Digital within Sports Marketing has seen an emergence within the industry. Digital tools such as blogs, social networks, video sharing, and others have created new communication mediums. It has also created an adaptable communications tool that has allowed fans and customers access and enable engagement with sport stars and campaigns.
Digital has allowed sports marketing campaigns to do more and engage with target audiences that even conventional mediums such as billboard advertisements can’t even yield. Innovations to technology have seen the industry gradually adapt to change.
Digital use within the industry has seen a cost effective method of ‘getting the message through’. The use of social media tools such a Facebook allows access to a wider community worldwide in comparison to newspaper campaigns. This method is cheaper, allows a larger presence and can me measured accurately unlike newspapers. This can be exemplified through Cadburys ‘Bring back Wispa’ campaign, which gained a huge buzz amongst the online community and Wispa eventually made a comeback.
Social media allows marketers to see who’s talking about brands, manage reputations and interact with the communities. It enables brands and athletes grow wider audience participation as well as creating deeper relationships with fans and customers. Platforms such as Twitter enable athletes to communicate directly with online audiences. This connection allows the fan to feel as if they have ‘behind the scene’ access to the athlete. The Twitter page of Brazilian football star Kaka, who has over 2.5 million followers, illustrates the power of digital and the potential it has.
The great thing about digital tools is that it is fairly easy to demonstrate the return on investment on campaigns. Tools like Google Analytics can help build affective measurement systems to see how many people found your website, purchased something, commented or shared your campaign. It also allows accurate measurement variables such as time, date, region and even assess peaks and troughs. With digital analyses tools you can even set up different URLs, landing pages and do split testing to see which variables have brought the best results.
In essence digital has not only provided us with a tool to help us with sports marketing but many varied to tools to go over and beyond with campaigns. Hence, marketers need to adapt to digital strategies to compete with the market.
Sponsorships... A brand that STANDS OUT
Red Bull
As a keen follower of sport, it’s hard not to notice one brand, a brand that in reality has nothing really to do with sport but has created a paralleled image with nearly every sport; this stand out brand is known as Red Bull. They sponsor pretty much every sporting activity around the world ranging from extreme sports like BMX, mountain biking, cliff-diving, kayaking, motocross, windsurfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, wakeboarding, surfing, skating, freestyle and rally, to nationally recognised sports such as Formula 1 racing, football, hockey, American football, golf and individual athletes from various sports. They even sponsor shows, events, music and games all around the world.
Red Bull adopts an aggressive sponsorship campaign by partnering with sports and events that associate with their target market. Their target market can only be devised through behavioural segmentation. This is because Red Bull is not just an energy drink, it is primarily a utility drink taken against mental or physical weariness or exhaustion. Hence, the target market can be derived as the athlete, who drinks for caffeine and sugar driven energy; the worker, who drinks for mental and physical stimulation and the clubber, who drinks it for energy and a useful yet tasty cocktail mix. This market is generally dominated by young males but females also fall into this segment and can be noticed through sponsorship of female athletes such as Alexis Thompson (Golfer).
Sponsoring supports Red Bulls image, visibility and credibility. This strategy contributes to the awareness of their target market and creates value to the brand, as their logo appears with every sponsor. This method of sponsoring allows Red Bull to stand out in the sponsorship world. It attracts people’s attention towards their brand and connects them even if they have never drunk Red Bull. By associating the drink’s image with this form of marketing activity, the company has created a very marketable ‘cool’ image which has created tremendous brand power within the market.
As a keen follower of sport, it’s hard not to notice one brand, a brand that in reality has nothing really to do with sport but has created a paralleled image with nearly every sport; this stand out brand is known as Red Bull. They sponsor pretty much every sporting activity around the world ranging from extreme sports like BMX, mountain biking, cliff-diving, kayaking, motocross, windsurfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, wakeboarding, surfing, skating, freestyle and rally, to nationally recognised sports such as Formula 1 racing, football, hockey, American football, golf and individual athletes from various sports. They even sponsor shows, events, music and games all around the world.
Red Bull adopts an aggressive sponsorship campaign by partnering with sports and events that associate with their target market. Their target market can only be devised through behavioural segmentation. This is because Red Bull is not just an energy drink, it is primarily a utility drink taken against mental or physical weariness or exhaustion. Hence, the target market can be derived as the athlete, who drinks for caffeine and sugar driven energy; the worker, who drinks for mental and physical stimulation and the clubber, who drinks it for energy and a useful yet tasty cocktail mix. This market is generally dominated by young males but females also fall into this segment and can be noticed through sponsorship of female athletes such as Alexis Thompson (Golfer).
Sponsoring supports Red Bulls image, visibility and credibility. This strategy contributes to the awareness of their target market and creates value to the brand, as their logo appears with every sponsor. This method of sponsoring allows Red Bull to stand out in the sponsorship world. It attracts people’s attention towards their brand and connects them even if they have never drunk Red Bull. By associating the drink’s image with this form of marketing activity, the company has created a very marketable ‘cool’ image which has created tremendous brand power within the market.
On the PR job hunt... AGAIN
After months of job hunting I have finally got a job, but unfortunately it’s not PR, its field marketing (real name = SALES). I’ve actually been with the company for about 6 weeks and I have to honestly say I HATE it. So I have decided to go back on to the job hunt and pursue my dreams of getting my first proper job in PR.
If any of you guys have any suggestions, tips, job offers or even a chance to get some experience please feel free to contact me.
PR AGENCIES PLEASE HIRE ME :)
If any of you guys have any suggestions, tips, job offers or even a chance to get some experience please feel free to contact me.
PR AGENCIES PLEASE HIRE ME :)
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