IS TITLE SPONSORSHIP WORTH THE MONEY?

Title sponsorships have gone in and out of fashion over the years but despite debates over their pros and cons, they remain in demand, so presumably they work?

Leasing.com have just signed a deal to become the title sponsor of the EFL Trophy with the explicit purpose of raising awareness of their brand. How did this sponsorship fare for the previous sponsor Checkatrade?

As you can see from the chart above, awareness of Checkatrade has steadily risen across the board since the deal was announced in the summer of 2016 and among football fans awareness has almost doubled in three years. When we focus on fans engaged with the EFL the title sponsorship has done even better job with awareness among EFL fans that’s increased by 82%, providing a very healthy return for the UK tradespeople web service on the back of its EFL deal.

Now let’s look at another title sponsorship – this time a newer one in the shape of Guinness and the Six Nations Championship.

For a well known brand like Guinness a deal like this is never going to be purely about awareness. This is about building on its strong credentials it has with rugby and to reinforce its association with the pinnacle of this sport. As you can see from the chart above, what the sponsorship is doing is showing uplifts in Impression and Consideration scores during the tournament; two important KPI’s for the brand in the competitive beer market.

Finally, let’s take a look at a different type of title sponsorship, in this case stadium naming rights. Kia signed a naming deal for the Kennington Oval in 2011 as part of their Surrey County Cricket Club sponsorship and they have recently announced their renewal of this partnership for the next four years and this chart shows us why.

Whilst there’s a general trend upwards on Impression scores for the brand over the past five years among both the general public and cricket fans, it also shows how much brand sentiment scores have bounced around among cricket fans and which has strong correlation with Surrey’s team performance. The renewal clearly suggests the sponsorship works for Kia, the data does demonstrate one of the perils of hitching your brand to a team, rather than an event.

In summary, for any brands who are looking to build brand awareness and give themselves an “always on” presence with their target audience, title sponsorships have significant merit if you pick your platform and property carefully.