Sports marketing was once limited to sportsmen and women wearing corporate
logos on their clothing or equipment, and stadiums ringed in signage touting
various brands or services. No more.
While these kinds of “endorsements”
will likely play a part in sports sponsorship for years to come, today’s
sponsorship proposition demands something more than a logo displayed by a sportsman or prominently placed in a sporting venue.
The most effective sports
sponsorships are those that build brand equity, linking the brand to certain
positive associations in memory, and providing a win-win association between
sponsor and the sponsored.
The challenge facing marketers today is to enhance a sponsor’s brand by ensuring that its customers have the right kinds of experiences with its products and services in the context of sponsorship.
The challenge facing marketers today is to enhance a sponsor’s brand by ensuring that its customers have the right kinds of experiences with its products and services in the context of sponsorship.
Brand recognition and recall are
keys, of course, but so are less tangible links that connect customer
experience with the values which characterize a brand and differentiate it from
its competitors. These links can be symbolic, experiential, or functional – but
they are essential in establishing a strong connection between the brand and
its sponsored organization or event.
Sports is the 3rd largest category of sponsorship spending in Kenya with almost Ksh half a billion spent on sports sponsorships in 2009. This number represented almost a third of all sponsorship spending in the same year. Experts predict that sports sponsorship spending will increase to more than Ksh 1.5 billion by 2012, and continue to represent between 55 and 60 percent of overall sponsorship spending in Kenya.
At these spending levels, marketers must maximize their investment, leveraging money spent across a spectrum of consumer, trade, employee and media activities. As one expert has noted, “A company will only realize the full value of the sponsored property when it is used as a central platform around which other activities are built. Knowing how to leverage sponsorship is as much in the interest of the sponsored as the sponsors.”
Sponsoring organizations should not be afraid of cost – but they should seek to make the most of their investment on every possible front.
One word of warning for sports sponsors: don’t get starry-eyed, zeroing in on your favourite sport, team or athlete with little or no thought to your brand’s target market. How similar are your customers with the fan base of the sport or team you are considering? What competing companies in your market are doing sports sponsorships, and with whom? And, are you willing to spend at least Ksh 5 in support for every shilling spent for a sponsorship.
If the fit is there, the opportunities are great for maximizing success in both short-term sales building, and longer term brand building. The greatest success with sponsorships can be realized when:
• Engaged fans are greatly involved in the product/service category. The larger the percentage of a particular sport or event’s fan base that is heavily involved in a product category, the more likely the sponsorship is to have maximum impact. A rally event is a better fit for the maker of shock absorbers or sports drinks than it is for a provider of home health care services!
Sports is the 3rd largest category of sponsorship spending in Kenya with almost Ksh half a billion spent on sports sponsorships in 2009. This number represented almost a third of all sponsorship spending in the same year. Experts predict that sports sponsorship spending will increase to more than Ksh 1.5 billion by 2012, and continue to represent between 55 and 60 percent of overall sponsorship spending in Kenya.
At these spending levels, marketers must maximize their investment, leveraging money spent across a spectrum of consumer, trade, employee and media activities. As one expert has noted, “A company will only realize the full value of the sponsored property when it is used as a central platform around which other activities are built. Knowing how to leverage sponsorship is as much in the interest of the sponsored as the sponsors.”
Sponsoring organizations should not be afraid of cost – but they should seek to make the most of their investment on every possible front.
One word of warning for sports sponsors: don’t get starry-eyed, zeroing in on your favourite sport, team or athlete with little or no thought to your brand’s target market. How similar are your customers with the fan base of the sport or team you are considering? What competing companies in your market are doing sports sponsorships, and with whom? And, are you willing to spend at least Ksh 5 in support for every shilling spent for a sponsorship.
If the fit is there, the opportunities are great for maximizing success in both short-term sales building, and longer term brand building. The greatest success with sponsorships can be realized when:
• Engaged fans are greatly involved in the product/service category. The larger the percentage of a particular sport or event’s fan base that is heavily involved in a product category, the more likely the sponsorship is to have maximum impact. A rally event is a better fit for the maker of shock absorbers or sports drinks than it is for a provider of home health care services!
• The event is supported by serious money. If a company hasn’t invested at least as much in promoting the sponsorship as it has in acquiring the rights to an opportunity, the odds of success are not high.
• The company uses the sponsorship to communicate a clear message about the brand to a responsive target. Linking a brand to a property or event to build brand awareness “in name only” is a poor investment. The connection between sponsorship and brand should embrace a common ideal or value – making the message as important as the property itself.
• There is a clear link between the product and sponsorship. When the connection is weak or stretched, impact is diminished. If it takes longer than five seconds to explain the connection between your brand and a sports marketing opportunity – most target buyers won’t “get it.”
Seasoned marketers know that the cost of reaching new customers can be 6-8 times the cost of maintaining and servicing existing ones. So if an organization’s brand and goals align readily with the target audience for a sports venue, team or event, if the sponsoring organization is willing to commit the funds and creative capital necessary to maximize the partnership and if the sports organization has an infrastructure that can support it, the possibility for a win-win collaboration is high.
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