PARASITIC MARKETING VS CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP:
CASE WORLD CUP 2002
It is with the help of events such as World Cup 2002 that sponsorship industry spend in the Republic of Ireland continues to grow and is expected to reach circa €60m in 2002. National and international brands have invested significantly in seeking to use this powerful platform to make deeper connections with their target consumers.
From a sponsor's perspective, this year's World Cup was one of the most competitive yet, with some major battles played out between major brands in an attempt to gain as much bang for their sponsorship buck/ euro as possible in this global sport's arena.
On the global stage, the most talked about category battle in terms of 'official sponsors' versus 'Parasitic marketing' was between sportswear giants Adidas (an official FIFA partner for a fee of minimum €15.8m) and Nike - with their highly effective above-the-line activity.
While the true winners can only be known by the respective brands and their own final evaluation against objectives for the campaigns, some hard facts released by Adidas regarding their return on sponsorship investment clearly illustrate a bottom line benefit to their sponsorship.
• Adidas hopes to boost Asian sales as a percentage of the total from 15% to 20% in the next 3 years;
• Adidas sold 600,000 Japanese national soccer team jerseys, generating a profit to the company of €24.5 million
• 7 million Adidas World Cup balls were sold…all adding directly to the bottom line in a financially measurable way.
Other wins for Adidas included their sponsoring semi-finalists Turkey and finalists Germany, as well as the finals referee Pierluigi Collina being a participant in Adidas's world cup ad campaign - all ensuring the types of results evident from various sources of consumer research. Consumer brand association research in certain markets tends to share a common finding…overall Nike lost the war to the official sponsor who beat the American giant on awareness levels.
For example, UK research by Carat found that Adidas clearly gained a victory overall and in particular with a younger 15-24 age group, by achieving 40% spontaneous awareness versus Nike 30%. Nike was found victors among the 35-44 age group with 23% awareness versus 19% for Adidas.
Meanwhile in the soft drinks sector, Coca-Cola - official sponsors - have emerged from various research studies as victors over category rivals Pepsi. In the UK, Coke finished 4 times ahead of rivals Pepsi on spontaneous awareness measures. While sponsorship awareness is only step 1 in achieving sponsorship success, it is certainly a critical one to deliver desired results at a more attitudinal level.
Thus, the lessons learned from this year's World Cup would on the surface suggest that Parasitic marketing is no substitute for official sponsorship…but there can be more than one winner if clear objectives are at the centre of a brand's sponsorship strategy.
CASE WORLD CUP 2002
It is with the help of events such as World Cup 2002 that sponsorship industry spend in the Republic of Ireland continues to grow and is expected to reach circa €60m in 2002. National and international brands have invested significantly in seeking to use this powerful platform to make deeper connections with their target consumers.
From a sponsor's perspective, this year's World Cup was one of the most competitive yet, with some major battles played out between major brands in an attempt to gain as much bang for their sponsorship buck/ euro as possible in this global sport's arena.
On the global stage, the most talked about category battle in terms of 'official sponsors' versus 'Parasitic marketing' was between sportswear giants Adidas (an official FIFA partner for a fee of minimum €15.8m) and Nike - with their highly effective above-the-line activity.
While the true winners can only be known by the respective brands and their own final evaluation against objectives for the campaigns, some hard facts released by Adidas regarding their return on sponsorship investment clearly illustrate a bottom line benefit to their sponsorship.
• Adidas hopes to boost Asian sales as a percentage of the total from 15% to 20% in the next 3 years;
• Adidas sold 600,000 Japanese national soccer team jerseys, generating a profit to the company of €24.5 million
• 7 million Adidas World Cup balls were sold…all adding directly to the bottom line in a financially measurable way.
Other wins for Adidas included their sponsoring semi-finalists Turkey and finalists Germany, as well as the finals referee Pierluigi Collina being a participant in Adidas's world cup ad campaign - all ensuring the types of results evident from various sources of consumer research. Consumer brand association research in certain markets tends to share a common finding…overall Nike lost the war to the official sponsor who beat the American giant on awareness levels.
For example, UK research by Carat found that Adidas clearly gained a victory overall and in particular with a younger 15-24 age group, by achieving 40% spontaneous awareness versus Nike 30%. Nike was found victors among the 35-44 age group with 23% awareness versus 19% for Adidas.
Meanwhile in the soft drinks sector, Coca-Cola - official sponsors - have emerged from various research studies as victors over category rivals Pepsi. In the UK, Coke finished 4 times ahead of rivals Pepsi on spontaneous awareness measures. While sponsorship awareness is only step 1 in achieving sponsorship success, it is certainly a critical one to deliver desired results at a more attitudinal level.
Thus, the lessons learned from this year's World Cup would on the surface suggest that Parasitic marketing is no substitute for official sponsorship…but there can be more than one winner if clear objectives are at the centre of a brand's sponsorship strategy.