Sports Sponsorship: Association with Winners

By
News Hub Asia Reporter
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It is a natural human behavior to want to be associated with winners…

Corporate Sponsorship of Sport
Malaysia defeats Singapore: Imagine your logo in this photo which appeared in the media following the match.

Globally the second most popular sport is Cricket, the sport has many heroes and players that are brand names that corporations scramble to be associated.  The main reason that led to the uprising of cricket was the advent of television and the massive viewer demand that came with that, the BBC reported that India vs. Pakistan World Cup match was the most watched sporting event in History, more than the Olympics.  The television audience was estimated at one billion viewers.

And now that audience has created “Social media activity and conversation is now increasingly becoming a huge part of agencies’ and sponsors’ evaluation of campaigns,” says Adam Wright, an Account Executive at a leading sport & entertainment agency.

One of the under invested real estates in the Malaysian sports scene is Cricket, Mahinda Vallipuram who is the President of the Malaysian Cricket Association explained some of the key facts about the sport and the opportunities for brands to engage  ‘The past 12 months have been an exciting time for Cricket in Malaysia, we have been able to move up the world rankings to become 23rd in the world.  Internationally speaking we have become well know due the various qualifiers for the World Cup and Asian Cup were hosted in Malaysia’.

Cricket Malaysia Sposorship
Cricket has a massive tradition but the scale and format of the sport is perfect for modern day marketing

‘Domestically, cricket is now played in over 480 schools across the country and various domestic and inter-state competitions has seen Malaysians from all races participating.  These activities resulted in an audited value of over RM2.1 Million worth of public relations value generated for the sponsors and supporters of Cricket in Malaysia’.

‘The next 18 months will be as equally exciting as Cricket for the first time has been included in the SEA Games for Men’s 50 over and T20 formats and T20 format for the women, this means cricket can contribute 3 gold medals to the national tally.  This is a great opportunity for companies to position their organisation as a supporter of the national team and be a part of the success to bring home gold’.

Sponsorship is not an act of charity – it must show some form of positive return on investment (ROI). Since sponsorship is a business arrangement, standard evaluative criteria should be used to establish the suitability of a proposed event in relation to the sponsor’s image and products. A sponsor can enjoy a wide range of benefits from a carefully selected sponsorship, which can:

  • raise brand awareness and create preference
  • create positive PR and raise awareness of the organisation as a whole
  • provide attractive content for a range of products and services
  • build brand positioning through associative imagery
  • support a sales promotion campaign
  • be seen supporting the national development agenda
  • create internal emotional commitment to the brand
  • act as corporate hospitality that promotes good relations with clients.

For more information about Cricket in Malaysia visit the national governing body’s website at www.CricketMalaysia.com and check out some of the recent events held at Kinrara the home of cricket in Malaysia

 

 

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