This morning I attended a panel hosted by The Advertising Club about sports sponsorship, held at the New York offices of the USA Today, and featuring speakers from Mastercard, Nascar, Madison Avenue Sports & Entertainment, and MetLife. How I’ve convinced myself that 8am conferences are a good idea is beyond me, but after an almond croissant and a cup of coffee, at least I started feeling like a human being. What I really wanted to understand was weather the archaic sponsorship model (ie – pay outrageous sum of money, have name plastered on stadium or team jersey) is shifting to become more social and, as a result, more profitable for the sponsor and more appealing for the consumer.
As consumer faith in corporations stumbles and the public gets more antsy about how money is being spent, a brand that wants to splash its name up on a stadium or a sports tour really needs to think about why. Why this sport? Why this athlete? Why any sport? Why not … musicians? Or awards shows? Why will a sports sponsorship make consumers like us more and make them choose us over the other guy. Because while brands and corporations see sports as a way to tap into consumers’ passions and really engage, consumers are more often than not thinking “what’s in it for me?”
Which leads me to wonder… why do so many major companies have a sports sponsorship team, which is separate from the digital/social media team? (As has apparently been the case at Mastercard, we learned today, until very recently.) Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to work together? So when the sports sponsorship team inks a deal, the digital team is right there with them, figuring out how to give that activation legs online and make it work harder for the brand and for the consumer.
A great example is Target’s NASCAR sponsorship. Team Target has been a fixture at NASCAR since 2002, with Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya at the wheel since 2009. JP Montoya, who has previously raced in Formula 1 and Indycar, shares the latest news with his 125,000+ Twitter fans, building a following not just for himself but for Team Target. Two weeks ago, he proudly posted about the big rig hauler for the Team Target race car, and last week he posted a link on his Facebook page to a Target photo shoot, garnering over 150 “likes” and dozens of appreciative fan comments.
Is all of this in the Team Target contract? Unlikely. When JP and Team Target signed this deal, I don’t think there was any mention of how many Tweets he must send, or how often he should update his Facebook status. Should it be? Perhaps, and maybe in the future it will be, if only because athletes are human, and they make mistakes. But, more importantly, this is a relatively simple way to get more out of your big, expensive corporate sponsorship. Give consumers what they want anyway – access to great stuff, exclusive content, interaction with their favorite athletes and teams, and a better experience at the stadium, in stores, and in front of their computers. Because it’s not enough to put a banner up and toss some logos around the stadium. You’ve paid all that money… why not get more out of it?