highly purpose-driven. I was bit by the bug in all things banking early in my career.

(01:40):

I had a chance to move from all things sales—sales strategy and execution over the course of my career—into digital transformation, looking at ways we could evolve the client journey for folks on the path to homeownership. Fast forward, I then ran some operations and end-to-end digital bodies of work, and eventually led our care centers at scale globally. I had an opportunity most recently to take on our marketing organization. We brought together some really fantastic teams. I now have the pleasure of leading a whole group of teammates that are heavily focused on driving our brand and all things revenue through our sales channels. Our digital channels today account for 45% of all new clients coming to the bank, which is no small feat when you think about the era we're in and the experience for both clients and teammates. It's a pleasure to be here with all of you. It's been quite a journey. If you think about banking just over the last 10 to 20 years, it's been a journey. It's exciting.

Mary Ellen Egan (02:41):

And Chris, how about you? Were you an athlete as a child or in high school?

Chris Clements (02:46):

Yeah, Chris Clements. I'm the Chief Financial Officer of the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium and also our Formula One Miami Grand Prix.

Mary Ellen Egan (02:55):

Ooh, my favorite.

Chris Clements (02:57):

Yeah, I always wanted to work in sports. I was an athlete when I was younger, so that's where my passion for sports started. I did everything I could all the way through high school to play college basketball. How many people in this room were a college athlete? Anybody? All right, that's great. I thought I was going to be a college athlete. I went and played one year and very quickly realized I had a great jump shot with basketball, but slow feet. So I ended up becoming a math minor and accounting major in college. Right upon graduation, I moved from Michigan, where I'm from, to New York City. I worked for IMG and also Transworld International, which was their media business, for a total of 18 years. I moved around and did events all around the world—India, Singapore, China—and major championships in golf and tennis.

(03:52):

I ended up working with individual clients, everyone from Derek Jeter to Peyton Manning, doing their accounting. Who knew you could do that? I did accounting for athletes. Then there was an opportunity when Steven Ross and our CEO Tom Garfinkel called. Through a connection and an agency, I decided to move down to South Florida to work for the Dolphins to renovate the stadium. It's my 12th season now. I definitely have a passion for it and just love the people that I work with.

Mary Ellen Egan (04:37):

Great. So let's talk a little bit about how this partnership came to be, because I think it's very interesting. As we talked about earlier, you don't always think, "Oh, yeah, it's an obvious branding thing," but it has to go beyond branding because it has to be a value-add for both of you. So how did this partnership come about?

Sherry Graziano (04:57):

I'll get started and then Chris, feel free to chime in. If you think about the journey, it's been over 10 years that we've had a partnership. The power of a partnership is much more than just driving a brand opportunity. As you said, slapping your brand on the side of a stadium or saying, "Hey, we're a proud partner of," it's actually about four things at the highest level. One, it's about the client opportunity. We're consistently thinking about what this means in terms of the opportunity to be in front of either prospects or existing clients. The second is around teammates. How can we unlock the power of what's possible for our own teammates? By the way, that's on both sides. Then, there's the community, which is the third pillar.

(05:40):

If you think about the community, it's about being purpose-driven, and both of our organizations are highly purpose-driven. We have a lot of synergy when we think about opportunities to go out and do something for a foundation or a give-back opportunity with the Boys and Girls Club. The list goes on and on. We do those together. Our teammates come out together in partnership. The fourth is really about channel amplification. Both of us are always looking for ways to amplify our storytelling to drive brand awareness and consideration, which ultimately yields revenue returns at the end of the day. We look at all of these as partnerships, thinking about those four key pillars: clients, teammates, the community you're serving, and ultimately driving business outcomes. It's been a journey. We've been on a level of maturity, and Chris, anything else you want to add? I mean, it's been a lot of fun, and we continue to look forward.

Chris Clements (06:34):

Yeah, I think the best partnerships we find are those that are truly organic and authentic. That's what I love about it. If you think about being the CFO in this example, Truist is my banking partner. We've got almost 40 bank accounts with Truist. Our debt is with Truist. It was an organic relationship that was built from the start. The entire time I've been here, two years in, we started working together. We built relationships, and they were the best partner to work with. It's been truly awesome throughout, not only on the banking and the debt, but also when we're doing community programs and partnerships throughout the year.

Mary Ellen Egan (07:27):

Great. One of the things we discussed is talking more about purposeful work and personal purpose, because I think that when you feel passionate about your work and your partners, it takes a partnership to a different level. How do you see that interact? Chris, do you want to start?

Chris Clements (07:51):

Well, I think from a purpose-driven standpoint, it really comes back to the values of your organization. We're about winning on and off the field—on the field, of course, but off the field, it's in the community and the boardrooms. Some of the values that are important to our organization are innovation, integrity, and hard work. I would say it's about being an organization that likes to fully jump in and partner with our banking partner, Truist, and do good things in the community. To me, that's one of the most important things.

Sherry Graziano (08:37):

And I'll just add, you're going to hear a theme here, but at Truist, our purpose is to inspire and build better lives and communities. You hear a theme around community, obviously. Our teammates are deeply inspired by this purpose and the values as well. Similar to the Dolphins, our values are one team and executional excellence. We do these things together. When we think about opportunities, I know Kim is here in the room. We have partners that we sit down with and we're planning for the year, looking at the dashboard and saying, "Hey, as we think about an upcoming season and opportunity, what are those purpose-driven moments where we can really rally and anchor our teammates?" This creates unique stories for us. If you think about the opportunity to tell that story, that content of things we're doing in the community is very, very powerful, and that helps us drive brand awareness for both of our organizations. We're all deeply anchored in purpose. It matters to our teammates in a big way, and it shows up in all that we do when we come together.

Mary Ellen Egan (09:37):

So how is the partnership driving brand impact, including from a digital perspective, and how does it correlate to community impact?

Sherry Graziano (09:47):

I'll get started here. A couple of things: you heard me already mention the four pillars around how we think about partnerships. Notice we don't just call them a sponsorship; we have an entire portfolio of partners. When we think about the partners, the fourth pillar you already heard me mention is how we think about community and channel amplification. In some of these wonderful purpose-driven opportunities that we unlock together, we have great players that will show up. Jalen Waddle is one. If you think about something we've done with the Boys and Girls Club and the NFL's My Cause, My Cleats, if you don't know about it, learn about it—it's fantastic. These are all really great stories that we have an opportunity to collectively tell. When we tell those stories, it's not always through traditional media channels; it's our digital channels and social media. We're doing that together.

(10:29):

There is a strategy, make no mistake, around how we drive brand awareness and consideration together with both brands. We take the content that's happening that is very relevant and real and strikes with purpose. Those are actually some of our best-viewed content. We've seen a brand lift of up to 10% from those types of stories. It's not just a one-and-done thing; there's a whole strategy behind the work that we're doing together, how that creates an impact in the local community, and how we can tell that story around purpose.

Chris Clements (11:08):

I would just add, has anybody seen the cleats that are done for different causes? It's incredible, and what I love about it is you have an opportunity with athletes to tell their story, and of course, they've got their followers. If you look at the Dolphins, we've got over 7 million followers as well. You're amplifying all of these causes. What I love about it is a Boys and Girls Club. Truist, in this example, partnered with us. They also brought in volunteers and some of their employees to get involved. They're amplifying the Boys and Girls Club, but they're also doing financial literacy, which is incredible. Who better than Truist to come in and provide that financial literacy to 30 kids? To take that another step, you then bring those kids to the stadium and they get to enjoy a game. So while there's great video and you can amplify it from a social standpoint, the incredible part is it's truly authentic, and it's making memories for these kids and teaching them. That's what I love about it.

Mary Ellen Egan (12:17):

So that's one of the things I want to know: how else does it impact your employees? Chris, how does this relationship impact or influence your employees, and Sherry, for yours as well?

Chris Clements (12:31):

From a purpose standpoint, employees want to work for an organization that does good things in the community. That's no different for me. I came to the Dolphins versus working for a sports agency because I knew the platform I had working for the Dolphins and the impact we can have. But what's better is when you put the Dolphins and Truist together and your employees can be involved. We have the largest team-driven event we run called the Dolphins Cancer Challenge. We're also doing other community events throughout the year where we're making a change and uniting the community, and football unites. Truist is able to come alongside us. One of the other events that we do where our employees can get involved, and Truist is a partner, is the draft weekend. In draft weekend, one of the cool things we do is we raise money and all the funds go toward scholarships in the NetMore endowment. Truist is a partner on that event as well. What better impact than to impact kids, giving anywhere from 10 to 15 scholarships for college, as well as working with vocational places like construction and getting people in the workforce?

Sherry Graziano (13:53):

Very similar. I would just start with one word, which is energizing. Our teammates are so energized by these opportunities to partner with the Dolphins. When you think about opportunities to be out and about, you already mentioned financial literacy. That's at our core. We have bankers who are fantastic at delivering financial education, and to be able to go out in the community not only alongside a bunch of bankers but sometimes players who can mesmerize and change future generations as well. When we come together, there's usually no list that's ever too long of volunteers. We'll go out and make an ask, and teammates step up in a big way. They're excited about the opportunity to partner. We do all sorts of things—backpacks for students, financial education—and the list goes on.

(14:46):

What strikes me the most is what people don't talk about, which is when they reflect back on the year, on those opportunities. I can cite numerous teammates who have said, "The reason I'm still here doing what I do best is I get these unique purpose-driven opportunities with partners like the Dolphins." We're all in banking, we have lots of choices and lots of banks here. But something that differentiates us from a teammate's perspective is that engagement opportunity with like-minded purpose-driven partners in the community. We just recently had a launch of co-branded debit cards. To see the Dolphins show up—cheerleaders, mascots—at our branches, our teammates get really excited about things like that. That's part of their day-to-day running their business, but they're excited to have engagement and connectivity to the broader community we serve. So it's purpose, purpose, purpose, and it's highly energizing for our teammates.

Mary Ellen Egan (15:45):

Let's get down to the nitty-gritty. How does this partnership work on a day-to-day level? Because obviously, you have two different industries but with a combined mission. So how does that work? Chris, do you want to start?

Chris Clements (15:57):

Sure. We have a partnership team, so I think there are so many connections within the organization. Obviously, I'm dealing with Truist directly, so there are connections there on a day-to-day basis, but then we have a partnership activation team that's working with Truist. Just like any other business, you're creating a business plan, a marketing strategic plan, and I think we have ideation sessions where you're creating, "Okay, what makes the most sense for us to work together for this season?" And even though we have a partnership agreement in place, we also adapt. If there are new opportunities throughout the year that we think, "This works better for our partner," we adapt. The business changes over time—the moments for their employees or vendors or customers, or just different programs that come up during the season from a social standpoint.

Sherry Graziano (16:58):

The only other thing I would add is similarly, we have an entire arm that's focused on activation. It isn't just activation of assets, as an example. There are assets, yes, but it's the strategic planning and foresight that goes into it. We were just talking earlier today, planning for the upcoming season, and how we can effectively challenge each other to innovate, to find new ways of working, new ideas, something we might be able to test and learn in a stadium experience. I'll give the Dolphins a huge shout-out: if you all don't know, it's completely cashless. Everything is mobile and digitally enabled. So if you think about experiences for the raving fans that they're after, we are thinking about that through the lens of our clients and how we can think about, for example, new perks for their card that they may use in their digital wallet.

(17:49):

So it's coming together and innovating on what that means for both of us and how we can collectively drive forward. Yes, purpose is at the forefront, but there is a long strategy that the teams spend hours thinking through. It's everything from vision to value and performance outcomes. We're tracking the measurements of those results as well and planning for, "Where did we fail forward and learn, and what else might we be able to do to collectively test something and ideate for the future with the art of the possible?"

Mary Ellen Egan (18:14):

So we've talked about employees and we've talked about individual customers, but Sherry, what about your business, your shareholders? What do they see as the value of the partnership, and how do you communicate that with them?

Sherry Graziano (18:27):

On a couple of fronts, folks understand that there is incredible value in partnerships. The measurement and the return are critical. If anyone in the room hasn't played in this space before, we're happy to share some nuggets and lessons learned. But measurement is really important, and that measurement moves across all areas: clients, teammates, and ultimately shareholders. What are the business returns? For different businesses, it's different. If you think about who we're hosting for clients, it may be about deepening relationships with some of our existing clients and how we are tracking that in a meaningful way. It may not just be one touchpoint; it may be a collection of touchpoints. For our teammates, it's about engagement. Are they engaged, are they activating?

(19:12):

It gives us an opportunity to deepen with our own teammates. In some cases, they become fans of the Dolphins, for example, getting out to a concert at Hard Rock Stadium because they had an opportunity to experience something they wouldn't have in their normal daily life. Then there are ultimately the business outcomes, which is what everyone's always thinking about. For us, we look at the ROI. Yes, there's always a spend, but it's not just a partnership spend. It's how are we activating and truly driving brand awareness, brand consideration, and yielding outcomes? We're looking at if a client was at a certain place in space, did they later, propensity-wise, potentially open a new account or deepen the relationship with us? Brand awareness is really important. But if you visit the stadium, and I hope you will at an upcoming game if you're local, you'll see that we've got signage and it isn't just the Truist brand with the dolphin jumping around. We actually talk about solutions as well. Then we're tracking that to determine if within so many days someone opened a new account that was potentially in this geography and market, tracking to those performance outcomes.

(20:28):

All of those things matter, in addition to how you think about the example I gave earlier with debit cards. We know that our clients who are using personalized debit cards spend 15% more, and they're more likely to use that card at the top of their wallet. These are the innovation ideas that we continue to bring forward in partnership with our teams to say, "How might we think about additional perks and opportunities that drive increased share of wallet?"

Chris Clements (20:44):

And the power of the NFL. Just to jump on that, the power of the NFL is still unmatched when it comes to the stats as far as people spending. If you look at telecasts, of the top 100 telecasts last year, I think it was 70 or 72 of them were NFL telecasts. In a typical year, it's closer to 90. You take that down to the Dolphins. From a spending perspective, a customer is typically 60% more likely if they're affiliated with a Dolphins partner to spend money with that partner. So there are a lot of stats behind how it works and how it drives value, and that's not even necessarily the customer entertainment component; that's more of just the brand partnership.

Mary Ellen Egan (21:43):

So were there any surprises along the way, something that was an unexpected outcome that you didn't anticipate? Chris, for you?

Chris Clements (21:54):

I don't know if there were big surprises, but what's interesting is you have to adapt each and every year, as I was saying before. Sometimes we have this great idea, we talk about it and put it in place, and then we realize, "Wait a minute, that didn't really work, and we need to adjust." I think that's the power of a great partnership: when something doesn't work, you adjust. It doesn't matter what your contract necessarily says; it's really how you make sure to drive business for your partner. That's really how I feel this partnership has worked.

Sherry Graziano (22:29):

Mine would be similar. It's effective challenge. Our partners, we work very, very closely together. At times, some of our clients could even be on site and not know which teammate is a Truist teammate or a Dolphins teammate. They see us all as one, which is incredibly powerful, going back to the spirit of one team. That also means that you can affectionately challenge one another, which is, "Hey, we did this last year, we had this opportunity. Maybe it worked and maybe it didn't work, but be willing to be open to that conversation." That's not always the case. When you think about your own businesses, are you willing to bring an effective challenge forward? Will it be met with resistance, will it be heard or not? One thing I would say, if you think about a multi-year, close to a decade-long relationship, it is all about the power of purposeful partnership and being willing to effectively challenge and raise the bar. Innovation is at the core of that. If you think about the future of where we're headed, we want to make sure that we have an opportunity to have intentional conversations with prospects and clients, and how we're thinking about delivering on experiences in partnership with the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium is just as powerful.

Mary Ellen Egan (23:41):

What's ahead on the horizon? Do you have some new initiatives, something new you want to talk about?

Sherry Graziano (23:48):

I'll just say at the highest level, there are four things our team is focused on. One, it's brand, brand, and more brand. We are relentlessly focused on the collection of touchpoints across our channels. Notice we talked earlier about technology, but there's also a level of human touch in our business that will not go away. These things collectively deliver trust for our clients. We are heavily focused on the brand, the collection of our touchpoints to drive all things revenue and operational efficiency, showing up in the community, and our experiences for both teammates and clients. And ultimately, as you said earlier, driving shareholder outcomes. We've got some really cool ideas on the horizon, some things that I don't want to share just yet that we're very excited about that happen to have an innovative lens on them coming this season. There's a lot going on in our space, and we won't stop. That's the beauty of this. It's continuing to push together on what's best for your fan experience, and in our case, our client experience, and really making sure we continue to deliver to make our brands proud.

Chris Clements (24:52):

With us, what's crazy is we're always renovating our stadium. We've spent over a billion dollars renovating since 2014, and there's always something new. Here's a good example. This year, we've got eight club World Cup games, nine concerts, a college football national championship, the Dolphins, University of Miami also playing, the Miami Open, and the Formula One Miami Grand Prix. I know I'm missing a bunch of things, but that's the quicker version. The challenge is, as we continue to innovate and do new things, we want to continue to renovate the stadium and create new ideas. When do you do it when you've got all those different properties and things happening? This weekend we have three concerts coming up. It's a continuous set of properties and big events, and that's why we love our global entertainment destination. We're now looking at things 12 to 18 to 24, even 36 months down the road, making big innovative changes for the customer to make it easier to get food and beverage, to make it easier, like cool little clubs they can go to. There are always new things, and we're figuring out where technology comes in and where our financial partner comes in. So there's always something new.

Mary Ellen Egan (26:22):

I think in my future, I see myself at the Miami Grand Prix next year.

Sherry Graziano (26:27):

I will say they do a wonderful job. If you haven't been to F1, I had the pleasure of taking my teenager there, and it's quite an experience. My timekeepers are telling us we have a handful of minutes left.

Mary Ellen Egan (26:37):

Does anyone have a question they want to ask quickly? I'll have to run down with the mic. Well, I won't run. If not, then we can also talk afterward with both Chris and Sherry because they'll be here for a bit. Any final thoughts? Oh, I'm sorry. Are you good? I'll bring it. Thank you.

Audience Member 1 (27:06):

Besides the 40 accounts that he brought to you, what type of projection did you make for additional business to Truist because of the partnership?

Sherry Graziano (27:20):

It's a great question. The question is what else we are anticipating in terms of deepening. Let me be clear: we don't go into these partnerships with the intent of just earning business from the partner. For us, it's actually the opposite. It's an opportunity for us to unlock the brand and partner with all of the viewers, as you mentioned earlier, who will have exposure to our brand. Do we want the opportunity to be top of mind when some new project or body of work is kicking off? Absolutely. Is our wealth and sports and entertainment group heavily involved and want the opportunity to bank players? Absolutely. But just like anything, we have to earn that business and earn the right to it.

(28:05):

The way we view the partnership is more on our side, looking at the partnership collectively that we can both amplify the brands and how we think about community engagement together. It's not a one-sided deal. We don't get into a partnership and say, "Hey, we're willing to spend X if we get Y in business." We look at that portfolio based on the four pillars I mentioned earlier, much more holistically. If we happen to have the opportunity to earn the business and we're selected, that just happens to be a bonus and a win.

Chris Clements (28:32):

Yeah, I would echo that. Any CFO knows they have to select the best price, but if the price is similar, of course, I'm always going to go with the partner that I trust, and I know that Truist has also created flexibility for me when necessary. We're truly a partnership when it comes to business, and that's everything from banking solutions and online banking when I'm trying to handle daily liquidity or even debt for that matter. All organizations in the NFL have debt, and we've placed a lot of our debt with Truist as well.

Mary Ellen Egan (29:16):

Well, thank you both so much. I really appreciate it. It was a really entertaining and informative talk, and thank you for showing us how important a good partner is.

Sherry Graziano (29:25):

Thank you for facilitating. We appreciate it.