WHY SHOULD BRANDS INVEST SPORTS ?

Sports sponsorship has grown in both scope and capabilities since it was first introduced several centuries ago. There has always been value for brands and spend is not decreasing. Why are companies continuing to sponsor sport?

In a broad sense, there are three driving factors for brands to sponsor sport:

Brand-driven sponsorship

In the noisy world we live in, brand recognition is everything. There are many choices when it comes to products and services, and although there are price barriers stopping certain demographics making certain purchases, a lot of consumer decisions are made on whether there is a connection with a brand. Sport can help build brand awareness through simple media exposure, expanding traditional reach to new audiences and standing out from the competition.

It can also act as a vehicle for communicating the values a brand stands for. Women’s sports sponsorship is a good example of that. A study by The Space Between highlighted that women’s sport fans are 25% more likely to buy sponsor products than those that partner men’s sport. Furthermore, the same study found that 50% of women’s sport fans strongly agree that sponsors should look to make the world a better place compared to just 20% for men’s sport.

There are ways to measure sports sponsorship. Media exposure can be as simple as the number of seconds a brand appears on the screen during a sports broadcast (as it was in the early years of board advertising) or dive deeper into some of the analytics available through digital channels. There have never been as many data touchpoints for sports fans than there are now, and the most effective sponsors are tapping into that constantly, discovering new and effective ways to engage with a rightsholder’s support base. Sports sponsorship can also be measured through market research, asking consumers whether there are specific brands they associate with particular events. This takes a little more effort but provides a clear picture on how much growth can be achieved through sponsorship and adds a sentiment rating, providing insights into how people feel about a brand.

Purpose-driven marketing

Related to this is purpose-driven marketing, where a brand uses its purpose to take a public stand on social issues and simultaneously sharpen the profile of its own. Purpose marketing has become a growing focus for brands over the last few years when brands discuss corporate social responsibility (CSR).

This value-centred way of communicating is becoming more worthwhile as consumers put more faith not in products, but brands which match their own individual values. This is not just anecdotal, the data points towards this also. According to the wantedness study by Wunderman, 89% of consumers are loyal to brands who share their values. The b4p Trends study also shows that 77% want a brand to take a social stance.

Revenue-driven sponsorship

One of the biggest questions facing marketers continues to be “what is the ROI of sport sponsorship?” Whilst brand awareness has become more tangible in how this is measured in recent years, it is still not directly linked to revenue. However, brands are using sport as a lead generation tool, easily linking the effect sponsorship has on the bottom line. This can be through contests, special offers or correlating the data between number of sales and the broadcast of a specific sports event.

Sport is continuing to fragment in terms of formats, audiences, channels and reach. This is why the commercialisation of sponsorship will continue to grow for the foreseeable. This fragmentation offers an opportunity for brands to pinpoint the exact audience they are hoping to reach like never before. Gone are the days when sports sponsorship was saved for organisations with huge budgets. Given the tailored approach taken by rightsholders to accommodate sponsors, there is no better time to discover the potential opportunities to get ahead of competitors.