Take A Peck

By the numbers, sports sponsorship continues to grow, but by other indications (major teams failing to secure sponsorships, sponsors failing to justify their investments), the sponsorship industry needs improvement. This all boils down to poor sponsorship valuation.

There’s an interesting article in this month’s issue of SportBusiness International that discusses the fact that poor research and planning is keeping sports sponsorship from meeting its potential. The author discusses five key areas where research should be improved:

• Research the consumer - We often value sponsorships based on TV audience delivery, but sponsorship ideally should be platform neutral-we shouldn’t treat it like a media buy
• Brand Fit with the property - It’s not just about if the property fits the brand. The brand should also fit the property, so people will be more likely to accept this link as authentic
• ROI research - Tracking TV viewers is only a small part of the overall picture
• Measure Recognition - We often measure awareness, but consumers are bombarded by so many messages that this ignores the “recognition” factor that often triggers an emotional response and, if triggered, can leave a positive impression of the brand on the consumer
• Don’t attribute all successes (or failures) to sponsorship - Examine all aspects , including activation, media, communications, etc.

I would add another thing to think about before deciding to sponsor a property (as indicated by my horrible graphic): Besides the sponsorship fitting with the brand (and vice-versa), does the sponsorship fit with the current advertising and communications? For example a football sponsorship may fit with the brand (or the decision-makers may think so) but if the brand is currently running ads with ballet dancers, how does a football sponsorship fit into this mix? Either it doesn’t or the brand needs to get some updated creative.

On another note, due to the growth of the Sports Business Carnival and my original intentions to have this be something bigger than just a Take A Peck feature, I’ve decided that it’s time to start having other sports business blogs host the carnival. The November 19th edition will be housed at Sports Agent Blog. You can submit articles directly to Darren Heitner –heitner(at)gmail.com–or through the Blog Carnival main page. The goal is for this to be hosted by all the major sports business blogs. I’m sure the Carnival will return here again (and often), but I just wanted to let everyone know what the plans were.

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InterContinental Hotels Group’s Crowne Plaza has done a great job of aligning itself with golf and reaching golf travelers in the first year of its sponsorship of the PGA TOUR Crowne Plaza Invitational.

Crowne Plaza launched its first ever national ad campaign in April with golf-themed ads featuring national golf commentator/journalist David Feherty attempting to moderate an unscripted conversation among TV personality George Lopez, rocker Alice Cooper, golf legend Lee Trevino, LPGA star Natalie Gulbis and outspoke golf scribe Dan Jenkins. Not a bad crowd to hang out with. The commercials focus on the spontaneous dialogue of the group around topics such as golfing secrets, putters, and rules. According to USA Today, footage for the ads came from 18 hours of the cast ad-libbing. Crowne Plaza’s tagline is “the place to meet,” and golf has long been a great social activity for people, so it is a good vehicle for this message.

Up until recently, Crowne Plaza never even entered my mind when I thought of hotels, but now it stands out as one of the best brands that connects with golf fans. My favorite spot is the one that talks about golfing with wives. The spot opens with Natalie Gulbis talking about going on a golf date. Eventually George Lopez says, ” I think my wife would understand that I’d rather play golf with Lee Trevino than my wife.”

David Feherty responds, “I think my wife would understand that I would rather sleep with Lee Trevino than play golf with her. But that’s not a negative comment against my wife.”

You can see all six of Crowne Plaza’s golf-themed ads, plus some nice bonus footage, at its golf site.

In addition to sponsorship of its PGA TOUR event, Crowne Plaza is sending 72 average golfers to play in a pro-style tournament called the Crowne Plaza Amateur Inviational at Colonial in Ft. Worth, Texas. It also sponsors LPGA golfer Natalie Gulbis, and has some presence in Major League Baseball through InterContinental Hotels Group’s larger deal with MLB. Intercontinental Hotes Group also has deals with some MLB teams and Richard Childress Racing, in addition to some cause-related sponsorships, such as UNICEF and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

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I’d like to thank Darren Rovell over at CNBC’s SportsBiz for making us aware of the phenomenal 19-year old Serbian tennis player, Ana Ivanovic. She happens to be a pretty decent tennis player, too. Starting with this post, Rovell calls Ivanovic the next Maria Sharapova, and not just because of her looks- Ivanovic dominated Sharapova at the French Open semis earlier this year.

In his next Ivanovic post, Rovell calls Ivanovic the most beautiful female athlete in the world. and gives us a great slide show of Ivanovic images. There is also a poll on SportsBiz asking readers who is the world’s sexiest tennis player - Sharapova or Ivanovic? After almost 1000 votes, the winner is clearly Ivanovic–she got 90% of the votes. In his most recent Ivanovic post, Rovell gives us an interview with the tennis goddess herself.

It’s amazing how much beauty plays a role in female athletes’ marketability. Not that she wouldn’t have sponsors if she wasn’t amazingly good looking, but you can’t say it doesn’t help. People like to see/watch/hear about beautiful people, and the attention she’s getting because of her looks can only help boost her visibility, which will mean she’ll be getting more sponsors, soon. If she can do well during the US Open, business is sure to pick up even more for her and her marketing team.

As listed on her website (which claims to be the #1 visited website of all female sports stars), Ivanovic’s sponsors include adidas, Verano Motors, Wilson and Juice Plus. I’m sure there will be more sponsors, commercials, magazine spreads, and maybe even movie appearances in the future. In case you won’t get to see her playing tennis on TV, check out this YouTube video for a slideshow of Ivanovic pictures.

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With the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup–the playoffs of golf–beginning this week (with Tiger Woods’s absence) the following questions were posed on Relay Worldwide’s Sports Sponsorship Symposium Blog:

Does Woods need to play for the playoff concept to be a success? Or has the PGA Tour, with or without him, already created a platform that sponsors will continue to rally around in years 2, 5 and 10? What are some of the right steps, and what can be improved upon?

I think that whether or not Woods’ plays, the playoff concept has been a failure so far in year one. Maybe that’s to be expected but I (someone who actually pays close attention to golf) still can’t figure out why I should care about the FedExCup. And I’m pretty sure that most casual golfers and fans still don’t know what the FedExCup is exactly.

See, the problem with having playoffs in golf is that golf isn’t basketball. Everyone knows the regular season doesn’t matter in the NBA, but in golf the four tournaments that really, really matter (The Majors) aren’t included in the playoffs. Yes, I know the Majors are weighted and worth more points than regular tournaments but that’s too complicated for the average fan. Regardless of who plays in the FedExCup or who wins the $10 million prize, everyone knows the Majors are still the most important tournaments, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Adding a huge purse to four meaningless tournaments won’t give them true meaning or the history that the Majors have–it just makes them tournaments with a huge purse.

That said, I guess the FedExCup makes the PGATOUR more valuable to sponsors, since it gives them an additional platform to activate around. But if people don’t care about the FedExCup, will sponsors continue to care? The sponsors’ and TOUR’s challenge is to get people to care, but I think this will be a slow process, if it happens at all. But who knows, I could be wrong. What do you think?

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So McDonald’s (being the sensible Olympic sponsor that it is), is launching a program that will enable up to 300 kids from around the world to travel to the 2008 Olympic Games to share their stories and experiences with their local communities and hometown news outlets.  Through this once-in-a-lifetime journey, the “McDonald’s Champion Kids” will have the chance to see the Games, meet Olympic athletes, visit cultural sights, and interact with kids from across the globe. 

Sponsors love to play the “kids card.” Do it for the kids, and you can’t go wrong, right? Send some kids to a baseball game, get some free press, send some to the Olympics, get more free press. Athletes are also involved in kids programs. Sign a couple basketballs, hang out with some kids and an athlete becomes a good guy, right?

Even Shaq’s doing the kids thing, with ABC’s “Shaq’s Big Family Challenge,” where he has six months to get six fat kids into shape.

I’d really like to see a field-day style competition between McDonald’s Kids and Shaq’s Kids. Here’s how it would play out:

Tug-of-War - On average, Shaq’s kids are stronger, but the McDonald’s kids get to choose the 6 fattest of the fat to compete in this event. It’s an easy victory for the Big Mac Attack.

Relay Race - Race organizers decide to use McRibs in place of batons for this event. Shaq’s troops pull out the victory, as the first McDonald’s racer decides to eat the baton, instead of pass it.

Basketball Shoot - The Mikey D’s kids have old MJ commercials to watch, and Shaq’s kids suffer from an inability to make free throws…

Hurdles (Special Coach’s Challenge: Shaq vs. Ronald McDonald) - Even at 300+ pounds, Shaq still has more ups and more agility than Ronny, whose funny red shoes team with gravity to give him a giant 2 inch vertical leap. Shaq secures the victory.

Shuttle Race - It’s readily apparent that McD’s kids aren’t familiar with real food, One of them eats the wooden block and describes it as “heavenly.” Shaq’s kids, who have participated in every event so far, are too tired to even walk, yet still manage to crawl to victory, while McD’s Kids are trying to get the wooden block added to the value menu.

The Verdict- Shaq’s Kids win. However, they are tired of coach Shaq and are hungry. Everyone eats McDonald’s and is happy. Great PR and ROI for McDonalds.

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This week’s issue of IEG’s Sponsorship Report has an interesting article about how virtual worlds can generate real-life benefits for sponsors and properties. Virtual worlds still have a ways to go before they become as viable a vehicle/space as MySpace or Facebook, which both have over 20+ million users each. However, the popularity of virtual worlds has been increasing steadily–1.8 million users logged in to Second Life in the past 2 months–despite the fact that these worlds take a lot of time to learn how to use.

IEG’s article mentions three benefits virtual worlds can offer properties and sponsors:

• Expand reach beyond physical events and venues

• Additional exposure and access to consumers, thereby increasing the value of sponsorship packages

• New revenue streams though online sales of merchandise, tickets, etc.

These are good in that they are examples of things that benefit companies and brands. But brands need to consider how their presence will affect virtual world “residents” before they get involved. Most importantly, a corporate space in a virtual world should be fun, and offer “residents” opportunities to try new things.

The NBA recently got involved in Second Life by creating an NBA Headquarters there. This is a good step for them, as it allows them to incorporate existing sponsors (specifically Cisco, T-Mobile and Toyota) and add value to their sponsorships. However, I’d like to see them push the envelope a little more. Instead of the current half-court shooting contest at T-Mobile arena (which is essentially the same as the boring, real-life contest), why not let people create their own dunks, or take video of themselves dunking from the free throw line , or even the three point line? People in Second Life can fly around, so why not take advantage of this, and play off the ongoing debate that the best dunkers don’t just jump; they fly.

While the NBA could improve on its offerings, it is offering some unique benefits, such as the opportunity for people to watch past playoff games and other highlights in various video lounges. It will be interesting to see how other leagues approach virtual worlds–what content they decide to share and what opportunities they create for sponsors and fans.

Update: Check out what Scion is doing in the virtual world space.

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