Building brand awareness and impacting brand perception using sports sponsorships
Building brand awareness and impacting brand perception using sports sponsorships
Brand awareness and brand perception
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Although brands often have to pay a premium for sports sponsorship, it has proven to be a useful tool to include within the marketing mix. The global sports sponsorship industry is rising and set to reach US $116b by 2027, and this is trend is largely due to its effectiveness. Sports sponsorships can be in the form of partnerships with teams, leagues, athletes, events, stadiums and media.
There are a host of reasons why brands choose sports sponsorship over other methods of marketing - This article is part 1 (of 2) that outlines how brands utilise their sports sponsorships to achieve marketing objectives. This article focuses on case studies related to the top and middle of the marketing funnel. Part 2 will be focused on bottom of the marketing funnel sponsorship outcomes including customer acquisition & loyalty, commercial revenue and a direct ROI.
BRAND AWARENESS (the most obvious reason)
Starting at the top of the marketing funnel, brand awareness is the most obvious reason why brands choose sponsorship. Through their large and highly engaged fan bases, rights-holders are able to put brands in front of millions of eye-balls immediately to deliver instant brand awareness. Highly visible placements such as front of jersey, perimeter signage, TV commercials, broadcast integration, social media and online branded video content are often key to making this happen.
Alinta Energy are a great example of a brand that has used sports sponsorship effectively to build brand awareness over time.
In 2018, they became the major sponsor of the Australian men’s cricket team following the high-profile ball tampering scandal that forced the incumbent, Magellan Financial Group (another brand with low awareness) to quickly exit. At the time, Alinta Energy had low brand awareness across the Australian marketplace and when this new sponsorship announcement took place, cricket fans were left questioning “Who are Alinta Energy?”. The deal was reportedly worth more than $30 million at the time.
Since 2018, Alinta Energy have spared minimal expense activating their cricket sponsorship and have used a variety paid, owned and earned channels to build awareness of their sponsorship, and leverage their association with cricket. Alinta Energy’s brand has been hard to miss when tuning in to the Australian test series during summer in recent years. If you were somehow oblivious to the many in-game brand integrations, then you would’ve no doubt come across their TVC’s featuring Australia’s most high-profile cricketing talent during commercial breaks.
Although the Alinta Energy and Cricket Australia partnership recently ended controversially, it has certainly transformed the brand from one that has low awareness, to one that is now a household name.
IMPACTING BRAND PERCEPTION
Many large Australian and global brands don’t have awareness problems. They’ve already established this over time. Although this is the case, their is still a strong role for sports sponsorship to play within the marketing plan. The middle of the marketing funnel is the sweet spot for sports sponsorship and blue-chip brands often use it to support their brand strategy and their business’ strategic objectives.
There is a phenomenon known as the “affect” transfer, where your emotions towards one object/brand becomes associated with another - with this in mind, large brands aim to create awareness of their sponsorships because of the positive impact that the association can have on their own brand’s perception. In simple terms, when you align your brand to something people love, or are passionate about, a brand equity transfer takes place. Sports sponsorships can also assist brands build their brand story. Here’s how a number of brands are using sports sponsorship to build a positive brand perception, and support their brand strategy.
Toyota are transitioning from a “car” company to a “mobility” company
In 2016, Toyota announced that they were moving away from being a "car" company to a "mobility" company. At around the same time they entered into a global partnership with the Olympic and Paralympic games, becoming the Worldwide Mobility Partner. Through a shared global vision of becoming a mobility company, this sponsorship is underpinning their brand's evolution.
Qantas has been using sports sponsorship to position itself as an Australian brand, supporting its “Spirit of Australia” tagline.
Qantas has traditionally had a number of high-profile sponsorships in cricket, rugby, soccer and Olympics & Paralympics, but due to the pandemic’s impact on their financial health, they had to withdraw from about $20m worth of their sponsorships in 2020. Now that the aviation industry has finally returned to full strength, there are signs that Qantas are looking to rebuild their portfolio of Australian sport sponsorships. They’ve just renewed their long-standing sponsorship with Football Australia to remain the official airline of the Subway Socceroos and the CommBank Matildas.
Claiming ownership of geographic territories…
Many brands have calved out a geographic-niche and use sponsorships to help them further claim their heartland and target audience:
GHMBA have a strong focus on the Geelong region, as shown through their sponsorships such as Geelong Cats and Kardinia Park Stadium (GMHBA Stadium)
HBF have a Western Australia-centric sponsorship portfolio that includes HBF Park and the Perth Scorchers BBL team
Suncorp’s sponsorship portfolio has been traditionally weighted towards Queensland, their most notable current sponsorship is of Lang Park aka Suncorp Stadium
…there are many more examples.
Crypto brands went on a sports sponsorship spending-spree to build trust and legitimacy by aligning to the world’s biggest sports
This theme played out globally - In 2021, Crypto.com agreed to a 20-year, US$700 million deal to become the new naming rights partner of the (then named) Staples Centre, home of the LA Lakers, LA Clippers and LA Kings.
Despite the volatility and uncertainty over its regulation, the trend has been replicated in Australia. The biggest deal so far was the AFL’s $25M deal over 5 years with Crypto.com. Although Swyftx has not disclosed how big the NRL deal is in comparison, it is understood to be worth several million dollars.
As a result of large spending, it can be argued that some crypto brands have been granted a level of trust and legitimacy that they may not have necessarily deserved. (R.I.P FTX).
Luxury brands have highly-selective sports sponsorship portfolio’s to reinforce luxury…
The marquees within the birdcage at the Melbourne Cup Carnival have been becoming more and more grand YOY and brands have spent millions of dollars as they strive to stand out. Emirates, Kennedy, Sensis, Lion Nathan and Lexus are some of the brands who have been caught in the game of trying to outdo one another over the years, and although they all have managed to attract a share of attention through their excessive spending, Mumm have consecutively taken the lead at the track.
In 2017, Mumm unveiled a two story marquee that housed a $2.2m 59-foot luxury yacht (that had to be installed using a 250-tonne crane). Some of the world’s highest profile guests attended, such as Usain Bolt.
Sports sponsorship can drive community engagement and form a key part of a social responsibility program
Through their sponsorship with Cricket Australia, the Commonwealth Bank have made a heavy commitment to supporting the development of women’s sport and diversity programs in Australia - In 2018, Commonwealth Bank made the largest single investment in women’s sport and diversity programs ever seen in Australia, a deal worth more than $5m per year. The Commonwealth Bank are also the largest brand investor in Australian women’s football.
Many other blue-chip Australian companies have community-themed sponsorship equivalents:
NAB sponsors AFL Auskick
Medibank sponsors parkrun
Woolworths sponsors Cricket Blast and Netball Australia’s NetSetGO
ANZ previously sponsored Tennis Australia’s Hot Shots program
The list goes on…
FMCG, alcohol and fast-food chains align to sports to build new, and embed existing associations and behaviors
These categories include some of the most prominent brands that invest in sports sponsorship, and this makes sense because the products they produce go hand-in-hand with watching and playing sport. Through sport, brands from these categories are looking to build new, or embed pre-existing associations and routine behaviors to sell more products.
KFC are attempting to create a strong association with Friday night through their NRL and AFL team sponsorships to trigger footy fans to think about them when organising their Friday night dinners. Friday night is already a popular night for take-away food so for those who are already triggered to think about take-away at this time of the week, KFC are looking to take people’s thinking one step further and ENSURE that they’re among the list of take-away options considered.
Four’N Twenty is an example of a brand that has successfully built a strong association with Australian sport to sell pies – In Australia, no trip to the footy is complete without a pie. Read more here.
“What on earth is that logo?” Guojiao 1573 x Australian Open
The Guojiao 1573 sponsorship of the Australian Open is a rare partnership that has created a lot of conversation over recent years. It’s rare because its brand features so heavily across the Australian Open but it doesn’t actually include Australians within its target audience. Guojiao 1573 is a type of baijiu (a strong liquor made from grain) that has virtually no brand recognition in Australia but it’s the world’s most consumed spirit due to the sheer amount it’s drunk in China. This Australian Open sponsorship aims to enhance their premium image within the the Asian market.
Sports partnerships are not just for brands, they’re also attractive for governments
Australia is known for its love of sport and this identity has been built by years of consistent government investment in securing mega-events. Australia is privileged to host international events such as the F1 Grand Prix, Australian Open, World Surfing Championships, Spring Racing Carnival and The Ashes.
When the World Surf League tournament takes place in Australia, the Victorian, Western Australia and Queensland Government’s are able to showcase the beauty of our world-class beaches and coastlines. Not only do they appear regularly via broadcast for prolonged periods of time, the many superstar surfers competing showcase their Australian tourism journey’s through their personal social media accounts, many of which have millions of followers from all parts of the world.
The government/rights-holder scenario is similar to that of brands in the sense that they partner for similar reasons (awareness, impacting perception and commercial return) and receive similar benefits to what brands do when they partner with rights-holders such as logo placements, broadcast integrations etc.
Like brands, governments also reap the rewards when unanticipated PR occurs around the events they invest in - The beauty of Sydney was beamed throughout the world when adidas recently conducted a PR-stunt, using a helicopter to fly a giant replica of the official match ball of the FIFA Women’s World Cup through the skies of Sydney’s Harbour and iconic Bondi Beach.
Sportswashing
Lastly, sports sponsorship is a powerful platform that can persuade the perception and behaviour of large fan bases and populations, and some brands and governments have used sport as a platform to detract from negative publicity or perception. The most notable and recent sports washing scenario in Australia was Hancock Prospecting’s recent backflip of their Netball Australia sponsorship. Hancook Prospecting aren’t the only company to have had a spotlight cast over their sponsorship strategy recently. A recent article by the Guardian revealed that organisations with Fossil Fuel interests (such as Woodside Energy, Santos and BHP) have sponsored 500+ community organisations across the Australian arts, sport and education sectors, providing them with a “social license” to operation in the face of the growing public pressure on coal, gas and oil. Whether it’s issues related to climate change, crypto and finance, fast food, wagering, or human rights, there is an increasing importance on rights-holders to show greater ESG responsibility with who they form partnerships with.