Sport has, for many decades, been a powerful vehicle for establishing, shaping and improving reputation among brands, businesses, and even nation-states. There are several reasons for this.
For one, sport delivers the reach and engagement required to create reputational impact on a national or global scale. At the higher levels especially, the very act of being associated with – or even owning – a premium sporting property sends a signal that a brand must be reliable and trustworthy.
This is partly because of the perceived cost of the association – only a solid, well-resourced business could afford to do that – but also due to the belief that a major sports rights-holder simply would not allow an unsuitable business to become a partner.
There have been numerous examples over the years, from emerging market businesses such as Hisense using sponsorship to establish itself as a trusted global brand, through to challenger brands like Starling Bank using sport to initially build awareness and credibility, and more recently to underline its core values.
Crucially, sport also delivers a level of trust, integrity, credibility, and affinity that brands can harness to shape their own reputation. Research by Nielsen has found that 81% of people viewed sports sponsorship as a trusted marketing channel, second only to recommendations from friends and family. This puts sponsorship ahead of most forms of advertising and communication, when it comes to establishing trust – the very foundation of a good reputation.
Research from GWI data also shows that 31% of people globally think more positively about a brand if it sponsors their favourite team or league, and research from the Women’s Sport Trust demonstrates a similar effect, with 30% thinking more favourably of companies that support women’s sport through sponsorship.
Approached strategically, a partnership with a particular sports team, event, league or individual can also – by association – help to establish various other values that build reputation, such as success, prestige, performance, fairness, integrity, resilience, leadership or innovation. This image transfer should not be taken for granted, however, as it does not always take place, and required careful nurturing through carefully chosen partnerships and activation.
With a less-than-ideal strategy, and especially one where there is serious misalignment between the sponsor and sponsorship recipient, a sponsor can easily suffer reputational damage. The right approach needs to carefully consider the purpose and objectives of sponsorship, target audience insight, brand values and alignment with potential recipients, how to position the partnership, and how it can be activated in a way that will authentically resonate with the audience.
Another, important, element of sport’s ability to drive reputation is its ability to create social impact. Sport has a genuine power to inspire and engage people, improve health and wellbeing, connect communities and drive economic activity.
This presents great opportunities for brands, businesses and destinations to enhance their own reputation through supporting and building initiatives that create an authentic and quantifiable impact on society. Capturing and measuring this social impact reliably has been a challenge, yet there now exist social impact measurement tools that considers the health, wellbeing and economic contribution of sports initiatives, and can measure their impact in real time.
Sport undoubtedly has this power to build and shape reputations, yet it requires a thoughtful strategic approach to get it right and reap the benefits.
Avoid simply reacting to incoming opportunities and proposals from rights holders and instead work with experts who can help you to proactively define your objectives, understand your audience and identify the sponsorship opportunities that align best with your needs.