UP555 The Lord's Question: What Does The MCC Brand Stand For?

The £295million sale of London Spirit franchise was one of the big sports business stories of the last year. Some of Silicon Valley's most successful and famous leaders buying 49% of The Hundred's Lord's based franchise, in partnership with The MCC, one of the most storied names in cricket.So what is the MCC today, and how is that changing in one of the most important years in the great ground's history? In this episode, Richard Gillis is joined by Katie Maier, Chief Marketing Officer at MCC, and Ellie Roach, Senior Consultant at InCrowd, to ask that question directly. The conversation moves through the central tension of the brand — a 200-year-old members' club, still 97% male, now sitting alongside a 51% stake in The Hundred, a property built on the language of inclusion. Who is an MCC digital follower? What does the MCC look like from India? What's the thesis behind the Silicon Valley investmentWe go in to, the data-led case for not chasing vanity metrics in overseas markets, and a content strategy built on six pillars that runs well beyond the cricket itself. The episode lands just weeks before the most significant summer in the ground's history for women's cricket: the first ever women's Test at Lord's, alongside the Women's T20 World Cup final, fifty years after the first women's international was played there.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.