Intro
Maximizing Sports Marketing to Boost your Business
I’m a huge sports fan, so one might think I’m biased, but stats show sports are driving our culture, free time and spending habits like never before. During this past year, sports viewership has been on the rise: The 2023 National Hockey League (NHL) season was the most watched NHL season in 30 years*; Canadian viewership for the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) in 2023 was 32% higher than last year, with numbers rising 123% for the finals**; and nearly 50% of the Canadian population (19 million unique Canadian viewers) watched some or all of the 2024 Super Bowl***. Add this to the excitement around the Euro Cup, Copa America, upcoming Olympic Games and much-anticipated World Cup in 2026, and it’s no wonder sports are also driving successful marketing initiatives.
Many big, athletic-focused campaigns are imprinted on our psyche, and even the non-sporty among us can recall popular slogans like Nike’s “Just Do It!” But not every marketing budget can afford to sign Michael Jordan, David Beckham or Caitlin Clark, so how can more modest campaigns still leverage the power of sports and sports personalities to make dollars and sense?
At Strategic Objectives, we earn big league results by creating smart strategies that deliver stellar results. Here are a few tips to help your brand play to win.
Tip #1: Find a Connection
A recent study from Emerald Insight**** states that, “A sports celebrity is the most effective type of endorser in increasing consumers’ purchase intentions.” This fact is proven time and time again, and our agency has developed many great partnerships with sports icons including Wayne Gretzky, Tessa Virtue, DeMar DeRozan, José Bautista, Elvis Stojko, Cheryl Pounder, Wendel Clark, and Guy LaFleur to name a few. The winning play with each of these matches was establishing a genuine connection between the athlete and the brand. This is always key to ensuring your initiative rings true and is authentic, newsworthy, and credible. Here’s just one example:
- We are honoured to have partnered with A&W on its Burgers to Beat MS initiative which has raised more than $20 million for MS Canada since its inception in 2008. Over the years, the campaign, has partnered with Canadian soccer legend, Christine Sinclair, and Toronto Maple Leaf, T.J. Brodie. Both resonate with the campaign as authentic, because both of their lives have been touched by MS. Not only are both athletes super-motivated to help advance research, understanding and a cure for the disease, but they are willing to discuss their own experiences which provides a powerful connection to the campaign, fostering discussion among media and target audiences.
Tip #2: “Sports-jack” Awareness
We often speak to the success of news-jacking, i.e. harnessing current events to raise awareness of a client’s brand or cause. This concept works equally well in the sports arena where your brand can effectively ride a popular wave of sports sentiment. Here’s one very effective way we brought this to life:
- We believe women deserve a professional hockey league, just like men, and were delighted to assist the PWHPA (Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association) in accomplishing their goal. As passionate hockey fans and huge supporters of women’s sport, we partnered with the PWHPA to create “Stick in the Ground”, an international, award-winning campaign that rallied everyone from young girls to hockey, and other sports, all-stars to proclaim their support for a professional women’s hockey league. We scored the ultimate assist when the PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League) launched in 2023, and its opening game was viewed by 2.9 million people in Canada *****.
Tip #3: Supersize your Sponsorship
Your work is only beginning when you score a sports sponsorship. At Strategic Objectives, we team up with our clients to ensure their sponsorships offer major opportunities. We’ve pushed far beyond board signage and a jersey logo to bring sponsorships to life in numerous arenas ranging from hockey to curling, tennis, soccer and skateboarding.
Here’s how we took our support for the PWHL to the next level, unveiling our long-term client, BIC, as the league’s newest sponsor.
- We negotiated to have BIC Soleil Escape named the official razor of the PWHL and promoted the partnership as an ideal way to help players stay smooth both on and off the ice. The sponsorship deal includes prominent signage in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa venues, and we worked hard to build on this awareness and increase excitement with in-game contests and collector’s item giveaways including BIC x PWHL bucket hats which proved a huge hit with fans.
- We also scored big beyond the arena with media relations and social posts. And we teamed up with one athlete from each Canadian team – Emma Maltais, Emily Clarke and Laura Stacey – to create “what’s in your bag” content. All in all, we glided to a smooth finish in the PWHL’s historic, inaugural season.
Conclusion
Final Thoughts
When it comes to successful sports marketing, the ball is in your court. Think beyond the endorsement. It takes strategy, ingenuity and commitment to win big with your audience in this highly competitive field.
Are you looking for help creating title-winning sports strategies? Please contact us and let’s hit it out of the park together.
