Posts tagged experiential
Experiential? Sure but make it relevant for the fans in sports marketing and branding programs
May 28th
Sports sponsorships have become more than getting a brand on television and/or radio or on a sign in the stadium. We’ve been saying this for a while now at SB and our sister agency BULLET – brands have to connect with their audiences emotionally… and it has to be authentic to have any relevance or lasting credibility.
So, sponsors expect more …and so do the fans. The sport becomes the conduit and the touch-point for sure – but – it (the communication) has to sustained, honest and consistent.
“Fans and the community largely have been often left out of this conversation. That’s the revolution that’s taking place,” said Jack Sichterman, founder of Great Big Circle marketing firm of New York; speaking at the recent Sport & Society in America conference.
We reckon Jack’s got it just about right but the sponsors want more now too – it’s all about the experience. The stadium, arena, track, circuit or venue and the sports and entertainment that takes place there is only a part of the interaction – this is the age of brand communications that people feel, they sense if a brand fits for them (the audience) and if it reflects where they’re at in their lives. It’s controversial but there aren’t many marketing folks who have a handle on this new era of brand communications – never mind the venue marketeers and sponsors – many of which still think putting a sign up and slapping a sticker on a race car generates some sort of measurable visibility or awareness! Sponsors still think that teams and athletes can generate sales and prospects – HOW? It’s down to the activation – the team or asset/property is the mechanism or catalyst – not the deliverer. Sponsors are going to have to wake up to the fact that ROI is replaced by ROO.
And now it’s not just the traditional press, TV and radio – Everyone is having to figure out what to do with social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Now it’s getting really interesting because you can’t hide behind a billboard and hope the eyeballs ‘get it’. This is a one-to-one relationship and your brand’s reputation is at stake – the power and lasting effects of social media and the way it integrates into your marketing mix is now the third helix of modern marketing and branding — maybe sports marketeers will come to the fore on this one and lead the way.
The www.trofeoabarth500gb.com series website is a good case study in how to deliver content and energize the brand for fans while communicating essential information. Blog, SMS text, interactivity, downloads and keeping the brand front-of-mind without selling at the audience… the audience will make up their own mind; all the marketeers have to do is make their experience memorable and real.
New media, branding and global sports sponsorship
Dec 19th
Author: James Santomier, Sacred Heart University, CT, USA
New media has emerged as a significant dimension of branding and global sports sponsorship because it provides the capability to communicate with consumers worldwide via a multitude of digital platforms. Results of new research indicate that a new paradigm is emerging which involves thematically linked, integrated, strategic global marketing initiatives driven by new media applications, which have enhanced the value of sports sponsorship.The integration of new media technologies has changed the manner in which sport is produced, marketed, delivered and consumed. This has contributed significantly to the ongoing fragmentation of media channels worldwide and prompted a dynamic and synergistic relationship between new media and sports sponsorship.
The proliferation of new media technologies, the revolution in consumer to consumer communications and the need for brands to gain permission to engage consumers have also precipitated a transition in marketing logic “from a goods-dominant view, in which tangible output and discrete transactions were central, to a service-dominant view, in which intangibility, exchange processes and relationships are central” (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). Core marketing activities now include “interactivity, integration, customisation and coproduction”, and value “is defined and co-created with the consumer rather than embedded in output”. New media, therefore, has become a vehicle for the expansion of integrated marketing communications, which includes the use of multiple media channels and publicity methods in order to sell products, services and ideas (McAllister & Turow, 2002). The use of multiple new media platforms in sports sponsorship communications, a fundamental dimension of sports marketing communications, enables brands to communicate effectively with consumers, develop brand awareness rapidly in new markets and provide new content opportunities (Roberts, 2006/2007).
Although digital communication technologies are becoming increasingly important in the marketing mix for most enterprises, Thorbjornsen & Supphellen (2004) maintain that it is also important to integrate a broader range of brand-building activities that strengthen relevant associations and enhance positive emotions for the brand. Brand management has reduced its dependency on advertising and is now using multiple channels, such as product placement, sponsorship and events marketing, in order to engage consumers and sustain experience around the brand (Arvidsson, 2006).
Successful global brands have integrated new media platforms as well as generated branding benefits and revenue. It is predicted that sports sponsorship will maintain its synergistic relationship with new media and continue to enable sponsors and sponsees to enhance communications through the use of multiple channels and to develop products and services specific to their core consumers. http://www.imrpublications.com/