Reflection and summary!

In this last blog I will reflect back to the previous posts and give a summary of all the posts.
As can be seen in all the posts, publicity plays a major role in sponsoring. It is kind of a mediator between the sponsor, the public and the sponsor object. By means of publicity the public notes, and hopefully the target group, the messages of the sponsor. Sponsoring of a big sports event, like the Olympic Games, is attractive because of the high numbers of spectators at the event, the people who are watching it at home via television or reading it in the newspaper. Events or sports teams who carry the name of the sponsor profit by this attention, because mentioning of the sponsor name in a press release or reportage is almost inevitable.
A lot of the reportage in the American newspapers consists of sports. The visibility range of sports in the media enlarges the chance that negative publicity about a sport or athlete can lead to the fact that consumers change their minds or even turn away from a sport. This can have negative consequences for the sponsor.

Media has a preference for bad news, that is why media gives faster publicity to bad news than good news. Negative publicity is almost relevant by definition. Negative press and word-of-mouth about a brand have severe effects on brand perceptions and brand performance. So it forms a serious threat for brands. It can damage the functional and the emotional characteristics a consumer assigns to a brand, it can have consequences for the financial appreciation for a brand and it can even damage the competitive position of a brand.

A sponsor has no influence at the external factors. A sponsor never knows beforehand how a athlete or team will perform. The organization of an event is not in their own hands and it’s also not always clear how the target group will react on the sponsor object.
After evaluating this, I think we can state that negative publicity has an influence on the brand image of sport sponsors. Affairs like drugs abuse, poor performance, and failing management are not good for the image of the brand.

When I started this blog, I had my concerns about finding articles about problems athletes affecting the sports world in the field of sponsoring. But there seems to be a lot publicity around this topic.

My own view on this topic has not really changed. I do still think that athletes can suffer under all the pressure they receive. But on the other hand I also think that athletes have the responsibility to behave proper. Most of the time they get a lot of money for it and it is stated in their contract. A sponsor chooses for a certain athlete, team or event in good times and in bad times.

The struggle of sponsors in speed skating

I already told in one of my recent blogs that speed skating is a popular sport in Holland. This goes together with a lot of problems concerning the sponsors of the speed skaters. Roughly said there are three different sponsoring teams, known as TVM, DSB, and Aegon.
The national channel broadcasts all the tournaments and events, this causes a lot of viewers and sponsors. The exact sponsor amounts are kept secret, but according to insiders Aegon pays around € 7 million only for speed skating. TVM pays at least € 3 million for their team and for DSB it is not known.

The most important here is that every team has potential winners; but it also happens sometimes that one of the teams does not win anything. So they are not on the winners platform. This always causes problems between the sponsors. They want new or other athletes in their team, they stop sponsoring or they say negative things about the athletes.

Wouldn’t it be better if all the sponsors work together, so they don’t have to put energy in competing with each other and can completely focus on the sponsoring of the athletes. Apparently this seems to be impossible, because they are arguing already for such a long time. But I hope that it will work out one day.

Marathon skating, crisis number 1000

A big sport during the winter in Holland is marathon skating. The games are most of the time on an ice rink with a length of 400 meters. The competition is at least 25 rounds and at most 250 rounds. It has a long history. In the 17th century, the most popular skating tour started, it’s called the ‘Elfstedentocht’ (literally translated: eleven cities tour). It’s a 200 km long tour and according to participants a ‘ones in your lifetime experience’ riding it.
But at the moment marathon skating is in trouble. A lot of athletes, who are participating in this sport, are down. The problem is that the promised broadcasting time came true as a delusion.

One of the most famous riders Hulzebosch said about it: “If we’re all gonna sit down in despair, you can better directly quit. There has to happen something, otherwise we really have to stop.”
The newspapers already forecasted to head sponsor (but maybe more sugar daddy) DSB that this will be the final death blow. The costs don’t outweigh anymore the viewers, so the sports channel will not broadcast the events live anymore. Other sponsors already retreat for the coming winter competition because the events were not live broadcasted. Because of all the fuss with the officials and the unprofessional behavior it’s almost over with marathon skating.

So, the other way around, there is also a possibility of problems. If there are no sponsors, a sport cannot exist. Sports that are not really big, are dependent on their sponsors. They cannot continue without sponsoring. In this case, it will be really sad, if this sport is no longer played in a professional way because it’s one of the oldest and most typical Dutch sport.

Logo on Jockey Pants Brings UPS Publicity Valued in Millions

United Parcel Service (UPS) reaped millions of dollars worth of publicity by sponsoring Big Brown in his quest for horse racing’s first Triple Crown in 30 years. The association between the horse and UPS nicknamed Big Brown started with a grateful contractor and is built around a small logo that Jockey Kent Desormeaux wears on his riding pants.
Racing fans get a quick view of that UPS patch every time Desormeaux guides Big Brown across the finish line. He also dons a UPS cap when he poses for photographers in racing’s most prestigious winner’s circles.

According to TIME, Big Brown was named by his original owner, Paul Pompa, as "a salute to UPS" after UPS renewed its contract with Pompa’s New York trucking firm. The racing industry normally forbids naming horses after companies, but Pompa was allowed to do it because UPS gave up its Big Brown trademark in 2005. It has hold its common law rights to the name, which was inspired years ago by its well recognized brown delivery trucks.
The promotion potential for UPS will extend far beyond racing circles if Big Brown wins the Triple Crown. Owner Michael Iavarone plans to establish a racehorse hedge fund for private investors and has already been given the honor of ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Big Brown’s breeding rights have been bought for $50 million, which could extend his fame—and UPS’ nickname—for many years.

Jockey Desormeaux is a 38-year-old Louisiana native who was already in racing’s Hall of Fame before riding Big Brown to victories in the Derby and Preakness. He is a natural subject for feature stories because he is raising a 9-year-old son who has already had 11 surgeries in a long battle with Usher syndrome. The disease can cause loss of both hearing and vision.
The sponsorship of Big Brown encountered some negative publicity when the filly Eight Belles collapsed after the Kentucky Derby. The horse had to be euthanized on the track as thousands of fans watched the tragedy. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) immediately repeated many of their old demands for changes in the treatment of race horses. It also called upon UPS to drop its sponsorship of Big Brown.

The threat of more negative publicity increased when Big Brown suffered a slight crack in a hoof during the Preakness race. PETA called for an investigation of his condition but the owners said he would be ready for the Belmont Stakes two weeks later.
UPS Spokesman Norman Black told the Associated Press that the company had no plans to give up its sponsorship. "It's something you prepare for but not something that drives you away as a sports sponsor," Black said.

UPS sponsorship of thoroughbred Big Brown and Jockey Kent Desormeaux has its negative risks but it has already produced millions of dollars worth of publicity.
Horse racing is a dangerous sport, but sports sponsors run similar negative publicity risks with car racing crashes and sports scandals. So UPS will continue the sponsoring of horse racing.

Sponsors Find Olympic Connection a Double-Edged Sword

The sponsors of the Olympics 2008 pursued a risky, double-pronged strategy: Within China, they pushed their participation in the games, while simultaneously they wanted to play down their role in the West. In the Internet age, this is an approach that can easily be backfired.
In sports it’s the taking part that counts. There were 60 companies worldwide, which together paid an estimated several billion Euros for the privilege of being part of the Beijing Games.
In return, they received a spot on the hierarchy of sponsors. Sponsors at each level all have different rights when using the Olympic rings in their advertising. Twelve corporations, including Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Visa, are so-called "worldwide Olympic partners" of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). This means that they can use the games worldwide in their marketing campaigns. Each of them is believed to have paid up to $100 million.
There are also national sponsors, for example in the case of Germany, Mercedes-Benz. And at the next level are the sponsors of the Olympic Organizing Committee in Beijing, which include Adidas and Volkswagen.

In the case of VW, the German automaker's subsidiary in China, as well as the two joint venture companies VW operates in the People's Republic, have paid at least $80 million for their share, as well as providing the organizers with 5,000 vehicles in Beijing. The company didn't receive much in return. It can advertise its support for the games in China, but not in any other country. On the other hand, this was looking more and more like an advantage, given the political commotion about the games.

In this age of the Internet, strategies can easily fall flat. In one instance, for example, Chinese patriots became incensed over a Coca-Cola poster at the train station in the northern German city of Bremen, a photo of which they had discovered on the Internet. The poster depicted three Buddhist monks on a rollercoaster, accompanied by the slogan: "Make It Real."
"Germany has begun showing ads for Tibetan independence," wrote one furious blogger. "Coca-Cola, I'm going to remember that. From now on, I won't touch that lousy product."
The beverage giant reacted immediately. The poster was from 2003, the company explained, and the whole thing had nothing to do with Tibetan independence. Besides, the people at Coca-Cola wrote, the outdated poster in Bremen had been removed immediately.

Coca Cola paid millions for the right to sponsor the Olympic Games. But the question that arises here is, is the price marketing strategy worth it, given the negative publicity that surrounded the event?

Drunken antics of John Daly

Last week, John Daly denied reports that he had drank himself into a catatonic state at a local Hooters in North Carolina, he used the excuse that "he sleeps with his eyes open" and said that a worried bus driver just overreacted. Daly spoke with Golf.com about the incident, but seemed a little more concerned about the negative publicity Hooters would receive than his own well-being. The reason, as Darren Rovell points out today, is that Daly does have a lucrative endorsement contract with the wing-and-knocker franchise. fRovell says about it: “On the surface, you'd think that Hooters has to drop Daly. All signs pointed to him getting "overserved" at one of their establishments. But it's not that easy. For one, Hooters knows exactly who John Daly is. He's the every man. That's why they signed him. He's a very risky proposition. That's why despite mistake after mistake they are still with him....”

After all if he’s going to have some drinks and wings, he’s doing it at the place that sponsors him, It would have been easy for him to do this exact same thing at another Wings dining. 

Who hit it big in China?

Marketing firm R3 and CSM Media Research interviewed 1,500 Chinese consumers in 10 cities in China after the Olympic Games in Beijing. They did face-to-face interviews and the respondents had to mention a brand spontaneously. Coca-Cola did a great job, 51.8 percent of respondents came up with the brand. 2.3% of the persons recalled the Coke promotions.
Between July 2007 and October 2008 the number of people who mentioned the brand spontaneously increased from 31.7% to 51.8% of respondents. Other brands who saw increased awareness were Yili, Lenovo and Li-Ning.

The study also analyzed which athletes attracted most attention from Chinese consumers during the Olympic Games. Yao Ming was the most popular athlete among all respondents. But Michael Phelps caught the attention of China too. Before the Games nobody came up with his name, after the event 10.8% of the respondents named him.

EURO 2008

Last summer the European Soccer Championship (EURO 2008) has been played in Swiss and Austria. The head sponsor of the soccer team is Nationale Nederlanden (Dutch bank). The Dutch team was one of the favorites for the title. They performed well in their group C, that wasn’t an easy group, and became group winner. The expectations were high, many people thought that the Dutch team would win EURO 2008, but in the quarter final they lost from Russia, totally unexpected. Everybody was depressed and had negative feelings about the team because they always perform badly at major championships. The last time they won the European Championship was twenty years ago (1988). But the big question is, does the loss of the team has negative influences for the (head)sponsor of the team?

Use of stimulating medicines, a responsibility of a sponsor?

Market research institute MarketResponse researched under more than 400 Dutch people about the effect of negative publicity of a sport event on the sponsors of the event or the participating teams and athletes.

One-third of the respondents get a more negative image of the sponsor, when they sponsor a team or athlete who is accused of the use of stimulating medicine. More than 25% of the respondents say that they will use less products or services when is established that the team or athlete used stimulating medicines.

The reaction of the sponsor on this statement is of major importance for the image of the sponsor. 40% of the respondents declare that they don’t want to purchase products of the sponsor in case they don’t take action. In general they think that the sponsor has to withdraw. 21% of the respondents said that spontaneous. Other actions of the sponsor to react are: fire the athlete, and don’t take the whole team out of the event.

Furthermore MarketResearch concludes that there are divided meanings about the responsibilities of the sponsor. Almost half of the respondents (45%) are of the opinion that a sponsor has to take care that the team or athletes don’t take stimulating medicines. And if they identify stimulating medicines, three-quarter thinks the sponsor attaches no blame.

Negative publicity also just publicity

ABN AMRO has chosen for sponsoring for the Volvo Ocean Race because in their eyes it was the perfect way to bring their brand under world-wide attention. The corporate values of the bank, namely integrity, teamwork, respect and professionalism were compatible with the project.

They invested sixteen months in developing, testing and building of two boats. They paid an amount of 40 million euro to invest in the boat, the crew and the marketing campaign. Against these facts they had a world-wide public of 1.5 billion viewers.

Despite the fact that the risk of sponsoring an individual athlete is more risky than sponsoring of a team, there are enough situations to think of where a sports team comes negative into publicity. But negative publicity does not always have to have a negative effect..

An example here is Hans Horrevoets, he belonged to the crew of the ABN AMRO II. During the seventh stage of the Volvo Ocean Race from New York City to Portsmouth he fell overboard due to a strong storm. It happened 1300 miles out of the coast. The crew tried to revive him, but they were too late.

In Holland there has been a research accomplished to investigate what the effects of sports team non-performance on the corporate brand image of the sponsoring company were. The research is not finished yet, but they can already conclude that in the situation of ABN AMRO it did not had a significant negative effect on the corporate brand image. It even can help, sometimes unintentional and in this case not that proper, realize your communication goals.

Because in the end, negative publicity is just a form of publicity..

“ Wim van Est made a 200-foot fall, his heart stopped, but his Pontiac not at all!”

In 1951, Wim van Est nicknamed Iron William, was the first Dutch cyclist who was wearing the yellow jersey in his first appearance in the Tour de France. He obtained the yellow jersey after joining a small breakaway group during the twelfth stage, which gained eighteen minutes on then race leader Roger Leveque.
Iron William won the sprint out of his group, and not only captured the yellow jersey, but he won also the stage.
The thirteenth day the first appearance of the high mountains with a foray into the Pyrenees. Van Est had never raced in such terrain. He came from a poor family and had not the opportunity to travel very often so had almost never cycled in the mountains. He did well to stay in contact on the both climbs, but his luck soured when he had a flat tire at the summit of the second mountain, he lost three minutes. After this he had to take risks through each of the hairpin turns, eventually locking his brakes through a particularly nasty bend. The frond wheel locked, his tire blew and he sailed over a small wall into what appeared to be an endless abyss. He fell over 200 feet.

Van Est said about it: “I wanted to go left but the bike went straight on…”
Wim van Est suffered only minor scrapes and cuts and wanted to continue the race, but his manager ordered him into an ambulance and taken to the hospital for evaluation. This was the end of his reign in yellow and his bid to complete his first tour.
Back in Holland van Est’s fame grew following the Tour thanks to a successful advertising campaign run by watch maker, Pontiac. As it turned out, the company had given the entire Dutch team watches prior to the race’s start, and they were quick to capitalize on this fact by coining this clever slogan: “ Wim van Est made a 200-foot fall, his heart stopped, but his Pontiac not at all!”

INTRODUCTION

The explosive growth of the amount of medium types, a fragmented public, the emergence of the phenomenon ‘multitasking’ and the continuous increase of the advertisement quantity make it difficult for advertisers to reach the consumer. Interest has become scarce , and as a response will companies search constantly for other manners to reach their target group. Next to it, more and more consumers resist to traditional marketing communication instruments. Advertisement is seen as “dishonest, deceptive, and manipulative (Cornwell, Pruitand Clark, 2005). The unanimity of the supplied products ensure that it is more difficult for companies to distinguish from their competitors, through which they are obliged to outshine in activities around the brand.
Sponsoring seems to be the ideal answer to these developments. It offers advertisers the opportunity to present their self through a non-traditional, creative platform. By tying up with social projects, art, media, science or sports, advertisers are able to associate their brand with specific emotions and in this way, distinguish from their competitors.

Over the previous years, advertisers take more and more initiative to develop sponsor activities. With this, they create platforms that are totally focused on their image and their communication message. A few examples are brands that are the driving force behind a television program. But the most common sport sponsoring events are still the readymade images “off the shelf”. A few examples of existing events in Holland in which sponsors have attached their name are the Volvo Ocean Race, the ABN AMRO tennis tournament, the Samsung Super League (horse riding), the ENECO-tour (cycling), the Essent Cup (speed skating), the TNT Dutch Open (golf) and the Rabo Hoofdklasse (highest division field hockey). These are all examples of how popular sport sponsoring is in practically all divisions of sport.

But in the world of sport sponsoring not everything is always OK. The 2007 edition of the world’s biggest sport event is one to never forget. The pretended lies of the leader of overall placing, Michael Rasmussen, about his accommodation preliminary of the Tour de France and the continuous rumors about his presumed drugs abuse, enforced sponsor Rabobank, to remove him out of the cycling course. This was an unique event in the history of the Tour de France, with only four more course days to go. The ‘affair-Rasmussen’ has brought a lot of different thoughts and meanings. The big question here was, if this affair has damaged the image of Rabobank or that the bank came better out of it.

Is cycling with all her drugs affairs still attractive for sponsors? And more in general: Will the brand image of a sponsor be influenced when a sponsor object does something what not in accordance is with the law, if someone is involved with a scandal, when somebody performs undersized or if somebody comes in the media in a negative way?