In 2018, in the U.S. alone, both large and small businesses spent $17 bn on sports sponsorships. Sport sponsorships allow you to boost brand exposure and promote brand values while contributing to your local community. Here are a few things you should pay attention to if you want to get the most out of your marketing dollars.
Build Brand Awareness Through Emotional Connections
Sports sponsorships are a great way for fledgling businesses to build brand awareness. But, your company needs to have a strong association with the sport it is involved with. If the fans start asking, “What’s the link between the sport and the brand?” then something is off.
Sporting events enable you to connect with your target audience on an emotional level. So, if you want to build your brand through sports, you need to go beyond just selling products or services.
You’re not just buying an ad. If you want to be a part of the community of fans, you need to get involved in the activities they will appreciate. For instance, if you’re sponsoring a soccer team, try to focus on something more specific. You can get involved with the team’s youth soccer program and demonstrate your investment in the team’s future.
Focus on Brand Association
And again, the link is key. It’s important to emphasize this as even the big players forget or ignore it sometimes. Let’s take Manchester United for an example. Today, they wear Chevrolet on their jerseys. Yesterday, it was AIG. Tomorrow, it will be some other brand.
There’s no brand synergy there. Simply being the highest bidder isn’t enough to build your brand through sports sponsorships. While big brands may afford such moves, it wouldn’t be wise to follow their example here. Don’t underestimate the level of consumer cynicism.
IBM has shown us how it should be done. The company has been Wimbledon’s official partner for 27 years. They support Wimbledon’s data and statistics. The sponsorship fits their brand values as well as the game. It’s all in their tagline “Helping Wimbledon in their pursuit of greatness.”
There are only a couple of visible sponsors at Wimbledon and IBM is tasked with keeping the scoring. If you opt for the sports sponsorship route, make sure your organization has a role within the team or event that serves a clear and practical purpose. Don’t just be a placeholder.
Once you establish brand association, it’s time to move onto building a clearly defined activation strategy. It’s all about two-way communication between the fans and your brand.
Let’s look at IBM’s case again. They let the viewers access live data and analyze statistics. If a fan wants to find out how many times Djokovic has made a backhand pass at Wimbledon, they can easily find this information. Just like with other outbound marketing methods, sports sponsorships can also be about providing valuable content to the consumer.
A Success Story: Royal Panda and Queens Park Rangers
Back in 2017 Queens Park Rangers, a second-tier English soccer team, have signed a sponsorship deal with the now-famous Royal Panda Casino as their jersey sponsor for the season 2017/2018 season. And, they are still partners to this day.
Royal Panda made the move as an up and coming brand that had recently received their sportsbook license. The season before, Queens Park Rangers struggled in the championship.
By sponsoring Queen Parks Rangers, the Royal Panda brand sent a clear message, “We’re betting on the underdog!” The partnership kicked off quite well.
They organized a lot of relevant activities around match days, as well as half-time pitch activities and various promotions. This sponsorship is a good example of how to go beyond generic brand awareness activities and get more involved with the team.
Look to B2B Opportunities Too!
Sport sponsorships can be fruitless unless you target your efforts with precision. Aside from consumers, you should also look to B2B opportunities.
Did MasterCard have the customer sales funnel in mind when they sponsored the World Cup? Perhaps, but numbers indicate something else. At the time, the credit card company already had almost 100% awareness among their target audience.
The World Cup sponsorship did indeed bring them a great deal of consumer impressions, but that’s probably not why they did it. They used the World Cup deal to woo their trading partners—the banks.
Every bank gets to choose which card to issue to clients. MasterCard’s World Cup sponsorship gave them a reason to push MasterCard over other cards. Sponsors block their competitors when they want to corner an exclusive asset. Sometimes, the signal you send out matters more than the financial productivity of the sponsorship.
Conclusion
Building a brand through a sports sponsorship requires so much more than money. It takes a lot of strategical effort. Without strategizing, all your efforts may be in vain. If you are considering sports sponsorships as a means to build your brand, dedicate yourself to meaningful activation.
