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.