GrowthLoop

How the Big 10 uses data to drive personalized experiences and revenue

The Big 10 Conference turned to GrowthLoop and Snowflake to unlock the potential of their centralized fan data. By enabling non-technical teams to access and act on this data, the Big 10 transformed their marketing strategy, driving revenue growth through personalized, data-driven campaigns. The Big 10 Conference, established in 1896, is one of the oldest and most prestigious collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Comprising 14 member universities, the Big 10 is known for its commitment to academic and athletic excellence, promoting sports such as football, basketball, wrestling, and more. With a vast network of alums and fans, the conference represents some of the country’s largest and most respected universities, including Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State.

Situation

Scaling fan engagement with modern data strategies

As one of the premier collegiate athletic conferences, the Big 10 was navigating a rapidly evolving landscape in fan engagement and data usage. With a broad fanbase and increased reliance on digital channels, they saw an opportunity to capitalize on their wealth of data. However, despite adopting modern technologies like Snowflake for data centralization, they needed to ensure non-technical teams could access and act on this data. With marketing and business users eager to leverage insights for more personalized fan interactions, the Big 10 needed a solution to make this possible without overwhelming their data team.

Challenge

Unlocking fan insights for marketing teams

With its vast and diverse fan database, The Big 10 faced a significant challenge: how to centralize this data and make it useful for teams across the organization. Nate Schnader, Big 10’s CIO, took the first step by implementing the Snowflake Data Cloud, aiming to create a unified “fan 360”.

‍Once the data was in Snowflake, another challenge emerged: How would the organization empower non-technical teams to access and use that data without overburdening their data science resources? To truly capitalize on the investment in Snowflake, they needed a seamless way to segment fans and activate campaigns across paid media and email, all while avoiding the creation of additional data silos.

Solution

GrowthLoop and Snowflake: A seamless path to data activation

Nate and the Big 10 team needed a solution allowing immediate data activation within their existing Snowflake infrastructure. GrowthLoop provided the ideal platform with its self-serve data activation that integrates directly with the data cloud, eliminating the need for separate silos.

‍Using the GrowthLoop composable customer data platform (CDP) on top of the Snowflake Data Cloud, the Big 10 could access and activate their data from Snowflake for marketing tools like Facebook Ads and avoided the need for a separate CDP.

“
GrowthLoop has become an integral part of our modern data stack, and we're excited to see what other opportunities it can unlock for us in the future.

Hart Zwingelberg, Senior Director of Business Strategy and Intelligence, Big 10 Conference

Results

Big 10 scores big with data-driven marketing

By using GrowthLoop’s self-serve activation and Snowflake’s centralized data, the Big 10 Conference has transformed its marketing approach, unlocking new revenue streams and enhancing fan engagement through precision targeting.

Winning with personalized fan experiences

With GrowthLoop’s Audience Builder, the Big 10 created highly targeted segments, such as women aged 18-60 and high-value customers, driving more personalized messaging and boosting merchandise sales across all member universities.

Editor's note: This customer story was originally published in March 2023.