AS Covid-19 cases are once again on the rise, on-ground sports events become even more buried deeper than six feet underground. Sports brands have had to pivot and realign their budgets to digital and online initiatives to keep themselves relevant throughout this ordeal.
The closest thing to on-ground events these days are league bubbles that offer multi-platform branding. Leagues must have a surplus of resources to afford to stage a bubble season.
The Philippine Basketball Association reportedly spent P65 million over two months to stage its bubble in Clark last year. The National Basketball Association forked out $180 million also last year to stage a successful bubble at Disney World which prevented the league from losing $1.5 billion in expected revenues.
The Philippine Football League held its own successful bubble with some challenges to start and end its season. The Philippine Super Liga started off its season with a successful beach volleyball tournament last February in Subic.
The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketbal League also had its own bubble, but not without controversy hounding a few teams in relation to players’ salaries and wages.
Thailand held a successful bubble in January, housing 433 athletes from 25 countries who competed in three badminton tournaments. The players were quartered in a hotel from January 4 to 31. There were no reports of positive cases.
In the UK, the Yonex All England Championships were held successfully behind closed doors from March 17 to 21. Their competition was a bubble as well and they too, were successful.
Sports marketers have to be creative and innovative in keeping their respective brands relevant and to expand brand association.
Sports brands must focus on not just basketball and volleyball but evaluate going beyond the two sports, looking at brand ambassadors from other sports, as well.
Podcasts and webinars are other avenues and options for sports marketers. Naming rights for a podcast is creative and will assist in the brand being looked at in a different light. There are values to be had from podcasts and webinars, from logo inclusion and product placement on screen and on crawlers to TVC playbacks before and after the program to product mentions and brand exposure on virtual backgrounds.
The Danish football league, already used as early as last year virtual fans for its games by partnering with video call companies like Zoom, Google Meets and Microsoft Teams. The fans got a courtside and ringside view of the action in the process.
Some sports have resorted to doing things virtually—virtual marathon, virtual triathlon (what about the swimming part?), virtual duathlon and virtual athletics which Milo did with the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association. Even in virtual, there are creative and innovative opportunities for sports marketers of sports brands.
In the end, it is not just navigating through the challenges and obstacles posed by the outbreak, but also creating an abundance of creativity and innovativeness to go around these obstacles to make sure your brand stays relevant.