A new IPA report finds that four in ten people working in sports sponsorship are confident it delivers business results. For a promoter with sponsor renewals coming up, the three habits that separate the confident from the rest cost little to adopt, and one of them is about the media you already buy.
What’s happened
On 7 October the IPA, the trade body for advertising agencies, and the Sponsorship Effectiveness Forum published a report called All to play for, based on a study of 143 brands, agencies and sports rights holders. According to the IPA, four in ten of them are confident that sports sponsorship delivers business results such as sales, profit and market share, and among rights holders the figure is 41%. The confident group is more likely to do three things: set clear commercial objectives (61% against 24% of the less confident), measure commercial impact and use it at renewal, and join the sponsorship up with the brand’s wider communications (55% against 30%). Only 17% say they consistently do all three, and those who do are almost six times more likely to be confident that their sponsorships deliver.
Why it matters to fight promoters and event rights holders
Some caveats first. This is a survey of how confident people feel, not an audit of what their sponsorships earned, and 143 respondents spread across brands, agencies and rights holders is a modest sample. It shows what the confident group does differently, not that those habits cause the results. We have read the IPA’s summary, not the full report. Still, the IPA itself says sponsorship is underrepresented in the evidence on what works, so any data on sports sponsorship effectiveness is welcome.
It also describes a problem most promoters will recognise. If only 41% of rights holders are confident that what they sell delivers, the renewal meeting is hard before it starts. The report found that 70% use effectiveness data for reporting after the event, but only 22% use it to adjust things while a programme is live. And 43% said industry-wide measurement standards would make the biggest difference, which tells you there aren’t any yet. The promoter who turns up with their own numbers stands out.
The third habit, joining sponsorship up with the wider campaign, is a media point, and it is the one a promoter can act on this quarter. The report sets out a six-stage model that starts with what it calls Inventory Buy, which we take to mean the basics a promoter sells first: the logo on the canvas and the boards around the cage. It finds a step change at stage three, where the sponsorship is built around a consistent creative idea. From that point, confidence in business results rises from 28% to 47%.
You already buy media in fight week to sell tickets and pay-per-view: posters near the venue, local radio, paid social, sometimes TV. In our experience the sponsor is often missing from it. Put them in, and the sponsor stops being a badge at the venue and becomes part of a campaign that reaches people who never set foot in the arena.
That is the work we do for promoters. We plan and buy the fight-week campaign, most of it late and under rate card, and we can build the sponsor into it: their name on the poster sites, a tag on the radio spots, a place in the social schedule. Then we report what each sponsor’s share of that media delivered, in reach and in cost, so you walk into the renewal with figures.
What we’d do
Agree one commercial objective with each sponsor before the deal starts. Pick a number they care about, such as enquiries, sign-ups or sales in the region, and write it down. “Awareness” on its own gives you nothing to show at renewal.
Sell media with the sponsorship, not just presence at the venue. Offer packages that include a share of the fight-week advertising. Because we buy that space late, the added value costs you less than its rate-card price suggests.
Report during the campaign, not only after it. Send each sponsor a short update while the campaign is running: what has run, where, and who it reached. Keep them for the renewal pitch.
How VCM can help
We turn the media you already buy for an event into something your sponsors can see and measure, and we buy it late so it costs less. Have a look at how we plan out-of-home advertising around events and at our work in sports and events, then get in touch on 0333 577 1848 or at James@vcmweb.co.uk. Tell us your next fight date and we will talk your plan through, no obligation.
