Creating Winning Strategies for Brands through Football Sponsorships

One veritable passion for Africans is football. For years, the bond between football and Africans has become inseparable with Africans following it with religious fervour.

Away from Africa, the passion has position football in many regions of the globe as “the world’s game,” and its popularity in recent times has shown no sign of waning.

Buoyed by an increasingly diverse array of participation at the grassroots level, and spurred forward at its highest professional ranks by bankrolling owners and lucrative media rights deals, this relatively simple yet beautiful game has continued to excite and enthral billions of people around the globe.

Apart from serving as a means of entertainment, football is regarded as a strategic marketing tool that brands can employ to worm themselves into the mind of their loyal fans.

The importance of footballmarketing (sponsorship) to the growth of any brand is huge and the earlier the brand custodians understand this the better, sport marketing experts reckoned.

Marketers must realise that with the right information at their disposal, the right partners and a clear strategy, their brands are on their ways to build brand equity and customer advocacy that can last beyond football season.

Amazingly, the importance of sport sponsorship in today’s marketing cannot be over-emphasised, as it wields transformative power that can help build brands beyond game day. It’s also capable of driving exponential growth in brand awareness and affinity, and can also build brand equity and customer advocacy that will last longer.

Interestingly, many brands across the world, that recognised these benefits have tapped into football marketing through sponsorship, enabling them to leverage the enthusiasm and loyalty of the die-hard football fans to market their products and services.

Chief Executive Officer of Two Circles, Gareth Balch once said: “As a marketing platform to reach passionate and emotionally engaged audiences at scale in brand-safe environments, football sponsorship is unrivalled.
According to Sportico, the average value of a Premier League team now stands at $1.29 billion. On an estimate, the 20 clubs in the English top-flight football league are worth more than $25 billion cumulatively.

The overall average was significantly lifted by the Premier League’s so-called “big six”, who were involved in the recent failed attempt to form a breakaway European Super League (ESL). Little wonder that different brands sponsor football clubs of their choice because of underline opportunities they stand to gain while also contributing immense financial support to the game of football annually.

Sadly the story may be different in Nigeria as a result of the decline in the prospects of the Nigerian football industry over the years with low participation and investment.
However, the recognition of these benefits has prompted some brands and organisations to step up their participation in football marketing.

HiFL and the Collegiate Football
The sponsorship deals by StanbicIBTC, Nivea Men, Minimie and Bold with Pace Sports and Entertainment Marketing Limited organisers of Higher Institutions Football league in conjunction with Nigeria University Game Association (NUGA) have proved to be worthy partnerships.

Ever since Higher Institution Football League (HiFL) came in to being in 2018, football commentators and enthusiasts have been showering praises on Pace Sports and Entertainment Marketing Limited, the organisers of HiFL and the sponsors (StanbicIBTC, Nivea Men, Minimise and Bold) for bringing this lofty idea of organising the best collegiate football league in Nigeria to live.

Speaking on their involvements in Higher Institutions Football League, Managing Director of Beiersdorf Nigeria, Mr Godwin Harrison said, “Nivea Men is thrilled to come on board as HiFL’s Official Men’s Grooming Partner in 2021. The partnership will enable us to support the nurturing of football talents among Nigerian youth while connecting with our young future consumers through a sport the whole country is passionate about.”

On their participation in HIFL, Head of Brand and Marketing, IBTC, Bridget Oyefeso-Odusami, stated that Stanbic IBTC’s involvement is in tandem with the company’s determination to help grow, empower, and develop a vibrant and productive youth populace in Nigeria.

“At Stanbic IBTC, one of our core objectives is to engage the youth through initiatives, which will contribute to talent-moulding and character-building. We are committed to this project because we believe that its course is aligned with our strategic goals as it concerns lifestyle, education, and empowerment”.

Also speaking, Managing Director of The La Casera Company Plc, Chinedum Okereke said, “Our coming on board HiFL with the Bold franchise is not unconnected with the array of opportunities Pace Sports and Entertainment Marketing Limited present to the Nigerian youths, especially for the various collegiate football leagues. We see it as a bold statement and the right platform to support the talent nurturing of our younger generation. We believe this will go a long way to help them in their future sporting careers.”

While commenting, Brand Manager of Minimie, Monica Jaiswal said, “this is an opportunity for us at Minimie to appreciate what HiFL is doing by giving an opportunity to our youths to express themselves. We see it as a great idea that needed to be supported to grow, hence our involvement in HiFL”.

Marketing experts believe that investment in football marketing is a great opportunity for brands and organisations to win more customers to their side and enlarge their market share in a country of over 200 million people, a growing middle class and about 65 per cent youth population. This is exactly the opportunity that HiFL has come to create for brands.
Remarkably, a collegiate football competition, HiFL has proven the possibility of embarking on sports development in Nigeria.

Since its inception, the immense value and opportunities the HiFL platform has provided for participants and corporate partners continue to exist at the front burner of youth engagements. And this has attracted the interest of many sports enthusiasts who have seen Pace Sports and Entertainment Marketing Limited as a pacesetter in the development of grassroots sports in Nigeria.