Page 35 - AdNews Magazine Jul-Aug 2020

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demographics. Separately, sponsorship of a team or league can offer a brand a powerful platform to connect with a wide range of communities.” Ryan O’Connell, head of strategy at Ogilvy, says marketing via sport-
ing events can be extremely effective.
“Australians love their sport, so it’s naturally a brilliant vehicle for
‘reach’; you can certainly obtain a lot of eyeballs via sports marketing,” he says. “It’s what you actually do with that reach that matters.
“If you simply want to increase your brand awareness, you can place your logo all over a sporting property, and you’ll achieve your objective. As a case in point, I’m not sure anyone had ever heard of Magellan until they sponsored the Ashes in 2017-2018.
“If you want to build irrational preference for your brand, then you can move past just ‘logo badging’ and have creative ideas that actually provide utility for fans, or enhance their enjoyment of the sport (rather than your brand just getting in the way).
“Fans will have strong affinity for brands that make their sport-watch- ing even more enjoyable. As an example, KFC’s Viewer Verdict enabled rugby league fans to vote on contentious tries in real-time against the official video referee’s decision, thereby enhancing fans enjoyment of the NRL, rather than detracting from it.
“When it comes to measuring effectiveness, it will always depend on your objectives, but done right, sport can be a very powerful asset.” And star athletes are celebrities, and celebrities have been used to
sell products for decades.
O’Connell points to the behavioural science principle of the “mes-
senger effect”, which states that the power and influence of a message is heavily influenced by who is saying it.
People have irrational trust in celebrities, for the simple reason that we like them. “Oh, George Clooney drinks that coffee? Maybe I should try it.” O’Connell says no-one will probably admit they chose a brand or product because a celebrity endorsed it, but that’s the exact strategy,
and it remains effective.
“So there’s definitely a star element in brands being involved in sport,
and using high-profile and popular athletes to spruik their brand/prod- uct,” he says.
What type of brands like sport? “The obvious answer is brands that have a natural fit with sport. So categories such as athletic apparel, sports
Toyota ad tapping into AFL fans’ passion for the game.
drinks and nutrition are no-brain- ers,” says O’Connell.
“Then you have brands/prod- ucts that are perfect matches with watching sport, which is why beer brands and fast food companies aren’t as unnatural a fit with sport as you might otherwise think.
“However, the honest truth is that sport provides such fantastic access to many Australians that it’s difficult for brands to ignore its reach; even if there is no obvious link.
“So rather than dismissing it as an avenue, sometimes it’s your responsibility as a marketer or strategist to find a seamless role for your brand that makes inher- ent sense to the viewer. One that doesn’t have them scratching their heads, or thinking you’re just lazily attempting to piggyback off the back of sport’s popularity.”
Shannan Quinn, the local man- aging director of WPP’s sports enter- tainment and sponsorship agency Prism, says there’s a huge appetite for brands to partner in sport.
“As broadcasters are trying to recoup investment from their last rights deals, we are seeing inf lated pricing across most major sports packages,” he says.
“The impact of this has meant many top tier sponsors simply can’t afford to partner with the rights holder and also invest in sponsorships across both FTA and STV (subscription TV) networks to truly own the sport.
“As such, competitors are pouncing and buying all non-ex- clusive packages and inventory. As a result, we are seeing up to three or four brands in the one category advertising in the same sport. If this continues, the value of spon- sorships will decrease as brands will be less inclined to invest big money to compete in a hyper- clut- tered marketplace.”
Quinn says the whole market has been turned on its head, and there will be big changes coming in the next two months.
“Having no sport for eight plus weeks has caused all parties involved to scramble,” he says. “Broadcasters, rights holders, clubs, players and brands have all been affected as COVID-19 forced businesses to question and areas- sess their business models.”