Did you shut off your phone on Christmas Day? Did you avoid emails on your laptop? Did you completely unplug for the last two days? If so, congratulations! I am impressed. I cannot say I did, but would have liked to. I guess it is a matter of will power. But is it really?

I look at my life back in, say, 1989. I had no cell phone. Faxes were the rage. When you wanted to communicate with someone, it was by Canada Post, face to face, courier, telephone, or if you were really up to date, fax! I remember that Christmas and Boxing Day. I was working for an amazing organization and a great leader. I was in Fredericton, NB at the time working for the Club Cosmopolitan. It was my turn that year as one of the mangers to man the Club on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We always stayed home for those folks who had no family to celebrate with. The owner of Ross Ventures insisted that the Club stay open on Christmas Eve until about 10:00 p.m. and on Christmas Day from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. to be sure everyone had somewhere to go. Usually, several people (staff and club regulars) brought turkey dinner over for those at the Club. Typically, over the dinner hour there was myself and probably 4-8 people. But by 8:00 p.m., it usually ballooned to about 20 people who brought food and best wishes, and never left!

That Christmas and all the Christmases in Fredericton were great—simple, no stress, no pressure. By the time I left Freddy Beach in 1991 to move to Calgary, I had a cell phone. Life had changed. And now 25 years later, the world is very different—more connected, higher stressed, and what I call a 24-7 world. To truly unplug is a rarity for most people. Whether you own your own business or work for someone else, whether all your family lives in the same city and you celebrate at one house or if you are spread out around the world, we seem to need to be plugged in. We have to check Twitter, share a Snap Chat, update Facebook, send an email with a link or watch “It’s A Wonderful Life” online on our tablet at an airport. We are very connected—truly 24-7.

The sponsorship world is no exception. When I look at non-profits and charities, posts and feeds still happen over the holidays. Breaking news is shared about gifts to the foundation or other important events. Throughout the day, all year round, we reach out and touch donors and sponsors with messages. We share sponsor information with our networks. It is constant.

Today the sports fan, like the engaged fan of a concert tour, festival, or theatre, wants the most up-to-date information they can get and they want it now. Sports fans are the most connected. Sport properties have had to be leaders in fan engagement. They have to provide cutting edge experiences and opportunities to keep their fans engaged. Engaged fans buy more tickets, merchandise, and products. (The same goes for arts patrons and charity supporters, except those categories have yet to understand this to its fullest extent and leverage existing opportunities.)

In a recent Performance Communications and Canavas8 research study, we learned that 73% of those sports fans surveyed said it is important to them to be able to access sporting content whenever they want it. This means rights holders and sponsors need to find ways to expand the lifespan of sports beyond the live action. For Nissan, the majority of the activation in race car sponsorships has not been at the track, but rather online with the GT Academy. As they noted in the study, getting a few hundred thousand people racing your car on Sony PlayStation for a few hours a day is far greater reach than at the track. Digital involvement is key! Or as Phil Barker, head of commercial acquisition for FA noted, “Fans want to know a player and the team inside out so that, when they are down at the pub after work, they can back up their opinion. Gone are the days when you could just have a conversation about one player. Now you need to back it all up with facts and data. And with social media, if a player makes a mistake, it comes alive and becomes the most talked about issue.”

Sport has figured out the 24-7 world. It is about ensuring fans have access to the content they want when they want it. I think the rest of the industry needs to play catch up pretty quickly. And yes, that is possible if leadership in the other sectors go beyond their conservative “we have never done that before” thought process.

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