Key Considerations in Sports Sponsorships and Why They're More Valuable than Influencers

Athletes working with brands is nothing new. There are tons of big-name brands that conjure everlasting associations with athletes in the minds of consumers. (which athlete[s] comes to mind when you think of McDonald's, Nike, State Farm, or Gatorade?) These lucrative partnerships have been lining pockets and moving markets for over a century.

But until recently the athlete sponsorship avenue was relatively limited. Sure, some smaller brands could activate locally, using players on the home team in radio or TV commercial spots between segments on the local news or morning drive show. Now, with social media leveling the playing field, empowering any athlete to reach a national audience with a single post, the supply has grown such that global athlete sponsorships are a feasible and viable tactic for a heck of a lot more brands compared to, say, the 1990s.

There are a lot more individuals worthy of partnership deals now, too — joined by athletes are a huge supply of digital publications and, of course, the ever-growing hordes of influencers and creators reaching enormous audiences. So why do sports and athletes still command a premium? Why, with all else being equal with any marketing-driven variable or metric one can name, do sports and athletes still stand a cut above? As we dove into a deep discussion of athlete sponsorship, that intangible but real incremental value of an athlete partnership amidst the growing influencer economy was the first topic I covered with Ishveen Jolly, Co-Founder and CEO of sports sponsorship platform OpenSponsorship.

"If you're a product today, whether you're Walmart or a super small company, having an athlete wear your product, eat your product, use your product, and being able to talk about that is legitimacy, being the official partner of your favorite team," said Jolly, who has unique insight overseeing a platform that plays matchmaker for a plethora of brands deals with sports organizations and athletes.

There may be thousands of viable influencers with which brands of any size can partner, but having that official sign of endorsement and association with someone famous for what they do outside of online platforms offers a stamp of legitimacy that others cannot. A key difference in the execution is that influencers do this for a living. Creating and distributing quality content to an audience they know intimately is their livelihood. So as these deals come together and matches get made, it's important to recognize that key distinction and realize all that brands are putting stock into.

"Their everyday job is not to make money through social media," said Jolly about athletes, many of whom consummate mutually beneficial deals on the OpenSponsorship platform. "A brand doesn't want to work with someone and then they're like, ‘Oh shit their last post was six months ago.’ Because at the end of the day, the algorithms are all always changing...

"It's quite hard because as a brand I'm paying you for content and I'm paying you to be a distribution channel. So it's a bit annoying if everything changes and, suddenly, I thought I was going to get tens of thousands of views and now I got like 50. So there's a lot to think about, and some of it is to do with the athlete and some of it's to do with just the strategy of the platform as well.”

The platform that athletes have transcends social media channels. So while the fickle feeds can dictate the reach of even the best content, the most effective partnerships take advantage of the elevated platform of athletes. Revisiting the math equation and the sizable supply of 'professional' influencers, it's that athlete premium that can take a reach of 200,000 followers across five micro-influencers next to an athlete or two with the same following and tip the scales to the sportsman. IF the brand activates in such a way that puts that premium into practice, that is. Jolly elucidated further, discussing some of the recommendations her company's services team brings to brand clients.

"As a brand, you're like, 'Well, if I spent $20k on this one post, is it going to do anything?'" she said. "But then that goes back to the point which is, well, don't treat them as an influencer, treat them as an athlete — get PR, get amplification, turn that one piece of content into 50 pieces of content, right? Put that on your website.

"But, again, it's all strategy. It's definitely a difficult one and that's probably the hardest thing for marketplaces like ours is you turn around and you think it's enough to be a matchmaker and it's not. We definitely need to make sure that you're thinking about amplification strategy, and repurposing content in the best way."

Everyone's out to maximize the value of these partnerships — but what does that mean? There's no shortage of metrics (though perhaps not the single 'perfect' metric) to determine success, but the correct way to measure results is: it depends (isn't it always 'it depends'?). That's why it's so essential to know what the objectives are and to know the right metrics that align with a given brand goal. That affects everything down the line — the type of content to produce, the channels to activate, the form of content, and, yes, the metrics. Jolly gets to see all of these deals play out and has instructive insight into what matters.

"Recently we've heard a lot more people talking about cost per view, but that's if you want brand awareness...," she said, before describing the different nature of reach in this new age of For You feeds. "Your engagement [can be] a percentage of your following. [But] do you care about the virality or do you care about them following [the athlete]? So there's a lot to think about depending on your strategy."

Jolly continued, offering a sharp perspective on how brand deals can evolve over the lifespan of a relationship. There can be a funnel framework with partnerships just like the top-down funnels with which internal marketing teams of an organization operate. One phase may be awareness, where views are the KPI, but that may mature to some sort of conversion, the form of which would depend on the nature of the business. Jolly explained the different ways brand deals can be activated to serve the right part of the funnel.

“I do think for a lot of brands it kind of changes; like they might care about this, they tick that one off, then they care about this, tick that one off and then they probably go more lower funnel. So their top-of-funnel awareness then they're like, alright, convert, then they're like okay we need sales. So it's a bit of a journey funnel.”

She described the funnel further, offering examples and insights that guide how brands and sports organizations/athletes can think about strategic partner activations.

“Top of funnel still really matters because people like [to see] how many people viewed your brand? How many people interacted with your brand? That's really important...That's where it works best with influencers and athletes. As you go bottom funnel, you can do giveaways, right? Like, you could drive to a website landing page, sign up for this competition, put in your email and you might win something, tag some friends, etc.

“Then of course bottom of funnel is literally purchase this product. Put my name in, this coupon code, my name Olympics whatever 2024 and get 20% off. So as I said like brands go up and down in different needs. Sometimes it might be more brand awareness and then sometimes they're like, well, we're really pushing sales."

There is no single 'best practice' for a sponsorship activation, in sports or otherwise, because each set of circumstances dictates 'best.' From all angles — the audience being sought, the content the athlete (or property) is adept at producing or sharing, the objectives and measures of success — so much more goes into it than followers (and dollars) and cents. But the valuable elements inherent to sports are always there: the air of credibility, the emotional connection, the platform and notoriety to build upon. Put it all together just so and you have a game plan built for victory.

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LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH ISHVEEN JOLLY

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