Data collaboration makes it easier for brands and properties to personalize the fan experience
The 1928 Olympic Games were a pivotal milestone in the birth of modern sports sponsorship. Coca-Cola established a landmark partnership with the Olympic Games with the sole objective of increasing brand awareness at the Amsterdam Games. Coca-Cola’s partnership with the International Olympic Committee was a success, and inspired brands to evolve their attention to major sports properties around the world.
What Coca-Cola (and many other brands) discovered is that fans are the most passionate customers on earth. And with their passionate affinity for sports and sports properties, fans represent a unique audience which requires a unique approach.
Sports sponsorship has grown to a $105 billion global industry since those 1928 Olympic Games and is projected to continue growing. While sponsorships have evolved over time, up until now they have remained focused on reaching their largest audiences to grow their brand at the highest levels.
Today brands and partners seek a data-driven understanding of how sponsorships drive commercial objectives beyond driving awareness. This tipping point requires a deeper look into the funnel.
Meeting the Moment
Marketing leaders everywhere are challenged more than ever to show the impact of their sports investments. Adjacent performance marketing channels and a backdrop of macro-economic uncertainty have turned the spotlight on justifying sports marketing budgets.
Sixty-six percent of CMOs today said that they struggle to understand the ROI of their sports investments. A recent study also found 100% of brands, properties and agency partners list “ROI and impact measurement” as one of the three biggest challenges in sports sponsorships today.
Enabling More Personalized Fan Experiences
While the investments in sports sponsorship are staggering, brands are projected to spend $740.3bn on digital advertising in 2024. The vast majority of this spend is outside of their sports property channels.
Advances in technology have impacted the ability for brands to contact customers directly through traditional channels, such as the deprecation of third-party cookies and rise of privacy-minded marketing compliance. Increased data requirements in digital networks makes direct one-to-one (and first-party) fan and customer relationships even more important.
“You’re missing the mark if you’re not using data collaboration in your sponsorships today. StellarAlgo is setting the new standard for the future,” said Jennifer Van Dijk, current CEO at Superplastic and former NBA, Clippers and Wasserman Executive.
Almost 70% of global consumers follow sports on a regular basis and sports properties are working to understand these fans in more impactful ways. Properties today seek a true and complete understanding of how fans are engaging with their brand: from digital activations, vendor interactions, engaging in content, or buying merchandise. Sports properties are using sophisticated data-driven technologies to grow and nurture their relationship with fans. The opportunity is right for properties to extend this ability to their major brand partners.
Delivering Commercial Partnership Outcomes
Recent innovations provide sports properties the opportunity to help brand partners reach fans like never before. New data collaboration capabilities make it possible for teams and leagues to connect brands with fan behavior, allowing brands to build meaningful relationships with better visibility into the fan-driven commercial impact of their sports investments.
"We know the pains because we've been there, too. We're applying our industry experience to make it easier for rights holders and their partners to identify target fan audiences, action segments, and measure the impact of fans opportunities," said Vincent Ircandia, CEO and Co-Founder of StellarAlgo.
Meeting the Moment with StellarActivate
Since its beginning, StellarAlgo has focused on the unique intersection of fans and data in the sports industry. Over the last seven years, the company has become the leader in helping sports teams, leagues and their partners identify and measure meaningful fan opportunities. This has led to over 110 customers across sports properties and their broadcast and brand partners such as the NBA, NHL, U.S. Open, TNT Sports and Toyota.
StellarAlgo’s latest product innovation, StellarActivate, extends their fan data platform capabilities to brands and partners. They can now safely collaborate on fan opportunities with their brand partners, and in turn allow partners to activate their sponsorship with more personalized messaging and experiences. The results go beyond increased partnership satisfaction (a huge win in itself) to form a frictionless fan experience, helping brands better understand the impact of their investments.
When Levi’s sought deeper connections with their sport property partner’s audience, StellarActivate’s fan engagement and impact measurement capabilities helped realize a 31x return on ad spend from an activation, while Toyota Canada saw $10.3 million in lead value delivered in partnership with the Vancouver Canucks.
“Our partnership with the Vancouver Canucks allows us to connect with consumers through the love of their favorite team. StellarActivate helps us build personalized relationships with the fan base like never before and close the loop on what the partnership is delivering to our business,” said Dean Butler, Senior Business Lead at Toyota Pacific.
Sports properties and their brand partners have sought to deliver more personalized fan experiences and thus drive commercial impact from their relationships for many years. The capabilities are now becoming available and make it easier than it ever has been. Organizations can meet this moment and write the Coca-Cola and Olympics story of the next hundred years.
Interested in exploring these capabilities further? We would love to talk.
