The evolution of sponsorship

The rapidly evolving world of broadcast and the manner in which consumers engage with the medium is forcing marketers and advertisers to redefine how they talk to their audiences, and what they say. One of the categories within this mix that has the potential to benefit most from the disruption is sponsorship. However, it appears as if brand custodians have been caught off guard – either they do not know how to adapt, or they simply don’t want to. Whatever the reason, they are missing the proverbial boat.

This is the opinion of Ryan McFadyen, Co-Founder and Strategic Head of HaveYouHeard. “Everyone knows that the days of simply slapping your logo onto a property and expecting consumers to fall in love with your brand and race off to buy whatever you are trying to sell them are gone – the consumer expects more. But where is the reaction, the response, the new thinking around the paradigm shift,” he asked.

“Put another way, ‘where are our brand custodians’ wings when it comes to sponsorship?”

McFadyen’s reference to wings is obviously a play on Red Bull’s payoff line ‘Red Bull gives you wings’, and it’s a nod to that brand’s unprecedented response to the disruption.

“Since its launch, Red Bull has tapped into the power of community, created value within these communities by gaining insights into the culture of that community, and then creating authentic reasons for this community to incorporate the brand into their lifestyles,” he said.

“It is the Golden Thread that runs through everything Red Bull does starting with the events it creates and owns – think Culture Clash, Red Bull Cliff Diving, King of the Air – to the media they’ve created – think of the Red Bull Media House – to their oh-so-clever platform called the Red Bull High Performance Centre.

“Led by physiologist Andy Walsh this uses the latest scientific techniques in sports and physically active pursuits to increase performance in motor racing, cycling, fencing, big wave surfing and so on, and effectively links Red Bull to popular or fringe adrenaline activities without the brand shelling out shekels to the association that owns the franchise.

“Unfortunately, the list of brands as successful in the sponsorship space as Red Bull is a short one. I’d suggest Adidas globally with their layers of sponsorship within their sporting cultures as well as Heineken’s sponsorship of the Champions League, Locally, Old Mutual has stepped up its game with the launch of AMPD Studios in Newtown, one of the first activities identified in its revamped sponsorship strategy.”

McFadyen suggested brand custodian’s struggling with moving forward with new sponsorship strategies consider relevance as a starting point.

“More and more clients say to us ‘We don’t have a problem with awareness, but we do have a major problem with relevance’. Relevance is the key … the answer to the question of why anyone would care about what you’re trying to tell them about you. It’s even more critical when all they want to do is consume their favourite sport or passion on whatever medium they are able to do so.”

To get to the nub of the matter, McFadyen suggested the following questions when considering a sponsoring platform:

• Does the sponsorship property align to my brand essence and am I able to communicate this in a meaningful way to my audience through a channel they consume?
• Who is the community I’m speaking to within this sponsorship property and how relevant is my brand to them?
• How do I add meaningful value to this community and therein create an emotional connection?
• Am I able to authentically become a part of the culture of this community?
• Am I able to create a meaningful link to purchase through this sponsorship platform?
• Can I effectively measure the impact on sales that this sponsorship platform has on sales?
• How does this opportunity allow me to take sponsorship beyond potential eyes on the logo, rights management and broadcast?