Sports and business often become intertwined, with common examples including athletic success stories being used to motivate workforces and brands jumping on the back of sporting events to sell more products.
This week, the Super Bowl attracted more than 150 million viewers globally, the Six Nations continued, and football clubs faced off in the fourth round of the oldest knockout competition, the FA Cup.
While we saw the likes of Nike spend approximately $8m for a 30-second advert during the Philadelphia Eagles’ triumph in American football’s showpiece event, there are a myriad of ways SMEs can utilise sports to enhance their messaging.
Bringing the attention back to the UK, junior rugby clubs up and down the country play with a company local to their clubhouse adorned on the front of their shirts.
While the sponsor may have shared this news when the kits were originally revealed, with international rugby playing out on most weekends in February and March, it’s an obvious time to remind your stakeholders of your social value efforts.
Can you take it one step further and solidify your sponsorship activation work? For example, can some of your colleagues watch a game at the clubhouse, with money spent on refreshments further boosting the club’s income?
If you operate in the hospitality sector, you no doubt have actioned the obvious, such as promoting that the game is being shown in your pub. But in a time of rising competition for your customers’ attention and purchasing decisions, what are you doing to stand out and offer a different experience?
For instance, a free drink for every try scored by the nation you’re supporting (so far in the Six Nations, this wouldn’t have accounted for many free pints for Wales supporters!).
Explore the benefits of a brand ambassador. While a current star in the game may be out of reach, research ex-players who live or grew up locally.
Add all activity to your PR and marketing plan to ensure you tell your story to your stakeholders. Take an integrated approach encompassing media relations, organic and paid social media, email marketing, podcasting, and news-style videos.
Focus on shared media and work with your sporting partners to use their platforms to disseminate your brand further.
In addition, create content throughout this activity via pictures and videos to arm your sports PR agency or in-house comms team with engaging content.