Download The marketing of products through sport

The marketing of products through sport
'Marketing through sport' is a concept that that has been used since the 1980s but that also has
increased in importance in the last two decades due to the growth and expansion that the
different types of sports have enjoyed since then. “Marketing through sports” it is a marketing
strategy that can be used in sports in two different ways. In first order, the use of marketing and
promotion can be carried out through the sport or through the sports club. In the first case, the
use of marketing is under responsibility of the different sporting associations, while in the second
case, the responsibility falls on the different sports clubs. In this manner, marketing and
promotion through the sport and through the club involve sponsorship, corporate events and
boxes, licensed merchandise, names and images also known as “endorsement”, advertising
through broadcaster, advertising such as advertising as ground signage/clothing/equipment
advertising, promoting games, promoting using players/club/league or developing ‘business
opportunities’. The peculiarity of sports is the issue that “sport is the only entertainment where,
no matter how many times you go back, you never know the ending.”This singular fact is used
by marketing companies as an advantage because in this way every time the audience attempts to
an event several times it will perceived the advertisements again and again, therefore the
marketing of sports reflects different than in other usual areas or common industries, a wide field
of opportunities and diversities for the different companies which operate on this field.[2]
Examples of marketing of products through sport
Sponsorship of teams
A real life example for representing the concept of marketing through sports is the case of the
Spanish bank, BBVA Bancomer, and the Spanish Football league. In this case Bancomer which
is the major sponsor of the Spanish league increased its period of participation in the league until
2013. So as the definition of this concept says, the company that is using this marketing strategy
is not necessarily related to sports. In this case it is a bank and through sports or sports events it
promotes its trademark and the services that it gives.[6]
One of the prominent and very successful sports marketing example is Turkish Airlines, the
leading national carrier in Turkey. Turkish Airlines established a well planned sports marketing
strategy through several sports category with highly reputed teams, celebrity players and sport
associations including Manchester United, FC Barcelona , Euroleague, top star NBA player
Kobe Bryant, Turkish Top Football Teams, Turkey National Football Team, number one tennis
player Caroline Wozniacki.
Another example of sports marketing through sponsorships, is the renovation of the contract
between Adidas and the Mexican Football Federation (FMF). In August of this year the CEO of
Adidas Herbert Hainer in companion of the president of the FMF, Justino Compeán announced
the renewal of the contract in order to permit Adidas to continue producing and designing the
uniform of the Mexican teams until 2018. This is an example of sports marketing because as it
was define, sports marketing is a marketing strategy in which companies related to sports
products or services promote their trademark through design, production or other resources. In
this case Adidas, which is completely related to sports, is the company that is using sports
marketing as a strategy, by designing the uniforms of the football team and as a consequence its
trademark is being promoted every time there is a game.[7]
TV advertising during broadcast sports events
Finally another example of marketing through sports is the strategy used by Gillette Match to
promote its personal hygiene products through representative figures of each sport on television
during broadcast sports events. Gillette uses for this issue characters from football soccer such as
Thierry Henry, from tennis Roger Federer and from golf Tiger Woods. In the commercial these
celebrities appear using the products of the company showing the results in order to demonstrate
that if successful people use the products you should use them to. It is a clear example of this
concept, because the company using this marketing strategy is not related to sports at all, but
through important personalities of each sport it has the possibility to get to its target audience.[8]