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Sports sponsorships have come a long way, with most partnerships now designed to achieve more than just increasing brand visibility.

It has never been more important for both brands and sports teams to use partnerships effectively to advance their goals.Beyond visibility and marketing, a creative piece of content or an idea can be the difference in building brand loyalty or destroying it. In turn, a sports property can benefit from so much more than practical help in their operations; when done right, the right partnership drives engagement to future proof growth and diversify fanbases.

This is where House 337 comes in. A specialist creative agency in marketing and sponsorships, it believes in using creativity to create lasting, powerful campaigns for sports rights holders and brands. It has previously worked on campaigns focused on garnering new audiences for cricket through The Hundred, the short-form competition overseen by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

House 337 has also helped to develop E.On’s sponsorship strategy, working on its partnerships with the Football Association(FA), Premier League club Nottingham Forest and esports outfit Veloce Racing.The collaborations have all highlighted the importance of sustainability withins ports and the need to drive positive change within communities.

At a recent event hosted by the agency in central London, a panel of esteemed executives in the sports sponsorship space shared their insights and best practices. Speakers included Melissa Noakes, head of sponsorship and events at Santander; Ellie Norman, chief marketing officer at Formula E; Liseli Sitali, director of football and music partnerships at Expedia Group; and Josh Green, the chief creative officer atHouse 337.

With the help of Henry Nash, executive strategy director at House 337, SportsPro goes through five important points made by the panel on pitfalls to avoid when planning a sponsorship deal in the sports space. 

1. Don’t presume your marketers are all sponsorship experts

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Speaking at the event, Noakes noted how frequently people at brands lacked a full understanding of what sponsorship can do for their company. This could mean that the value of sponsorship becomes overlooked, as it is then compared to advertising and media, particularly from a social engagement perspective.

“There is so much presumed knowledge around sponsorship, but the reality is that most marketeers have little experience in this space or indeed any formal training,” Nash says.

“It’s not in our nature to admit we have knowledge gaps, especially in more senior marketing positions.”

It is therefore paramount to make sure everyone at a brand fully understands how crucial sponsorship can be to achieve business objectives. In the past, a sponsorship deal would merely mean putting brand logos on a playing shirt or stadium hoarding – but this alone is now not enough to grow a customer base.

By being able to work together with a sports team on a common goal, sponsors gain better brand awareness among fans.That association with the team can help inspire supporters to do business with the sponsor, as opposed to traditional marketing where companies persuade people to come on board.

2. Don’t separate your brand and sponsorship teams 

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Companies that struggle to comprehend the power of sponsorship often fail to connect their brand and sponsorship teams.As noted by Green, they appear to work independently of each other, despite both having key roles in shaping the broader brand strategy for a business.

“You often see sponsoring brands show up and ask yourself, ‘What the hell has that got to do with xyz?’ Nash explains.“Not only are the brand and sponsorship teams not working together, but sponsors are often investing in sponsorship properties that misalign with their brand.”

This separation is unproductive, given the role sponsorship can play to help build up a brand over the long term. Sports teams want to find ways to connect with their fanbase more, as well as solving problems they have as a business. Sponsorships offer a way for them to do so, while allowing brands to tap into a new audience.

Being able to work with a rights holder and to have that work publicised can help build a brand’s reach and awareness among sports fans. It can be particularly effective if the partnership revolves around developing emotional ties and engagement between the team and their fans, which in turn can shape public brand perception.

3. Don’t use sponsorship just to drive brand awareness

Traditionally, sponsorships were centred around exposure and visibility for brands. While that can make fans aware of a company, it doesn’t push them to go any further. As Norman stated, it is never discussed how a sponsorship can help solve a respective problem for both a brand and a rights holder.

Ideally, a brand coming on board is able to use its key business strengths to help solve a rights holder’s problem. For example, this could be a company supplying transport or logistics support to a sports team to help its operations.

Norman highlighted the need for all parties to come together and to figure out what a partnership can solve. This, she said, should be used as a starting point for a collaboration, particularly when setting goals around audience growth on both sides. As the partnership progresses, both a brand and a rights holder can adjust their activations accordingly to best achieve their goals. 

This exchange of value can indicate what a partnership should be, rather than just a traditional sponsorship, where a company may pay for branding opportunities with a team and offer nothing in return. Practical activations, such as educational initiatives, are more impactful than reach, which may not translate into a direct influx of customers for the brand.

“Sponsorship becomes an incredibly expensive and inefficient investment if its sole purpose is to drive awareness,” Nash says. “Its true beauty is in its ability to drive genuine brand affinity, by giving brands the opportunity to play in a sacred space where previously they weren’t welcome.”

4. Sport is not a substitute for creativity

Traditionally, sports properties have not engaged much in partnerships, other than offering up branding inventory for interested companies.

In an increasingly crowded field, sports marketing content needs to stand out creatively. The panel noted that sport can at times be used as the answer for creativity, and that this belief is problematic, given many properties today produce similar-looking advertising campaigns. A simple advertisement that uses sport but doesn’t tell an interesting story will garner awareness but will not bring any other benefits for both companies and sports entities.

Many brands lean into clichés, such as the idea that ‘sport has the power to unite all’. While this is true, Sitali described the concept as overused, advising that companies should instead focus on finding one memorable thing integral to the love fans have for their chosen sport. She believes speaking about something that is considered valuable among fans of a certain team or league will help brands stand out more, provide a point of differentiation, and elevate them above rivals in the same category.

A sports sponsorship, Green said, is a canvas for storytelling and an opportunity to creatively communicate a brand message – rather than just relying on a logo placement to perform the same function inefficiently. He cited betting brand Paddy Power as a good example of an advertiser which puts out campaigns that immediately resonate with soccer fans.

“It’s not a coincidence that the least compelling creative usually involves the biggest stars in sport,” Nash outlines. “There’s a belief that their mere presence will do all the hard work for the brand. The brands that succeed are the ones that appreciate that carving out a distinct and additive role will endear themselves to the fanbase”

5. Don’t mistake fans for customers

Sports fans can be an unforgiving audience.For every one advertisement that goes viral, there are many others that are quickly forgotten or, worse, derided publicly. There is no middle ground when it comes to fan reaction, which can be useful in terms of providing real-time feedback.

The panel were quick to point out how sensitive fans can be to sports marketing, and how they can be uncompromising on activations or advertisements that do not resonate. Traditional brand advertising through sponsorship channels is likely to be poorly received among viewers if brand messages are delivered through the lens of just the partnership.

It is fundamental to understand that people are in a different context when watching sports and cannot be treated by advertisers as ordinary consumers. Companies need to adjust their language to communicate with fans more effectively and try to use accessible reference points that can spark their interest. This can be much more impactful when it comes to communicating a brand message, as opposed to doing so without adapting their words and messaging to the space they are entering.

“Being subject matter experts comes with a level of cynicism and expectation,” Nash says. “Sponsors need to be at least on the same level as them if they’re expecting to be welcomed into their world.”

For Sitali, building a high level of trust with fans through a well-executed partnership is critical. Partnerships tend to be more effective at driving the acquisition of high-value customers who are more willing to return to the product or service more organically. A well-established roster of high-value customers, she believes, will drive more business than simply targeting ‘more customers’, and will save companies from paying more to advertise to them.

With that in mind, brands must be aware and sympathetic to the conversations fans are having within their sport. As part of a partnership, they must be in service to the team or league’s audience and ensure that the solution they are creating with the rights holder benefits the fanbase.

This, in turn, opens up a conversation for the brand with the sports entity’s audience, which it can then speak to in terms of brand messaging, and ensures much more meaningful engagement.

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This article was originally posted in SportsPro.