Sport Industry Group

26 Jan 2012

Struan Campbell, Head of Strategy at Exp South Africa, gives his recipe for sponsorship success in 2012.

Successful sponsorship in 2012 and beyond will be determined by those brands that are willing to embrace creativity and that best add value and entrench themselves legitimately within the spaces they rightfully own.

The South African sports marketing industry is entering an exciting era, one that promises continued progress following the positive influences that the 2010 FIFA World Cup brought. The professionalism instilled and the innovation showcased from the blue chip World Cup sponsors is the legacy that was left from a sports industry perspective.

What needs to change here is the fact that too many South African brands are stuck in an outdated mindset when it comes to sponsorship. It seems that, for some, paying the rights for exposure without leveraging is enough and that somehow they can justify their investments through media coverage alone. Every time I attend a sponsorship conference or summit here, I also continuously hear that ROI (return on investment) is the ultimate indication of success and hear of various ‘set’ ratios for leverage to investment spend.

While ROI is certainly very important, a sponsorship's success ultimately depends on the objectives it set out to achieve. Companies need to question what role they really intend sponsorship to play. Basically it should be a combination of ROO (return on objectives) and ROI. It’s imperative that clear, measurable and timely objectives are put in place to get the best out of their assets/rights.

The term ‘return on involvement’ has also been coined but it’s a difficult one to actually measure. In reality successful sponsorships should be judged on all the key drivers, not just an ROI calculation. It needs to be clear from the outset as to what the brand wants to achieve from the specific sponsorship. Some brands (particularly new and upcoming) will look to increase awareness while others will look to drive engagement and interaction increasing affinity, loyalty and ultimately driving sales.

With regards to leverage spend ratios – it completely depends on each property and what the brand's intentions are. One size doesn’t fit all. Sponsorships in the early life cycle require more leverage budget than those that have been established mainly due to the fact that awareness levels are priority initially. One thing is for sure – too many South African sponsorships do not have enough leverage spend to activate them properly. This is the case as generally too much spend is allocated to rights fees without setting aside sufficient activation leverage budgets.

The most successful sponsorship campaigns are those that are creative in connecting with the target audience and that are brought to life in a fully integrated ‘360’ approach where the various marketing disciplines are all applied with a common thread or theme. Naturally, the more you spend the more you give yourself the chance of being a success (granted that the campaign appeals to the consumer/fan). But that does not mean low budget campaigns can’t be impactful.

Some focus areas and trends for 2012:

1. True partnerships
Great sponsorships rely on true partnerships between the brand and the rights holder, where both parties benefit from each other and together enhance the property and experience for fans.

True partnerships are built on shared values and common objectives. At the end of the day the rights holders are brands and the brands are rights holders. Rights holders need brand equity as much as corporations need it. In theory the rights holder-brand relationship does not require money long as the relationship is reciprocally beneficial.

The sooner brands and rights holders strike great relationships and understand the above the sooner the success will come.

2. The real connection with fans
The major focus in 2012 and beyond needs to be the relationship between the brand and the fans. Badging and hoping for consumer behavioural changes is not going to fly. The brand needs to be relevant within the sporting space in which it operates. Fans won’t ask why the brand is involved with their team or sport if you really are benefiting them and if the fit is right. When value is added within that space they accept the brands involvement in their interest/passion.

If you can enhance what the fans care about, make their experience better, different, more accessible, then you will be accepted and respected. Signboards and TVC’s cannot do this. Brands need to identify a defining role they can play within property to address the consumer experience. Products and services can then be integrated (and accepted) successfully into the fan experience.

Basically the fan needs to be the central focus and at the heart of what sponsors are trying to achieve. Plans should revolve around fan engagement and the ability to genuinely add value to their experience.

3. Rights negotiation and re-packaging
The traditional rights package is on the way out. What rights holders need to now understand is that brands should be requiring more flexibility from rights packages as opposed to the tired fixed set of ‘copy and paste’ rights that still seem to be the norm in the South African industry. This will need to change and economic conditions will dictate this going forward.

Sponsors should be negotiating rights that will allow them the flexibility to be creative and go beyond what is initially offered as a standard package. Why should you pay for things you don’t want? The onus is on the decision makers to ensure this happens.

4. Integration within the marketing mix
Gone are the days of sponsorship vs advertising. Sponsorship needs to form part of the overall marketing mix and needs to be integrated into the overall business practice. Sponsorship needs to get out from the narrow perspective of marketing departments.  It’s now a case of how sponsorship and advertising can work together and how brands can maximise their investments within their marketing portfolio.

5. Genuine CSI commitment and fit
Sport and music are universal languages that can break boundaries and unite people regardless of ethnicity and income.

2012 could well be the year in which corporate responsibility finally finds a true ally in sport. I see far too many sponsorships throwing in a CSI component because they need to. The CSI campaigns need to become more complementary to the sponsorship and far more impactful with outcome being true improvements to communities.

6. The rise of ‘sportainment’
Another trend in 2012 which has already begun to gain momentum is the move towards cross-pollinating sport, music and fashion. It will be interesting to see if/how the brands that own properties across these portfolios can cross leverage them and move towards integrated entertainment approaches. Those that do successfully will lead the way. 

7. Maximise sponsorship PR
There are great opportunities in sponsorships to pull off memorable PR stunts and initiatives. PR should be a key element in the majority of sponsorship campaigns. The leading sponsorship agencies are utilising PR to increase the impact and ROI of campaigns through ‘unpaid’ media coverage across various media.

PR allows campaigns extended longevity and exposes more people to the contributions that brands make to sports, arts & culture and most importantly communities.

8. Social media & digital + experiential
While more developed markets (mass numbers of tech-connected, tech-savvy consumers) around the world have really been cracking the art of successful social media integration into their campaigns, South African campaigns generally continue to struggle. Naturally this is partly as a result of a lack of internet penetration and smart phone uptake. But it’s also partly because we’re not implementing social media correctly.

Merely adding Facebook pages and Twitter feeds where you occasionally talk about yourself is not going to work. Think about it: you really don't care about a brand blabbering on about how cool they think they are and telling you what they are doing. However, if they are stimulating interesting, engaging conversations and providing sought-after content and benefits that fans crave then it’s a different story. It’s all about real time, relevant interaction between the brand and the consumer that complements their viewing experience. 

Successful social media is all about hard work constantly adding (useful) content and cross utilising various social media platforms. Ask people to do things, ask them to make some decisions, get them involved. Then you’ll start seeing some 'chitchat'. The combination of social media and digital, live events and the traditional TVC creates a powerful weapon. So it will be interesting to see if brands can combine experiential with social and digital to maximise their impact.

Digital content influences the way in which we share and consume information. To fully exploit digital use it to listen to fans and to extend your messaging. While we will not get the numbers that we’re seeing in Europe and the US for some time, it’s important that we make sure we consistently get the social media side of things right and continue to plug away – I feel our market will experience a fundamental change sooner than we think.

9. Measurement
A clear link between revenue (acquisition, retention, uplift etc) and sponsorship can be demonstrated through clear evaluation. There are only two obstacles to achieving this – lack of data and laziness.

Without comprehensive measurement you’re wasting your time. Sponsors need to not only have brand media exposure values (which have advanced immensely in the last decade) but should also at a minimum have fan and event research. Other advisable options to ensure comprehensive measurement include focus groups, employee surveys and hospitality research. 

Sponsors need to distinguish between business objectives and campaign objectives and ensure that you are able to execute tactics that will address them and that will be measurable. Objectives that cannot be measured are of no value. What’s important is the ability to measure the impact the sponsorship has on the overall business.

Logo exposure should not be the only concern, the value of emotional connection is far higher.

Marketing budgets and leverage spends have either remained the same or decreased in many cases and expectations continue to increase which will require further creativity and canny project management from the agencies. Good luck!

The best partnerships are a result of great concepts, creative implementation and comprehensive project management. Credibility and differentiation will set aside the best sponsorship campaigns from the rest. Paying the money and branding no longer brings the credibility it did ten years ago.

Sponsorship has moved from billboards and athletes to experiential and fans which now requires cut-through campaigns and concepts to be impactful. Sponsorship has the ability to deliver against multiple brand and business objectives and to act as an extremely successful part of the marketing mix. But while media fragmentation and consumer switch off increases our sponsorships will require powerful and relevant associations to connect with audiences. At Exp South Africa, we look forward to seeing this happen in 2012. 

Struan Campbell is Head of Strategy at Exp South Africa

Exp South Africa has been shortlisted for the Sport Agency of the Year Award at the Virgin Active Sport Industry Awards 2012. Now in their second year, the Awards will be staged at Emperors Palace on February 23rd. For more information visit http://www.sportindustry.co.za/awards/ or follow on Twitter: @SportIndustrySA