David Hartley, PR and Marketing Manager:

• The opportunity 
• Navigating the competition and finding your lane
• One to Watch: Growth in B2B involvement

Unsurprisingly, the worlds of marketing and sport, both beautifully creative when operating at the highest level, have become so finely intertwined that I’m sure even the most fair-weather sports spectators can reel off brand partnerships for sporting events. When you think of summer tennis at Wimbledon, you think of Pimms. Similarly, when you think of your favourite FIFA World Cup song (Waka Waka is still the GOAT!), I’m sure your mind’s eye can picture a bottle of Coca-Cola weaved into the advertising somewhere. Whether it’s the Google Chrome logo masquerading as McClaren’s F1® wheels, or Heineken and PlayStation’s stranglehold on the UEFA Champions League, brands have their mitts across all major sport events.

As the world approaches the highly anticipated Olympic Games in Paris next month, it’s little wonder that a range of global titans from a variety of sectors have started to flex their muscles to gain primetime coverage as the world watches on this summer.

The opportunity

With a reported figure in excess of three billion viewers during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, it is currently predicted that an even higher viewing figures will be achieved in 2024. Thanks in part to the more favourable broadcast times for US audiences, the higher engagement rate gives brands and marketers an opportunity to tap into one of the biggest audiences we’ve ever seen.

As a truly global event, the opportunities provided by the Olympic Games can enable your brand to showcase its products and services to the most diverse group of consumers, giving you the chance to connect and tap into new markets which may have been unachievable otherwise. Global reach and brand awareness are achievable during the Games, and at a time when every eyeball or positive customer experience has an impact on your bottom line, it’s an opportunity not to be missed.

Navigating the competition and finding your lane

The evolution of social media and the increasing prominence of live-streaming means that major sports coverage is becoming a multi-channel behemoth. While this opportunity has provided brands with even more touchpoints to engage with consumers, it has also given rise to fiercer competition and a battle for attention.

While enhanced brand visibility and engagement are enticing, the cost of opportunity through sponsorship or advertising can be a prohibitive barrier for smaller brands. So, careful consideration should be applied to planning to ensure that you don’t lose an impossible competition for space with the endless marketing budgets of the likes of Visa or Deloitte. Think about the channels that are going to be most beneficial for your audiences and weigh up the cost of your creative and ad spend to ensure you’re reaching an unsaturated audience. Whether that’s through paid ad spend to a specific target demographic, utilising more out-of-home opportunities where everyone has moved to digital, or joining forces with aligned brand to maximise resources and creative output.

An important element to consider is the authenticity of your creative opportunity. Major events, sporting or not, give rise to opportunism whereby brands put some spend behind something with no real intention or conviction in their decision-making in a desperate grab for reach. During planning, it is worth considering the emotive and compelling narrative or reasoning behind your brand message (perhaps that align with the ethos of the Olympics?) in an attempt to resonate with and foster a positive perception among your consumers.

No pre-tournament article would be complete without a prediction or two. My marketing one to watch during this summer is the increasing involvement of B2B brands within the sponsorship of the Games. Recently, we have seen more B2B brands acting more like their B2C counterparts, sensing the opportunity that sport has to increase audience reach, brand awareness and reputation growth; for example, the growing influence of Aramco, AWS and Salesforce within Formula 1® and the increase in B2B sponsorships in the Premier League. As more B2B organisations find their personal touch and appeal more to the emotions of a typical consumer, I think we can expect this to continue.

Paris 2024 is awash with opportunities as the world watches on. Now is the time for you to get creative, get competitive and let the games begin!