Activating and Measuring Success in Purpose-Driven Football Club Partnerships
In today’s fast-paced sports marketing landscape, partnerships between brands and football clubs present unique challenges and opportunities. Yvonne Tee, Head of Brand Partnerships at BingX, shares insights on activating football club partnerships, especially when operating from different continents, and the importance of purpose-driven collaborations at Sports Pro Singapore. This conference unites the APAC region with local and global industry innovators to solve the challenges and uncover the opportunities at the heart of the next generation of sports businesses.
- Activating Football Club Partnerships
Q: How have you managed activating your partnership through the ups, downs, and big announcements of your respective partners?
A: Nothing is 100%, and unlike traditional marketing campaigns, where you plan almost 12 months ahead, many are probably working on their Christmas plans now. So we try to be more flexible in this fast-moving industry, and we don’t just plan a static activation plan that’s too far ahead.
During winning games, we create co-branded content and offer exclusive fan experiences with the club. During losses, though, we refocus on community building or even tap into behind-the-scenes content. More importantly, having open communication with the club allows us to pivot, discuss potential challenges, and brainstorm solutions together when necessary.
2. Activating Partnerships from Afar
Q: How have you activated your partnership whilst being on a different continent to your partner, and not being able to make use of the rights day-to-day?
A: Being a digital platform gives us a huge advantage. We maximize digital opportunities because we don’t really require physical proximity to create compelling digital content. We work with CFC very closely to create digital content series and social media campaigns. Honestly, I think it turns out pretty well with the 8-hour time difference, especially when it comes to production. It’s almost like we are operating 24/7 with back-to-back churns of work.
Like many other sponsors, we leverage player merchandise. We do exciting giveaways and social contests around these items. These campaigns can be enjoyed anywhere in the world, anytime online, or even down to offline events or conferences We don’t limit ourselves by a particular time zone or our partner’s availability.
3. Empowering Future Generations
Q: How has BingX’s partnership with CFC touched upon empowering future generations?
A: We saw a great opportunity in Chelsea’s dedication to nurturing young talents. Their commitment to developing young players aligns perfectly with our own vision of empowering the future. So, we created the “Empower the Future” campaign. In this campaign, we wanted to show fans that these rising stars are more than just athletes. BingX created a content series that delves into the lives of these young footballers off the pitch. We highlighted their hobbies, their passions, and how they give back to their communities. At the end of the day, a glimpse of these players’ well-rounded lives will help support their fans in achieving their full potential, both on and off the field.
4. Evaluating Sponsorships for First-Time Sponsors
Q: How did BingX evaluate Chelsea FC? What advice would you give brands thinking about sponsorship?
A: It’s definitely the target audience fit. It’s crucial to identify the demographic and psychographics of the group of people you would like to speak to. Is it a global or local audience of a few key markets? From this, you can narrow down to what sports you would like to focus on because different regions have different popular sports.
Once you figure out the type of sport with your objectives, you look further into a few categories based on your budget. This budget will decide if you can afford a team sponsorship, title or open sponsorship, or even just an individual sponsorship. It’s also worth looking at their social media, paying attention to the content quality, and especially their content with their existing partnership to gauge how open/flexible they are with something outside of football with their partners.
In addition to these, we also looked into the alignment of our brand values for BingX and Chelsea. In this case, sharing the same vision of empowering the future is definitely a big plus to a strategic partnership.
5. Most Successful and Memorable Sports Brand Partnership
Q: What do you think is the most successful and memorable sports brand partnership of all time?
A: This is so iconic and memorable that it has been turned into a movie called “Air,” by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. It’s none other than the partnership between Nike and Michael Jordan. The fact that Nike found this hidden opportunity from an underdog, unproven rookie in the early 80s and eventually built one of the most successful shoe lines in the world, the Air Jordan, is absolutely game-changing. The innovative contract, including a flat fee, sales percentage, and other incentives, set new standards for athlete endorsement contracts. I think this has to be one of the most successful partnerships we have had.
