What you need to know about sports marketing in 2017 and beyond

What is sports marketing in 2017/18?

"Sport is now the only potential discipline where you can engage very high numbers of people. It still provides one of the few moments that is broadcast live where having a replay doesn’t make sense. When it comes to sport, Netflix has zero value." Jean Pierre Diernaz, vice president marketing, Nissan Europe

In our 24/7 world, where we’re always plugged in, constantly moving from platform to platform and accessing content on demand, sport retains the power to cohere marketing messages on a global level, uniting audiences through their universal passions.

It’s because of this that the sports market is estimated to be worth $700bn and is growing more rapidly than global GDP.

Despite a fragmenting media landscape, around half of the world’s population, for example, tuned into the 2016 Rio Olympics via "traditional" TV, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

But with so much change in consumer behaviour, largely driven by rapid technological advances, the way marketers must play this crucial sports marketing game has also changed significantly. As James Kirkham, head of fan media channel Copa90, says, "Sports marketing in 2017-2018 is an exciting mess. An elegant chaos.

"Traditional sponsorship is not dead, but great use of assets that genuinely engage are few and far between."

Trends

This guide will start by outlining the key trends that marketers and agencies need to tap to win in today’s sports marketing environment. Then it will identify the core challenges that must be addressed to fully exploit these opportunities. It will sum-up with inspiration from two experienced sports marketers, one on the client brand marketer side (Ford) and one giving a rights holder perspective (EFL).

1. Sports marketing is shifting to new, different platforms
2. Sports fans are demanding a much more engaging, immersive experience than ever before
3. Sports marketing is shifting to be more lifestyle and entertainment orientated
4. Sports marketing culture is becoming more inclusive

Trend 1: Sports marketing is shifting to new, different platforms

A major driver of change is how consumers, particularly younger viewers, watch sport today. The stereotype of sport spectators has long been groups of friends gathering around the TV set, making an event of watching a fixture at home. But traditional TV viewership is declining, as people increasingly consume TV in new ways, such as streaming on their mobile and other digital devices.

However, the game-changer is the meteoric rise of social broadcasting. Both Twitter and Facebook are pushing their "live" functionality, which is increasingly becoming the first place many fans, especially younger ones, go to witness the action.

Twitter has announced that sport is one of the main sectors it plans to develop on this front, already signing a deal to live stream the NFL. Meanwhile, YouTube Live has struck a deal to live stream the Uefa Champions League finals in partnership with BT Sport.

"This illustrates a trend for the future," says Liam Hopkins, sponsorship account director, Leo Burnett. "Broadcasters will look to modernise their offering, both to remain commercial and adapt to the growing number of typically younger sports fans who watch their sports online."

So what is so compelling about the social media environment for sports fans? According to Kirkham it’s the unpolished authenticity,

"Snapchat, for example, brings with it an authenticity previously unseen", he says. "It is raw and real and absolutely of the moment, so the perfect contrast to overly stage managed or manicured content as previously existed.

"Broadcasters will look to modernise their offering, both to remain commercial and adapt to the growing number of typically younger sports fans who watch their sports online." Liam Hopkins, sponsorship account director, Leo Burnett

"For Generation Z, authenticity is the number one demand. Overly elaborate platforms or experiences are unable to match the immediacy of their favourite environments."

To make their environments even more sticky for sports enthusiasts, experts predict that the next obvious areas for social broadcasters to move into are micropayments to buy tickets and travel discounts to get to games.

As well as social broadcasting, another area that is likely to experience growth in the near future is sports creating their own platforms. This is a particularly attractive option for smaller, more niche sports that don’t get prioritised by the traditional broadcasters.

"This is exactly what British Table Tennis did," says Steve Martin, global CEO of M&C Saatchi Sports and Entertainment. "Rather than thinking ‘we must get this on Sky or the BBC’, they took it into their own hands and 2.1 million watched their own live stream on Facebook.

"This is where we’ll see exponential change; brands, right holders and federations building their own audiences."

That said, some experts stress that traditional TV will remain vital. Like Kantar Media’s Nathalie Nénon-Zimmermann, managing director of sports intelligence, who argues that TV is "still King" in terms of exposure and reach.

Google’s decision to advertise on TV during the Uefa Euro 2016 as testament to this, she says. "This proves even digital native companies rely on the reach and power of TV to spread the word about their services."

Indeed, agencies report those brands that diverted all their sports marketing budget to digital are, in many cases, reversing that decision and realising traditional media plays a crucial accompanying awareness role.

"Brands that have just focused on digital and social have seen brand scores drop, so there’s a big trend back to using traditional media. Those big broadcast moments are still very important," says M&C’s Martin, citing Coca-Cola as an example.

VR and AR as platforms

The jury is still out on emerging platforms such as VR and AR, which are yet to perfect their functionality or attract a mainstream audience. Some believe VR will prove a hit because of its ability to offer a real, raw insight(more on this in the next trend around creating immersive experiences).

VR’s killer benefit, compared to standard video content, is that even when a situation has been staged, VR’s immersion helps mimic real life and offers a complete 360-degree view to create the illusion of an unfiltered experience," says Erfan Saadati, content creator at tech firm Surround Vision.

Others, like Ed Kemp, the co-founder of sports specialist Westworth Kemp Events, regard it as the "next great frontier for sports marketing" pointing to the NBA’s embracing of VR in 2016, broadcasting one game a week via VR headset.

Kemp says, "Yes, we are just at the start, but it will transform how we engage with sport. The NBA has a history of embracing tech and has invested heavily. I can’t see the direction of change switching and the technology will only improve."

However observers like Lenah Ueltzen-Gabell, executive vice president, EMEA, Wasserman, question VR’s validity, especially in a live sports context, seeing more potential in AR.

"VR is a solo activity," she says. "Whereas the live event is a unifying occasion and our inherent sociability as humans hasn’t changed at all." AR offers more potential, she says, especially if sports marketers can replicate the success of a phenomenon like Pokémon Go.

VR is a solo activity. Whereas the live event is a unifying occasion.Lenah Ueltzen-Gabell, executive vice president, EMEA, Wasserman

There are those, too, who are more cynical of the hype and believe these technologies will always play second fiddle to the experience of actually physically being at a sporting venue.

"These technologies are just trying to replicate the feeling of being there. Living vicariously through digital is not actually living," says Drew Barrand, marketing director, EFL. How successfully marketers convince consumers of this truth – or not – will likely determine the eventual uptake of these new channels.

Trend 2: Sports fans are demanding a much more engaging, immersive experience than ever before

The fact that sport has gone from a lean-back, passive spectator activity to a lean-in, participative one has triggered a seismic shift in the kind of marketing that now resonates most strongly. Fans want to be closer to the action, to the athletes, to the stats and to the most revealing camera angles. They want the insider’s view. As a result, generating constant, captivating, exclusive content has become a modern marketer’s priority.

Sponsoring a sports property gives a brand a credible reason for entering and hosting the conversation, enabling it to create interesting content due to its access to players, managers and behind-the-scenes action. That, says Nissan’s Diernaz, is the main asset that a sponsorship deal today provides:

Diernaz says, "Sports sponsorship gives you the entry ticket to access engaging content in an agile way. As a way to deliver logo impressions, sponsorship doesn’t work. As a way to deliver content, it does."

Planning and delivering content has become a military operation, across the whole of marketing not just in relation to sports, due to the complexity and explosion of platforms. Consequently, brands like Nissan and Ford have "content factories" internally. Both have found their sports alliances are a hugely valuable boost to the "factory" production line.

"I used to talk to my team about the importance of an integrated ‘360’ campaign," says Diernaz. "Now I say ‘forget 360, think 365’ because every day we have to produce engaging content.

"Having a sports contract gives you souped-up content and a way to engage with people that are passionate and are going to react to what you say with a high level of engagement."

Content that makes fans feel closer to their sporting idols has particular power. Especially for the younger generations, the staid, old-fashioned formats of traditional press conferences and formal Q&A sessions don’t cut it anymore. Having grown up on social media, they want real, unadulterated interaction with athletes without the spindoctors on the sidelines. Hence, the emergent and growing cut-the-middle-man media such as The Players’ Tribune and NBA star Lebron James’ multimedia site Uninterrupted.

As a result, brands must take a more creative approach to content creation facilitating this direct interaction, as Snickers did during the 2016 Superbowl (pictured below). Mid press conference, the brand showed American football star Richard Sherman videos of fans making score predictions – the athlete then talked to these fans via social media, instantly upping the interest of the conference.

Want to make some #SB50 predictions with me? Visit the @SNICKERS NFL Desk at NFL Experience between 4:30pm & 5:30pm tomorrow. #EatASNICKERS

— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) February 5, 2016

Similarly, Nike has responded smartly to this trend with Nike On Demand, a one-to-one messenger service via WhatsApp, which links fans directly with its vast network of athletes and coaches to inspire them to achieve their own personal sporting goals. Content includes playlist suggestions, motivational tips, challenges, reminders and informal conversation.

Olympics sponsor and furniture brand DFS, too, got up close and personal with gold medal winners Adam Peaty, Laura Trott and Max Whitlock when it gave their homes a makeover, giving a fans a sneak peak into their real lives in the process.

This trend offers huge opportunities for marketing to be genuinely engaging and creative, deepening customer relationships far more than a logo badging exercise ever did in the past.

"The digital explosion allows marketers to launch increasingly targeted campaigns and engage in meaningful conversations with fans," says Kantar’s Nénon-Zimmermann, adding that digital is also transforming measurement, meaning that marketers can track the direct impact of marketing on a specific call-to-action.

Trend 3: Sports marketing is shifting to be more lifestyle and entertainment orientated

Driven by this fan desire to know more about their sporting heroes, athletes are becoming more like celebrities, with an increasing number becoming rights holders themselves. With this comes the expectation that they behave more like celebrities and that sporting occasions mimic entertainment events.

Indeed, it appears that athletes are prepared to play this new sponsorship game, with many happy to tweet about their training regime or pre-game preparation, using social media to share their feelings, photos and other private details of their lives.

Similarly, we saw the expectation that sporting events should take on a more entertainment feel fulfilled at the revamped Uefa Champions League opening ceremony in 2016. Tournament sponsor PepsiCo fused the worlds of sport and entertainment by negotiating the performance of its brand ambassador and pop star Alicia Keys.

Savvy sports brands have cottoned on to this merging of the sporting, lifestyle, fashion and music worlds already. It’s this trend that led Manchester United kit sponsor Adidas to team football star Paul Pogba up with grime singer Stormzy in a music video, which quickly went viral. Reflecting on the campaign, the brand explained that sports marketing activations which combine influential social media personalities like Stomzy with its signed players will be its focus going forward.

It doesn’t necessarily need to be this combination of lifestyle and sporting stars, either, to make a winning formula. What’s more important is the entertainment "X-factor".

The Poker Stars online campaign "#RaiseIt", featuring NBA champion Dwyane Wade and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, in which the duo attempt to outdo each other with increasingly difficult tricks is a standout campaign, says Kemp.

"There is an engaging narrative" he says. "The content is very sharable and they have chosen their stars well as both are low risk, in terms of their personalities, and have their own extensive social media reach. Also, by choosing stars from two different sports Poker Stars has expanded its reach."

However, while these "big name" celebrities undoubtedly work in some campaigns, the use of celebrities has to be weighed up carefully as, in some instances the individual or using a famous person at all, could be inappropriate. Like Sport England’s hugely successful "This girl can" campaign encouraging females to take up sport.

"It was about making sport relevant to women who didn’t previously think it was for them," says Kate Dale, strategic lead, brand and digital, at Sport England. "Therefore, our starting point couldn't be with established sports stars.

"We needed to go where the women were and find the people who would influence them. They were less likely to be the people who feature on the back pages of a newspaper."

The real, unfiltered, compelling way that women were portrayed in the ad only served to make it more powerful, its 90-second "This girl can" spot has now been watched more than 37 million times on Facebook and YouTube.

This clash of entertainment and sporting cultures, say some, is the reason that sports marketing has evolved so dramatically to become such a powerful part of the mix. "The clash is really, really healthy," says M&C’s Martin.

Widening out the market in this way to appeal to the more casual fan via entertainment makes sport a more effective marketing channel. So does the fact that in times of economic crisis, as we’ve experienced in the last few years, people seek escapism and solace in their passions.

Trend 4: Sports marketing culture is becoming more inclusive

The idea that sport is a man’s world today is as outdated as the stereotype that a woman’s place is in the kitchen. Sport is at the vanguard when it comes to challenging gender roles.

This questioning is being fuelled by sports organisations realising the economic opportunity that female fans – a previously largely overlooked fan base – represent, according to a report on The Future Sports Fan by behavioural insights agency, Canvas8.

This report predicts that female fans will become equal to male fans, which seems a credible forecast, given that more Americans watched the Women’s World Cup final in 2015 than the NBA Finals or the Stanley Cup.

Consequently, women’s sport is a huge opportunity for brands to play a positive, active role in redressing the imbalance of female representation both on the sports field and supporting pitch side. When it comes to women’s sport, experts advise putting community at the heart of campaigns.

This is exactly what SSE has done in its pioneering work sponsoring the Women’s FA Cup in line with its "Proud to make a difference" brand positioning. SSE has ring-fenced a budget to raise the profile of the game, inspire young women to take up sport and illustrate the benefit to parents, and society in general, when girls get into sports.

Tim Crow, CEO, Synergy, the agency behind the work, including the #GirlsTakeOver campaign, describes the sponsorship as "one of the best things we’ve done in 30 years". Why? "It’s a brand being brave. Ambitious. And genuinely desiring to make a difference and walking the talk," he says.

As a result of the brand’s involvement, the final was the biggest yet, with over 30,000 fans at Wembley to see Chelsea win and 1,989,000 viewing live on BBC.

Other brands are fighting similar campaigning causes in their sports marketing by promoting diversity. For example, Guinness ran emotionally-charged story vignettes during the Rugby World Cup 2015 featuring former player Gareth Thomas talking about the challenges of coming out as gay in the sport.

Nike, too, joining forces with US men’s duathlon team member Chris Mosier shone a light on the struggle that transgender athletes face when they compete.

"These two campaigns will pave the way for brands keen to promote the same values as we move into 2017," says Leo Burnett’s Hopkins. "There will be more new, innovative partnerships through which we will see brands being bold and openly tackling taboo themes such as sexuality, gender discrimination and disability, whilst also broadening their reach by pushing themselves into all aspects of popular culture."

As mentioned in Trend 3, the shift to an entertainment style approach is attracting more casual sports fans too, which is being actively encouraged by rights holders. During the Rugby World Cup, for example, novices could purchase a headset for £10 which provided basic commentary, including an outline of the rules.

Similarly, song sheets are now commonly given out to welcome those who don’t know the words off pat at football matches. Children are also being welcomed into venues more and more, with specific activity directed at them and an increasing number of designated family areas at events.

The main challenges brands need to overcome to fully exploit these trends in sports marketing

1. Millennials are not watching traditional media
2. Outmoded inflexible contracts
3. Rights holders and brands aren’t where fans go for the insider gossip
4. Incentivising people to actually attend sports events in person
5. Sports stars aren’t actors. The risk of sport moving into celebrity

Challenge 1: Millennials are not watching traditional media

The average age of viewers who watch the Olympic Games is 50 and over, and rising. And, as we’ve said in Trend 1, younger audiences are increasingly accessing sport on new platforms, particularly social networks. Many sports enthusiasts don’t believe that major events like the Olympics feel relevant to the way people participate in sports today.

Crow goes as far as to say that "a lot of the big traditional sports have an existential crisis coming, particularly in relation to millennials". According to him, the sports industry generally has not been good at reaching these younger audiences and is only just starting to realise that it’s "behind the curve".

"Sport is starting to wrestle with this challenge," he says. "Starting to realise that the core fans of traditional sports who are under the age of 25 make up less than 20% of the market, but a lot of sport relies on traditional TV for distribution, which millennials aren’t watching. Their chief tactic is creating over the top (OTT) channels. That’s just a start. They need to do more."

If sports organisations don’t do more the threat is not just that they will lose millennials for good, but that they will lose them to a rapidly growing maverick new entrant to the sector: e-sports.

While there is still dispute over whether this gaming-based spectator activity is actually a sport, there is no dispute over the fact that millennials are embracing it. 65% of fans are between the ages of 18 and 34, according to research by Mindshare North America. Around 36,000,000 unique viewers tuned into watch online battle video game League of Legends in 2015.

In addressing this challenge to engage millennials in traditional sports, brands and sports organisations would do well to look to esports for inspiration. The fan experience has successfully managed to appeal to younger audience due to its deeply social, participative nature, as well as its highly influential and inspiring ‘celebrity’ player culture.

The big question, says Crow, which marketers need to be asking themselves is, how do we make ourselves more relevant to the younger audiences without alienating the existing ones?

Challenge 2: Outmoded inflexible contracts

One of the most frustrating challenges that brand marketers and their agencies face is rights holder contracts that are old-fashioned, inflexible, too predictable and restrictive. According to many marketers, rights holders are struggling to reinvent themselves from sales-led organisations to innovative, collaborative partners

They say many standard right holder contracts, particularly for the "big" high profile rights, inhibit a brand’s ability to be agile and responsive. As well as this, they report that the huge fees now involved in securing rights often leaves little leftover budget for all-important activation. Or, as M&C’s Martin puts it: "a lot of the big properties are living in the dark ages."

To overcome these challenges, marketers need to enter contract negotiations with their eyes wide open; they must be clear about what they need and why. Contract retro-fitting is not easy, advisable or effective. Experienced marketers like Martin, who worked client side at Adidas for many years, believes that there will be a power shift away from rights holders to brands in 2017.

Kantar’s Nénon-Zimmermann agrees. She predicts that in future we are going to "see sports marketers carving out specific rights from the rights holders in order to broaden sports engagement by providing fans with a bespoke ‘money can’t buy’ experience."

This higher level of collaboration will naturally lead to the "co-creation of marketing rights between sports marketers and rights holders, as they look to craft individual rights suited to their specific campaign needs and objectives in a drive for more exclusive content".

The pressure is on rights holders to reinvent themselves by virtue of the fact that brands are increasingly choosing rights holders who have, even if their properties are less high profile. This is what happened when Simon Rines, owner of specialist sports marketing publisher IMR, approached several Premier League football clubs on behalf of a potential sponsor. He was keen to know what tailored offer each might propose to meet the specific brand objective but most responded with the "standard, dull ‘rate card’ of rights".

"West Bromwich Albion, on the other hand, outlined the basic package but also produced some really innovative ideas that went well beyond the rights and really focused on the sponsor's needs," he says. "I would point clients towards a rights holder that took this approach over another club with a higher profile."

The other way to overcome outmoded, inflexible contracts is not to enter into them in the first place. This is an option that is becoming more and more attractive to brands realising that they might not need to spend such hefty fees to reach a sport’s audience.

"Sports media disruption has made it easier than ever before to reach and engage new and existing audiences," says Copa90’s Kirkham. "Yet rights holders are still yet to fully embrace the modern media landscape."

Challenge 3: Rights holders and brands aren’t where fans go for the insider gossip

As explained in Trend 2, fans want to get closer to the action than ever before, on and off the sports field. One of the challenges that this represents for official brand sponsors is that fans rarely go to the ‘official’ sources of information, such as club or brand websites, for the inside track on a story. They know that any news released here will be highly managed and, potentially, spun.

"Look at football club websites," says IMR’s Rines. "They are generally so dull and lack the content that the fans want. You can virtually guarantee that rumours won't be featured and that nothing will ever be announced until it is signed and sealed.

"Sponsors and rights holders need to understand that if they want to influence the conversation, they have to enter it as equals and take some risks. If they don't they'll just be ignored."

But how? After all, this is a tricky balance for brands in particular to achieve because, while they want to give the fans the compelling content that they desire, they also don’t want to do this at the expense of the partnership with their rights holder.

However, unofficial content from unofficial stakeholders in the form of fanzines and blogs, from Arsenal Fan TV to Full Time Devils (run by Manchester United fans), are growing in popularity and brands can’t afford to ignore them.

Antony Marcou, CEO of media rights group Sports Revolution, cites Capital One’s response to this conundrum as a good example of how to overcome this challenge: "The brand engaged a team of live bloggers and whenever there was a lead cup game they brought these key influencers onside as part of the experience.

"This successfully drove trends on Twitter and meant that the public started calling the competition the ‘Capital One Cup’ very quickly."

Adidas made a similar move when it created its "Tango Squad", a community set up to give football-crazy teens the "hottest" news, the opportunity to ‘get up close to the best players in the world’ and the chance to ‘wear the latest adidas gear before anyone else’.

Another option for brands is to create their own microsites around their sponsorships in a way that offers up something new to the conversation.

For instance, during the 2014 World Cup, sponsor Coca-Cola created a microsite called the Happiness Flag where fans could upload their photo and feature on "the world’s largest photo mosaic" flag. They could see themselves virtually, as well as physically on a 3600 square metred flag. According to Coke, this type of initiative makes fans feel part of something bigger, part of a global tournament, even if they are not physically there.

VR and AR could also be a potential way to overcome this challenge and appease fan appetite for exclusive content. By facilitating access to these technologies, brands can help fans source personalised, additional information such as replays, stats and new camera angles. In this way they can position as on the ‘fan’s side’.

As a first step towards this utopian goal, Intel is embedding 3D replay technology into the NBA as part of its sponsorship. Stephen Hutchinson, deputy MD, Fuse Sport + Entertainment, which works with Intel, says using new technologies is a "significant" opportunity for brands but "if they become overly commercialised, fans will switch off".

Challenge 4: Incentivising people to actually attend sports events in person

With so many new and accessible ways to view sports now, from mobile to social to VR, there is less of an incentive for fans to actually attend events in person. This may not sound like a big deal – after all, they are still watching – however empty venues have a hugely negative effect on the entire sports marketing mix.

"From a rights perspective, brands often forget that the product is only a good product if people will physically go to it," says EFL’s Barrand. "Nothing looks worse than a half empty stadium. First and foremost, you need to get people to go to the games. That creates the atmosphere and the best broadcast output. Driving eyeballs to social media only works if you’re also driving attendances."

The other disincentive is rising ticket prices. Canvas8’s research shows that thre in four people say they are held back from watching live sports because of ticket prices, 79% say tickets to live sports are over priced and 31% think money would be better spent giving it back to the fans.

Moreover, half of fans believe that the money for sports should come from brand sponsors; only a fifth think it’s reasonable that it comes from fans.

In addressing these challenges, the report suggests that brands ask themselves: are rising costs affecting the fan experience? How many fans are priced out? Is there room for negotiation with rights holders on where the proceeds of your sponsorship go? (ie. towards making attending the game more affordable?) How can you make the sport more accessible to all?

The other obvious way to overcome this challenge is by enhancing the experience fans get at the ground, compared to the one they get at home or on the move via technology. This is already happening as rights holders partner with technology companies to make venues "connected" and more exciting for the live spectator; providing those all-important ‘money can’t buy’ experiences.

Leo Burnett ’s Hopkins cites The Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, as a good example. It has over 400 miles of fibre-optic cable with 680 Wi-Fi access points, meaning fans can access a 40 gigabit-per-second broadband network that is roughly 10,000 times faster than at home. So, fans can enjoy the atmosphere of being at the game, without missing out on all the stats, replays, and info they would get on their own sofa.

"Dedicated apps for onsite use, like ordering food from your seats, or even upgrading your seats mid-game to get a better view, are becoming more common," says Hopkins.

"For 2017, expect to see VR lounges, iBeacons to better navigate inside stadia to find exclusive on-site deals, and mobile apps with AR for personalised team content, not to mention the ability to order your half-time pies or upgrade your. Get ready for the next level of fantertainment."

Challenge 5: Sports stars aren’t actors. The risk of sport moving into celebrity

Ben Kay, former England rugby player turned BT Sport pundit and partner at creative agency Pablo, has an interesting insider’s perspective on this challenge. He stresses that while the trend may be to push athletes into the role of celebrities, brands must be aware of the fine balance this shift requires:

"The problem with sports stars is that they are not actors and not necessarily comfortable in this role. I’ve been there before, when some guy with rolled up trousers [from an ad agency] says ‘you have to do this’ and it’s nothing like what we do in a game. Or it’s nothing like we’d talk. We can’t fake it. If we don’t feel it’s 100% authentic, then it’s not going to look authentic, even if it’s the best idea in the world."

He suggests "making the sports star feel like they are the art director", asking for their advice on the best approach to take. At Pablo, the creative team will often sit down with a panel of sports experts early on in the planning stages, too, to garner insight and create ideas together.

As for putting potentially uncomfortable athletes at ease to get the best content possible, Kay brought in an impersonator at a shirt launch for adidas once. "We put him in the room with the players and managers. He did impersonations of everyone. They all laughed and relaxed and we got some really nice content," he says.

Nissan showed another humourous way to overcome this challenge in "#DoItForUs" campaign around its sponsorship of the Rio Olympics when it secretly filmed athletes being asked to do ridiculous things – like make the sound of a car as they approached the start line – in the name of the brand sponsorship.

"The campaign showed a unique side to the athletes that fans don’t usually get to see, while at the same time showing the more playful and fun side of the Nissan brand," says Fuse’s Hutchinson, which works with Nissan.

Another challenge that is likely to become more pronounced as sports stars increasingly move into their celebrity status is the likelihood of scandals and skeletons being wrenched out of closets.

Of course you can do due diligence and risk assessment beforehand but, ultimately, this is an inevitable part of teaming up with personalities. They are human and they will make mistakes. What’s changed in sport, however, is that brands are now expected to stand up for their values and take action, if relevant, in reaction to a breaking scandal. This is especially true of brands hoping to tap into Trend 4 around inclusivity.

"Brands are being held increasingly accountable and must respond in kind. Gone are the days that they can rip up a contract and quietly distance themselves from an athlete under fire." Jason Foo

BBD Perfect Storm's Jason Foo cites his client Skins as a best practice, forward thinker on how to handle scandal. The brand sponsored ultra runner Robert Young and when he was accused of cheating, instead of simply walking away or carrying on regardless (as many other brands in the same situation have done), Skins insisted on an independent investigation. This proved guilt.

The words that Skins CEO Jamie Fuller said at the time to the media are well heeded by brands looking to the future of sports marketing:

"The most important thing isn’t the initial problem – because problems will always happen – it’s what you do when they arise. In our view there are no half measures when you apply and live by your principles."

Viewpoints/case studies

1. Viewpoint: Ford
2. Viewpoint: EFL

Viewpoint: Ford

Andrew Merryweather, brand experience manager, Ford of Europe

Merryweather managed Ford’s longstanding (22 year) UEFA Champions League Sponsorship until the brand pulled out in June 2014. He now manages the brand’s partnership with Team Sky Cycling.

"We were a founding sponsor of UEFA. It was successful but then the world changed around sponsorship and partnership. What we got out of the sponsorship, which took the traditional model, was reach and awareness through broadcast TV.

"The reason we stopped doing it was because, as a brand, we are globally recognised and didn’t need that awareness. What we needed was to tell more of the Ford story, as research had shown that people didn’t know what Ford was anymore.

"The UEFA model was about paying a very high fee every year, which took a big slug out of your marketing budget leaving little for activation, then getting rights, including our logo displayed. But the ability to tell a story through this kind of traditional sponsorship and engage with consumers was becoming harder through this model.

"The partnership with Team Sky Cycling gives us the ability to connect with a smaller audience, but in a more relevant way. We’re finding we can do that through a digital/social model in a way we couldn’t through a mass reach broadcast sponsorship. In fact, we don’t even use the word ‘sponsorship’ at Ford anymore. We talk about ‘partnership’.

"The other thing that the Team Cycling partnership does, which is becoming increasingly important in sports marketing, is it gives us relevance; research had shown there wasn’t a close connection between our brand and the UEFA property.

"People were thinking – why does an automotive manufacturer get involved in the world of football? Where is the authenticity? For brands like Heineken, there is a more natural connection because many people watch a match and have a beer. With cycling, however, we can put our products in the middle of the team and it makes sense; you can’t have the race without the cars.

"This close connection has allowed us to create some really relevant content that has been shared through our channels and Team Sky channels, and we’ve had some significant results from our first year in terms of engagement and reach. It’s not just Facebook "likes" but about what people are actually doing with that content. We’re also tracking sentiment and we’ve been able to see that change positively throughout the season.

"Whereas with UEFA and the footballers, because of contracts, we didn’t have the flexibility or feasibility to have a bit of fun, with Team Cycling we’ve been able to play around with content. For example, for the last day of the race in France, we swapped our black Mustang for a bright yellow one to get "the money shot" and create a buzz.

"You need to make sure you have really engaging, authentic, natural stories to tell and Team Sky is really interesting behind the scenes. In fact, one of our most successful content strategies has been when we’ve used people like the logistics staff, or the chef, to tell their story.

"That worked for our brand but it also worked for Team Sky, in terms of humanising the face of its brand. We really value that collaboration and partnership relationship. But true collaboration is hard, it doesn’t come easy and you’ve got to work very hard at it.

"Fortunately, Team Sky takes a very similar approach as us to PR and marketing, so we sit down and plan together. We’d learnt from UEFA the importance of planning for potential things that might happen. You can’t just do things like bring in a yellow Mustang. It looked spontaneous, but it was planned."

Viewpoint: EFL

Drew Barrand, marketing director, EFL

Barrand led the recent rebranding of the EFL, which was undertaken to create a more engaging environment for fans and commercial partners. Given the criticism levelled at rights holders for being too outmoded and inflexible (see Challenge 2), we asked Barrand for an insight into sports marketing from his insider perspective.

"There’s a degree of truth in that [the claim that a lot of the big properties are still living in the dark ages] but for sponsors who are only interested in brand awareness, then the traditional media value approach still has merit.

"For those that want to say something with their sponsorship and have it mean more, then they need to identify what their message is from the start and then create a set of valuations that track success against that. In this regard every sponsorship is unique; there is no set approach that works across the board as every brand’s objective and message is different.

"In practice bespoke is hard to deliver, particularly if you’re sitting on inventory of 72 football clubs. They’re all different sizes and they all have different capabilities and resource. So, trying to find a consistent approach is challenging. After all, you have to contract on tangibles, not intangibles.

"The classic argument from brand sponsors is that sponsorship is still measured by media value, by how many times a logo flashes up, rather than the message. I take that point, but we can’t do this differently until somebody can put a value on those intangibles. We’re always looking at different ways to commercialise the product but sometimes brands do not understand that it is not that simple.

"Nevertheless, none of this excuses right holders who do not support partners in helping them to activate their sponsorships in a better way, or to understand how they can add value. Or rights holders who do not to commit to working with brands to create a differentiating message. The rights holder should be working in partnership with the sponsor and the primary broadcaster to make this happen.

"My best advice to a brand or sponsor entering sports marketing for the first time is to appoint a marketing agency that knows what they’re doing. If you don’t, you could waste the first year working out the basis rather than activating your sponsorship. Agencies can dive into what a brand can do to make this deal different.

"The most important thing is to be clear about the value you are bringing to the sport and the fans. What are you delivering above and beyond the money? Too often brands look long and hard at investing and they make it all about what they want to get out of it. But you have got to flip it. As yourself: ‘if I’m a fan, what do I want?’ That’s the only way to get credibility.

"The most frustrating thing for me, as a rights holder, is the lack of understanding about a sponsor’s role in the sport or in a fan’s life. Sometimes they have a lack of desire to activate, or haven’t even thought about activation.

"It’s not just about buying rights; you have to have internal budget to activate a sponsorship properly. Then you have to be consistent with your message. The worst sponsorships are those that change their message every season because they haven’t identified their role."

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Join us at Campaign's new sports marketing event, "Campaign Future Fit" in March 2018 to discover how marketers can capitalise on the changing opportunities in the sports marketing landscape - click here to find out more.