Brands and sports sponsorships

Résumé du document

Sports sponsorship is a young discipline that barely existed in the European marketing communication until the beginning of the 1990s. At the time, it was strictly restricted to the placing of logos in media which are sports related, aiming to increase the visibility and the recognition of the brand. In many different fields, brands are now increasingly using sports sponsorship as a marketing strategic tool, which has evolved a lot. Sports sponsorship can be commonly defined as, 'a financial or material support brought to an event, a federation, or a sport team by an announcer partner in exchange for different forms of visibility'. Sponsorship is in this way a particular way to transfer many messages in the eye of the consumer. From a business perspective, the interest in Sponsorship in general and sports sponsorship in particular is easily noticeable.

Extraits

[...] In addition, in case of a sponsored athlete retires, the brand management will be more difficult to manage after having built an association between the brand and the performances of the star. Sport ethics As sports vehicles values such as respect, oneself surpassing, fair play The sponsors through associations with the sports sponsored, tries to assimilate these positive values with their brand in people's mind. In addition, partnerships between brands and sports are globally seen as a good thing for 69% of French people1. However this assimilation is more and more difficult because of the professional pressure of sport business and financial stakes for both sponsors and teams/players/events. [...]

[...] Brands are able to increase their equity through sports sponsorship thanks to the proximity that sports create between the sport/team/sportsman/event (appreciated by consumers) and the brand by their association in people's mind. It contributes to facilitate brand sympathy and orientate the choice of the consumer toward the brand and its products or services, because the message perceived is different from a commercial ad in the eye of the consumer. As a result, brands insist on creating identification with the brand (with lifestyle, technology ) which contributes to legitimate their sponsorship. However, sports sponsorship cannot be considered as a riskless investment for a brand. [...]

[...] As the sportive performance of the sponsored part will affect the brand image (negatively or positively), brand managers have to consider very cautiously this kind of investment to insure a positive ROI. Sports sponsorship has something to see with a bet in this case. As sport is uncertain, sportsmen morality and ethics is uncertain too. When some sports stars are presented as role models by brand who endorsed them. The consequences of ethics damages of these personalities could be awful for the brands that associate their image and personality. [...]

[...] It means that it did not answer to the need of brand awareness and recognition for Coca Cola to become official sponsor of the Olympic Games. Through this huge and international sportive event, Coca Cola wanted to get closer with its consumers and reinforce the affective link between them and the brand. Consequently, we can say that sports sponsorship and advertising are complementary in the sense that an advertising campaign must be more efficient if it is supported by sports sponsorship to reinforce the sympathy and/or identification toward the brand. [...]

[...] The association between brand and sport won't be efficient and successful. It is important for the consumer to find the right positive values association between these two parts. A way to avoid the bad image due to doping suspicion in cycling for example is to communicate the sponsor involvement in a “clean sport” and also the fact that the sponsor doesn't put pressure on sportsmen shoulders. Such communication can be legitimated by citizen sponsorship, which means that the sponsors help for instance amateur sport, in a less media related way. [...]