By Christian Collison, CEO of sports marketing agency, Nifty Communications.
Everyone knows the digital age has turned traditional sponsorship models on their head but there are still revenue-generating opportunities that many clubs and organisations are missing.
Take commercial segmentation, for instance. In the world of top-flight sports, brand share is the mainstay of any model – that’s why shirt sponsorship and ‘visible’, almost above-the-line style of promotion is still the pinnacle consideration (think shirt sponsors) – and segmentation of data is rarely considered in the endless quest for more valuable commercial opportunities. As a result, performance is the biggest factor in driving commercial growth. It’s simple – teams that win command more value.
Only, it’s not simple. At least, not anymore. Winning teams will always command a premium but there’s huge commercial value left on the table when audience segmentation is not a driving factor in revenue generation.
Digital allows us to break down and target our audiences almost to the individual and enables round-the-clock analytics – meaning we can show true ROI, which at Nifty we measure in terms of reach, recognition and return. This ROI is famously difficult to track in more tradition media forms.
Tracking ROI is obviously a huge benefit but it’s only a Brucey Bonus when we talk about the true power of digital. The true benefits are now much simpler to understand.
Do you remember the dawn of social media, when everyone jumped on the latest channels and spent hours scrolling, digesting what they were all about? Well, that period ended at least 10 years ago now.
TikTok aside, we’ve all had time to settle into the platforms that suit us best and as a result, there are now clear social groups in terms of engagement across platforms – and across our client’s audience sets these demographics are clear to see.
It’s not always as succinct as this but for the interests of simplicity, and your attention span, we’ll break these down as simply as possible: Boomers are on Facebook, Millennials engage on Instagram and Gen-Z love TikTok.
Now think about it commercially. Any marquee commercial partner who is after a front-of-shirt deal might be looking to establish brand awareness across all these demographics but there will also be brands out there who aren’t. Home Insurance, for instance, isn’t likely to resonate with a TikTok audience… but for Facebook?
That’s one of the possibilities we mean when we talk about segmenting commercial opportunities. These are only suggestions but consider a services company as your ‘Official Facebook Partner’ or an apparel and/or aspirational partner as your ‘Official Instagram Partner’.
This opens new avenues in content through collaborative, hands-on relationships with your commercial partners. Whether that’s through partner-led, value-addED content or more wide-reaching themes, the possibilities are almost endless. There are also more opportunities to turn your audience into direct consumers for your partners, and vice versa, meaning increased ROI and long-lasting relationships.
Now, we’re not saying that 24-year-olds aren’t on Facebook, it’s just that they use it differently from their primary channel – which is most likely TikTok or Instagram – just as the over 40s will use Facebook differently to how they use TikTok.
While we’re on TikTok, it’s worth noting we don’t often consider TikTok partners early on in a new client relationship. Instead, we focus on CSR content among news and follow the principled purchase model that helps pull Gen-Z in over the long term.
To summarise, there’s huge commercial value in your digital audiences and it’s never been easier to unlock that value. All it needs is a new approach to commercials and the desire to build long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships between clubs and partners.