Sponsorship is one of the means open to a company to bring itself or its products to the attention of consumers and present them in a favourable light.

Advertising is the most frequently used marketing tool and speaks to a consumer in a direct way. It announces the availability of a product and creates an image for a brand. It can also provide information on product quality, characteristics, price and performance.

Sponsorship seeks to enhance these messages by association with an event, club or team that shares similar image qualities and values as the brand. This association can be very powerful because it is perceived as an endorsement of the brand by an independent third party. The message retained is more subtle than that from the more overtly paid-for advertisement.

Sponsorship is a commercial agreement between a company and a sport to enter into a joint venture to promote their mutual interests.
In return for a financial contribution a sports organisation will allow the use of its name in commercial activities.
These activities can be as varied as the imaginations of the participants. Some of the most obvious are:

• Display of the brand/business name on kit, banners around the venue, advertisements in programmes and on other merchandise.
  
  
• Use of the club, event, team or individual in advertisements and other promotions undertaken by the brand.
  
  
• Personal endorsement of the sponsor's products by teams or individuals by use of their products, kit or equipment.
  
  
• Production of joint websites or developing close links between separate websites. For examples of this in action you only have to think of the Vodafone sponsorship of Manchester United, Tiger Woods endorsement of Nike products or the website work done by Guinness as a sponsor of the Rugby World Cup.

Most sponsorships are paid for in cash, but in-kind sponsorship can be useful and effective. Instead of money, the sponsor provides equipment, services or management expertise as all or part of its fee for the rights to a sporting activity. Companies may also provide money to sporting organisations in other ways:

• Charitable donations - No commercial return is expected although a company can use this as a means to enhance their image within the community.
  
  
• Corporate hospitality - The opportunity to meet customers and contacts in informal enjoyable circumstances to pursue business objectives. It is often part of a sponsorship package.
  
  
• Public/community relations - Sponsorship of sport can be used to meet objectives on a company’s social or political agenda. The aim is not to sell products but to improve a company’s image as an employer, corporate citizen or contributor to the economy.

Sponsors look to sport to add value to the brand proposition. In almost all sectors of all markets there is intense competition among companies and brands. Often there is little to choose from in terms of quality, content or price. In order to make a brand stand out from the crowd a sponsor will use sport to create a unique position in the mind of the consumer.

At the highest levels, sport involves gold medals, world records, championship cups and global awareness. A world-wide, leading brand such as Coca-Cola wants to associate itself with such excellence and ubiquity so has chosen the Olympics and football World Cups for its sponsorships. However, in order to personalise and localise its image and activity, Coca-Cola also supports grass roots sport to reinforce its global message.

Smaller companies can also benefit from improved, awareness of their business. Images and sales improve through sponsorship at a local or regional level.

Through sponsorship, a company is displaying its’ commitment to the Governments initiative on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

“The Government sees CSR as the business contribution to our sustainable development goals. Essentially it is about how business takes account of its economic, social and environmental impacts in the way it operates – maximising the benefits and minimising the downsides.

Specifically, we see CSR as the voluntary actions that business can take, over and above compliance with minimum legal requirements, to address both its own competitive interests and the interests of wider society. CSR is essentially about companies moving beyond a base of legal compliance to integrating socially responsible behaviour into their core values, in recognition of the sound business benefits in doing so.”
www.csr.gov.uk – Policy and Legislation.

The principles are the same, the only difference is scale. Companies use sports sponsorship for a variety of reasons, and to attract sponsorship it is important to understand which objective a company is addressing:

• Brand/Corporate awareness: seeks to put a name in front of the consumer so that he will give it favorable recognition when exposed to other, specific marketing messages.
  
  
• Brand/Corporate image: attempts to create a personality and style which distinguishes a product from another in the market and allows, for example, premium pricing.
  
  
• Customer relations: sports sponsorship can open dialogue between companies, showing the sponsor as a global player worthy of recognition and suitable to do business with. Sponsorship can also provide suitable hospitality vehicles to meet and do business with clients.
  
  
• Employee relations: sports sponsorship can encourage company pride and loyalty to help attract and retain staff.
  
  
• Community relations: sponsorship can show that a company cares about the local community and is prepared to invest in its future and the welfare of its residents.

A sponsor wants to create activities that are enjoyable and memorable for audiences and participants and provide them occasions to build the brand values and to develop sales opportunities and volumes. A beer company, for example, will gain national television awareness through sponsoring a rugby international but will also have the chance for thousands of spectators to sample its products in a favoured environment leading, hopefully, to repeat purchase away from the match.

Top of the list of most sponsors’ requirements is media coverage. Sporting events create thousands of opportunities for exciting and interesting newspaper photographs and television images, showing sponsor logos on shirts or banners. Such exposure creates brand familiarity for consumers making the logo stand out from competitors when consumers are in the supermarket or high street looking to spend money.

Naming rights are important. It is far better to be the Heineken Cup than the European Cup sponsored by Heineken. Naming rights for sports venues is a growing trend although this can backfire if the old name is well recognised and liked. Perhaps above all, the sponsor wants the opportunity to communicate with the customer in the setting where he is enjoying a quality leisure time experience and is favourably disposed to anyone who has made the occasion possible or better.

Some sponsors need to talk to thousands, or millions, of consumers to make volume sales. Others may need to communicate with just a handful of the right people to sell expensive equipment.

Sponsors and their employees want to feel comfortable with a sport and feel that they are getting good value for money.

We trust that this information is of value to you.

If you are considering sponsorship or would just like to find out more information on how your business could benefit, then please contact us.