In module three, we take a close look at sponsorship. Which is a very important part of sports marketing, and a very valuable component of the financial piece of any marketing plan. If you root for a team in the Premier League, you can't miss the company name stamped across your favorite player's jersey. Tune in for a Friday night fight, and the chances are you see your beer brand name descending from the ring posts. Sponsorship, is the financial or in-kind support of an activity used primarily to reach specified business goals. The sponsor then uses this relationship to achieve its promotional objectives, or to facilitate and support its broader marketing objectives. Sponsorship, is particularly important in the world of sports and can dominate the field. If you look at the total sponsorship money spent around the world, sports is the biggest recipient of those funds. Why do people use sponsorship? The main reason is that it increases the brand awareness. Every time the fan and the writer audience hear about the brand, they become more aware of the brand, and the glow of the sports team, or league subsequently rubs off on to the brand, and gives value to that brand. Thus enhancing the image and helping to shape the consumer's attitude toward the brand. It also actually drives sales. So, if you see a partnership in effect between a soda and a team, you might think better of that soda and consider it as a purchase. Because you like the team, and therefore you might enjoy the soda. That provides positive publicity. It also heightens the visibility. It perhaps drives more retailer shelf-space. It also gives an opportunity to differentiate a brand from competitors. When the brand calls on the retailer to strengthen the relationship and gain more prominence in the retail space, the sponsorship acts as a calling card. Allowing the aura of sponsorship to proceed the request, to improve opportunities, to display, and motivate customer purchase. At many points, the sponsorship may help with the corporate citizen role, because it looks like you as the brand is giving value to a community. Because it's helping with sports in that community. This giving back to the community is often seen as a valuable reason to sponsor a local team in an area. Sponsorship, is routinely used as an opportunity for a brand to extend an invitation to guests. A sponsor can erect a tent with signage and offer hospitality, and therefore enhance stakeholder relationships with business partners, with very important clients, and sometimes with consumers. Many sponsors in golf tournaments bring their biggest clients to the events, host parties, ensure that their clients mingle with their salespeople, and sometimes with the sports celebrities. This hospitality in sports holds true for many sports, from tennis to corporate suites at football. As you think more about why brands sponsor, it also provides content. So, it gives the brands an opportunity to generate messaging that'll allies with the stories that the brand wants to tell in increasing awareness. The content of the sport connects to the audience, and drives passion to provoke the behavior in the audience, that it wants the consumers to have, and elevates said emotional investment. Sponsorship gives relevance to the brand in real-time in the minds of the consumer. Because sports tends to be something that a consumer watches live, and has a connection with, in the moment, it provides authenticity and immediacy to a brand.
