Sports ignite passion in their viewers, both those watching at home and those travelling to attend matches, races or tournaments. At RTR Sports Marketing, we’re often asked, “Why do companies sponsor sports?” or “Why should you sponsor a sports team” and as experts in sports marketing, we’re fully qualified to answer this question.
There are lots of reason for companies to invest in sports, from the chance to leverage the passion and loyalty shown by fans to the opportunity to engage in hospitality and offer a great experience to B2B contacts, potential clients, or investors. Here, we’ll briefly set out just a few of them.
Engaging with an aligned demographic
Because sports teams know exactly who their fans are for their own marketing purposes, they are likely to be aware of factors including gender, location and buying power. Knowing essential details on demographics means you can align with the right sports teams or tournaments – ones whose fans are likely to spend money with your brand too. Essentially, investing in sports whose audiences have a similar demographic to that that you’re targeting increases your reach in this market, leading to greater sales and ROI on your campaigns.
Variation of platforms
A multi-platform approach can be taken and it is highly recommended when investing in sports sponsorships – from banners or billboards at live events, to the sponsorship of certain technical aspects (Michelin is the official tyre supplier of MotoGP, for example), to digital activations such as team newsletters and retargeting on social media, to promotional activities to engage with the target in a direct and more profound way. The benefit of being able to catch potential customers with your branding on various channels increases the likelihood of them purchasing from, and eventually becoming loyal to, your brand.
It’s not just what do sponsors do for sports teams but what sport properties can do for sponsors. Sport sponsorship is the perfect platform to invest in to build a strong and highly engaging marketing campaign.
The power of live sport events
You might ask, why do companies sponsor sports events live or why do companies sponsor football teams rather than investing digitally? The answer is, because live events still reign when it comes to sponsorship, despite more opportunities for digital activation appearing all the time – 80% of marketers still say that live events are an essential part of their toolkit.
The value of live events, rather than lessening with the advent of more innovative digital opportunities, is improving. The more successful companies, according to Bizzabo, are spending almost double the average on their live events. This should be food for thought for marketers who don’t already invest in this – especially when sports offers so many live events opportunities throughout the year.
B2B and hospitality opportunities
From a B2B perspective, “why do companies sponsor sports?” should be a no-brainer. $500 billion is invested in B2B events every year, and when paired with the success of live events this field offers a great opportunity to boost your business marketing possibilities. So go on, give your investors, best employees or most-valued clients an experience they’ll remember – it’s all about relationship-building, after all.
The global reach
Whilst hundreds of thousands of people might attend sporting events across tournaments or throughout competitions – see Formula 1 and MotoGP, where thousands of fans attend races across 19 countries over a period of nine months – this audience is amplified to the nth degree by the numbers that can watch on TV, follow live on social media, or catch up later. There aren’t many industries that offer an opportunity like this – as a brand, the number of eyes on you if you invest in sports sponsorship is unrivalled.
So, why do companies sponsor sports? We’ll recap the main reasons quickly: the passion, the existing audience, the variation of activation opportunities, the power of live events, the B2B opportunity, and the global reach.
If you’d like to discover more about Sponsorship Activation.
We hope we’ve sufficiently answered the question “Why do companies sponsor sports?” To discuss further, contact RTR Sports Marketing today – we’ll be waiting for your call!
