Sponsorship in french football: a real marketing opportunity

Résumé du document

The beginning of the 1980s had showed an entry to a new developmental step in the sports market as a real economic market. This evolution was due to the multiplication of communication acts from companies into the sport market. Now, companies can use a lot of tools to communicate and of course develop their notoriety and their brand image. We can notice that for more than 10 years companies have been using sport sponsoring, particularly the French ones. Indeed, sponsoring became a full fledged way to communicate and we can define this method as a part of the marketing-mix. The changes suffered by the sports world and sponsorships have helped to illuminate the debate on sports marketing and this has helped to reorient the thinking and investment in this field. Sponsorship has become today, an elementary tool for business while preserving those values through the sports unpredictability of results. Football is the most popular sport in France and around the world and it also receives the most media coverage, therefore, it is a communication vehicle of optimal image for any company wishing to communicate, including through an investment by differentiating in the complex world of the sport. In addition, the popular enthusiasm that The World Cup 98 raised in France has not waned and continues to make football, a communication channel, prosperous. Besides the traditional tools available to companies, sports sponsorship in football, especially in professional football, is it possible to say that it now appears as a strategic opportunity for developing awareness and marketing of brand image?

Extraits

[...] The changes suffered by the sport's world and sponsorship have helped to illuminate the debate on sports marketing and this has helped to reorient the thinking and investment in this field. Sponsorship has become today an elementary tool for business while preserving those values through sports unpredictability of results. Football is the most popular sport in France and around the world and it also receives the most media coverage, therefore, it is a communication vehicle of optimal image for any company wishing to communicate, including through an investment by differentiating in the complex world of the sport. [...]

[...] Introduction: Sociological and structural reasons explain its prodigious development: contemporary capitalism has helped the expansion of football as being a real market. But sport, and more specifically football, also has other features which are sensitive for advertisers. This is a phenomenon of mass, constant and related to the global market. The creation of a European single market increases the opportunities for football confrontations (Champions League, European Championship, UEFA Cup). Football is also a universal language perceived by humanity. Now it is one of the only human activities which ignores borders and reaches beyond ideologies. [...]

[...] Finally, we will present a concrete example of the sponsorship strategy of a professional football club in France. Sponsoring, a means of communication From the appearance of modern sport, during the second half of the nineteenth century, “companies have realized the power of communication of the social phenomenon that became the sport and whose emotional impact is based on both the uncertainty of sports but also on the participation of the participants and the audience. The company that wants to communicate has various means of communication depending on the strategy it adopts but also in terms of expectations and expected benefits. [...]

[...] However, it is important to note that this communication tool is a costly process. Indeed, it is not possible to develop an efficient mass sponsorship strategy to generalize this practice. Therefore, the sponsoring is still a handicap in terms of costs investment. Therefore, we can consider new tools like the "Naming" which can cut the different sponsorship strategies to enhance and maximize the chances of success of such a practice. In addition, the opening and expansion of sponsorship market might help offset the costs at the international level. [...]

[...] However, if you want to make a survey in the streets of Chicago and ask people what is most important to them, Coca-Cola or the Chicago Bulls out of 10 would probably say the Bulls. We accept that and we try to borrow this capital by becoming their sponsor” said the sponsoring responsible of Coca-Cola. The same is true with football. A club the Olympique de Marseille can claim to be better known and more famous than many sponsors who are international. The big clubs do not have the interest to have a multitude of small sponsors and regional sponsors . [...]