Do Sponsorships Really Work For Your Brand?

Due to a recent change to the Olympic sponsorship guidelines known as 'Rule 40', athletes from around the world are now allowed to partake in personal sponsor promotion. The change in rule by the Olympic Committee will see many athletes, who often don't earn a whole lot from their sport, be able to profit from their status as an Olympic athlete. Some athletes such as swimmers will be able to earn considerably more than from what they would in just the sport itself. The advantages are definitely there for the athletes, but are sponsorships all they are worked up to be for brands? Let's dive deeper.

The Strategic Value of Sponsorships

As always, the aim of any marketing is to reach an audience and to either draw them towards a sale or create positive brand recognisation in their memories. By sponsoring individuals, teams and even events, brands can align themselves with the characteristics that these parties can bring and create associations within audiences between the brand and the party they sponsor. When played correctly this can lead brands to see increased awareness, recall and even profits. Brands will often create a partnership before an event as well and this is where risks can start to come in.

The Ariarne Titmus Example: High Reward, High Risk

Take Ariarne Titmus for example. Harvey Norman decided to sponsor Ariarne before the Tokyo Olympics on the assumption that she was not only going to do well in her swimming events, but also get a lot of air time throughout the two weeks of competition not only across the games coverage, but throughout news outlets and on social media. Harvey Norman was correct in their assumption of Ariarne's performances and she ended up bringing home a few Gold's for Australia (You Beauty!) which brought along the increased air time, but what if Titmus had fallen out in the heats? Would she have been talked about as much? These are risks that brands take when deciding whether they should sponsor or not.

The Personality Risk Factor

Another risk that brands take when buying into others is that they cannot control the personalities within their agreements. Brands align with teams and individuals to take on their characteristics and further engage with the audiences they wish to capture. If the audience starts to correlate a brand with a team for example this is usually a good thing, but can also be very bad. There are many variables that the sponsor cannot control. What if a player in that team says a racist slur or starts fighting in public? Is that the type of image the brand wants to be associated with and will audiences put the brand and the team together, even in their subconscious mind?

The Charismatic Personality Paradox

The best individuals to sponsor are also the charismatic personalities usually, as audiences can relate to them and follow them with more intent than the straight and narrow individuals. Most of the time these athletes can be superstars for your brand, but these are also the types of characters that can sometimes find themselves in strife which again can bring your brand into disrepute. This isn't always because their behaviour might be worse than others, but it can be because the popularity that they bring towards themselves with their outgoing attitudes draws them more attention than the average Joe sometimes leading their lives to be sifted through more vigorously.

Making Sponsorships Work: Due Diligence is Key

From the previous couple of paragraphs you may assume that sponsorships are considered a bad thing, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Just like any marketing, as long as the due diligence is done by your brand to ensure that your brand will see value out of a partnership with another entity than sponsorship can lead to many positives for your brand. There can be risks involved as mentioned, but if a calculated approach is taken and you can find a partnership that is right for your brand you can see results sometimes even immediately. Like all marketing, there is no correct answer, there is often a million answers and something that works for another brand may not always work for you.

Investigate your audience and plan ways to reach them. Sometimes you will fail, but every failure will lead you one step closer to success. At Delto, we have the experience to help you succeed even quicker. If you would like to contact us about helping your brand develop strategic partnerships and sponsorship opportunities that deliver real results, please send us a message today.