A lot has happened in the last 12 months. No need to remind you that it was about this time last year when a global pandemic was declared. This week, I want to look at one specific area—sport marketing.
Sport marketing has always been the workhorse of the sponsorship marketing industry. Over the last several years, CSLS has consistently reported that over 50% of sponsorship marketing dollars are allocated to sport, be it professional or amateur. Sport marketing has meant a great many things, and encompasses several channels and attributes. Truly over the decade, sport marketing has been in a league of its own. You might say it was its own category. Marketers considered how they might spend their budgets and would allocate to PR, GR, brand marketing, digital, social, some to sponsorship investments, and others to sport marketing.
Sport marketing meant prestige, and alignment with sport and celebrities. It was a great place to sample and engage with audiences. It provided spokespeople and brand recognition. It boosted sales and gave products lift at key times of the year such as Grey Cup, Stanley Cup, Memorial Cup, the Olympics, Canada Games, The Henley, Rogers Cup, etc. But it was branded as sport marketing.
About five to ten years ago, the really savvy marketers saw or made a slow but steady shift with sport marketing. That shift was from “sport marketing” to “brand marketing.” Brands were no longer looking at the investment aligned with a sport property as a sport marketing or sponsorship marketing investment, but rather as a brand marketing investment. The shift has been that what was sport marketing is today really just brand marketing. Look at Climate Pledge Arena for the Seattle Kraken. Look at Scotiabank Arena, and the alignment with food security during COVID and a gathering sport (Jurassic Park). Look at the investment of Purolator in the Tackle Hunger program with the CFL. These are all about the brand, the association with the consumer, and what the brand actually stands for. The investment in sport is about promoting the brand overall, building the brand, and alignment with the brand. It is now brand marketing and no longer sport marketing. Where it used to be the destination (the game, the product with the players etc.), sport is now just the vehicle to get somewhere (building enhanced brand image).
This is a big shift and the effects of COVID have accelerated it from sport marketing to brand marketing. Look at the helmet branding, divisional branding, and branding in stadiums where we used to have spectators. This shift due to COVID was not created by COVID, though. It was already coming, and we could see it in the distance. COVID has just accelerated the reality. The sponsorship/sport marketing proposal now needs to be a brand marketing proposal for the most savvy and sophisticated marketers. In my opinion, sport marketing is no longer a category or silo of its own. Sport marketing is now just another form of brand marketing.
Please remember to stay HIMPS! (Healthy, Isolate when possible, Masked, Physically distanced, and Safe!).
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