This is the third article in our original series, Our POV, where we deconstruct the elements of sports marketing and provide insight into our unique agency process.

In our first post, we deconstructed the elements of sports marketing. Then, in part two, we discussed why it’s incredibly important to engage an agency before you sign a sports sponsorship deal. Today we’re digging deeper into the topic of brand activation--what we consider to be the lifeblood of every sports marketing partnership.

The POV Sports Marketing Activation Asset Mix: Trademark Rights, Promotions, Digital and Social Content, Hospitality and Events, Venue Signage, Community, Database Marketing.

Without activation, a sports marketing deal falls flat.

One of the most common physical elements that most brand marketers think of when they consider investing in sports is signage. Depending on the venue, signage (a brand’s trademark and/or message imprinted on a physical/digital sign) can be fixed on the walls, balcony fascia, the scoreboard, digital courtside, club entrances… even stairs. We’ve seen it all. And not all of it is good.

The value attached to signage can vary greatly depending on size, location, TV visibility, static vs. digital, adjacency to video… and of course… how much other signage is competing for the same eyeballs. Share of voice is a major factor in valuation. Was your message 1 of 50 or 1 of 20 during a 3-hour event? And really, eyeballs… the number of them that “see” a sign inside a stadium or arena… these impression values drive the rate card for teams.

What many brands overlook is the value beyond signage—the intangible value they can negotiate as part of their sports marketing deal… their right to activate the team/property’s IP.

In addition to signage, digital, social, expo displays, hospitality and other traditional marketing elements, sports and entertainment properties offer brands the opportunity to engage with their fans using their trademark, team imagery and a designation (aka intellectual property = IP). We would argue that this is the most valuable asset in the entire deal. It’s the reason you called the team in the first place. And – if negotiated correctly – offers brands the most upside. We might even say that - budget permitting – activating the IP offers brands unlimited upside. In our opinion, it is the driver behind all sports and entertainment sponsorship.

Philadelphia 76er, Tyrese Maxey, featured above promoting the Stroehmann Bakeries King of the Classroom sweepstakes honoring outstanding teachers.

A brand’s right to activate the IP and promotional rights surrounding their sports marketing investment should never be ignored.

As we mentioned and will continue to repeat… because… marketing, signage is the most basic element of a sports marketing deal. For some brands, it does not make sense to include signage in a deal at all. While TV-visible signage is great (if you can get it), it can be limited in certain sports and/or so expensive that it will blow the budget. We believe you can build the brand affiliation in other ways and reach fans inside, as well as outside the venue – year-round – with the right activation strategy. To really bring marketing dollars to life, brands must activate.

Twenty years ago, running a promotion was hard. You had to create entry forms on tear pads, place entry boxes at retail, collect them, enter them into a spreadsheet and randomly select a winner (and don’t forget the alternative means of entry via mail!). Now – it is much more turnkey, secure and productive via digital and social platforms.

To put it bluntly, when a brand’s right to activate goes ignored, they are leaving thousands of dollars in ROI on the table. In some cases, hundreds of thousands, because in reality, it isn’t the property’s responsibility to activate on the brand’s behalf. Of course, opportunities can be built into the deal, but the team or property is not going to activate beyond the contractual commitments. That’s up to the brand, and if the brand has no activation strategy in place, no content strategy, no gameday staff, no lead generation mechanism…. Well then, the deal will fall flat, and money will be left on the table. The key to sports sponsorship is to add a multiplier to the deal value through activating efficiently with key KPIs in place to measure impact.

Wawa’s Unite the Flock billboard above I-395 North in Baltimore, MD

Activation ignites all five senses in a sports marketing partnership.

Before digital signage was a thing, there was paper and paint. Logos and taglines make an impression on fans, but they only spark one of their senses: sight. Activation brings the other four to life: taste, smell, sound, touch. A real Wawa Shorti Hoagie comes to life in digital content with two Eagles players. Stroehmann bread looks delicious in the hand of a 76ers player. Bankers look more approachable when it’s game day and they are engaging with fans over a friendly game of cornhole. You get where we’re going. Activation adds personality depth. Before “omnichannel” marketing was a thing – there was sports sponsorship. The pioneering workhorse of omnichannel marketing.

These are the elements that a brand can and should inject into their investment, and it’s not hard to understand why these elements are so valuable. In many cases, it is the human senses that ultimately drive customers to purchase. When the pandemic hit, when many of the tried-and-true ways of activating on a brand partnership became temporarily muted, brands had? to integrate all five senses into digital activation through content, online promotions, QR codes, VIP virtual events and VR programming. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Here’s our POV: the conversation around brand activation should begin before the partnership deal begins.

While it seems simple to think that brand activation will flow out of a sports marketing deal organically, that is just not the case. Brand activation, like so many other things, requires a great deal of strategic planning--from gameday logistics, to staffing, to event details, to reporting. We have sat on the sidelines and watched sports marketing partnerships fall flat because this was not done. When we’ve been given a seat at the table to go to bat for brands, we’ve watched our clients’ sports marketing partnerships soar. Why? We activate. And more importantly, we plan for it before we start negotiating the deal with the team. If we don’t know how we are going to activate, how can we start building a partnership with a team? It’s like building the 5th floor of a building before you build the foundation.

That’s our POV. What’s yours?

To learn more about our agency and the services we provide to brands to bring their sports and entertainment partnerships to life, reach out to us at info@povsportsmarketing.com.

Brands: Don't wait. Exercise your right to activate.