Flying high: How the Eagles are dominating the marketing field with SVP of Marketing & Media, Jen Kavanagh

Summary

The Speed of Culture Podcast: Episode Summary Flying High: How the Eagles are Dominating the Marketing Field with SVP of Marketing & Media, Jen Kavanagh

Release Date: May 15, 2025

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Introduction and Personal Connections

The episode opens with Matt Britton, Founder and CEO of Suzy, expressing his deep-rooted connection to the Philadelphia Eagles. As a lifelong fan who grew up attending games with his father and witnessing memorable victories, Matt sets a personal tone for the conversation.

Jen Kavanagh, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Media for the 2025 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles, joins Matt to discuss the intricate strategies behind the Eagles' marketing dominance. Their mutual enthusiasm for the team creates an engaging atmosphere from the outset.

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Role and Organizational Success

Jen Kavanagh outlines her multifaceted role within the Eagles organization, overseeing marketing, media, creative, data analytics, and consumer relations. She emphasizes the importance of engaging not just fans but also partners and the community.

Jen Kavanagh ([01:31]):

"The trust factor between our teams and football is probably the most important part of the secret sauce and the thing that money can never buy us."

Matt highlights the Eagles' prosperous period since Jen joined in 2018, noting it as the most successful in franchise history. Jen attributes this success to a strong, engaged fan base and long-standing partnerships, allowing the marketing team to focus on storytelling and content strategy rather than merely selling tickets.

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Engaging Modern and Future Fans

The conversation delves into how consumer behavior has shifted, particularly among Gen Z fans who prefer quick, highlight-based content over full games.

Jen Kavanagh ([06:21]):

"Fans are connecting with individual players in different ways, whether it's their personality, their interests, or their values that align."

She explains that the Eagles leverage micro-moments by highlighting player personalities and interests on platforms like TikTok, fostering deeper connections with both current and future fans. This strategy ensures that engagement is multifaceted, reaching audiences where they are most active.

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Evolving In-Stadium Experience

Matt reminisces about the transformation of the Eagles' stadium experience from Veterans Stadium to the modern Lincoln Financial Field, noting the upscale enhancements and increased activities designed to engage fans.

Jen Kavanagh ([09:48]):

"We spend a tremendous amount of time thinking about game day and the flow of the game, designing moments that are specific to enhancing fan engagement."

The team employs strategic elements like tailored music, lighting, and live performances to amplify key moments during the game, ensuring that each game feels like a unique celebration. Collaborations with artists who are fans themselves, such as Gilly and Lil Uzi, integrate popular culture seamlessly into the game day experience.

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Globalizing the Fan Base

Matt discusses the Eagles' initiatives to expand their reach internationally, including season kick-offs in Brazil and partnerships in regions like Ghana, Australia, and New Zealand.

Jen Kavanagh ([11:41]):

"We are activating in those markets and countries, hosting watch parties to develop and nurture international fandom."

She emphasizes that globalization efforts aim to respect and integrate local cultures, as seen in the enthusiastic reception of the NFL games in Brazil, which blended American football with local soccer traditions. This approach fosters a sense of belonging among international fans while introducing the sport to new audiences.

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Evolving Sponsor Relationships

The discussion shifts to how sponsor needs have evolved, with a stronger emphasis on digital and social engagement.

Jen Kavanagh ([13:41]):

"Our partners have embraced the value of the stories we're telling and the content we're creating, which reaches a vast audience."

Sponsors now seek meaningful integrations that go beyond traditional signage, focusing on community-related initiatives like promoting flag football for girls. This alignment ensures that sponsorships are impactful and resonate with both the team’s values and the sponsors' objectives.

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Contemporary Branding and Tradition

Matt explores the balance between maintaining the Eagles' rich traditions and evolving the brand to stay relevant with modern audiences.

Jen Kavanagh ([16:56]):

"We have core traditions like 'Fly, Eagles Fly,' but we also embrace new, organic elements like 'Gilly and Blow the Whistle' that fans love."

The team regularly assesses and updates their brand narrative to reflect current cultural trends and fan sentiments, ensuring that the Eagles' identity remains dynamic yet rooted in tradition.

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Technological Innovations in Fan Engagement

The role of technology in enhancing the fan experience is a key topic, with Matt highlighting immersive technologies like virtual reality and community platforms.

Jen Kavanagh ([19:43]):

"Immersive access to the game is crucial, especially since only a limited number of fans can attend in person. We also nurture fan communities by supporting watch parties and special events."

The Eagles are exploring various technological avenues to provide fans with enriched experiences both at home and in the stadium, ensuring that the sense of community and engagement remains strong despite technological advancements.

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Artificial Intelligence in Marketing Operations

Jen discusses the integration of AI to improve operational efficiencies, such as managing digital assets and content distribution.

Jen Kavanagh ([20:53]):

"AI helps us manage our assets more efficiently and impacts our daily business operations by streamlining processes."

While AI is not yet central to content creation, its role in enhancing business operations is significant, providing the team with tools to better manage and distribute content to their expansive fan base.

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Culture and Leadership Parallels Between Sports and Business

The conversation concludes with a comparison of the Eagles' organizational culture to that of a successful business, emphasizing authenticity, alignment of mission, and leadership.

Jen Kavanagh ([22:34]):

"We have one of the best cultures one could ask for. Everyone is aligned with our mission to inspire and serve the greatest football community in the world."

This strong, unified culture fosters collaboration and collective success, mirroring the principles that drive high-performing businesses. Jen underscores the importance of culture keepers in maintaining this environment, ensuring sustained excellence both on and off the field.

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Career Insights and Personal Philosophy

Jen shares insights from her career journey, highlighting the importance of curiosity and adaptability in navigating the evolving landscape of marketing and media.

Jen Kavanagh ([25:45]):

"Progress over perfection. I'm a recovering perfectionist."

She emphasizes the value of continuous improvement and staying adaptable, principles that have guided her successful trajectory in the dynamic world of sports marketing.

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Conclusion

The episode wraps up with Matt expressing gratitude to Jen for her insights and contributions to the Eagles' marketing success. He encourages listeners to subscribe and stay tuned for future episodes of The Speed of Culture Podcast.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jen Kavanagh ([01:31]):

  "The trust factor between our teams and football is probably the most important part of the secret sauce and the thing that money can never buy us."

• Jen Kavanagh ([06:21]):

  "Fans are connecting with individual players in different ways, whether it's their personality, their interests, or their values that align."

• Jen Kavanagh ([09:48]):

  "We spend a tremendous amount of time thinking about game day and the flow of the game, designing moments that are specific to enhancing fan engagement."

• Jen Kavanagh ([11:41]):

  "We are activating in those markets and countries, hosting watch parties to develop and nurture international fandom."

• Jen Kavanagh ([16:56]):

  "We have core traditions like 'Fly, Eagles Fly,' but we also embrace new, organic elements like 'Gilly and Blow the Whistle' that fans love."

• Jen Kavanagh ([19:43]):

  "Immersive access to the game is crucial, especially since only a limited number of fans can attend in person. We also nurture fan communities by supporting watch parties and special events."

• Jen Kavanagh ([20:53]):

  "AI helps us manage our assets more efficiently and impacts our daily business operations by streamlining processes."

• Jen Kavanagh ([22:34]):

  "We have one of the best cultures one could ask for. Everyone is aligned with our mission to inspire and serve the greatest football community in the world."

• Jen Kavanagh ([25:45]):

  "Progress over perfection. I'm a recovering perfectionist."

---

This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions and insights from the podcast episode, offering a clear and engaging overview for those who haven't listened to the full episode.

Transcript

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[Jen Kavanaugh]

The other aspect to it, which I would say is probably the most important part of the secret sauce and the thing that money can never buy us, and that's the trust factor between our teams and football. That's ultimately what gives us the ability to really lean in, to get the kind of access that we get. In many ways, that's unrivaled.

[Matt Britton]

To thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape, brands must move at an ever increasing pace. I'm Matt Britton, Founder and CEO of susee. Join me and key industry leaders as we dive deep into the shifting consumer trends within their industry, why it matters now, and how you can keep up. Welcome to the Speed of Culture up today on the Speed of Culture podcast. I'm super excited for this very special edition with Jen Kavanaugh, the Senior Vice President of Media and marketing for the 2025 Super bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. Jen is a leading voice in sports marketing, driving the Eagles global brand and fan engagement around the world. Jen, so great to see you.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Thank you for having me, Matt. I'm so excited to be here.

[Matt Britton]

So, Jen, you might not know this, but our listeners do, but I am a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan. I grew up outside of Philadelphia. I started going to games with my now late father when I was 8 years old. I saw the Eagles win the super bowl with my son. It's a huge part of my family and my life. So I'm just really excited to be on the call with you and have this conversation.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

That is a surprise, a wonderful surprise. I absolutely love that. Well, this is going to be real good, isn't it?

[Matt Britton]

It's going to be a lot easier because my last interview with an NFL executive was with the CMO of the Kansas City Chiefs and that was actually before the super bowl. And if it was after, it might have been hard for me to gloat, but it was before the super bowl occurred. But this is going to. It's like I'm playing a home game right now.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Well, Lara's wonderful. I'm sure it was a good episode.

[Matt Britton]

Fantastic. And it was a great interview. And it's fascinating talking to her about just dealing with the whole Taylor Swift mayhem as well.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Yeah, how interesting.

[Matt Britton]

So I'd love to hear from you how you describe your role for the organization, what success looks like and what a normal week looks like in a day in the life of Gen Caf health.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Yeah, the way I think about my role, I oversee several different business units. So in addition to marketing and media, I oversee creative data and analytics, our consumer relations team. And so that being said, I think the best way to sort of characterize all of those groups in the simplest way is we are the groups responsible for sort of engaging with fans on the front lines. Not just fans, but also our partners. And so everything that we do and think about and ideate around and engineer is with the intent to engage fans, partners, our community, that sort of thing.

[Matt Britton]

Gotcha. And I see you join the organization 2018. And obviously, as somebody who's been a fan since the mid-80s, I know that this period of 2018 through here in 2025 has been the most winning and prolific period in franchise history. So I'm not sure what you had to do with that if they just started winning because you're an organization. But my question is like, what does winning do for your job in terms of allowing you to be on your front foot when it comes to marketing? How does it change your role versus if you were marketing a team that continually had a losing lap record and didn't make the playoffs?

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Well, listen, winning makes everything better. We say that all the time. But the practical realities of winning frequently on the business generally means that you do have a really engaged fan base. You are selling tickets, partners are leaning into their relationship with you. And when not, in some cases, that is definitely more difficult. What that means for us is one, we have great partnerships, many long standing partnerships. We obviously have a great fan base. They're multi generational. Our season tickets have been sold out for a very long time and I expect will be for a very long time. And so for us, it means that we get to focus on other things than maybe some other teams in marketing do who need to sell tickets. Right. Those are people who are focused on moving that needle. Very transactional. Not that they don't do other things, but because that is not really a need for us. We get to really lean into, I think, the storytelling space, our content strategy, our content distribution strategy maybe a little more heavily than some other clubs can.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah, so let's talk about that because obviously the way that fans consume the game is so much different now than it was 5, 10, 20 years ago. The best way I like to describe it is a lot of younger Gen Z fans, they love the song versus the album. They're consuming highlights on TikTok, they're participating in fantasy football versus maybe just loving a team and only that team. What have you found has worked in terms of driving engagement with the Philadelphia Eagles brand with both your current fan base and tomorrow's generation of fans?

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Yeah, I would say it's not even always just the song, sometimes it's the bridge. I mean, you've been teasing your TikTok example, specifically. You can fall in love with that one snippet and that causes you to want to dive deeper. I think the best sort of analogy to that in our world are the players as individuals. So there's all kinds of doors and doorways into fandom. And I've heard other counterparts at different teams, sometimes in different leagues, say that fans are fans of specific players and therefore they move around when those players move around. That's not really the case for us.

[Matt Britton]

Not the case for me.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

But they do connect with individual players in different ways, whether it's their personality, their interests, their values that may align. And so that, to me are. Those are the like micro moments that we have to connect with fans in addition to hopefully pulling them into our culture and what the experience is like as an Eagles fan.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah, and I think another thing that's changed is you used to never really get to engage or even see the life of athletes beyond them on the field or on the court. And now there's this whole kind of alternate universe of Athletes where you can see what they tweet about, you can see what they're wearing walking into the stadium on game day or on ESPN or NFL Network. So there's so many different ways to interact with these athletes. And they have their own ventures in their own right. They're launching fashion brands, they're doing all sorts of entrepreneurial ventures. So how does that sort of, I guess, multi pronged engagement strategy unfold for you at the organizational level?

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Yeah, I think what you just described is a very recent and I would say seismic shift in the way that athletes think about their brand and how early on they are strategic about their brand. I think NIL has really changed that. So what the way that we see that play out is where six, seven years ago we may have had group of players who weren't so interested in social media, really wanted to just focus on the game, not particularly interested in making content. Now we have players who come in the door day one and they want to understand the community, they want to understand how to contribute, they want to understand how to connect with the fans. They're in the locker room with us having fun, which translates into great content certainly for our social channels and for YouTube. So there's just this like baseline appreciation that doesn't require us anymore to so much explain the value of why it is we're asking them to do what they're doing. And the other aspect to it, which I would say is probably the most important part of the secret sauce and the thing that money can never buy us and that's the trust factor between our teams and football. That's ultimately what gives us the ability to really lean in, to get the kind of access that we get. In many ways that's unrivaled. So that cannot be accomplished without trust. And that's something we've been very focused on building over time. And I think you're really seeing the benefit of now.

[Matt Britton]

Absolutely. Another thing I've seen the benefit of as an Eagles fan is just the in stadium experience. So I mentioned, I was a kid, I used to go at Veterans Stadium and Lincoln Financial Field. Looks nothing like Veterans Stadium. And the experience is so much more upscaled is the best way I put it. And there's so much more going on. How much strategy goes into evolving the M Stadium experience and what are some unique things that you guys have execute more recently that you found success in?

[Jen Kavanaugh]

That's a great question. We spend a tremendous amount of time thinking about game day and I'll say the flow of the game. There's so many moments throughout game day that are designed to do something specific. Whether that is get players really amped up right before a big defensive play, get the crowd really loud when the opposing team is on offense. And so the type of music for those specific moments that we lean into are the things that we sort of have in our arsenal. Talk about a lot. We want it to feel like a party. And a party at a one o' clock game is different than a party at eight o' clock. So one is a little more maybe family friendly, one is a little more adult. So everything from how we can leverage lighting and really amplify performances and be dramatic, everything, you know, how we use all the tools in our toolkit can vary based on things like time of day or specific moments within the game. So we do spend quite a bit of time thinking about that. Some of the things we've done recently that I think have been fun pulling in artists that are big Eagles fans that can be a part of the game day celebration. Like last season, you may have seen Gilly and Blow the Whistle was sort of became the anthem of our season.

[Matt Britton]

Bradley Cooper, you're always seeing at the stadium in the owner's box.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Yeah, totally. And previously Lil Uzi and Meek Mill and just finding fun ways to connect fans that the other fans love because they're famous and well known into the game day experience. So we love to do that.

[Matt Britton]

Yep. And this past season, the Eagles kicked off their season in Brazil and it was on a Friday night which was kind of jarring and different as an Eagles fan. And we won, so it was all good. But it's interesting to see the NFL follow the path that the NBA has followed by trying to globalize the game and bring it to new markets. Obviously the NFL's long played games in London as well. What is the global landscape like in terms of fandom as it relates to both the NFL and the Eagles specifically?

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Well, it's incredibly exciting, I'd say. And we're in many respects just getting started. So we have marketing rights in Ghana, so West Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and then very recently Brazil. And what that essentially means is that we are able to activate in those markets and countries, we're able to do fan development there, host watch parties, and that's really what the intent is. And different teams are in different territories. But ultimately, I think between the growing number of games that you're seeing that are being played overseas and more teams going into more territories, I think we're going to see more international fandom. Which sometimes again starts with identifying or liking something about a team's brand or a piece of social content or player. And sometimes it's because a game was played there and you had a chance to watch it, and other times it's because you have dazn and therefore you have game pass and you can actually watch football games, which access to the game itself can be a little challenging depending on time zones and that sort of thing. But I think the globalization of the sport is incredibly exciting. I was in Brazil.

[Matt Britton]

How was it? It looked so cool.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

It was so cool. And what I remember the most about it was that it felt like this mashup of American football and soccer because there were like anthems that would break out and people singing. And to me, that was exactly how it should be because you go into a market or a culture that is different from your own and you want to be able to sort of like see yourself there and connect, but not at the cost of not integrating their culture. So that was really special.

[Matt Britton]

Absolutely. I'm sure. I know another part of your role is sponsors and integrating sponsors into the overall business. How is the needs of sponsors of NFL teams like the Eagles evolved over time as well? And what are some of the tried and true tactics that you're really leaning into for the team sponsors?

[Jen Kavanaugh]

I think our partners appreciation for the value of our digital and social assets has increased because the engagement.

[Matt Britton]

Right. They're all looking for digital engagement. You're the conduit for it.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

They've always understood, I would say, the value of signage in the stadium and the value of things that we do to connect with and improve the quality of our community. But really understanding the value of the stories that we're telling and the content that we're creating, creating and the number of people that it's reaching has been very, very positive. I think they've also really embraced things that are important to us that are also related to growing the game, like flag football, getting more girls to play flag football, removing barriers for girls by making sure that they have the sports bras they need and the equipment that they need. And now every time we sit at the table, you're not only talking about sort of the assets you'd expect, you're talking about community elements that have big impact that they want to make sure are included. They value those as well.

[Matt Britton]

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[Matt Britton]

When you think about just contemporizing the brand, obviously you talk about new fans and old fans and NFL teams, especially those like the Eagles, are rooted in tradition. But the story needs to evolve over time. So, like, how much time do you spend thinking about, like, the story of the franchise? Everything from the words you're going to use, the way you're going to describe the team, because, like, you know, as an Eagles fan, like, you have the, like, fly, Eagles, fly fight song, which kind of just like, took on a resurgence of its own, especially with the team winning. And that's an example of, like, an old song that was written a long time ago that young people love. But there's probably other things you want to sprinkle in to have the team have an evolved identity over time. I'm just wondering, like, what that process is like.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Totally. Well, you said it. We have some really special traditions, assets within our brand. Fly, Eagles, fly. Being one of them. Go, birds. As this kind of unified way you.

[Matt Britton]

Say it everywhere you see somebody at the airport, they're wearing an Eagles hat. Go, birds. Go birds. You just walk around for them. It's like a nice little nod to somebody.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Yeah, it means hello. It means have a good day, all of that good stuff. So those things are really core to the brand. They've been around a long time. But we love to Embrace the moment. Every year we sort of sit down at the end of the season and say, where are we? And who are we? Because the identity of the team, to a degree, does change from season to season. You have different players, you have different things that have transpired. Culture changes. The external factors of the world can influence where we are at any given time. And so we really do spend time sitting down, talking about, assessing and writing a little bit of a story of where we are and what we look like going into the following season. I think we give ourselves permission to embrace things that come naturally. Gilly and blow the whistle is one of those things that wasn't planned, that was very organic, that fans embraced and we were like, man, let's have fun with this. But conversely to that, a few years ago when we launched it's a Philly thing as the sort of slogan for the season, that was more intentional, but also a reflection of something new and different that might not carry on indefinitely from season to season, but certainly was going to give us like a campaign. Sure, sure, sure.

[Matt Britton]

And how much testing do you do if you have a campaign like it's a Philly thing with fans? Like, how much is that consumer centric or how much it says based upon the internal people in your organization making that decision?

[Jen Kavanaugh]

I wouldn't say that we do any sort of overly extensive testing on these kinds of things. Some of it is instinctual. There are ways to soft launch ideas and see how fans respond to it, whether that's on social or what have you. But we usually just make a bet. Let's make a bet based on what we know and what we've seen. We spend a lot of time listening to the fans and take a lot of pride in kind of knowing where they are at any given time. So I'm sure we've had our misses, but for the most part, that tends to work out pretty well, I'm sure.

[Matt Britton]

So the game has evolved a lot. And one thing that has proven true is the fans kind of insatiable need for just immersion in the game. So we see concepts like cosm, which is like almost like a sphere, like structure. There's one in Los Angeles where it's like this dome and you can watch a game with different cameras. And of course, there's the sphere in Las Vegas. And then you can use like the Apple Vision Pro. And even though that's not greatly adopted yet, it immerses you in the game and in a virtual reality setting. How much of that type of technological evolution do you think is going to impact the fan experience over time. Like, do you see things changing in ways that fans watch and engage with the game both at home and maybe even in the stadium?

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Yeah, definitely. So, two things. One, I think it is going to have a huge impact because if you think about it, there's only 70,000 seats at Lincoln Financial Field. That means a very fixed number of people who are Eagles fans are going to be at any one game. And yet we have millions and millions of fans all around the country and all around the world. So having that kind of immersive access to the game, I think is really, really important. Maybe a little more analog than that, but very important are communities of Eagles fans who get together to watch the game. People have a choice. They can stay home and watch it generally, but in many cases they like to be together. So there's a lot of community within the community, and I think that that is an incredibly important part of having a healthy fan base, and we want to nurture that. Absolutely. So in as much as we can identify those watch parties and amplify those watch parties and send jerseys or send the mascot or do things to say, hey, we see you, and we want to make this little community that you've developed as special as possible, I think that matters a lot as well.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah. And speaking of the future, how much time do you spend thinking about AI in your role as it relates to either the fan experience or your marketing or content or whatever it may be?

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Yeah, a decent amount. I think the practical realities around AI and our sort of daily business operations look something like being able to manage our assets more efficiently. We have and traffic a lot of photos and videos to a lot of different people, media, colleges, et cetera. And being able to do that in a much more efficient way is definitely a plus. I think we follow what's happening in the generation of AI space very closely. It's interesting, the idea of content creation independently via just AI, though I wouldn't say we've leaned exclusively in that direction, but certainly interesting to follow. Understand there will be an impact at some point for us down the road, but more I would say today it's a business operations benefit.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah. And I think when you talk about fan engagement in areas like fantasy sports and obviously online gambling, which has exploded in recent years, is now legal in a majority of US states and obviously drives a lot of engagement in the NFL. AI seeing its way into those areas very quickly with the stripes in that space, and I think it's going to continue to be part of the fan experience when it comes to stats and data and all sorts of things. So it'll be interesting to see over time, for sure. But you still need players on the field to make the plays, so that won't. Hopefully we won't have robots replacing Jalen Hurts anytime soon.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Hopefully not.

[Matt Britton]

So shifting gears a little bit. So there's so much that's been made about, like, the Eagles culture. Everyone from the owner Jeffrey Lurie to Harry Roseman, the gm, all the way down. Like, what is it like to work at the Philadelphia Eagles organization? What are some parallels between a winning culture on the field and a winning culture in the office within the organization?

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Yeah, I love that question because I believe I know and I say all the time that I think we have one of the best cultures one could ask for. It is extremely authentic. Everybody in this building is aligned when it comes to why we're here, and that's to fulfill our mission to inspire and serve the greatest football community in the world. We just all do it in our own ways. So there's a unification that comes with that. I think we win and lose together. Everybody in this building is a fan and wants what's best for the team and what's best for our fans and the community. So I think that's incredibly important and definitely translates in the work we do. And as you said with Howie and Jeffrey, I mean, it really starts at the top. So Geoffrey Laurie set a culture, I think, of creativity and competition and innovation. And so everyone kind of lives that every day and in the types of players that Howie brings into the building, and he's talked about that sort of publicly, character is really important, and we believe that about our players and as much as the people who work on the business side here. So we're incredibly fortunate in that way.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah, I mean, there are so many parallels between sports and business. I say all the time, like, you can have somebody at your company that is such a great individual contributor, but they take all the shots and they don't make the other people around them better. And maybe they complain and kind of denigrate everyone else around them and they think they're great, even if they are great at what they do. Greatness is in the agency of others. And I think the same goes to being on the field. And I just think there are so many parallels every day where if you look at, in a lot of ways, how winning teams are built or winning businesses are built, it does start with culture. It starts at the top. It starts with leadership, and it starts with a certain philosophy. And over time, that translates all the way down the organization. And you see companies lose that script all the time, and you see teams lose that script all the time.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

You do. And it's really important to have culture keepers, which I believe we do have in this building, to make sure that that doesn't happen. You sort of said, what was Coach Sirianni's mantra for last season, which is, you can't be great without the greatness of others.

[Matt Britton]

That's probably who I got it from.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Well, you know, but it's a great example of what was driving the mindset on the football side of the building. And I remember my first day of work, my boss handed me the book Leaders Eat Last.

[Matt Britton]

And Simon Sinek.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Yeah, it said a lot to me about the culture of leadership here. And if something's gotta get done, we're all getting it done. SVP shovel snow. You just do the thing you have to do. I have never shoveled snow, but I've done other things to pitch in when needed. And I think all of that does add up to great work and certainly winning on the field.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah. So I'd love to just talk a little bit about your career journey. So you spent time at NBCUniversal and digital media, and you've spent time running your own consultancies, and now you're ending up running marketing for the super bowl champion Eagles. Had to throw that in again. But tell me about your journey and maybe some of the right decisions that you made along the way, that that puts you in your seat that you're in right now, because we have a lot of younger listeners of the podcast are maybe just getting started, trying to figure out where they need to lean in, whether it's relationships or skill sets, et cetera. And I'm just curious what's worked for you.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Yeah, well, I don't know if I thought I was doing the right thing at the right time.

[Matt Britton]

Never do, right. Yeah.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

But looking back, I did manage to put myself in the right place at the right time with respect to being sort of on the edge of my business category. So early on, that was digital. What is the impact of digital on linear television going to look like? And then it was social, and what's the impact of social on linear television going to look like? So on and so forth. So that was in some cases strategic, and in other cases, maybe a little accidental. I think that curiosity has really propelled my career in a lot of ways. I always want to understand sort of how culture is interacting with the business that I am in, and I tend to go maybe a little too deep there sometimes. But it has helped, I think, center me on the jobs and the roles and the areas that are right for me at the right time and the ones that maybe aren't so much. So I always say, be deeply curious, understand where people's mindsets are, what their values are, how they're prioritizing things, what their unmet needs are. Because you may be able to fill one of those regardless of what you do. But you have to ask the question first in order to sort of produce the answer.

[Matt Britton]

Absolutely. So we always wrap our podcast up by asking our guests if there's a saying or mantra that kind of summarizes their career journey to date. And I was wondering what might come to mind for you.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Definitely progress over perfection. Like, I'm a recovering perfectionist.

[Matt Britton]

I'd never heard that phrase before.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Yeah, it's taken a long time to appreciate that progress and momentum and movement and staying in the flow of things is more important than saying that you did something perfectly.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah. And I think that's another sports analogy. Sometimes you'll watch a team and they don't seem fluid and they try to make everything perfect and then you try to over perfect things and then you end up playing bad. Or if you just get in the flow of the game, forget about things. Just go with your gut. That's usually when teams really start to perform at optimal levels.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Absolutely. It's great.

[Matt Britton]

Yeah. Absolutely. Well, this has been a fantastic interview, Jen. Thanks. Today's NFL Draft day, so I know it's a busy day for you at the Eagles organization, and thanks for all the work that you've done stewarding and building the brand. As a lifelong fan and family who's lifelong fans, I really appreciate the organization and I appreciate you taking the time to speak with us today.

[Jen Kavanaugh]

Thanks so much for having me, Matt. This was so much fun.

[Matt Britton]

Awesome. On behalf of Susie and Ivy team, thanks again to Jen Kavanaugh, SVP of the Philadelphia Eagles, for joining us today. Be sure to subscribe, rate and review the Speed of Culture podcast on your favorite PODC podcast platform, Go Birds. The Speed of Culture is brought to you by Suzy. As part of the Adweek Podcast Network and a guest Creator Network. You can listen subscribe to all Adweek's podcasts by visiting Adweek.com podcast To find out more about Suzy, head to Suzy.com and make sure to search for the Speed of Culture in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere else podcasts or fans found, click follow so you don't miss out on any future episodes. On behalf of the team here at Suzy, thanks for listening.

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