Preventing talent overload with VLAST.

Nobody can be in more than one place at any time - however much others might want them to be.

In sport and entertainment, the most magnetic talent draws the greatest interest from fans, media and commercial partners.

Whatever the challenge, teams of all kinds will look for ways to share the load and deliver as efficiently as possible on their objectives. Still, there will always be individuals who risk taking on too much of the burden - on or off the field.

Big stars inevitably attract the attention of sponsors who want them at the centre of key promotions. So too do breakout prospects, folk heroes and in-form players.

Then, of course, athletes have their own agendas, interests and endorsements to pursue. It can all lead to crowded, complicated calendars.

For those managing talent, the resulting threat of overload is never far away.

Runaway attention
The difficulties of keeping demands on individuals’ time in check compounded by cumbersome systems.

Talent managers within organisations must collate requests from multiple departments, and manage the differing priorities of many different stakeholders. That can involve balancing internal needs against those of external backers, but it can also mean heading off disputes between departments. There will be moments when coaches and marketing executives, for example, disagree over where the team captain’s focus should be.

On top of that, messages can come in a range of formats to various points of contact. A disorganised approach makes it likelier that problems will build.

Staying in control with VLAST
Developed by Pickstar, a company which exists to make smarter connections between brands and talent, VLAST offers a unique, centralised platform that allows stakeholders across the board to monitor player appearances across all commercial campaigns.

It is trusted by leading organisations in sports across the US, the UK and Australia, with more joining all the time. This year the ACT Brumbies - an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory - brought in VLAST to automate and simplify their talent-led activations.

“Giving visibility of player appearance requests and bookings across the high-performance unit and all other departments is a game-changer for our team at the Brumbies,” said the club’s head of commercial, Elizabeth Griffiths.

That coordinated communication also means that talent managers can oversee player appearances from end to end, keeping all parties satisfied that agreed activations had been fulfilled.

But as importantly, its data capabilities can also help identify or anticipate heavy workloads for individual athletes. That makes it easier to distribute demands on talent appropriately, mitigating overload and preventing burnout, resentment and poor performance.

It also clears the way for talent to really flourish.