I recently stumbled across a good white paper from MIT Sloan called, “How Social-Cause Marketing Affects Consumer Perceptions.” Read it here.
The main point of the whitepaper is that sports sponsorship gets all the love, even though “societal marketing” can be more effective. More than $12 billion is spent on sports sponsorships every year. As I read this research, I realized that sports teams are well positioned and can represent the best of both sports and societal marketing channels. To maximize revennue for the team and ROI for sonsors, teams in general, and team Websites in particular, should position themeselves as CAUSE sponsorship channels.
Here are some definitions from the article:
1. Societal marketing - company initiatives involving the provision of money, resources and / or publicity to socially beneficial causes to create associations in the minds of consumers between the cause and the company, or one of its brands.
2. Cause related marketing - every unit sold of a brand triggers a donation to a cause
3. Green marketing - environmental friendliness of a brand is stressed as a differentiating attribute
4. Cause sponsorship - a brand is clearly identified as a cause supporter
5. Social advertising - a cause is supported in a brand’s ads
The Colts quest for the Super Bowl is absolutely a cause. Millions of people support the team in this quest. Sponsors therefore have an opportunity to support to the cause - adding value for fans - and gain awareness, consdieration and purchase.
We know what our fans want from their Colts experience: camaraderie with other fans, consistency (ritual), recognition and access. Any sponsor who helps fans get these things positions itself for success. I’m happy to share more detail on this subject. Just drop me a line and I’ll fill you in on the details of my strategy.
Because fans have passion for their favoirte teams, I believe national brands would be well served to align themselves at the team level rather than at the league level. NFL.com is just SPORTS marketing. Colts.com is CAUSE sponsorship.
I don’t mean to say that the Colts (as a cause) can be compared to important causes like the environment, or cancer research. However, more people feel more strongly about their favorite NFL teams than just about any cause I can imagine. I’m not saying this is a GOOD thing for society. It’s simply an observation. If we are not teaching our sponsors how to align with our ’cause’, then we are not playing to our strength.
Historically, it was not practical for big brands to customize campaigns in every market for every team. Thanks to the Web, however, this can and SHOULD be done. Yes, it will take a little more work, but the teams can help, and it is work that will pay off!
