A Big Summer for Sport
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| Sponsors enjoy a leap in awareness |
This summer the European sports marketing industry can expect
a significant boost from high profile events such as the Athens Olympic Games
in August, and the UEFA European football championships in Portugal in June
and July.
Like many other industries, the sports marketing sector is reliant on investment
from a corporate world that has been affected by the recent economic and geopolitical
climate, but both events found little trouble in fulfilling their sponsorship
quotas well ahead of schedule.
According to independent bodies such as the Institute of Sports Sponsorship
and the Advertising Association, a strong 2004 will help Europe challenge the
US as the most important destination for sponsorship. It’s estimated that
Europe currently represents around US$25 billion, or one-third of the global
sponsorship market. Sport sponsorship is responsible for more than US$62 billion
of the global US$75 billion market.
Companies usually use sports sponsorship to enhance their image, gain media
exposure or target a specific group of consumers – mainly affluent young
men – who are interested in sport. It’s a popular marketing vehicle
because it not only raises brand awareness but also engages an audience on both
a rational and emotional level; something that direct advertising can seldom
do.
Sponsorship should not be expected to deliver immediate sales or to have an
instant impact on the bottom line, but it can help to reach consumers and get
them to think about a product or brand in a favourable way. Any sponsorship
must be leveraged across all communication channels, otherwise its return won’t
be maximised. A sponsor’s advertising, branding and public relations campaigns
are all vital in strengthening the association between sponsor and sport.
Eight brands will kick off this month’s Euro 2004 football championships
as ‘official partners’, a status awarded by European football’s
governing body UEFA. Many more unofficial brands will be looking to take advantage
of the football mania that will grip the competing countries and their media.
But official status doesn’t guarantee a successful sponsorship campaign.
The companies who will make the most of Euro 2004 will be those that use their
status and commercial rights to achieve specific goals. These range widely from
driving sales to launching new products, and must be understood before evaluating
how well the sponsorship worked.
The battle between official partners, and brands just looking to ambush the
market, is a mini tournament in itself in which public relations and advertising
agencies come into their own.
Think of Pepsi’s advertising around the FIFA 2002 World Cup in Japan and
Korea: although Coca-Cola was the official sponsor, Pepsi managed to link to
the tournament with an advertising and public relations campaign with a Tokyo
2002 theme. As the World Cup’s slogan was Korea-Japan 2002 - which FIFA
had a patent for – Pepsi’s campaign appeared to fans to be ‘official’.
The sponsorship contest around major football championships is never more intense
than in the brewing category, as it offers the most direct link between rights
fee expenditure and product sales. It’s the ultimate in experiential marketing
– we watch the game, we drink beer. The issue faced by individual brands
is how to stand out in such a cluttered marketplace.
Danish lager Carlsberg is sitting in the official corner for Euro 2004, with
commercial partnerships with both UEFA and the England team. In the unofficial
corner are brands such as Carling and Budweiser, which have strong historical
links with football.
Carlsberg sponsorship manager Gareth Roberts says "It’s not what
you have, it’s what you do with it". During the 2002 World Cup, Carling
fought a successful awareness campaign around a humorous football-related TV
advert and a series of impactful PR stunts. On the final whistle of England’s
2002 World Cup opener against Sweden, for example, Carling flew a banner plane
over the Big Brother house in the UK to let the house mates know the score.
In one survey of UK pub goers after the tournament, 40% named Carling as the
official beer of the tournament and the England team, with only 15% choosing
Carlsberg and 10% going for Budweiser.
With the official route costing significantly more – Carlsberg will spend
around €21mn on football related properties during 2004, including its
deal with the men’s England national team as well as Euro 2004 –
why sponsor?
Carlsberg would argue it’s down to exclusivity. In a competitive market,
the company can use tournament and team marques, imagery, tickets and hospitality
to do things others simply can’t, while communicating one message to 20,000
pubs around the UK.
Despite losing out to Carling in the survey of pub goers, Carlsberg sold over
five and a half million pints of Carlsberg during the tournament, and sales
in supermarkets and off-licences increased by 128% in the week of England’s
quarter final with Brazil.
Unfortunately, success on the pitch is never something that can be guaranteed.
Victory for a sponsor’s team can help to cement a successful campaign.
Just look at the positive glow England rugby team sponsor O2 enjoyed after the
team’s win in the 2003 Rugby World Cup.
And English Premier League champions Arsenal deliver the best awareness levels
amongst football fans in Europe to club sponsor O2, according to a study by
German sports research company Sport+Markt.
In contrast, this summer’s Olympic Games’ sponsors must be nervously
watching the goings on in Athens at the moment. Household names like Coca-Cola,
Visa and McDonald’s will be no doubt hoping they have an event to promote
their products around, and their public relations teams will be called upon
to deflect any negative coverage.
However uncertain the Games look at the moment, there’s no doubt that
involvement in sport can bring brands great opportunities.
By Andreas Keller, director, Weber Shandwick Sport in Geneva and Anthony Scammell,
account director, Weber Shandwick Sport in London.
© 2004 Weber Shandwick