Sports Marketing 2.0 | Pat Coyle

As I consider the reasons why any company chooses to sponsor the Colts, I keep coming back to one thought: companies want to do business with Colts fans. After all, with all the various advertising channels out there, why would any company choose a sponsorship unless it felt that there is value in creating a perception in a consumer’s mind that the sponsor brand and and the Colts are related?

Taking that idea a bit further, if sponsors believe that average Colts fans are more likely to look favorably on brands that sponsor the Colts, isn’t it also true that more avid Colts fans are more likely to view the sponsor brand positively? I believe this is the case, if in fact fans understand that sponsors investments fuel their positive Colts experiences.

So how does this related to the Colts Fan Network and Colts.com? Let’s think about it. 1 million people each month visit the site. A high percentage of these people (over 65%) are returning visitors. In fact, many visit several times each week. So what? These people could visit any site on the Web. There are millions to choose from. But by virtue of typing “Colts” into their browsers they are revealing something about themselves. They are demonstrating their interest and (in theory) their desire to connect more closely with the team.

It is exactly this desire - this emotional impulse - that sponsors want to tap. We see this emotion most obviously inside the stadium on Sundays, where 55,000 people scream their heads off and paint their faces, etc. Many sponsors value - and rightly so - the chance to place their brand message inside this emotionally charged space. But while those 55,000 people are going beserk in the Dome, there are MILLIONS of similarly crazed fans jumping up and down in their family rooms - all across America (and the world). And more and more of these fans are showing their desire to join the cheering throngs - if even from a distance. Last year, 55% of avid NFL fans watched the TV game broadcast and accessed a team site simulataneously.

So while our Website may not rival Yahoo or ESPN for QUANTITY of traffic, I believe we cannot be touched for QUALITY of traffic, when the sponsor is trying to reach emotionally charged consumers (fans). Therefore, I firmly believe that traffic on our site, and every team site, is far more valuable than other, general media sites…but only if the advertiser takes the time to become a “sponsor”. Sponsors must find ways to demonstrate their connections to the team - and show how they add value to the fan experience. That’s the path to profits. Sports marketing is just “marketing” if you take away the emotion.