psych eye for the sponsorship guy

Psych Eye for the Sports Sponsorship GuyFour effective digital activation strategies for sports sponsorship using need-to-know psychology

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Dr Paul Marsden Psychologist

@marsattacks

How can digital make sponsoring an athlete, event, team, league, or stadium more effective for sponsors?

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Jensen, J. A., & Hsu, A. (2011). Does sponsorship pay off? An examination of the relationship between investment in sponsorship and business performance. International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, 12(4).

SUPER SPONSORS

SPONSORSMARKET AV.

GRO

WTH

(CAG

R)

STO

CK P

ERFO

RMAN

CESUPER SPONSORS

SPONSORSMARKET AV.

+1.31% +10.26%

Some, like Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban believe digital is a distraction, associated with boredom…

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Digital agencies, on the other hand, are pushing all manner of digital initiatives to ‘activate’ sponsorship deals

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Adidas prints 3D lace locks

#3D


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The North Face live cast at Masters of Snowboarding event

#LIVECAST


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Nike offers in-app personalised motivational message from sponsored athletes

#PERSONALISEDTiger Woods

Congratulations on your fastest mile!


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Crowdfunded sponsorship on Crowdtilt from Jamaican bobsled team

#SOCIAL


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Is DTF - Direct to Fan - the new model for sponsorship?

#DTF


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Intel Inside sponsorship, FCB and the Internet of Things

#IOT


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Sponsors providing data to enhance enjoyment

#DATATAINMENT


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With bigger audiences than NBA finals, is the future esports?

#ESPORTS


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Using sponsored athletes performance in wearable tech

#WEARABLE

But to have a clear idea of what can work, we need to understand the basic psychology of sponsorship

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#3D#DTF

#DATATAINMENT

#IOT

#IOT

#SOCIAL #LIVECAST

Unlike advertising that works primarily by persuasion, sponsorship works by association

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ADVERTISINGPERSUASION

SPONSORSHIPASSOCIATION

People store ideas in their minds - whether about people, brands or things - as networks of mental associations

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For example, who you ‘are’ to a friend is defined by the sum of mental associations they make about you…

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And these associations determine not only meaning (sense) but also feelings (sentiment)

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SENSE SENTIMENT

Wang, R. T., & Kaplanidou, K. (2013). I want to buy more because I feel good: the effect of sport-induced emotion on sponsorship. International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, 15(1).

The same goes for sponsors - sponsors are defined in our minds by the network of associations we make around them

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SPORTS

PERFORMANCE

JUST DO IT

SWOOSH

COOL

RUN

FOOTBALL

VICTORY

Sponsorship is the art and science of selectively reinforcing associations to improve sense, sentiment and salience

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VICTORY

Pracejus, J. W. (2004). Seven psychological mechanisms through which sponsorship can influence consumers. Sports marketing and the psychology of marketing communication, 175-190., Chicago

Sponsors can activate and reinforce an association by sponsoring a property that shares a target association

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VICTORY

Hoek, J. (1999). Sponsorship: An evaluation of management assumptions and practices. MARKETING BULLETIN, 10, 1-10. Chicago

When both parties share an association (AKA ‘associative coherence’), the association is reinforced and gets stronger

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SPORTS

PERFORMANCE

JUST DO IT

SWOOSH

COOL

RUN

FOOTBALL

VICTORY

Psychologically, the primary role of digital activation is to further reinforce this shared and strengthened association

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VICTORY

Tiger Woods

Congratulations on your fastest mile!

Interestingly the very act of sponsoring reinforces two particular associations around ‘quality’ and ‘fitness’

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We implicitly infer only ‘fit’ brands can afford to sponsor, and only ‘quality’ brands will be allowed to sponsor

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Like the peacock tail, sponsorship is a form of ‘costly signalling’ associated with fit, quality ‘genes’

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So it will usually be effective to focus digital activation around ‘fitness’ and ‘quality’ - whoever the sponsor

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In other words, sponsorship is a form of ‘conspicuous consumption’ - a costly but effective show-off display

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And what’s interesting about conspicuous consumption today is that it is changing - towards ‘conspicuous compassion’

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Conspicuous compassion is the visible signalling of fitness and quality through benevolence

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#FIRSTHOMEGAME

Coke’s Sprite brand renovating LeBron’s childhood court https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FGKofNiRzo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FGKofNiRzo

We’re likely to see a lot more effective digital activation of sponsorship based on conspicuous compassion

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#MAKETHEFUTURE

Shell’s sponsorship of soccer pitch in Morro da Mineira favela Rio de Janeiro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGsThiLDxzc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGsThiLDxzc

Is the future of sponsorship is conspicuous compassion?

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#IMMORTALFANS

Increasing organ donations by 54% with Immortal Fans and Brazilian Sports Club Recife - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUi6zTTpi3E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUi6zTTpi3E

So that’s it, 4 digital slam dunk digital activation insights for sports sponsors

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ASSOCIATIVE COHERENCE ‘FITNESS’ FOCUS

SPONSOR ‘QUALITY’ CONSPICUOUS COMPASSION

For more practical marketing psychology digitalintelligencetoday.com

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Dr Paul Marsden Marketing Psychologist

@marsattacks

http://digitalintelligencetoday.com

psych eye for the sponsorship guy

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