WHAT IS SPORTS SPONSORSHIP?

Sports sponsorship is a commercial partnership between a company and an event, team or athlete. This type of marketing aims to promote the company's brand while supporting sport. But what makes it so attractive to companies and athletes?

Camp Nou, Barcelona © Unsplash

The fundamentals of sports sponsorship

Sponsorship is the financial support provided to a sporting event, organisation or athlete by an external body, for the mutual benefit of both parties. At a professional level, this usually involves companies enhancing the visibility of their brand by associating it with the athlete.

The company aims to generate brand awareness and customer recognition, while the event, organisation or athlete receives increased funding.

A popular example is a brand logo printed on a team's jersey. Visibility is even more guaranteed in the modern world with social media and online highlights.

Today, in the world of media rights, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for brands, and simply placing a logo will not provide a sufficient return on investment (ROI) for sponsorship, nor will it give their target audience the ‘why’ – the reason to spend their money and engage with the product.

Companies investing in sports sponsorship need to take a broader view of how they engage with fans and not rely on a single inventory.

108 BILLION DOLLARS - ESTIMATED VALUE OF GLOBAL SPORTS SPONSORSHIP BY 2030

What do sports sponsors pay for?

Sponsors have the opportunity to showcase their brand and products to a wide audience with diverse demographics. The global nature of sport today means that athletes compete in events that attract millions, sometimes billions, of viewers worldwide. By placing their brand in this sphere, organisations can capture the attention of people around the world.

In the modern era, the value of social media cannot be underestimated. Even traditional forms of sponsorship are likely to appear on social media, opening up the brand to an even wider audience, and even to new territories.

Partnership with Rolling Stone & Spotify

Thanks to placements on jerseys and advertising boards, sponsors benefit from a strong visual presence and participate in the action. If visibility is the main objective, then this is a sure-fire way to succeed, whether in the stadium, on TV or in the league.

This emotional engagement sets sports sponsorship apart from almost all other forms of advertising and sponsorship initiatives. Traditional advertising platforms such as television can achieve similar reach figures to those of sport, but cannot compete with the engagement of sports fans.