MARKETING AND SERVICES

WHY TO INVEST IN SPORTS MARKETING

IMAGINE THE SCENE
Imagine a show filling the streets of your city and country with energy and glee. And all this for free no ticket to buy. Everything takes place right there, in front of your eyes. You can almost reach out your hand and touch the athletes, and you can feel the emotions of all the people around you. You see the riders whizzing along the streets in their colored jerseys, followed by cars covered in dozens of stickers, marks, names, logos. This memorable day will stay with you for a long time. You will even start following your favorite champion on social media.

IMAGINE THE POTENTIAL

Imagine a great space where you can promote your activity, where your brand is visible to all. Can you see your company’s name on the back of the team captain’s jersey? Can you see the rider—the beloved athlete, the one who gives interviews, who appears on TV and newspapers—carrying YOUR name for all to see?

Imagine linking your brand, your company, to that rider’s image—to make it stand out, right in the spotlight, forever associated to wonderful moments of happiness and community. Do you know how many followers they have on social media? Can you imagine how much your brand name could be seen, shared, photographed?

This is why investing in sports marketing is an EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY for you and your company.

IMAGINE WINNING
The team you are sponsoring… WINS. Right there, in that moment, your company and your name become synonymous with passion, emotion, sacrifice. Cycling is one of the most popular sports in Italy and the world. Races are broadcast on many channels and athletes have a worldwide fanbase. All this guarantees a sure increase in brand-awareness and exposure.

Can you imagine your name linked to a great sport like cycling, as many other national and international companies have already done? We are sure the answer is yes.

TV or DIRECT SPONSORSHIP THROUGH SPORTS MARKETING?

“But I already advertise on TV or other multi-media channels”

You are doing the right thing. However, the best course of action is to use as many channels as possible to make your brand known.

Think about it this way:

For many, many years, viewers have been bombarded with bothersome advertisements on TV, radio, newspapers, YouTube, and so on. It is no wonder that they are relying more and more on “on demand” video channels like Netflix or Amazon Prime, where intrusive advertising is virtually nonexistent. As a result, investing in TV ads is no longer as profitable as it was before the early 2000s.

Today, viewers perceive ads as an unnecessary intrusion and an imposition—something so annoying that they promptly switch the channel, or even look for other ways to enjoy their shows without ads. Most people will be happy to pay a subscription fee not to see their favorite programs interrupted. Investing in TV advertisement is no longer profitable. Ads can be very costly, and now they can’t even guarantee advantageous returns. This branch of marketing is now “obsolete”. What is needed are new ways to gain visibility—less intrusive, more targeted ways to increase brand awareness that not only avoid bothering the viewer but also reflect well on the company’s image.

As a result, companies are now looking at sports sponsorship as an ideal medium to advertise their brand or services.

The frequent visual association between a brand name and an athlete or a sports event soon becomes rooted in the mind of the viewer, who perceives the positive values promoted by the sport to be also those of the company. This is the ideal way to build a strong emotional bond between your brand and a huge network of sports fans.

LOWER BUDGET compared to a TV advertisement
IMMEDIATE RESULTS already during the race or event itself
POSITIVE PERCEPTION of the sport and the associated brand
VERSATILITY in reusing the same model for promotions, events, contests, licensing, and B2B
INCREASED VISIBILITY in the world of sports and athletics

The sports marketing sector is growing, as seen clearly in the constantly increasing number of companies who choose to invest in sports sponsorship.

This chart refers to the world of soccer, but it is representative of the general trend of sponsorship investments. The data for the 2009/2010 season show a remarkable push that soon led to a 30% increase in investments (from 522 to 687 million between 2012/2013 and 2014/2015).

Since 2009, the number of bicycle manufacturers choosing to become title sponsors in the US has been growing consistently (the sponsorship value rose from 5.6 million dollars in 1987 to a whopping 54.4 million dollars in 2015).

The companies who have chosen to link their name or brand to this sport have done so knowing that this investment would bring them valuable returns in the form of multiple opportunities and unnumbered benefits.

WHAT CAN YOU GIVE TO THE TEAM?
You can sponsor a team or an athlete in many ways, for instance by offering them free products, discounts on products or services, cash payments, or a mix of all these. What a company can offer depends exclusively on who they are, what they sell, and what they ask of the athlete or team in return. For instance, a company who specializes in nutritional supplements may provide a supply of their products to the team; likewise, a bicycle manufacturer may offer discounts on purchases.

WHAT CAN THE TEAM GIVE TO YOU?
Your brand name or logo will be displayed on the team’s apparel or equipment. You will have the chance to associate your brand to the name of an athlete with a huge following on social media (influencer). Your brand, your name, and your logo will have exceptional exposure and will soon become familiar to your potential customers.

For the sponsorship to be even more effective, the values promoted by the companies should be the same as those represented by the sponsee, the image of the event should reflect that of the company, the sponsor’s features should be closely associated with the credibility of the club, the athlete, or the sponsored event.