When Sponsors Go Native – Steven Falk
February 27, 2015
The commercial value of brand association through sponsorship is undoubted.
In an era where broadcast media rights are sold collectively and ticket sales can be increased only by adding premium hospitality services, sponsorship is often the only strand of commercial revenue that sports clubs can grow solely through their own efforts.
As sponsorship portfolios expand, it becomes vitally important for sports clubs to keep control of their promotional inventory and to ensure that activation is consistent with the contractual rights allocated to each sponsor.
Even more important, activation must be signed-off and approved in advance of its deployment.
Only in this way can a club’s brand integrity and intellectual property be protected.
The recent experience of Liverpool FC is a case in point. Their sponsor, Dunkin’ Donuts released a doctored version of the famous Anfield badge to demonstrate the affinity between the two organisations.
This involved replacing Liverpool’s iconic strapline of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” with DD’s rather more prosaic slogan “America Runs on Dunkin’.”
If this were not enough, an even greater offence was committed by replacing the image of the Hillsborough eternal flames with what appear to be cups of coffee.
Clubs can avoid such well-intentioned but misguided initiatives by applying three simple rules:-
– Make sure your sponsors understand the culture, history and ethos of your club by taking the opportunity to explain it to them
– Never grant sponsors the right to alter the appearance, style or corporate identity of your brand
– Ensure you provide all partners with a Brand Bible that incorporates clear rules for applying the brand identity and a robust sign-off process for all activations.
Steven Falk is director of Star Sports Marketing a consultancy providing advice on sponsorship activation, CRM, brand and affinity marketing. He was previously Marketing Director at Manchester United. You can follow him on Twitter @steven_falk or visit www.starsportsmarketing.co.uk
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