If you want your brand to gain a sports-related gloss, you might be better off participating in community sports activities than by writing a check to have a pro athlete act as a spokesperson.
Speaking at last week’s Sports Sponsorship Symposium, an Advertising Week event co-sponsored by “Sports Business Journal,” marketers from McDonald’s, New Balance, and 24 Hour Fitness said that local sponsorships had often brought them more prestige and notice than teaming with a high-profile athlete had.
“It’s very much a space that you have to be careful with,” said Bill Lamar, chief marketing officer at McDonald’s USA, which had hired Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant to pitch its brand, only to see him tried and acquitted on rape charges. “That makes you somewhat wary. … You don’t want to use any kind of spokesperson that is going to overshadow … the brand.”
The fast-food chain had fared better using Olympics athletes, Lamar noted. And it has gotten a lot of mileage out of its Passport to Play promotion, which it developed with the Baylor School of Medicine in partnership with the Kaleidoscope Education Support Group. Lamar said 31,000 schools worldwide had signed up for the program, in which schoolkids engage in playground games and other activities from around the world and learn about the cultures from those countries.
“We’ll always stay ahead on the grassroots level,” Lamar said. “We think that’s one of the things that really engenders loyalty to our brand.”
24 Hour Fitness takes another approach: It takes star athletes on as partners, not pitchmen, said chief marketing officer Brad Engel. “We don’t write a check,” Engel said, referring to sports stars such as Lance Armstrong and Magic Johnson, who are partners in the clubs. “The check comes with the success of the clubs. … They do very well.”
The athletes never appear as spokespersons but rather as fitness experts who talk about the role exercise has played in their lives in connection with their health. For example, Armstrong discusses how he overcame cancer to win the Tour de France seven times.
According to Paul Heffernan, chief marketing officer of New Balance, the sneaker company is outspent 20-1 by category leader Nike. So it seeks out alternative paths in keeping with its brand image, which plays to “everyday athletes” who want a sneaker that’s more functional than fashionable. New Balance owns a Major League Lacrosse franchise and is a league sponsor. It has also backed the Chicago Marathon and charities such as the Race for the Cure, sponsored by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
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