An insight into sports marketing:
Hi guys,
I thought that before I could share my article, I juss wanted to share something on “Sports Marketing”
Sports marketing is divided into three sectors. The first is the advertising of sport and sports associations such as the Olympics, Spanish Football league and the NFL. The second concerns the use of sporting events, sporting teams and individual athletes to promote various products. The third is the promotion of sport to the public in order to increase participation. In the first case, the promotion is directly related to sports. In the second case, the products can but do not have to be directly related to sports. When the promotion is about sports in general, sports teams or sports events, the use of this kind of strategy is called “Marketing of Sports”. When the promotion is not about the sports but sports events, athletes, teams or leagues are used to promote different products , the marketing strategy is denominated “Marketing through sports”. When the promotion is about increasing participation amongst the public it is called "Grassroots Sports Marketing". To promote the products or services, the companies and associations use different channels such as sponsorships of teams or athletes, television or radio advertisement during the different broadcast sports events and celebrations, advertisement on sporting venues, “street marketing of sports” which considers sports marketing through billboards on the street and also through urban elements (street lighters and sidewalks, etc.) and promotions and publicity during major worldwide sporting events such as the Football World Cup, the Olympic Games, the Super Bowl or the Winter Olympic Games.
Why more and more companies are choosing sports marketing:
Anybody who works in marketing knows well that one of the first and most important thing to do is target definition.
Target definition requires a systematic approach: from the analysis of the needs of the market to the analysis of the existence of an economic potential going through the market borders definition till the selection of the sector/sections of the market to be considered.
Companies are increasingly choosing to reach their target using innovative tools such as CRM, guerrilla marketing, one to one etc. etc. Consumers preferences and wishes are changing on a daily basis and marketing strategies have to follow this constant transformation if they want to be effective. As a consequence companies must be flexible and ready to change quickly their marketing instrument.
Sports marketing is an effective marketing tool and it gives the company the opportunity to leverage on the passion that consumers have for sports.
To sponsor something doesn't mean simply to appear with one's logo on the shirts of a football team or on the board around the playing field. To be sponsor means to be able to transfer to the brand or to the company the sports' positive value reaching at the same time via the passion the heart of the consumer.
Sports marketing is one of the most effective way to reach a specific target because just as every product has got its target of consumers, every sport has got its target of fans, viewers and followers.
So companies need to select among all the different sports the one which gets the highest number of people in target, check TV and other media coverage, understand what is the competition doing, look at the sports market and device a communication plan based on it.
This extreme simplification doesn't have to mislead you to think that planning a sponsorship program is an easy task.
There are so many different players around a sport event , just to name a few: athletes, clubs, promoters, sponsors, agents, tv and other media , supporters and so on that in order to be sure that everything is properly taken care of one needs to manage carefully any and each aspects.
Marketing plans always start from imagination and creativity but results are achieved only through good planning and perfect implementation, because of this a sport marketing program requires
- A Specific research to evaluate the congruency between product and sport
- A careful exam of the chosen sport's market to reach an agreement with the most trustworthy partner
- A good communication campaign
- Constant and targeted PR
- Reliable People on field
In few words one needs a steady organization with a lot of experience and a professional approach in order to be sure to get the most out of a sponsorship.
Benefits of 'sports marketing:
Sports marketing impulses memberships, sales and recognition represent the biggest benefits for the companies, the athletes, the associations, the leagues and the sports events organizers. Well planned, effective marketing helps to understand the customer and the marketplace and informed marketing decisions help to increase the company’s, club’s or association’s performance. On the other hand, being an entertainment, sports are considered to have a large value with celebrity status. Due to the status and importance in people’s life, sports are considered a profitable and sustainable marketing source.
The marketing of sports teams and events:
According to different authors and organizations the marketing of sports events and teams is defined as “Designing or developing a 'live' themed activity, occasion, display, or exhibit a sporting event to promote a product, a team, cause, or organization. Which in other words it can be defined as follows: The marketing of sports events and teams is the marketing strategy which is designed or developed a “live” activity, which has a specific theme. Mostly this kind of strategy is used as a way to promote, display or exhibit different things, such as a sports team, a sport association among others. There are different events that can clearly exemplify this concept, such as the Super Bowl the Olympic Games, the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA World Cup.
The Super Bowl it is an example of this concept because it is a massive sport event organized by an sport association, the NFL, which looks to promote the event itself, the sport itself and as well the different football teams. The way this event is promoted is by TV and radio commercials but also by the contracts signed with other companies in order to transmit the event. For example in Mexico the NFL signed a contract with a Mexican movie theater, Cinemex, so some of the most important games of the event were transmitted in its different theaters. With this the NFL obtained the promotion of the event in its country and in national TV but also it obtained the possibility to promote the event at major scale in the foreign countries, which means more audience, therefore the NFL achieved the goal of promoting the sport event and the teams involved.
The marketing of products through sports:
'Marketing through sports' is a concept that that has been used since the 1980s but that also has increased in importance in the last two decades due to the growth and expansion that the different types of sports have enjoyed since then. “Marketing through sports” it is a marketing strategy that can be used in sports in two different ways. In first order, the use of marketing and promotion can be carried out through the sport or through the sports club. In the first case, the use of marketing is under responsibility of the different sporting associations, while in the second case, the responsibility falls on the different sports clubs. In this manner, marketing and promotion through the sport and through the club involve sponsorship, corporate events and boxes, licensed merchandise, names and images also known as “endorsement”, advertising through broadcaster, advertising such as advertising as ground signage/clothing/equipment advertising, promoting games, promoting using players/club/league or developing ‘business opportunities’. The peculiarity of sports is the issue that “sport is the only entertainment where, no matter how many times you go back, you never know the ending.”This singular fact is used by marketing companies as an advantage because in this way every time the audience attempts to an event several times it will perceived the advertisements again and again, therefore the marketing of sports reflects different than in other usual areas or common industries, a wide field of opportunities and diversities for the different companies which operate on this field.[2]
Examples of marketing of products through sports
Sponsorship of teams
A real life example for representing the concept of marketing through sports is the case of the Spanish bank, BBVA Bancomer, and the Spanish Football league. In this case Bancomer which is the major sponsor of the Spanish league increased its period of participation in the league until 2013. So as the definition of this concept says, the company that is using this marketing strategy is not necessarily related to sports. In this case it is a bank and through sports or sports events it promotes its trademark and the services that it gives.[6]
One of the prominent and very successful sports marketing example is Turkish Airlines, the leading national carrier in Turkey. Turkish Airlines established a well planned sports marketing strategy through several sports category with highly reputed teams, celebrity players and sport associations including Manchester United, FC Barcelona , Euroleague, top star NBA player Kobe Bryant, Turkish Top Football Teams, Turkey National Football Team, number one tennis player Caroline Wozniacki.
Another example of sports marketing through sponsorships, is the renovation of the contract between Adidas and the Mexican Football Federation (FMF). In August of this year the CEO of Adidas Herbert Hainer in companion of the president of the FMF, Justino Compeán announced the renewal of the contract in order to permit Adidas to continue producing and designing the uniform of the Mexican teams until 2018. This is an example of sports marketing because as it was define, sports marketing is a marketing strategy in which companies related to sports products or services promote their trademark through design, production or other resources. In this case Adidas, which is completely related to sports, is the company that is using sports marketing as a strategy, by designing the uniforms of the football team and as a consequence its trademark is being promoted every time there is a game.[7]
TV advertising during broadcast sports events:
Finally another example of marketing through sports is the strategy used by Gillette Match to promote its personal hygiene products through representative figures of each sport on television during broadcast sports events. Gillette uses for this issue characters from football soccer such as Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez, from tennis Rafael Nadal and from golf Tiger Woods. In the commercial these celebrities appear using the products of the company showing the results in order to demonstrate that if successful people use the products you should use them to. It is a clear example of this concept, because the company using this marketing strategy is not related to sports at all, but through important personalities of each sport it has the possibility to get to its target audience.
Grassroots sports marketing
Grassroots sports marketing is part of the field of marketing known as social marketing. This refers to marketing something that is of benefit to the public, and is normally done by government or charities rather than private sector organisations. It is normally done with a much smaller budget than marketing of sports teams and event or marketing of products through sports as it does not bring any direct financial benefit. Although this marketing normally drives people to clubs where they will pay to play sport it still needs to be subsidised in order to be run. The money therefore comes from local councils with a remit to increase participation or from public health sector which wants to decrease the cost of disease caused by inactivity.
No comments:
Post a Comment