HSES 842 SPORT MARKETING SPONSORSHIP PROGRAMS

The Sponsorship Process Promotional Strategy Objectives-budgeting-acquisition - implementing& evaluating

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITY Example of how a corporation may decide to buy into an event as a sponsor. (Ski event) Gold Sponsor - $50,000 - (VIP for 10, 6 gift bags, 10 concert tickets, best rooms, food) Silver Sponsor - $30,000 - (VIP for 6, 3 gift bags, good rooms, 6 concert tickets, some food, etc) Bronze Sponsor - $20,000 (VIP for 4, 2 gift bags, 4 concert tickets, little food, etc) Official Sponsor - $10,000 - (VIP for 2, 1 gift bag, 2 concert tickets, no food,etc)

Individual participant - $600 - choice of 3-day lift ticket, one concert ticket, or entry in Pro-Am race. (bring your own food) Individual participant - $ day lift ticket or entry in Pro-Am (bring your own food)

When choosing from among many sponsorship opportunities, three decisions must be addressed: 1. Whether to sponsor a local, regional, national, or global event. 2. The organization must choose an athletic platform for example an individual athlete, team, league, stadium,or arena. 3. Once the athletic platform is chosen, the organization must decide on a specific sports entry. If a league is selected which one will it be, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, etc

Sponsorship Objectives Direct objectives have a short-term impact on consumption behavior and focus on increasing sales. Indirect objectives are those that ultimately lead to the desired goal of enhancing sales Some of the primary objectives of sponsorship, from the sponsor’s perspective 1. Awareness - to generate consumer awareness of your product

Having a large corporate sponsor and $$ will catch the eye of the consumers. 2. Competition - this is where an effort is made to stamp out or meet any competitive threats from your rivals. Ambush marketing - is a planned effort (campaign by an organization) to associate themselves indirectly with an event in order to gain at least some of the recognition and benefits that are associated with being an official sponsor

NIKE’s ambush of the 1984 Olympics in LA. Even though they were not an official Olympic sponsor, they were closely tied to the city and the event. 64 of 138 total respondents believed AT&T was the official long distance supplier to the 1994 Olympics, 70 thought Sprint and MCI were. None of these were. Congress is currently considering strong penalties for sponsors that use this method.

3. Reaching target markets - sporting events represent a natural forum for people who are attracted to these types of activities. Relationship marketing - this is where a sponsor continues to build a relationship with the consumer. Johnny Walker sponsor of the Ryder Cup Cadillac sponsor of the Champions’ Tour Nextel sponsor of NASCAR racing

Image building - the sponsoring organization associates itself and/or its brands with the positive images generated by the unique personality of the sporting event. The ‘match-up hypothesis’ states that the more congruent the image of the endorser with the image of the product being promoted, the more effective the message.

Sponsorship budgeting- this is where the corporate executive now has to decide how much money, if any, they are going to spend on sponsoring sporting events. One way Anheuser Busch approaches this process. They take 3-5 percent of the previous years sales $$$ as the total budget they are going to commit to sponsorships. They then divide that total by their 32 brands, with Budweiser getting a little more than its % share of the pot. This seems to work for them.

The potential cost of the sponsorship A corporate box at the United Center in Chicago will cost you about $220,000 a year. (This does not include tickets) A scholarship suite at KU’s football stadium will cost you between $25,000 to $50,000. This does not include tickets) Official supplier for MLB will cost you $10 million a year.

Sport Sponsorship Acquisition Model Acquisition of sport sponsor proposals Buying gridBuying center composition Interaction process Purchase decision