The person behind the brand: Dan Farrell
The CMO Club recently sat down with St. Louis Cardinals Senior Vice-President of Sales and Marketing, Dan Farrell. Dan has been with the Cardinals organization for over thirty-five years. He started as a promotions assistant and is currently leading a seventy-plus member staff over multiple departments including all marketing, ticket sales, corporate partnerships, broadcasting, team publications, and stadium entertainment. He serves as the primary club liaison with Major League Baseball on matters related to sales, marketing, television and radio broadcasting, as well as scheduling, including negotiating and managing all the team’s local media rights agreements. Dan is the father of three adult children and lives in St. Louis.
CMO Club — What’s the best part of your job?
Dan Farrell — The best part is that you can be a fan, live and die with the Cardinals, but when itÛªs also your vocation, you get to feel great not only because of the win but because of the revenue you helped generate and contribute with that win. ItÛªs been a great ride.
CMO Club — You’ve been with the organization for over thirty-five years, and I understand it was your first marketing job out of school. Can you remember anything about those first few years that you still find relevant today?
Dan FarrellÛÓÛÏI met a great mentor very early on, a former Cardinal player named Joe Cunningham, who played with the team in the late fifties and early sixties, and later became the head of our sales department. He taught me the value of relationships, and that the most important role we have is to represent the team positively, create relationships with our fans that builds on that genuine connection we have, and never take that relationship for granted. We are the ÛÏkeepers of the flameÛ for the Cardinal legacy, and my job is to make sure that flame never goes out, one relationship at a time.”
CMO Club — Is there still that “oh wow” element after thirty-five years with the same brand?
Dan Farrell — I still get to meet so many different kinds of people in so many different industries being here every day, especially in my interactions with corporate clients. I think if you’re the type of person who is always trying to grow and learn, youÛªll always have the opportunity to build those meaningful relationships that can yield positive results. That’s the part of my job I still like the best. People want to talk to you because you’re with the Cardinals, but if youÛªre good at what you do, you can turn those relationships around to find out more about what they do and how you can potentially find common ground to work together. It never gets old, feeling part of that for such a storied franchise and feeling like you’ve contributed.
CMO Club — Over those thirty-five years, what’s the number-one thing that’s changed in how you do your job?
Dan Farrell — The biggest thing is the way we sell tickets. We used to have a fifty-thousand seat stadium with only three categories, pink tickets for the lower level, blue tickets for the mid-level, and green tickets for the upper level. YouÛªd pay the same price for a seat behind home plate as you would for a seat in right field. Ticketing now has become so sophisticated, in how we approach that part of the business, in all the digital ways we interact with our fans. That has changed everything we do but, at the end of the day, itÛªs all still relationship-based, making people have fun at the ballpark.”
CMO Club — Although the game of baseball hasn’t changed all that much, we know the attention spans and use of technology has. How has your marketing approach recently evolved to take this new dynamic into account?
Dan Farrell — One of our more significant off-season projects this year was to re-configure a block of six seating sections in the upper deck in right field. We tore out over a thousand seats and redesigned the entire area to create standing room platforms and lounge seating areas for fans to gather in. ItÛªs been a great transformation for us, this festive, lively place that was traditionally a very low-yield seating location. By turning it into whatÛªs now become a popular, socially interactive party zone complete with music, food, technology, and baseball, free to ticketed fans with no special access required, weÛªve transformed what was once a stagnant seating area into a wonderful interactive experience for our fans. We realized as time has gone on that people want to get out of their seats and socialize, which was impossible sitting in a row of sixteen seats across. ItÛªs a fan amenity thatÛªs been a big hit.”
CMO ClubÛÓWhat characteristics do you value most in new hires?
Dan FarrellÛÓÛÏA relationship person. I look for someone who is a great communicator, a great listener, a kind and thoughtful person that cares deeply about building relationships. DonÛªt say you want to work here because you love baseball. That doesn’t distinguish you from tens of millions of other people. I like to hear youÛªd like to SELL the St. Louis Cardinals, represent them, build relationships that will yield positive results for the team. ThatÛªs the kind of person I look to hire. It has to be genuine.”
CMO Club — If you could go back to those early years and give yourself a piece of advice as to what’s ahead, what would you say?
Dan Farrell — I wish I had learned to type better.” (Laughter)
CMO Club — Two-finger man, are you?
Dan Farrell — Absolutely. On a serious note, I probably would have used some of that time to get an advanced degree. I think I may have benefitted from that, having a little more finance and business-specific degree track. That’s a very valuable skill-set for any senior manager.”
CMO Club — Anything surprise you recently?
Dan FarrellÛÓÛÏOne of the things that I find surprising is how much our industry is changing, the way consumers interact with our product. For someone who unabashedly admits to being ÛÏold school,Û and not very ÛÏtech-savvy,Û or ÛÏnew-media savvy,Û itÛªs just stunning to me the amount of interaction our fans have with all the new media. I sometimes feel as though IÛªm barely hanging on by my fingernails because IÛªm not a consumer of those sources. ItÛªs overwhelming, the power some of these tools have.”
CMO ClubÛÓIs it sometimes a battle between the ÛÏold schoolÛ handshake relationship in your marketing philosophy versus the new technology methods of social media, algorithms, and big data?
Dan FarrellÛÓÛÏI would never overlook one for the other. You have to use every one of those resources and trust that all of them are going to be effective. I do think some people might rely on data and tech more than they should. Getting out of your chair and meeting face-to-face is a lot more effective in many cases, but not always. It amazes me how measurable all that data is. ThatÛªs the exciting part for me, to use that knowledge to better the brand. IÛªm not one to be ÛÏdug-in,Û to say that this or that way is the only way to go, that the old-school relationships are the only way, but I try and make sure that we donÛªt forget about that. You have to adapt to the changes.”
CMO ClubÛÓWhat are you most passionate about outside of work?
Dan FarrellÛÓÛÏIÛªm a huge thoroughbred horse-racing fan. I had an Uncle named Jim McCulley, who covered horse racing for the New York Daily News for many years. I grew up going to the track with him, watching the likes of Secretariat and Seattle Slew, all those great horses up close, and I was hooked and still am, enjoying handicapping of the higher-quality races to this day.”
CMO ClubÛÓIs there anything else you can share with the club that most people donÛªt know about you?
Dan FarrellÛÓÛÏAh, yes, my ÛÏMoonlight GrahamÛ moment. I was sitting in front row of the stadium, entertaining clients on the first-base line, when a towering foul ball hit by one of the Red Sox players started to come down toward my seat, pointed directly at my head. The last thing I want to do is catch a foul ball, so IÛªm desperately trying to get out of the way, but the crowd is coming closer and closer, and IÛªm locked in there, unable to move, directly under the path of the ball. I put my hands up to protect my head, and the ball hits me. The next thing I know, Albert Pujols, our first baseman, is reaching out and the ball, which had just hit me, lands inside his glove. I look down, and thereÛªs this big smudge mark on my shoulder from where the ball hit me and then ricocheted into his glove. The umpire calls the batter out, and the coach of the other team is screaming at the umpire and pointing over to me. IÛªve got my Cardinals badge on, and IÛªm quietly trying to take it off and put it in my pocket before anyone sees. Pujols is already sitting in the dugout, and my cell phone starts going off with friends calling to tell me that IÛªm on replay on television, a hundred times, the ball hitting me in the shoulder and into his glove plain as day. IÛªm finally able to get out of there, but our P.R. department is calling me with requests from Boston reporters for an interview on what just happened, and all I want to do is hide and change shirts.”
CMO Club-Wow, what a great story. Was the batter out, then? Did it hold up?
Dan FarrellÛÓÛÏYes it did. I have a major League assist! ItÛªs my infamous ÛÏMoonlight GrahamÛ moment, my small part of a Major League game that will forever go unreported.” (laughter)
CMO Club–Any favorite moments from the CMO Club you would like to share?
Dan Farrell–“I love being at the summits with so many innovative and creative people all around you. It’s a great experience.”
CMO ClubÛÓLast Question. Can A CMO like yourself change the world for the better?
Dan FarrellÛÓÛÏSure. If youÛªve got a product that people love and use, that improves their lives, whether from the use of that product, or the entertainment from that product, and you help to create that enjoyment, youÛªve changed the world. IÛªm very proud that we bring Cardinal baseball to so many fans, that so many fans love Cardinal baseball, that for the past thirty-plus years weÛªve drawn three-and-a-half million fans every year, allowing fans to enjoy our product the way they do. CMOÛªs are always bringing something positive to the world.”
