Brand Awareness During The “New Normal”
January 15, 2021
iSportConnect’s first Meet The Team piece of 2020 comes from our Community Manager Beth Hushon, digging into how the mentality of brands was affected by last year’s events.
2020 saw a shift in the way sport could use their rights and assets for financial gain. The repercussions of coronavirus in 2020 led to the cancellation of matches and broadcasting revenue reductions, meaning clubs are more economically fragile than ever before. With traditional physical or tangible assets such as hospitality, tickets, and player appearances at events unobtainable due to health and safety.
Innovation and creativity have been tested more than ever with an acceleration into a more digital and content-based world. Communication has been the catalyst for partners to adapt to the change, and this is the outlook going into the New Year. With uncertainty of fans being able to join events and each country around the world with different restrictions, the intangible has a big part to play to create brand awareness for sports.
Here are a few different ways sports clubs have found new ways to create brand awareness:
Brand Awareness To Showcase Amazing Fans
Everton FC have shown they are the “People’s Club” through their virtual mascot’s initiative. They made technological and sporting history back in April 2018 by helping a child too sick to travel from home to become the world’s first ‘virtual matchday mascot’. This time using Zoom, an inspirational 80-year-old supporter was Everton’s first mascot of the 2020/21 season. This was part of their successful Christmas campaign “Blue Chrimbo”, which the club put together every year celebrating their fans.
You can read more about Everton’s virtual mascot here – https://www.evertonfc.com/news/1951272/inspirational-billy-80-is-virtual-everton-mascot#:~:text=An%20inspirational%2080%2Dyear%2Dold,the%20Club’s%20Blue%20Crimbo%20campaign.
Brand Awareness To Enhance Fan Engagement
Even our clients have been able to create fan engagement activations to bring fans the virtual experience from home.
Seyu teamed up with Wasps and their main sponsor Vodafone over the summer to allow fans to send in their photos and motivating messages to be displayed on the giant screens in real time, plus the LED advertising boards around the Ricoh Arena. Fans can feel part of the live game and show their fandom for free from their homes.
This activation allowed Wasps to offer a new opportunity to their main sponsor, their fans and even their players by seeing their fans cheer them on.
Brand Awareness When Reintegrating Fans Back Into Stadiums
With each country having different restrictions on having fans in stadiums, clubs need to work out the safest way to bring fans back and display the new layout. Created a virtual representation to assure fans is a good way to provide fans with an accurate view of their seats and where other fans will be in comparison.
3D Digital have been able to do this for clubs thanks to its 3D representation and its option to form a widget connected to the teams ticketing system, to make for an easier fan experience. This sort of digital integration can support teams coming out of Covid-19 restrictions and can be used for the future.
About our “Meet the Team Member” – Bethany Hushon, Community Manager
Bethany is our Community Manager, making sure all our members within the iSportConnect Community get the best out of your complimentary memberships. Since joining us in September 2020, she has been a key member of the team, bringing all areas of the business together including supporting our new website, liaising with our clients with Consultancy and championing our new feature, Peer Groups.
Alongside her role, she is currently a part-time PhD Student with the Institute of Sport Business at Loughborough University London in her first-year and will be looking into this tropic of brand awareness further in relation to Women’s Sport.
To learn more about our Community including our Marketplace, Insights and Peer Groups, plus how you can get involved more with iSportConnect contact Bethany on: bethany@isportconnect.com
