HOW DO SPORTS SPONSORS STAY RELEVANT IN THE CURRENT SPORTS HIATUS?

“Sport doesn't matter but it does. It is how many of us experience community. It's standing in a stadium surrounded by strangers in the same colours singing the same songs that you can feel like you are most at home”.

Reading Tom Fordyce article on BBC Sport last weekend, made me take stock, as someone working in Sport and feeling the anxiety of the unknown on behalf of Federations, clubs and their brand partners in the most unsettling of time in a post war era, is unfathomable.

Our social interactions are based on the seasonal sporting calendar, for instance the magical start of the summer, with the weekend that in historic years has combined to host The Masters, FA Cup Semi Finals, Grand National and a Grand Prix to beautifully coincide with your first BBQ (coat normally required) of the year has and always will have a very special place in all sports fans hearts…sadly not this year

Sponsorship is woven into to the fabric of our sport and plays an integral part in its survival and growth. With audiences now more fragmented across digital channels both for live and non-live content, the ROI for these invested brands is under more scrutiny than ever before to prove their share of the brand marketing budget. Performance metrics for ATL spend is a cut-throat business, but that’s not the whole picture as sport offers something unique that builds sentiment, consideration and brand fame in a cluttered space.

Brands that get the very best from their sponsorship understand and exploit the convergence of media and tech to any property they are associated with. Increasingly rightsholders are also partnering with media and tech owners to add value for their brand partners. Renewals in sponsorship is always priority for rightsholders, so understanding the brands wider communication strategy allows them to partner with businesses to increase the effectiveness of their property and ensure it becomes a cornerstone of their overall marketing and content strategy.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder; this is where global Sport is now. We are pining for our fix of sports content and as a result all media owners have seen enormous spikes in daily impressions. Brands have an opportunity, not to actively promote offers, as this, quite rightly would be insensitive in the current climate…but, what it should be doing is building on its association with their Sport properties by providing content that speaks to the starved sports fan.

You’re not selling, contextual content that adds to fans enjoyment will garnish sentiment and consideration that, with time, will hit sales targets further down the road… when we all get through this.