Sports Sponsorship to Rally the

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 WHAT IS SPONSORSHIP?
• Sponsorship is a commercial deal where a
business provides support, usually financial,
for a team, athlete or event.

• Companies hope to enhance their advertising

and brand recognition by association with a
sport or athlete, presenting their brand and
products in a positive light.
 ECOLOGY OF SPONSORSHIP
• There are different parts of society which are involved in sponsorship
• The sports can not alone exist on it’s own.
• Businesses and media make the sporting field an industry
 Case Study
• companies often sponsor sports teams and events to
promote their brands to the public.
• Sponsorships are being used strategically inside
companies to motivate employees or facilitate a
major structural change, such as a merger.
• A study was conducted that looked at sponsorship
and brand-management practices in 20 global
companies and sports organizations, including Nike,
Visa, Crédit Lyonnais, the International Olympic
Committee, and the International Federation of
Association Football.
• Switzerland-based UBS, one of the world’s leading
financial firms, uses its sponsorship of Team Alinghi, the
current title holder of the America’s Cup yacht race, as an
internal marketing vehicle.
• Internal marketing is the promotion of a company's
objectives, products and services to employees within
the organization. The purpose is to increase employee
engagement with the company's goals and fostering
brand advocacy.
• Values common to UBS and Team Alinghi, such as teamwork,
responsibility, informed and rapid decision making, drive to
succeed, and Swiss identity, are at the heart of
communications designed to unite, motivate, and improve
the output of the company’s 67,000 employees scattered
across the globe.
• UBS also created an intranet site known as the World of Alinghi,
which offers information about the sponsorship’s objectives and
provides a toolbox of presentations, images, and display materials
that employees can use to leverage the sponsorship in approaching
clients.
• Across companies, the employee engagement stimulated by internal
marketing of a sponsorship enhances the external effectiveness of
the program.
• In the case of UBS, the sponsorship has been instrumental in
motivating employees to help build the UBS brand.
 French banks BNP-Case
• In another case, the French banks BNP and Banque de Paris et des
Pays-Bas (Paribas) used sponsorship of the French Tennis Federation
as a unifying element in employee communications to promote
acceptance of their post merger identity and to describe the new
company’s future direction.
• logo and livery of the merged bank were launched primarily through
the association with tennis.
• Tennis merchandise and posters of tennis events were distributed
widely through the combined network of branches.
• Moreover, rather than sponsoring just the French Open at Roland
Garros, the new organization, operating as BNP Paribas, worked with
the tennis federation to develop other events, including a masters
competition, that would create further opportunities to engage with
staff members around the sponsorship throughout the year.
 Role of Management
• Management should weigh potential internal marketing value
when contemplating any sponsorship program.

• Sports-related internal communication programs can create

cohesion, elicit pride in the company, and enhance
perceptions of it as a vibrant “winner” or leader in its
industry.

• During a sponsorship, employee surveys can help in value

assessment, and the very act of surveying can further engage
employees in the program.