Marwan Bouraad is head of sport at MediaCom MENA
“Congratulations to Tokyo on winning the bid for 2020 Olympics, Thomas Bach on his election to president of the IOC, and Gareth Bale on joining a new football team.
All of these stories weren’t confined to the back pages, specialist publications or sports websites, but were front page, leading items in and on the news globally in the past few weeks.
Add to this sport’s unique ability to generate interest, intrigue, and consistent and enduring excitement and drama when competitions and matches happen and it will be no surprise that sport partnerships have never been more powerful or more effective than they are today for marketers. Sport can help brands to build a connection with an audience. Maybe in part that is because sport is often what brands aren’t – unexpected, exciting and tantalising in nature.
Sport sponsorship is a $50 billion industry that’s grown at twice the rate of traditional advertising in the past decade according to Kantar. The use of sponsorship has evolved from simple logo placement and a bit of hospitality, to all-encompassing deals including infrastructure, full media rights and talent usage to allow brands to create an engaging experience for consumers, and allow them to offer content opportunities across multiple platforms.
Coca-Cola, for example, has produced a series of World Cup sponsorship integrations that focus on consumer engagement, fan loyalty and maintaining market share.
This sort of all-encompassing in-tegration doesn’t necessarily come cheap but it delivers results for the bottom line.
P&G reports that the last two Olympic Games have contributed significantly to revenue, with the Olympics in Vancouver 2010 adding $100 million and London 2012 adding a projected $500 million in increased sales. GE attributes $1 billion in revenue over the past seven years to its decision to become a top-level Olympic sponsor in 2005.
Of course, any marketing exposes brands to reputational risk – including false claims, banned adverts and negative social media reaction – and sports sponsorship is no exception. There are ways of mitigating those risks, though, and remember too that contracts today come with a host of protection clauses.
The best way to approach the challenge is to consider the most common properties: endorsements by individual athletes, supporting specific teams and official sponsorship of events. Each brings with it powerful benefits.
Studies have shown that individual endorsements deliver significant value for brands. The Economic Value of Celebrity Endorsements by Anita El-berse and Jeroen Verleun found that “signing the kinds of endorsers featured in this study – which included brands ranging from bottled water and chewing gum through to cameras and cosmetics – on average generates a 4 per cent increase in sales – which corresponds with around $10 million in additional sales annually – and nearly a 0.25 per cent increase in stock returns”.
Of course, individuals are fallible (paging Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong…), so while supporting an individual can be a cheaper option, it may also put all of a brand’s eggs in one basket. During the build-up to the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Reebok invested heavily in a US campaign touting two US decathlon athletes, “Dan vs. Dave”. Unfortunately, Dave didn’t qualify, although Dan did pick up a bronze.
Risks can be managed if a brand has a smart strategy. Nike used Tiger Woods, for example, to launch an entirely new product line, and so was able to compartmentalise the short-term storm around his infidelity. The brand has been confident enough to sign a new deal reported to be worth more than $100 million with Rory McIlroy, a contender for Tiger’s mantle as the must-watch name in golf.
While sports sponsorship is a mature industry globally, our region is growing so fast that is seems it is jumping from infancy to adulthood, skipping childhood and teenage stages.
Our region will be hosting global sporting events in the near future, with additional bidding on the way, and major regional brands are already involved in local regional and global sponsorships, but the competition will get stronger and standing out will become challenging. The responsibility will fall on both the brands and agencies to move the sports industry further by assigning standalone teams of experts in the field to deal with the added expected competition.
As with sports themselves you can’t just turn up and expect to win, so whilst there is huge potential in sports sponsorship for nearly all brands, here’s a 10-point training programme to help you get started.
Know your customers and what you want to achieve
As with any marketing campaign, brands must identify their key objectives and the key measures that will determine whether what they do is successful. Finding the right sponsorship and then activating it successfully requires brands to truly understand the consumer and what motivates them.
Integrate relentlessly and ruthlessly
Make sure any sponsorship is integrated into an overall marketing plan. This will help ensure that the effort is executed effectively, with support from all key internal stakeholders.
Be fanatics too
Show your passion. Sport is a consumer passion centre: genuine involvement can show that you care as much as the fans.
Double down
Budget for activation. Negotiating the sponsorship is just the start: as with any marketing effort, you must plan, budget and resource on the ground.
Buy the stuff you want, not just what’s for sale
Identify what matters most. Having a clear idea of what’s most important will help you negotiate a better deal at the outset.
Integrate means everything, everywhere
Extend the reach of your message. Identify all potential messaging platforms, including packaging, internal comms and partner relations, as well as digital and traditional media.
Don’t just be a mirror, create new content
Content is key. A sponsor must build and disseminate timely, relevant, educational and engaging stories. It’s vital that your consumers have something to care about.
Get social in real time
Manage the conversation. Timely content produces social currency, but brands must actively manage what’s being said on social media in real time, and provide evidence of a positive contribution if sentiment turns negative.
Do you remember when…
Create great experiences. Value-added experiences and activation initiatives, combined with integrated media campaigns, drive volume and sentiment.
Go relevant, not just big
Stay relevant. Understanding and taking part in the key conversations of the moment can often be an effective way to reach engaged consumers.
So finally, in the words of the great Mohammed Ali: “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion’.”