“Ultimately the impact and the return that the mass public was expecting had challenges because the commercial side wasn’t there,” said Correnti. “[I] went on a few years’ journey of starting to immerse myself, studying the space, talking to many brand leaders, CMOs who played collegiate athletics, and talking about if we’re moving even a small amount of media investment, the implications of what that would have.”
In the time since then, Correnti attended conferences in the space, learning that the focus was on challenges of the past rather than opportunities for the future, and even partnered with Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit and lead investor of NWSL team Angel City FC, and NBCUniversal for the first Business of Women’s Sports Summit, which took place in April.
Following the success of the summit, Correnti knew it was “go time,” especially heading into an Olympic year.
And that’s where Deep Blue comes in.
Shaking up the media industry
The firm’s name is inspired by the largest shark ever recorded—a Great White named Deep Blue.
“The thesis of it is that sharks are always swimming, never standing still,” Correnti said. “When you look at an emerging marketplace like this, if you’re not moving, you’re not competing. Be the shark.”
As a shark in the women’s media landscape, Deep Blue isn’t looking to just go with the flow. While Giant Spoon’s tagline says it wants to “stir shit up,” Deep Blue wants to change the entire business of women’s sports, down to the nitty-gritty of measurement and media buying.
For instance, one major issue still ongoing is bundling, with Correnti noting, “You have to buy the worst of men’s sports to get the best of women’s.”
“Many of the buyers in the media marketplace that are representing brands investing in this space are incentivized to buy on reach and efficiency, and you go to the marketplace and you have a dollar to spend on Sunday Night Football or the NWSL semifinals, you’re going to put that dollar on SNF every time,” Correnti said. “So now we have a currency challenge, and we have a metric challenge.”
According to Correnti, Deep Blue will be heavily media-forward, focusing on how, where and why dollars are being invested in sports.
“What is the unique strategy?” said Correnti. “The currency has to change; the media has to change; the filters for how we’re approaching this has to evolve because we are missing a massive emerging growth market opportunity as brand marketers [and] advertisers by continuing to lump this in with our overall sports strategy. It’s time that it warrants its own independent approach.”
