Fluid Fan Data is the Next Wave in Sports Sponsorship
Throughout most of the modern history of professional sports—nearly a century—sponsorship has been driven by the concept of association. Brands, ranging from laundry detergents to beer, have sought partnerships with sports properties in the hope that their brand association with the most popular cultural phenomenon in the world will net them positive brand awareness. And frankly, it has been sustainable as a major revenue pillar across global sports.
But at the Sports Innovation Lab, we spend most of our time thinking about what is coming next, and preparing our clients and Leadership Board members for that future. That’s why we’ve released our latest report “Data-Driven Sponsorship.” In it, we address the shortcomings of the sports sponsorship landscape, which has only incrementally evolved over the decades, and revealing an innovative new roadmap for instituting advanced models designed to create exponential returns.
The key word here is data. We believe that the sports industry needs to rethink our relationship to our fans, and recognize that while association with sports may have been enough to sustain sponsorship revenue to date, going forward the market will have more targeted and economical options in the attention economy for not only reaching and messaging, but engaging with consumers. The sports industry can only rest on the cache of being popular for so long before the sponsorship well begins to dry.
To that end, our CEO and 4X Olympic Medalist Angela Ruggiero said, “It’s time for sponsorship investments to work harder and smarter. Properties and brands need to be in a stronger position to personalize the sports experience and deliver breakthrough fan experiences.”
The report was stewarded by the members of Sports Innovation Lab’s Next Generation Sponsorship Leadership Board, which includes leaders from the industry’s most progressive brands and sports organizations including the NHL, Coca-Cola, Drone Racing League, Mastercard, Athletes Unlimited, and FIFA, the report pushes for architecting sponsorship activations around fan behaviors and motivations, and ultimately building a richer fan CRM database.
Download the latest report here, and you can learn more about our Leadership Board program here.