Why Sports Marketing
Why is Sport Marketing an important addition to your marketing plans?
Hard to Reach Consumers
Today's consumer is harder to reach than ever before. Consumers have learned to "tune out" traditional, interuption marketing tools. Saturation of advertisements make it hard for a company to stand out in the crowd.
Sport Marketing allows companies to promote directly to a primary target market, a captive audience, and stand out from the clutter of traditional advertising.
Sport Marketing allows companies to engage consumers on their level.
"Another attribute of succesful sports marketing is an unwavering focus on engaging consumers from a position of authenticity. Authenticity is critical for any brand seeking to create kinship with consumers, particularly when leveraging third-party associations.”
Lesson Plane: What Sports Marketing Can Teach Us
Jeff Shifrin President, Octagon Marketing North America
Promo Magazine Online
Sport Marketing provides consistent, extended exposure throughout an event, to a captive audience. With most sporting events lasting 2-4 hours, there is a greater retention rate to the message.
Fans identify with companies they feel identify with them. Fans want companies to support their favorite team and relate to them on their level. Fans value their team and their perceived relationship with that team.
Sport Marketing represents a tremendous value in terms of "Bang for Your Buck". Sport Marketing appeals sponsors because they see a definitive return on their investment.
"Bank of America, for the first time, later revealed financial returns on its sponsorship investment. For every dollar the bank spends on sports sponsorships, it earns back $10 in revenue and $3 worth of net income."
Search for ROI Heats Up
Sports Business Journal
February 23,2009
Another important asset of Sport Marketing is the consumer loyalty demonstrated by fans and the influence the team and its athletes have in their community. Consumer loyalty is a result of a fans’ support of “their” team and its sponsors, both in the stadium and at home.
Product endorsements have become synonymous with sport marketing, due to the success seen from fan loyalty. A message being presented to a crowd by an influential role model has a lasting impact.
Achieving brand loyalty through a NASCAR sponsorship is greatly enhanced by the ability of fans to understand the connection between a sport’s participants (drivers and teams) and their sponsors.
“NASCAR fans know Jeff Gordon is Pepsi. They make those connections,” said Bill King, a business report for Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal.
"Specifically, NASCAR fans see their favorite drivers’ and race teams’ relative success as being dependent on their sponsors. This greatly enhances the loyalty of fans to that sponsoring companies’ products and services."
Brand Loyalty of NASCAR Fans Towards Sponsors: The Impact of Fan Identification
International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship
Aron Levin, Fred Beasley, and Tom Gamble