Ensuring Win-Win Sports Sponsorships

Sports marketing was once limited to athletes 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 an athlete 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 sponsee.

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.

Don’t just make an investment - maximize it

Sports is the largest category of sponsorship spending in North America with almost $9 billion spent on sports sponsorships in 2006. This number represents almost two-thirds of all sponsorship spending in the same year. Experts predict that sports sponsorship spending will increase to more than $13 billion by 2011, and continue to represent between 65 and 70 percent of overall sponsorship spending in North America.

At these spending levels, marketers must maximize their investment, leveraging dollars 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 sponsees as sponsors.”

Sponsoring organizations should not be afraid of cost – but they should seek to make the most of their investment on every possible front. The Methodist Hospital of Houston is a prime example in its sponsorship of the Houston Astros major league baseball team. Methodist advertises heavily at Minute Maid Park, the Astros home field, but it also echoes the “team” and “competitor” symbolism in its institutional advertising and web presence. “There’s one team in town passionate about being the best – this is the spirit at Methodist,” say ads for the Methodist Bone and Joint Center physicians (home to its Sports Medicine clinics).  The center’s web site boasts that its physicians are the official team doctors for the Astros, and are dedicated to “Keeping Houston’s best athletes – and you – playing strong and pain free.”

Additionally, Houston Astros are frequent visitors to various Methodist events and clinics, and the hospital also picks up the tab for “Berkman’s Bunch” – a clubhouse gathering of at-risk children hosted by Astros first baseman Lance Berkman before every home game at Minute Maid Park. Berkman is also the voice on Methodist radio spots targeting services from cardiac care to wellness programs.  Methodist, whose tagline is “Leading Medicine,” uses its association with the Astros to project that leading image through sports affiliation.

Reliant Energy, naming rights owner of Houston’s Reliant Park and Arena, is also a sponsor of the AFL-franchise Houston Texans. As venue sponsor, Reliant Park hosts more than 200 events each year, and Reliant Energy has launched an initiative that will help make the Park more energy efficient, lowering the county’s electric bill.  In addition, the Greening of Reliant Park campaign is part of a much larger cause to help the City of Houston become more energy efficient, save resources, and save money at the same time. As a sponsor of the Texans, Reliant launched the Reliant Energy Power Players, which supports after-school flag football and homework programs for the Greater Houston Boys and Girls Clubs. And eight Houston-area high school student athletes annually receive $1,000 scholarships as part of the Reliant Energy Scholarship for Champions – Powering Strong Minds and Bodies program.  The winners of these scholarships are selected by Reliant Energy and the Houston Texans, based on both academic and athletic performance, as well as strong leadership and commitment to ethics. These programs reinforce Reliant’s corporate values, and position the company as a conscientious advocate in energy usage and “green” initiatives.

Don’t forget the fit

One word of warning for sports sponsors: don’t get starry-eyed, zeroing in on your favorite 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 $3 in support for every dollar 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 NASCAR 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.”

Align to win

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.

Adam Nisenson is co-founder of Active Imagination, a Houston-based marketing firm specializing in sports branding and healthcare marketing. For more information on sports sponsorships and how they might benefit your organization, contact adam@aimagination.com.