A really interesting article about the way that Wimbledon works to control the experience of attending the annual event and how their sponsors are made a part of the event popped up in my Twitter feed this morning and got me to thinking about sports marketing, but marketing in general.
If you take a few moments to read the article, there is a lot of interest for any marketer. From the way that all the production equipment is hidden in green and that if anything impedes the attendee experience, it is moved or removed.
It was all quite interesting, especially when you consider it in the context of so much of what happens in sports marketing today, but also just marketing. Because as it has become increasingly easy to do more and more and more with digital tools making mass marketing easier while the effectiveness is questionable, the art of subtlety is often lost.
That’s all great, but the point that was really awesome to me was the fact that Wimbledon’s sponsors talked about making the tournament “the hero” and them just being there to support the star. To allow the tournament to tell its story.
Which is something that should be at the heart of any partnership or sponsorship that we undertake or offer up.
It isn’t you that is the star, you are just trying to get some of the glow. You want to be a part of the story, in a way that is meaningful and relevant.
You can’t just be noise.
Which at this point is too much of our sponsorship and marketing.
The thing is, how do we accomplish this when everything around us screams to just be louder, in more places, and just MORE?
I don’t think there is a simple answer that will fit every situation, but here are a few points of reference from my own experience in experiential marketing with Odwalla, Coca-Cola, Yellow Tail, and MTV.
Why Is This Relevant?
Relevance is the most important part of any marketing or partnership.
I know that many marketers talk about having the data to make better decisions, to be in the right place at the right time, and on and on.
The thing about it is that we may have that data.
We may be able to make that data actionable.
We may even find that we are being successful in some way with what we are doing.
But the thing is that our full impact is negated without relevance.
Your brand can check its relevance by asking a simple question: “Why?”
“Why are we partners?”
“Why can we help them tell their story?”
“Why are we the best choice to help them get to their audience?”
The answers to these questions should be evident and obvious.
If you aren’t creating value for your partner, you shouldn’t be doing the sponsorship…simple as that.
Think about the way that Rolex is mentioned in the article and then think about some sponsorship or marketing that just doesn’t seem to fit or that is jarring because the message is just wrong.
For me that might be: the way that Kia is such a prominent sponsor of the NBA and the way that they use the players.
I don’t think that it is necessarily wrong for Kia to be a sponsor of the NBA. It probably fits on some level, but when you have LeBron James squeezed into a Kia and he’s talking about driving around in his Kia, even if true, it doesn’t really fit and it probably confuses people more than anything else.
Have A Story:
This goes hand in hand with relevance.
But I think it is pretty important that your brand have a story too.
Especially one that fits in connection with your partner.
Slazenger’s ball sponsorship with Wimbledon is a prime example because they have been the ball sponsor for over 100 years.
That opens the door to something like an ad that shows a tennis ball and says, “It its being played at Wimbledon, it has to be Slazenger.”
That’s a pretty powerful story.
What other partners have a strong story that they can tell within their partnership?
Here’s a few that I can think of right off the top of my head:
- As much as I don’t like their beer, the partnership between the St Louis Cardinals and Budweiser works because they are two things that are synonymous with St Louis.
- I’m a big fan of the relationship that Woodford Reserve has worked to create a really unique partnership with the Kentucky Derby.
Don’t Be Afraid To Experiment:
It would be ridiculous to think that you are going to have a 100% hit rate.
Unfortunately this reality is often reason enough for an organization to shut down experiments and innovation in how they approach everything, but especially marketing and partnerships.
As more and more CEOs are starting to pay attention to the results and ROI of their marketing and asking more pointed, tougher questions, it is important that everyone recognize the fact that marketing should start to see results pretty quickly.
If you are running direct response ads, the feedback should be instant.
If you are doing other stuff, you should have clear measures of what success will look like.
But that’s getting away from the point of experimenting.
You need to be unafraid of testing new messages. New ideas. Or new activations.
The truth is that you aren’t going to hit 100% of the time and when you do hit on one, it isn’t going to last forever.
So focus in on 3 key questions:
- What’s the value I am trying to produce?
- Who can use this value and buy it?
- How do I reach them?
So the key to making your sponsorships and marketing impactful isn’t more. In fact, it is usually the opposite.
Its built on being relevant. Telling a story. And, being willing to try new things.