Sports Branding

Rupert Murdoch, at the Annual General Meeting of News Corporation in1996:

“Sports absolutely overpowers film and all other forms of entertainment in drawing viewers to television. We will be doing in Asia what we intend to do elsewhere in the world – that is, use sports as a battering ram and a lead offering in all our pay television operations”

Cashmore, Ellis (2010). Making sense of sport. Fith Edition. New York: Routledge

Sports branding Introduction

“Sports, as never before, had so completely permeated the logic of the marketplace in consumer goods that by 1992 the psychological content of selling was often more sports-oriented than it was sexual”

Donald Katz (1994) Just Do it: The Nike Spirit in the Corporate World

Cashmore, Ellis (2010). Making sense of sport. Fith Edition. New York: Routledge

Sports branding Introduction

What good comes of sport branding?

Pros Cons

What good comes from sport branding?

I. Global awareness

II. Readily readable content worldwide

III. 18-49 target audiences eager for new products

IV. Already existing communities

What evil comes from sport branding?

I. Steep price

II. Sport-related drawbacks: violence, sectarianism…

III. Lack of control over our community, unbranding, brand collision

IV. Asymmetrical effect, loss aversion pattern

STOXX® Europe Football. From 1992 to 2012

OLGA VIZA. ¿Cuál es el perfil de sus lectores?

JOAN VEHILS (director Sport).Es un culé de sangre caliente al que le gusta leer el diario Sport cuando gana su equipo. Y me remito a las pruebas, las tiradas se deciden cuando acaban los partidos. Lanzamos más o menos ejemplares en función del resultado.

SANTI NOLLA (director Mundo Deportivo).El nuestro es un culé reflexivo. Si el catalán se mueve entre el seny i la rauxa—sentido común y arrebato—, el lector del Mundo Deportivoestaría más bien en el seny. Y es verdad, las tiradas fluctúan en unos 25.000 ejemplares en función de la victoria, el empate o la derrota.

Marca - 26/06/2011

Sports branding Introduction

Figura 1. Interacción entre las instituciones deportivas, los medios de comunicación y los fans.

Sports branding Introduction

Sports branding applied to…

1. Country branding2. City branding3. Celebrity branding4. Product branding

‘The traditional International Relations literature is unable to explain Qatar’s diplomatic choices and behavior’ (Cooper and Momani, 2011)

I.

Its size combined with its wealth coming from liquefied natural gas exportations make

Qatar a very vulnerable country to predators, as

happened in Kuwait (Peterson, 2006)

II. Qatar is a small state that,

unlike most of its kind, does not want to follow a heads-down strategy but one based on innovation and unorthodoxy (Cooper

and Momani, 2011)

Sports branding Country branding

قطر

Qatar National Vision 2030

Major conferences, involvement with international organizations

UN General Assembly president in 2011 UN Security Council member in 2006

US largest military base in the Middle East

US university and museum franchises

Al Jazeera, the Arab world’s leading broadcaster

قطر

Prepackaged communities

Qatar’s Global Sport Jigsaw Puzzle

Major sport events held in Qatar

Exxon Mobile Tennis Tournament2006 Asian GamesFEI Equestrian Global Champions TourMoto GP Grand prixFormula 1 testing2014 Swimming FINA championship2015 Handball World Cup2016 Initial stage of Tour de France (in negotiation)2017 World Athletics Championships (unsuccessful bid)2018 World Artistic Gymnastics2022 Football World Cup 2024 Olympic Games (bid)

Sport sponsorship and ownership

FC Barcelona shirt sponsorshipTV rights for French football league70% ownership of Paris Saint-GermainReportedly, shares in Liverpool ACTakeover attempt over Manchester United

Qatar National Vision 2030

Sports Sector Strategy

(2011-2015)

Qatar Sports

Investments

‘Sport is becoming a tool for leaders in the

gulf to reposition their countries on the

world map’ (Amara, 2005)

‘Qatar’s sport investment is less

concerned with immediate economic

return than status, prestige and relevancy’

(Campbell, 2010)

From Pan-Arabism (Campbell, 2010)…

… to high profile, globally prestigious brands as

linking value

Sports branding City branding Barcelona

Which values could Barcelona City (target domain) borrow from FC Barcelona (source domain)?

“FC Barcelona is continuing to expand the number of languages on its website. From Friday, Portuguese has been added, meaning there are now a total of nine languages (Catalan, Spanish, English, Chinese, Arabic, French, Indonesian, Japanese and Portuguese). The next project is to add Turkish to the list”.

WWW.FCBARCELONA.CAT 10/21/2013 11:00

Sports brandingCelebrity branding

Negative salary/advertising ratio

Positive salary/advertising ratio

Forbes’ list of world’s

highest-paid

athletes 2013

Sports brandingCelebrity branding

Roger Federer

Sports branding Product branding Red Bull

To define a brand community we need to identify its ‘linking value’ (Cova, 1997; Canniford, 2011); the key element that gathers people together

Repackaged communities

I. Sports plays a central role in the entertainment industries worldwide. And it is not fading, it’s growing.

II. It is no longer about ‘liking’ or ‘disliking’ sports. Branding things through sport comes natural in a society permeated by passion, appetite, immediacy, body health, globalization, simple and understandable narratives, etc

III. As admen, we must be able to identify the good that comes from framing our messages ‘in a sportive fashion’

Sports branding Conclusions