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 Let There Be Lights!
When then 24-year-old Kayla Phipps got the news more than two years ago that she had been offered a
career/life-changing promotion to relocate to her employer’s customer service operations in Las Vegas,
Nevada, she was both excited and apprehensive. She had never even been to Las Vegas, let alone had
she ever thought about living and working there. But the offer was almost too good to be true, and with
her family’s blessings (and, perhaps, with their anticipation of being able to visit the exciting city on a
regular basis), she headed west to the City of Lights.

Kayla had done her homework, so during her first visit to Las Vegas, she was fairly sure she wanted to
live in the city’s urban core. She had heard and read about Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s “The Downtown
Project” (hereafter DTP), which was founded in 2012. DTP was dedicated to revitalizing part of
downtown Las Vegas through investment in small businesses, tech startups, restaurants and bars, and
other developments that facilitate a lively place to live and work.1 She was confident that the evolving
urban community would be a great match for her lifestyle and her future aspirations. “Not to mention,”
Kayla thought, “I’ve been a loyal Zappos customer for years!”

Ultimately, she selected a studio apartment in The 211 complex. But now, two years later, she had her
eyes (and her heart) set on the soon-to-be opened Fremont92, because she would be getting married
within a year, and she wanted a bigger place with plenty of space to share with the love of her life and
(she was hopeful) a family one day.

Although Kayla had never been a huge soccer fan, the sport became an integral part of her life when she
met her husband-to-be, Ryan Grayson, shortly after she made the move to Nevada. Ryan was a Las
Vegas native, and he had been involved in the sport for as long as he could remember. Although he had
played soccer at the collegiate level, he knew he would never be a professional soccer player;
nevertheless, he had for years longed for Las Vegas to become home to a pro soccer team. Ryan’s
dream came true when the Las Vegas USL expansion team was formally introduced in August 2017 at a
packed press conference at Zappos downtown headquarters. For a few months, it seemed that the
team was in the news constantly. The team solicited fan input on the name and logo, before
announcing the team name at midnight on the massive LED “tunnel” at the downtown Fremont Street
Experience. Las Vegas Lights FC used bright-colored neon (including pink, drawn from the city’s logo) to
stand apart from other teams, and used high-energy videos to introduce the logo, coach, and players –
all of which quickly earned tens of thousands of views online.

From Kayla’s apartment at The 211, it was just a mile walk to Cashman Field where the Las Vegas Lights
played. As Ryan waited eagerly for the unveiling of the team’s jerseys, Lights FC surprised everyone by
unveiling the team’s shorts one day prior. As fans, Mayor Carolyn Goodman and two showgirls looked
on under the famous Plaza Hotel & Casino dome, five players dropped their robes to reveal the team’s
shorts – with nothing else on! Ryan chuckled but the Mayor and many female fans thought the team’s
first players were, well, quite handsome. “Oh, my!” said the Mayor.

Throughout the team’s first season, it became easier and easier to convince friends -- many of them, like
her, who had never had any particular affinity for the sport -- to come along with her and Ryan for an
evening of pro soccer play and lots of fun, “cheering on” the Lights. She, Ryan, and (before too long)
most of their friends had the official Las Vegas Lights FC app on their smartphones to receive updates on
“scores, schedules, breaking news, rosters, tickets, merchandise and much more.”3

1
The nearby downtown had many opportunities for dining and entertainment before and after the
games. The Zappos boutique was the exclusive downtown location to purchase Lights FC merchandise,
meaning that fans could arrive at the game, showing and wearing their support.

Pro Soccer Joins Pro Sports in Las Vegas

After knowing Ryan for more than two years, Kayla not only had become a quasi-expert about all-things-
soccer in the Las Vegas area, but also had learned quite a bit about the growth of professional sports in
the City of Lights.

For what seemed like an eternity (according to Ryan), Las Vegas had been one of the few key U.S. cities
without a major league professional sports team. Sure, the city hosted the National Finals Rodeo, major
boxing and mixed martial arts events, and major college basketball tournaments (helped by the
presence of the 1991 NCAA Champion UNLV Runnin’ Rebels), but bringing a major league team to Las
Vegas had been an ongoing discussion between city leaders and the professional sports leagues for
many years. Major League Soccer (MLS) came closest to announcing a franchise in Las Vegas, but plans
for a downtown stadium were scuttled at the eleventh hour by the City council in 2014. Prior to the
NHL’s decision to expand its franchise and the entry of the Golden Knights that came in June 2016, no
major professional sports league had ever had a team in Las Vegas, and the Oakland A’s played six home
games in 1994 during a renovation of the Oakland Coliseum.

There were reasons as to why major professional sports leagues were reluctant to have teams in Las
Vegas. One key issue was the perceived risks associated with legal sports betting. Historically, the
major leagues supported anti-gambling policies, prohibiting their teams from having any involvement in
gambling. The NFL took one of the toughest stances when it refused to accept Las Vegas tourism
advertising for Super Bowl telecasts. The league subsequently relaxed its position on the advertising
after a landmark Supreme Court ruling in May of 2018.

The Court struck down the federal law that barred gambling on sporting events and unleashed a race to
attract billions of dollars in legal wagers. The change in the federal law led professional sports teams
and respective leagues looking at Las Vegas much more favorably. In 2017, the NFL gave the Oakland
Raiders both its blessing and some financing to move the team to Las Vegas with a $1.8 billion, 65,000-
seat arena, to be completed in 2020.

The movers and shakers in The City of Lights were anticipating a boom in legalized sports gambling,
which they hoped would be a source of considerable revenue for the Las Vegas region, the major
leagues, and their sports clubs. A Nielsen Sports research report, commissioned by the American
Gaming Association, forecast a $573 million increase in NFL revenues related to a rise in regulated sports
wagering4. The windfall was expected to have cascading effects on TV advertising, gate revenues,
sponsorships, and merchandising.

So, after a long dry period, the Las Vegas metropolitan area had become home to several professional
sports teams. The “Big Four” category included the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, the first major
professional team in the area, which started playing in 2017, and the NFL’s Oakland Raiders were
scheduled to move to Vegas and become the Las Vegas Raiders by 2020 as the area’s third major league
professional team.

2
Other professional teams include the Las Vegas 51s of the Pacific Coast League (Minor League Baseball,
established in 1983), the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, and the Las Vegas Lights FC, established in 2018, of
the United Soccer League (USL, https://www.uslsoccer.com). Both the 51s and the Lights played home
games at the city-owned Cashman Field in 2018, but the 51’s were leaving Cashman for a new suburban
ballpark. Lights FC signed a 15-year lease to be the primary tenants at Cashman Field starting in 2019.

Major league professional teams

Team Sport League Venue (capacity) Established Titles

Las Vegas Raiders Football NFL Las Vegas Stadium (65,000) 2020 0

Vegas Golden Knights Ice hockey NHL T-Mobile Arena (17,500) 2017 0

Las Vegas Aces Basketball WNBA Mandalay Bay Events Center(12,000) 2018 0

Minor league professional teams

Team Sport League Venue (capacity) Established Titles

Las Vegas 51s Baseball MiLB (AAA-PCL) Las Vegas Ballpark(10,000) 1983 2

Las Vegas Lights FC Soccer USL Cashman Field (9,334) 2018 0

Finally, in April 2017, Brett Lashbrook, a former legal counsel for Major League Soccer (MLS), submitted
a formal proposal to the Las Vegas City Manager to use Cashman Field as the venue for a USL expansion
team. The Las Vegas City Council approved the stadium lease, and the city formally announced that a
Las Vegas expansion team would join the USL.

USL (www.uslsoccer.com) was a league on the rise. Nashville, Fresno, Indianapolis, and North Carolina
(Cary) also joined as expansion teams in 2018. El Paso, Albuquerque, Memphis, and Hartford were
approved for teams in 2019. In seven years, the league had grown from seven to thirty-six teams, even
as some of its top franchises moved up to Major League Soccer, including Seattle, Portland, Minnesota,
and Orlando.

Lashbrook was thrilled with the team’s fan support throughout its first season. The team finished sixth
out of thirty-three teams in the United Soccer league -- not bad for a team that won only eight of thirty-
four games and hadn’t existed twelve months earlier.5 However, he knew there was room for
improvement.

3
Kayla and Ryan, along some of their friends, were there for each and every Lights LC home game. They
were cheering their team on when Sammy Ochoa made the last memory for the 2018 inaugural season
– an incredible bicycle kick with Lights FC capping off their biggest offensive explosion of the year with a
5-2 win against the USL finalist, Phoenix Rising FC.6 “What would -- what could -- Season 2 bring for the
Lights?” Kayla wondered.

Las Vegas Lights FC-- Like Zappos, Fun and a Little Bit Weird?

In her professional capacity, Kayla was a customer-service executive for a firm that was intensely
customer-focused. She often wondered, as she, Ryan, and their friends made the short walk to
Cashman field for home games: “What makes the ‘Las Vegas Lights’ experience so much fun?” “Why
are she and Ryan such loyal fans?” As a member of the DTP community, Kayla couldn’t help but be
impressed by the Zappos “fun and weird” culture, and -- to her -- the Las Vegas Lights seemed to mirror
that same kind of energy and excitement.

Kayla had become friends with a number of Zappos employees who were neighbors, so she had heard
all about the firm’s corporate culture, which most definitely seemed to inspire not only the shoes and
apparel she bought online from Zappos, but also the DTP community where she lived:

Create Fun and a Little Weirdness: “Unlike other big companies, Zappos finds value in being fun
and a little weird — it’s what makes us, well ... us! Rather than being all corporate and boring
like the other guys, we instead inject fun and humor into our daily work and surroundings. Over
the years this has come in the form of over-the-top Nerf gun battles, themed new hire parades,
and even Tutu Tuesdays.7

Shortly after moving into her studio apartment at The 211, Kayla had participated in the Zappos Tour
Experience8, and then she accompanied her parents for another tour when they visited her for the first
time a couple of months after she moved to Las Vegas. Zappos headquarters was only a few blocks from
where she lived, just around the corner from her place at The 211, on Stewart Avenue. Kayla felt as
though Zappos itself was one of her neighbors, and she felt the same way about the Las Vegas Lights
and its fans.

For sure, life got a little hectic during the annual (since 2013) Life Is Beautiful Festival9, since so many
streets were blocked off, but Kayla found the whole experience fulfilling, along with thousands of other
attendees and the grateful local merchants. Hsieh was instrumental at the festival’s inception with his
financial and logistical support. Kayla could see clearly the difference between Hsieh’s vision for the Life
Is Beautiful Festival and his company’s involvement with Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort &
Casino on The Strip where stars like Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani and the Backstreet Boys headlined.10

As far as downtown Las Vegas was concerned, Kayla believed that there were a number of other Zappos
“Common Core Values” that were consistent with the values of the Las Vegas Lights. Just to name a
few: Be Passionate and Determined; Do More with Less; Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit.11

In addition, the team’s vision seemed to be in sync with the goals of DTP. The Las Vegas Lights vision:
“Together, we will create a new standard for operating a community focused professional soccer
franchise in the United States12.” And Kayla had read at the new DTP website: “DTP was founded in

4
January 2012 with the idea that if you accelerate co-learning, collisions, and connectedness in the city’s
urban core, productivity, innovation, growth, and happiness will fall into place.” She and Ryan definitely
had seen some “collisions and connectedness” between Lights team members and their opponents
while competing at Cashman Field! Zappos was instrumental in organizing and promoting those
downtown cultural and commercial enterprises.

For Kayla, living as a member of the DTP community and being a loyal Zappos customer felt a whole lot
like being a Lights fan. It was fun (and sometimes a little bit weird).

Las Vegas Lights Promotions -- Fun and a Little Bit Weird?

Lights FC took Las Vegas and American soccer by storm with solid fan attendance, increasingly unique
promotions, and relentless marketing efforts, including:

• The team announced that Zappos would be their first jersey sponsor in a three-year deal with a
mutual option for another three years. Zappos’ top creative staff designed the team’s jersey,
and created the Zappos Fan Tailgate including the “Get Lit Beer Garden. Zappos unofficial
mascots, Dotty and Dolly (llamas,) were a hit at the first tailgate and became an integral part of
every Lights game, even taking the field with the starting lineup every night.

• Zappos and Lashbrook dreamed up the smiley face emoji as a bit of an “Easter egg” on the
team’s uniform.

• Zappos’ desire to “deliver happiness” is revealed every time a Lights FC player scores a goal and
lifts his jersey over his chest in celebration.

• The team affirmed its commitment to be THE local team by pledging that the team would
always have players with Las Vegas roots. In its first season, seven players were either born in
Las Vegas, played high school soccer in the Valley, or played for UNLV’s very competitive
Division I soccer program.

• The team became the first in north America to partner with a recreational marijuana dispensary,
which led SI.com to brand the team, “the most interesting team America.”

• Lights FC partnered with William Hill Sports Book to promote wagering on USL games, including
in-game live wagering, and produced #BetCast, a wagering-centered TV broadcast that paired a
play-by-play announcer with a professional bettor and a professional handicapper.

The Las Vegas Sun reported: “Innovative promotions set the Lights apart:”

- The king of all promotions: At a game late in the season, a helicopter dropped $5,000 in
cash—mostly $1 bills—onto the pitch at Cashman Field for 200 fans to grab. They wore pink
latex gloves, after owner Brett Lashbrook read that people wearing pink are less likely to be
violent. Sure enough, the event produced no injuries. One fan walked away with an event-

5
 best $137. (Even SportsCenter paid attention – Scott VanPelt featured the Lights FC on his
midnight show.)13
- A close second: Season ticket-holders who had already renewed for next season were
allowed to take one kick from the circle atop the 18-yard box. If that shot hit the crossbar,
the fan would receive his or her 2018-19 tickets for free. A few hundred supporters
combined to buy about 3,500 seats in the first year—and 18 have hit the bar for free tickets
next season.14
- The Viva Mexico promotion particularly targeted an important audience population: Latinx
and Hispanic soccer fans. At the Cinco de Mayo game, the Lights gave fans team-colored
lucha libre masks, showing the heavily Latinx fanbase that its new soccer team was all in on
celebrating its culture. 15

All-in-all, Kayla imagined that as time went on, the combination of the DTP community and the Lights
would make this area a destination for various groups from the Las Vegas area and beyond. Both
entities had been the benefactors of Zappos support.

Kayla was thrilled to be both part of and a target of these and many other innovative promotions, and
she even wondered if the Lights would be able to take advantage of Las Vegas’ most recent
attractions.16 While Cashman Field was located more than seven miles from the Strip, she just knew
that the Lights marketing team members had their thinking caps on. She also knew -- through personal
experience -- that going to a Lights game was like going to a party17, so she had no doubt that the Lights’
second season would be even better in every respect.

Ryan was especially impressed by the Lights’ focus on the culture of Latinx fans. Growing up in Las
Vegas, he and his family had many Hispanic neighbors and friends -- some of them lifelong friends -- and
he was thrilled that the Lights understood the value of Hispanic fan support, not only for the team but
also for the community as a whole. “Part of the Lights philosophy, team owner and CEO Brett Lashbrook
has repeatedly said, is that it would represent the melting pot community in Las Vegas, which will in turn
identify with the team.” One memorable fan story resonated with Kayla:

Until recently — before their city obtained its own professional United Soccer League franchise
— the father and his American-born son, Lorenzo, were loyal to the Pumas, a Mexico City-based
professional club.

“But since we live in Las Vegas, we have to support the team that’s here,” said the elder De La
Cruz Saturday night during the team’s fan fiesta outside Cashman Field before its 3-2 exhibition
game loss against the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer.18

Although the Golden Knights had a storybook inaugural season and drew sellout crowds to T-Mobile
Arena, the Lights appealed to a broader audience. Ticket prices averaged $20 – a far cry from the
hundreds of dollars necessary to take a date (never mind a family!) to a Golden Knights, Raiders, or
other game or show on the Strip.

Kayla liked to think about a father and son sharing the fun and excitement of a Lights game -- she had
been noticing more and more families in attendance at Cashman Field during home games. She thought
about the many opportunities that existed for the Lights in attracting young families to wholesome,
reasonably priced entertainment.

6
What Describes the “Persona” of a Las Vegas Lights Fan?

The Lights marketing team was well aware of the current fan but team members were also cognizant of
the bigger picture. With a population of 600,000 in the city and over 2 million including its surrounding
communities, Las Vegas was definitely a multi-cultural center. Forbes identified the Las Vegas
metroplex as the sixth fastest-growing U.S. city, following a few years of decline when it was severely
impacted by the 2008 recession19. By ethnicity, Las Vegas was 68% non-Hispanic and 32% Hispanic.
While the Las Vegas Lights welcomed all to their games, the team was particularly interested in two fast-
growing segments: Millennials aged 20–34 and Latin-Hispanic, 22% and 32% of the population,
respectively. Growing Millennial interest was thought to be particularly important as the under-20
population of Las Vegas had reached 26%.20

The Lights FC demographics in year one were promising: 90+% of the attendees were from southern
Nevada. There was a solid middle-class fan base, with 77% having household income of $25K - $99K.
48% of fans speak at least two languages, primarily English and Spanish.

Millennials and Generation Z. Overall, Millennials were projected to overtake Baby Boomers as
America’s largest generation, as their U.S. population reached 73 million. Compared with previous
generations, they were of more mixed racial and ethnic backgrounds, better educated, and they often
preferred to live in a metropolitan environment that provided jobs and lifestyle amenities.21

Many major league sports were concerned that fewer Millennials followed professional sports
compared to previous generations. To the contrary, at least one major consulting firm noted that this
decline reversed itself when it came to the English Soccer League and Major League Soccer, with
Millennials outnumbering Generation X22. A study for Major League soccer showed that 54% of
Millennial fans purchased tickets for reasons other than the sport itself23, i.e., to include “add-on”
events, activities, and excitement that went beyond the game itself. While the sport was the central
focus, Millennials wanted to make it more of a social experience. Similarly, major league teams were
beginning to understand that the digital world was increasingly the means of communication with this
audience, whether social media, mobile devices, or sharing photos.

Not to be ignored is Generation Z, with individuals born between 1995 and 2009. This group is larger
and potentially more influential on consumer spending than any generation before them. By 2020, this
generation will be the largest consumer cohort in the world, accounting for 40% of consumers in the
United States. Their attitudes towards technology, finance, and spending are very different from
previous generations.

Although as young as nine years old, Gen Z has $200 billion in direct buying power and influences
household spending by $1 trillion. Their advanced digital knowledge and ability to compare and assess
price, perceived value, and product availability make them considerably influential in family buying
decisions.

While Millennials are regarded as optimistic, idealistic, dependent, and entitled, Gen Z is growing up to
be pragmatic, realistic, independent, and persistent. They are digitally connected from birth. Where
Millennials are digital pioneers and tech savvy, often multi-tasking over two screens,) Gen Z are true
digital natives and tech innate, multi-tasking over as many as five screens. They are ultra-focused, using

7
sophisticated filtering mechanisms and apps to access and process relevant content faster and more
precisely than other generations.

Although avid consumers, Gen Z is driven by personal resilience, financial conservatism, and hard work.
They are globally aware and have unprecedented access to information on travel, culture, diversity, and
environmental issues. They are socially active, using their collective voice and buying power to
champion social causes. Their overwhelming number (60%) supports brands that take a stand on issues
concerning equal rights, social orientation, and race.24

Usefully, the Lights were on the case. Besides significant presence on many social media platforms, the
Lights partnered with a range of local companies and promotional opportunities. Zappos.com was the
exclusive online merchandise partner; the team sponsors such as Las Vegas Harley-Davidson and La
Bonita Supermarkets carried team merchandise in store.

Hispanics. The Hispanic/Latinx population in the United States reached 58 million in 2016 and continued
to be a principal driver of U.S. demographic growth, accounting for half the population growth since
2000. California continued to have the largest Latinx population in the United States, but Texas
appeared to be catching up. While this large group increasingly drew from a diverse mix of countries, a
common love of soccer appeared to unite them25. While 16% of U.S. adults identified as Hispanic, they
represented 26.5% of soccer fans - 13 million. This is a group that did not need to be convinced or
persuaded to attend a soccer game, but there could be opportunities to appeal to this fan base in
unique ways. It is noteworthy that many Hispanic soccer fans were likely to agree that “someone in my
family has always been a [soccer] fan.”26

The Hispanic population in Las Vegas itself could be a small city – approximately 183,900, with slightly
more males than females. However, with a median age of 25-26, this group could be an attractive
target within the Millennial population.27

Because Las Vegas was such a large destination for tourists and conventions, the potential attendee to a
Lights FC game could come from any number of customer profiles, in addition to the local population. As
such, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority had a number of resources that could provide
insights on attracting various out-of-town target groups. The resources included studies and crosstabs
by visitor group, booking method, generation, market segment, and more.28

Las Vegas attractions increasingly recognized the importance of the internet, social media, and related
apps when both locals and visitors searched for information and booked events, dining reservations, and
lodging. The LVCVA noted that visitors were more active within the destination, enjoying an array of
entertainments and visiting both the Strip and downtown during their stays. Indeed, while overall
visitor spending on gaming increased from 2016 to 2017, the amount of time spent on gaming
decreased, and the amount budgeted for gaming decreased slightly compared to other attractions.
There was also a significant increase in the number of tourists who indicated that they gambled
downtown as well as on the Strip.29

The LVCVA also noted the continued trend of younger and more diverse visitors than in past years. Did
this trend portend greater interest in more “active” forms of entertainment and attractions where
socializing is an important part of the activity?

8
Can Soccer Light Up Both Zappos and DTP?

Kayla had been drawn to the area being developed as The Downtown Project (recently rebranded as
DTP)30 because she knew she wouldn’t feel comfortable in the suburbs, and she was not attracted at all
to “The Vegas Strip” and all that surrounded it. Moreover, she was intrigued and impressed by Tony
Hsieh’s personal commitment (along with a significant portion of his personal fortune -- to the tune of
$350 million) to remake the blighted downtown neighborhood that subsequently had come to be
known as Fremont East31. Tony’s commitment to the urban core of Las Vegas seemed to her to be very
much like Lashbrook’s commitment to making professional soccer an integral part of the Las Vegas pro
sports scene.

Quite a number of Kayla’s friends and acquaintances were Zappos employees -- a few had considerable
influence within Zappos’ wholistic management system. She wondered if Zappos and the Lights could
grow a symbiotic relationship that would lead to greater success for each of them. Zappos was the first
company that signed on to support the team, and their support seemed almost limitless. In fact, when
Zappos decided to open part of its downtown campus as a co-working space, Lights FC was the first
company invited as a tenant. The Lights team worked side-by-side with the Zappos team for most of
2018. Both companies depended on customer loyalty, and both companies strived for customer zeal
and advocacy. Kayla had read in a newspaper article about the Lights fan philosophy:

Shortly after the franchise's inception, a push was made to court and develop passionate fans
to support the team, and the local soccer community has embraced that effort. The supporters'
section behind the Lights' goal was packed with hundreds of fans, and they weren't just there to
watch.

In the finest tradition of soccer-loving countries, the Lights' supporters stood for the entire 90
minutes, waving a dozen flags, banging thundersticks and sounding off with vuvuzelas for the
duration. They started waves, ran through countless chants and generally made their presence
felt. 32

Zappos Sees The Lights

Kayla had no idea when she was asked to meet on short notice with her company’s Executive Vice
President for Community Relations that the meeting would have something to do with the Las Vegas
Lights and Zappos. She could hardly believe her good fortune !!

Her boss was asking her to represent their firm on a panel of academic, business, and sports
professionals to evaluate marketing plans submitted by teams of graduate students (most of them close
to completing a sports marketing/sports management degree from a number of prestigious universities
across the United States). The competition was intended to identify the most creative and productive
ideas that would take advantage of Zappos’ willingness to continue and expand its financial support of
the Las Vegas Lights FC.

During the first meeting of panel members, the Zappos representative explained: Zappos had come a
long way from its initial intent to make shopping for shoes a delight to the customer with great
selection, and superior customer service and convenience. From various Zappos-for-Good projects to

9
naming rights, to the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood, to providing seed money to many Las Vegas
startups, Hsieh believed in the power of good business to be both profitable and to create a better
quality of life for its employees, community, and social good. With a professional soccer team as yet
another possible engine of growth for Las Vegas, Hsieh wanted in on the opportunity. Zappos invested
in their first-ever professional team sponsorship before the Lights even had a name. Besides designing
the team’s jerseys and Zappos Fan Tailgate, Zappos arranged for the Lights players and coaches to get a
behind-the-scene tour of the headquarters of its parent company, Amazon, when the team played in
Seattle. It became the official distributor of Las Vegas Lights logo-merchandise through the online
Zappos’ store, and even represented the team with a pop-up tailgate for San Antonio FC fans – IN San
Antonio! Jointly, Zappos and the Lights explored many other areas of collaboration, including key vendor
relationships. For example, Zappos sold a lot of soccer shoes and apparels from companies such as Nike
and Puma. They had also explored opportunities to open pop-up locations at the Las Vegas Airport, in
shopping malls, and on the Strip during the soccer season.

Zappos wanted to develop more cross-selling opportunities through the Lights and the soccer
community, and the Lights wanted to leverage Zappos’ vast and deeply loyal customer base. Millennials
are good customers, but Zappos found that many Millennials thought of Zappos’ as “their parents’
shopping outlet.” Zappos knew they could learn more about their shopping behavior by attracting
more share-of-wallet if they joined the Zappos Rewards loyalty program. Further, their long-term
customer value would increase when, as parents, they became really busy, and relied even more on
Zappos for their family-related shopping. From the Lights perspective, Zappos could identify customer
targets both as purchasers of soccer merchandise and as prospects for other merchandise. Zappos’
database includes many customers within driving distance of Las Vegas (including USL cities such as Los
Angeles, Phoenix, Reno, Fresno, and Salt Lake City) and many others who came to Los Vegas regularly
for business or pleasure. A broader relationship with Zappos might also identify additional customer
profiles for the Lights’ various marketing programs.

Zappos had already put their footprint on Light FC fan experience by programming and executing the
Zappos Fan Tailgate experience. Were there other areas that Zappos could assist with now that the
Lights would be primary tenants of Cushman Field?

Also during this meeting, the Las Vegas Lights speaker informed Kayla and the other panel members that
for its initial investment in this opportunity, Zappos was offering the Lights a “starter” budget of
$50,000, with the likelihood that if one or more of the winning initiatives showed promise -- both
quantitatively and qualitatively -- in terms of business goals shared by Zappos and the Lights, additional
funding could follow. Therefore, each marketing plan submitted should identify ideas not only for the
initial $50,000 spend, but also for how that initial spend would fit into the context of a longer-term,
more comprehensive marketing plan.

10
Bottom line: The winning marketing plan would be the one that best helped both the Las Vegas Lights
and Zappos achieve specific objectives. For the next 6+ month plan:

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the Las Vegas Lights include:

• Sell more tickets to soccer games:

+ First-time customers who had heard of the Lights FC;

+ Attract more local family and youth customers to games to develop long-term
fan engagement;

+ Attract more tourist fans who come to Las Vegas, whether specifically for
Lights games or in addition to leisure activities

+ Incentivize attendees to attend more frequently and/or bring new fans;

+ Incentivize fans who are business decision-makers to purchase season tickets

for their companies

• Sell more Lights FC merchandise

• Build more engagement (quantity and quality) with the team’s social media outlets,
and/or download the team app.

Key Performance Indicators for Zappos include:

• Grow sales of Lights FC merchandise across retail platforms

• Gain more Lights fans’ share-of-wallet in other Zappos merchandise categories through
cross-selling and up-selling

• Leverage the Lights’ customer database to gain new customers to the Zappos retail
platforms.

Kayla was excited to be a member of the expert panel that would evaluate the graduate-student teams’
marketing plans. She had so many of her own ideas whirling around inside of her brain:

Kayla knew that Zappos was the sponsor on the front of Las Vegas Lights jerseys again for the
team’s second season. The team was NOT planning to unveil new uniforms and had a healthy
inventory of the inaugural season jerseys that it would need to sell through in order to bring in a
new kit in 2020. (The team was considering at least one limited-edition jersey in 2019 that
might be worded on a special occasion and/or available for a limited time.) “Zappos and the
Lights,” she thought. “It makes so much sense.” Kayla was confident there had to be many
ways that Lights FC and Zappos already had shared goals that could impact their individual
success and the future of the Las Vegas community.

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She knew -- through personal experience -- that Zappos sponsored a 2 ½-hour tailgate party (her
favorite was barbecue) at Cashman Field before every Lights home game. Although she, Ryan,
and their friends usually walked to Cashman Field, there were always plenty of fan-friends there
who were willing to share their tailgate experiences. Were there ways to make that
sponsorship more fruitful both for Zappos and for the Las Vegas Lights in terms of growing
customer/fan numbers and loyalty?

Zappos and DTP were already an integral part of the downtown scene, from supporting
restaurants and bars, to sponsoring a slew of community events, to hosting pop-up arts and
music events …. to the over-the-top Life Is Beautiful Festival, which began in 201333. Just a short
time later -- in 2018 -- its sixth festival was honored on the international music scene by being
named one of three finalists for Billboard’s Top Festival award34. There were those who said
that Hsieh was “using art and music to rebuild downtown Las Vegas35.” Could he also help build
the Las Vegas Lights franchise? Could the Lights contribute to the rebuilding of downtown Las
Vegas and the enrichment of the Las Vegas community as a whole, while strengthening both
the Lights and the Zappos brand?

The last time Kayla checked, the Zappos website carried 43 items of “Las Vegas Lights FC Gear” -
- t-shirts, scarves, and hats36. Zappos was also taking over the Lights brick-and-mortar sales at
Cashman Field. How could a Zappos sponsorship of the team increase sales of these items for
the benefit of both Zappos and the Lights? Were there other potential products, the sale of
which could benefit both entities, as well as their similar community goals and aspirations?
Were there other ways that Zappos and the Lights could sell merchandise online, in town, or to
soccer-rabid fans around the country? Could Zappos help the Lights sell tickets, soccer
experiences (youth or adult), or other ancillary VIP events and amenities that could include
music, film, or art?

Zappos had a brick-and-mortar headquarters “boutique” retail store that sold Lights (and
Golden Knights) gears to the many corporate guests, and some tourists, who stopped by the
company’s iconic downtown headquarters. (The mid-century modern building had once served
as the City of Las Vegas offices and formerly had a police precinct jail, and city council
chambers.) Zappos was also gaining experience with brick-and-mortar operations with a
location at the Zappos Theater at the Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino on the Strip. These
brick-and-mortar locations -- which focused primarily on tourists -- were thought to be helpful in
building the Zappos brand name and attracting new customers to the Zappos franchise. Could
they do the same for the Lights? Could there be cross-selling promotions that could introduce
one customer group to purchasing from the other? Were there other Las Vegas destinations
(whether geared toward locals or tourists) that could drive customers and fans to Zappos and
the Lights?

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 With such an impressive start during its inaugural season with innovative promotions, what
could the Lights do in terms of experiential marketing to continue to build its brand image,
enhance its owned social media presence, improve its earned social media presence, and get
the biggest bang for every marketing dollar spent?

Since marketing teams of graduate students would present their ideas to the panel for a
marketing program, she wondered if they even had any ideas to attract the soccer fans among
the 30,000 or so students at UNLV?

ASSIGNMENT

Your team has been tasked by the Las Vegas Lights FC and Zappos to develop a plan to achieve both of
their KPI’s for their partnerships. The objectives include:

Las Vegas Lights FC

1) Sell more tickets to soccer games

2) Sell more Lights FC merchandise

3) Build more engagement on social media and their mobile app

Zappos

1) Grow Sales of Lights FC merchandise

2) Increase the Lights fans’ purchases of Zappos merchandise on their retail platform

3) Leverage the Lights’ customer database to gain new Zappos customers

REQUIREMENTS

• Your team will have a 50,000 budget to produce and/or execute all related activations working
with a 6+ month 37plan
• Additionally, teams are asked to provide sales projections, expectations and timelines for
achieving the listed objectives.

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References

1
https://dtplv.com/about-us/

2
https://dtplv.com/portfolio_page/coming-soon-fremont9/

3
https://appadvice.com/app/las-vegas-lights-fc-app/1343924296

4
Source: Here’s how legalized gambling will make sports leagues even richer

5
https://mobile.lasvegassun.com/news/2018/oct/25/brighter-days-lie-ahead-for-las-vegas-lights/

6
https://www.lasvegaslightsfc.com/news_article/show/961420

7
https://www.zappos.com/about/core-values-three

8
https://www.zapposinsights.com/tours/zappos-tour-experience

9
https://skift.com/2013/10/25/zappos-founder-plans-weekend-festival-to-draw-people-to-downtown-vegas/

10
https://www.caesars.com/planet-hollywood/shows/zappos-theater

11
https://www.zappos.com/about/tags/common-core-values

12
https://www.lasvegaslightsfc.com/about-lv

13
https://uproxx.com/sports/las-vegas-lights-soccer-cash-drop-helicopter-video/

14
https://m.lasvegassun.com/news/2018/oct/25/brighter-days-lie-ahead-for-las-vegas-lights/

15
https://m.lasvegassun.com/news/2018/oct/25/brighter-days-lie-ahead-for-las-vegas-lights/

16
https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/new-zip-line-to-send-riders-soaring-above-las-vegas-strip-
video-1518589/

17
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2018/apr/01/las-vegas-lights-game-one-big-party-for-fans/

18
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2018/feb/18/for-las-vegas-lights-this-father-and-son/

19
https://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthasharf/2018/02/28/full-list-americas-fastest-growing-cities-
2018/#b65e6457febf

20
https://realestate.usnews.com/places/nevada/las-vegas

21
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/16/how-millennials-compare-with-their-grandparents/

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22
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/media-and-entertainment/our-insights/we-are-wrong-about-millennial-
sports-fans

23
https://www.skidmorestudio.com/webinar-on-demand-millennials-sports-marketing/

24
https://www.investmentbank.barclays.com/our-insights/generation-
z.html?cid=disp_sc08e00vm74GLpa00pv82867

25
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/09/18/how-the-u-s-hispanic-population-is-changing/

26
https://www.simmonsresearch.com/2017/11/03/family-and-fandom-hispanic-soccer-fans-in-the-us/

27
https://suburbanstats.org/race/nevada/las-vegas/how-many-hispanic-or-latino-people-live-in-las-vegas-nevada

28

https://assets.simpleviewcms.com/simpleview/image/upload/v1/clients/lasvegas/2017_Las_Vegas_Visitors_Profil
e_Study_1__7b2e5a81-585c-48e6-840c-d7b9face9140.pdf

29

https://assets.simpleviewcms.com/simpleview/image/upload/v1/clients/lasvegas/2017_Las_Vegas_Visitors_Profil
e_Study_1__7b2e5a81-585c-48e6-840c-d7b9face9140.pdf

30
https://knpr.org/headline/2018-10/downtown-project-rebranded-dtp-companies

31
https://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/tony-hsieh-delivering-happiness-downtown-vegas-
132719578.html

32
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2018/apr/01/las-vegas-lights-game-one-big-party-for-fans/

33
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-idea-behind-tony-hsieh-190000409.html

34
https://lasvegasweekly.com/ae/music/2018/oct/18/life-is-beautiful-finalist-billboard-top-festival/#/0

35
https://globalnews.ca/news/4490775/downtown-las-vegas-rebuild/

36
https://www.zappos.com/las-vegas-lights

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