Fans are always looking for more insights and access to their favourite teams and players. Does the team you sponsor have the equipment or resources they need to produce quality content in a continuous flow? If not, this could be an easy way for your company to leave a strong mark. If you are short on creative ideas simply search YouTube or look for inspiration at some of the strongest entities in sports industry such as Adidas, Manchester United, ESPN Sportscenter, the NFL etc. Remember, it is not stealing, if you are paying for it.
It is absolutely crucial that you ensure clear sender identification. This, however, can at times prove a real challenge. Rights holders are often cautious when it comes to addressing their fans and for good reason. Commercial interests have to be managed carefully, something that many sports teams have learned from bitter experience. Many rights holders prefer to sell traditional exposure. These most often require only limited resources to activate and offers them great control of the manner in which their fans are addressed. This makes sense to the extent, that members of sports organisations most often know their fans better than anyone else. However, this approach effectively limits the image transfer process, which is most likely at the top of your priority list. So, while your company could be growing brand awareness, you might not be winning real preference. The reason why rights holders approach sponsorships in this manner is just an expression of an attempt at safeguarding their relationship with their fans, but for the parties on the other side of the table, this can appear protectionist and as a signal that they unwilling to truly let your company in. My best advice for you is to proactively take steps to show the rights holder that you are keen on learning about their fan culture, take their input on activations and engage with them during ideation. Once you know the premise for their business, you can start challenging them properly.
Get to know the organisation you are partnering with thoroughly – do not stop at the account manager. Identifying key employees relevant to your day-to-day processes can be vital for the success of your partnership. It could be the fan coordinator who holds sway with opinion leaders in the fan environment, the web administrator approving the wording of your commercial offers on their website, the PR Manager looking over your shoulder when you use players commercially or someone entirely different. If you manage to find common ground with these key actives, they will be much more inclined to secure your KPIs.
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Sponsorships can provide you with a great many eyeballs, but if you truly want to earn the recognition and loyalty of sports fans, you have to think in integrated partnerships rather than sponsorships. This article has introduced a few notions on how to make this transition, the rest is up to you. I wish you the best of luck with your partnership.
