In the ongoing move to re-model the sports industry in Nigeria from being a social service to becoming business, we must understand the place of Sport Marketing and how important it is in the transformation agenda.
Sport marketing may not have been valued previously because clubs and most sports organizers careless about growing their fan base or attracting sponsorships, because they are largely funded by government through tax payers money. Therefore, most club management pay lip service to the marketing functions and do not drive revenue generation aggressively.
Now the matrix is changing, government may not be financing clubs and leagues, they will be allowed to generate their own operational funds. So, the marketing of their products and services will come to the fore.
What Will Sport Marketing Do?
1. Creating Awareness
Every day you see advertisements on your phone about upcoming sports events, or receive emails on the latest sports products with pictures of famous athletes wearing them. Without these notifications or advertisements, how would you find out new products or latest events or matches? Sports marketing plays a big part in the sports business industry now-a-days.
GreenHunters Sports International, one of the foremost sport marketing agency in Nigeria send notifications of upcoming scouting events to millions of young aspiring footballers seeking avenue to showcase their skills and stand a chance to jump start a professional football career.
2. Building brand Preference
During the FIFA world cup in 2014, more than 3 billion people watched at least a minute of that global event, and the worth of the media rights was estimated to be about $1.7 billion.
By using sports marketing over the years, FIFA has created a global preference for the World Cup brand, it allows brands to “piggyback on the sentiments and devotions of fans towards their favourite teams and stars.” says Kiyoshi Tatani, president of Mizuno Singapore. This shows how powerful this events can be, and why many brands sponsor these events. Sport marketing help build brand preference.
3. Leveraging on Fans' Emotions
Sports marketing gives companies the ability to leverage the emotions fans have towards the sport. However, this means that the companies must know exactly which sport to target as fans behave differently in different sports.
For instance, Nike took advantage of the growing emotional attachment Nigerian fans developed with their newly assembled Super Eagles team to the 2018 World Cup, to sell over 3 million Nigeria national team jerseys (Pre-Ordered) in two days
Using sports marketing, brands like Nike and Adidas sell millions of their products. Every year, these top sports brands spend millions of dollars for sponsorship with clubs and players. When they endorse these brands, it gives them the right to put up pictures and videos with these clubs and players.
Fans would purchase items from a specific brand for various reasons. First, they might choose that brand because they have been using it a long time. Secondly, they choose that brand because their favourite sports team are sponsored by that brand. Lastly, they choose that brand because their favourite player endorsed by that brand.
4. Real-time Engagement
In sports, every game is different, the outcome is unpredictable, and anything can happen during a game. This give many brands a chance to use real-time marketing based on sports events.
Bet9ja, 1xBet and other sports betting brands leverage on this phenomenal to purchase advertisement space on several side and billboards in and around the stadium pitch and other sports event centres to put their brands in the front burner, so fans and spectators can bet real time during the event.
Beverage companies such as Heineken and Coca cola are using sports marketing as a tool to sell their products, knowing that people will purchase them when watching a game.
During the Uefa Champions League finals in 2019, Heineken invited ex-internationals such as Nwankwo KANU, Victor Ikpeba, Austin Jay-Jay Okocha.. to the 'Planet of Champions' to mingle with fans during the live match. They went about interviewing fans in different Sports bars across Nigeria in a real time buy, predict and win game...and sales skyrocket nationwide.
To conclude, with the right idea and execution, sports marketing can help a brand get onto another level and gain recognition. Knowing exactly what the fans want and how their products or services can help the fans will certainly go a long way than just spending money and pray that people will be attracted to the brand.
