Driving Differentiation through Sponsorship
Here’s one… Over the months of Thursday Thoughts I’ve written to date, I’ve raised concepts around the merits of sponsorship, the value, the measurement and the overall potential it’s capable of as a business strategy (Read: it’s more than a marketing play…). Today’s thought draws our attention towards its ability to provide differentiation that’s hard(er) to copy.
Let’s start by thinking about brand and business USPs. 20 or 30 years ago, it was far easier to build a moat around your business; either through NPD or a brand positioning that was difficult to replicate. Today, the pace of life and ability to pivot and change means that the opportunity to mimic what is working for other businesses or categories is far easier to integrate into your approach.
As more entrants come into play, at a more rapid rate of knots, the need to constantly evolve is paramount. Take ‘Food Delivery’ as a category. In the early phase we had one main player in Uber Eats who were quickly joined by the likes of Deliveroo, Menulog, Foodora, DoorDash, Milk Run et al… What all of these businesses were able to do, is observe. They could watch from afar and plan an entry strategy to create as big a splash as possible until the next entrant came in.
What I find interesting about these newer business categories is how quickly they all turned to sponsorship as a way to differentiate. I was across the Deliveroo x St Kilda deal, I enjoyed the Door Dash approach with the State of Origin, we all loved the Uber Eats activity with Channel 9 around the Australian Open… Same thing for FinTech. The volume of deals being done locally and globally from these relative ‘start-ups’ is immense.
What they have all correctly recognised, is that audience passions are the most persuasive way to connect and land a message. We are hardwired to seek out our passions. We think about them more often, have deep emotional connections and an availability bias that is almost impossible to replicate through ‘spots and dots’.
It doesn’t stop with newer product categories. Some of the world's biggest consumer brands have recently turned to sponsorship in their plight to stay relevant. Google’s recent deal with McLaren F1 Team or Spotify’s deal with Barcelona spring to mind - examples you’d never expect to see under the view of ‘why would they need sponsorship…’’.
So here’s the thought. If you’re facing a competitive threat, have a think about how you can use your sponsorship/s to say something unique about your business that is hard to replicate. Be original, get creative and open the doors for sponsorship to be more than a logo somewhere, to an integrated part of your overall go-to-market approach. Here’s some thoughts to spur you along…
Sponsorship, by its very nature, provides category exclusivity. While your competitors can buy advertising around yours, they can’t buy the same sponsorship.
Unlock what makes the audience tick about the sponsorship. Consider this, and how - as a business - you could play a genuine role in amplifying it. (Hint. People care more about their passions than they ever will about your brand).
Think about how the assets you’ve secured can work across the broader business than just marketing. For example, how could they be used to strengthen the supply chain, improve front-line staff performance, enhance thinking around NPD etc.
Ask the right questions. Why have we got sponsorship? What is it for? How are we using and measuring it? Get under the hood and develop a crystal clear understanding in order to be able to defend its use when the pressure increases and the urge to ‘buy more display’ creeps in...
In the fast-paced, ever-changing world we operate in, it’s likely your access to people's passions through sponsorship that can provide the strongest, clearest point of difference for your brand or business…
