Tini Maze, slovenski in svetovni smučarski junakinji, smo izročili že novembra osvojeno priznanje za SPORTO blagovno znamko leta 2011 med športnicami.

Tino smo ujeli med fotografiranjem za naslovnico znane mednarodne revije, ki izhaja tudi v slovenskem jeziku. »Žal mi je, da je zaradi natrpanega urnika nisem mogla prevzeti na konferenci v Portorožu,« je povedala Tina in ob tem dodala: »Počaščena in vesela sem tega lepega priznanja. Veliko mi pomeni, da ljudje spremljajo in opazijo mojo predanost smučarskemu športu, da me podpirajo in cenijo rezultate. Upam, da se bomo tudi v prihodnje veselili skupaj.«

Foto: Mimi Antolović / Cosmopolitan

Teniški ATP turnir v Umagu ima novo sponzorsko ime – Vegeta Croatia Open Umag. Turnir, ki obstaja že 22 let in velja za enega od najbolj prepoznavnih v moškem teniškem koledarju, se je povezal z verjetno najbolj znano hrvaško kulinarično blagovno znamko.

»Vegeta je poznana v kuhinjah več kot 50 držav po celem svetu – in to že celih 50 let. S sodelovanjem z umaškim turnirjem, ki na inovativen način povezuje šport z drugimi turističnimi vsebinami, dodajamo vrednost blagovni znamki Vegeta in še utrjujemo njeno prepoznavnost po svetu,« je povedal predsednik uprave Podravke Zvonimir Mršić. Željko Kukurin, predsednik uprave Istraturista in predsednik organizacijskega odbora turnirja, je dodal: »Vegeta je ena od globalno najbolj prepoznavnih hrvaških blagovnih znamk, zato je za nas še kako pomembno, da smo povezani z njo. Verjamem, da bomo s pomočjo sodelovanja s Podravko naredili nov korak naprej tudi na področju vsebin izven teniških igrišč, zaradi katerih je Umag že nekaj časa zelo priljubljen med ljubitelji vrhunskega športa in zabave.«

ATP turnir v Umagu je v prejšnji sezoni dobil nagrado »Best Fan Experience«, dovolj o prepoznavnosti turnirja pa verjetno povedo že podatki o TV gledanosti. Televizijska slika je šla iz Istre v 132 držav širom sveta, tako ali drugače pa naj bi si dvoboje ogledalo kar okrog 90 milijonov gledalcev.

Letošnji turnir, 23. po vrsti, bo na sporedu med 5. in 15. 7.

Ob prejšnjih poletnih olimpijskih igrah, ki so bile leta 2008 v Pekingu, so imela družabna omrežja le okrog 100 milijonov uporabnikov. Zdaj jih imajo dve milijardi, kar pomeni, da bodo londonske igre prve prave »družabne« olimpijske igre, t. i. Socialympics.

Ta rast daje olimpijskemu gibanju potencial za povezovanje z novo oz. mlado generacijo – kar je tudi eden od jasno izraženih ciljev Mednarodnega olimpijskega komiteja.

Sponzorji Londona 2012, pa tudi vse blagovne znamke, ki hočejo biti tako ali drugače del dogajanja okrog letošnjih olimpijskih iger, bodo porabili ogromno časa za razmislek, kako najbolje uporabiti družabne medije za aktivacije svojih sponzorskih kampanj.

To bo predstavljalo veliko razliko v primerjavi s tem, kar smo v preteklih letih videli v povezavi z olimpijskimi igrami.

A ne glede na to bodo obveljala nekatera ista pravila kot v preteklosti. Katerikoli medij bodo sponzorji in blagovne znamke želele uporabiti za komunikacijo, ga bodo morali uporabiti na pravi način: z relevantno in vključujočo vsebino, ki predstavlja temelj za gradnjo uspešnih kampanj.

Tako kot doslej, imajo enostavne in jasne ideje pogosto najboljši učinek. Nike, ki ni uradni olimpijski sponzor, je tako ustvaril odmevno #maikeitcount kampanjo, v kateri nastopajo športniki, ki nosijo Nikejevo športno opremo.

Banka Lloyds je zgradila svojo kampanjo okrog svojih poslovalnic v središčih mest, v povezavi z »grassroots« športom ter skozi pot olimpijske plamenice. »For the Journey« je njihova kampanja, ki je v teku že nekaj časa, in je postala sinonim za znamčenje in oglaševanje banke.

Kljub vsemu pa predvidevam, da bodo najbolj uspešne sponzorske zgodbe olimpijskih iger zgrajene s pomočjo učinkovite rabe družabnih medijev. Pričakujem, da bo glavni »hrup«, ki bo povezan s pripravami in samo izvedbo iger, šel skozi Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr in ostale kanale.

Nekaj je gotovo. Prostora za kampanje na prvo žogo ne bo. Takšne se bodo preprosto izgubile med vso količino aktivnosti; potrošniki jih ne bodo niti opazili. Uspešne kampanje bodo tiste, ki bodo omogočile blagovnim znamkam, da bodo olimpijske veselje delile s svojimi potrošniki – in da bodo slednji to enkratno priložnost znali tudi prepoznati.

Študije primerov sponzorskih aktivacij po olimpijskih igrah bodo prav gotovo zanimivo branje, hkrati pa bodo začrtale tudi pot prihodnjih uspešnih sponzorstev.

Karen Earl je predsednica Evropskega sponzorskega združenja (European Sponsorship Association, ESA). Spodnja kolumna o Londonu 2012 in aktivaciji sponzorstev je bila objavljena v aprilskem SPORTO magazinu.

Karen Earl, Chairman of The European Sponsorship Association, wrote a comment for Sporto magazine (published in April 2012) about the London 2012 Olympics sponsorship activation. Karen Earl is known as one of the most influential people in the sponsorship industry.

No room for the normal or the mediocre campaign

When the last summer Olympics took place in Beijing in 2008, there were only 100 million social media users.  There are now two billion – making London 2012 the first, genuine Socialympics.

This growth presents the Olympic Movement with the potential to connect with a new generation – one of the IOC’s stated aims.

Sponsors of London 2012 and brands which simply want to be part of the noise of the Olympics will have spent a great deal of time considering how best to utilise social media to activate their campaigns.

And, this will be the great difference to anything we have seen around the Olympics in the past.

However, some of the same rules will apply. Whatever medium sponsors and brands are using, they need to devise relevant, engaging content from which to build campaigns.

And, as in the past, it is often the simple ideas that work best. Nike (not an Olympic sponsor) have created the #makeitcount campaign featuring athletes all wearing Nike kit.

Lloyds Bank has built its campaign around its high street branches, connecting with grassroots sport and through the Olympic Torch Relay.  »For the Journey« – its campaign – has been running for some time now and has become synonymous with the Bank’s branding and advertising.

I suspect, though, that the real success stories around the London Olympics will come through the effective use of social media.  I anticipate that the »noise« created during the build-up to and during the Olympics will be played out through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and the like.

One thing is sure. There will be no room for the normal or the mediocre campaign. These will be lost in the sheer volume of activity and will gain no traction with consumers.

The successful campaigns will be those that enable brands to share with their consumers the joy of the Olympics and to be seen as an enabler of improved access.

Case studies of sponsor activation campaigns after the London Olympics will make interesting reading and provide a direction for future successful sponsorship.

Le pol milijona »zelencev« manj (45 milijonov USD) sta vredna še dva športna dogovora. Sony oz. blagovna znamka PlayStation bo še tri leta sponzor UEFA lige prvakov, britansko finančno podjetje Investec pa je sklenilo desetletno sponzorsko pogodbo s konjsko dirko v Epsomu (t. i. Epsom Derby), najbolj prestižno od petih britanskih »klasik« in enim (na televiziji in v živo) najbolj gledanih športnih dogodkov v Veliki Britaniji.

Med zanimivejša sponzorstva spada še dogovor nemškega nogometnega kluba VfB Stuttgart z banko Mercedes-Benz, ki bo klubu v treh letih navrgel dobrih 31 milijonov USD, štiriletnega osebnostnega sponzorja pa je dobil tudi brazilski nogometni »čudežni deček« Neymar (na fotografiji). Nemški avtomobilski koncern Volkswagen bo za to plačal med petimi in desetimi milijoni USD. V olimpijskem letu je osemletno pogodbo z olimpijskim komitejem Združenih držav Amerike podpisalo svetovalno podjetje Deloitte; vrednost pogodbe znaša deset milijonov dolarjev.

Gre za največjo ekipo ljudi, ki bo pokrivala kak dogodek v zgodovini kultne medijske ustanove. V Londonu bo kar 55 odstotkov več ljudi kot štiri leta prej v Pekingu, ko je za olimpijske vsebine pri BBC-ju skrbelo 493 ljudi. Koliko denarja bo potrebno za vse skupaj ni znano, ve pa se, da je BBC za medijske pravice znotraj Združenega kraljestva plačal nekaj več kot 75 milijonov evrov.

Kot »domačin« BBC v času iger načrtuje preko 2500 ur programa, od tega 33 ur programa v živo na televizijskih programih BBC 1 in BBC 2. Glavne dogodke si bo mogoče ogledati tudi v HD tehnologiji, posebnost pa bosta otvoritvena in zaključna slovesnost, ki si ju bo mogoče ogledati v tehnologiji 3D.

»Britanska javnost pričakuje, da bomo igre pokrili tako, kot se spodobi. To je enkraten dogodek v našem življenju – upam in verjamem, da mu bomo dorasli,« je ob tem dejal BBC-jev direktor projekta London 2012 Roger Mosey.

Invest in CRM

Sponsorship expert Ben Wells worked at Chelsea Football Club’s as the Head of Sponsorship from November 2005 to November 2009 and then Head of Marketing from then until September 2011. He arrived at Stamford Bridge shortly after the club had been taken over by the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who appointed Jose »The Special One« Mourinho as the club’s manager; in his words, it was »the most exciting period in the history of the club«. We talked with Ben about his experience of working for the club which is also a global brand.

Ben, you have been the Head of Marketing at Chelsea FC until recently, after you had joined Chelsea from the established sponsorship consultancy agency Red Mandarin. How did the »move« from the agency to the Premier League club happen?
It’s a very small industry and I knew some of the people at Chelsea. They’d just done the initial shirt deal with Samsung and wanted someone who understood Asian culture and also the Consumer Electronics space. I’d grown up in Asia and had spent two years consulting to Philips Electronics so I guess it was a good mix.

How big of a challenge was working for the top football club (with its special & delicate environment) for you?
It was a big challenge. I joined less than two years after Roman Abramovich has bought the club and we had a massive task internally in trying to get the business to understand sponsorship and why we needed to be responsive to our sponsor needs. Some people forgot which was the 250 million EUR business and which was the 150 billion EUR business.

In late 1990s Chelsea FC had an image of multi-cultural team and was also often criticized regarding the lack of domestic players …In 2003 the club was bought by Roman Abramovich who rocked the football world with large amounts of money spent for new players … How did you find Chelsea FC as the brand (and its perspectives – positioning / repositioning) when joining the club?
When I joined Chelsea the Club had already put some key cornerstones in place such as the creation of strong new brand identity and core brand values. The club needed a break with some of the less desirable elements of the past, which we effected off the pitch but the key was to change the perception of the club from being perennial runners up to winners. We could do all the fancy stuff behind the scenes but it would be to no avail if the club didn’t win the big prizes consistently.

Which were the main (national & global) goals, objectives in connection to Chelsea FC marketing when joining the club?
To be honest, the goals were vague. There was a general vision for where we wanted the business to be but the stepping stones were only applied much later on. The key was to build a winning football side first and foremost and build the marketing strategy around it. Probably not the way most sectors would go about it.

During your time as the Head of Marketing the club made a big breakthrough on huge Asian markets, such as India, Hong Kong … What did that mean in terms of numbers of fans (and customers) & how »strong« would you say is Chelsea brand globally?
I am wary of using numbers when referring to fans. The problem most clubs have is that they rely solely on the broadcast output as a means to reach their audience. That is fine in terms of putting the club in the shop window but that should only be the start – like any other brand you need to make yourself relevant to consumers in their own market, in their own language and on their own terms. Our research suggested that Chelsea were the second biggest Premier League club around the world (a long, long way behind Manchester United) but because there was little solidity in those relationships – »fans« change club for example on a regular basis dependent on success of the side, whether their favourite player is there etc. – hence I set little store by that data. We were more interested in developing our CRM capabilities.

What was Chelsea’s approach to effective management and interaction with (global) fan base? Is that an everyday challenge for all clubs, especially in today’s online society?
We agreed a small number of key markets and worked with our sponsors to focus all our marketing resource solely into those territories. Our plan was to collect data on fans and try to communicate them on the terms I have outlined via official digital media, social media and through initiatives such as the Blue Pitches programme in Asia (where we built facilities in key markets and embedded CFC soccer schools) and the Super Clubs in the USA. We wanted to build communities around our activity and so these initiatives gave us a focus in each market around which we could build media and CRM activities. We had virtually no budget and little local representation, which makes it incredibly hard to achieve any meaningful success. This is a big problem in football: marketing is not seen as an investment, only a cost so the reliance on broadcast output is likely to continue.

Chelsea is said to be the club associated with the wealthier people of London – did this in any way effect your communication with the fans in »poorer« countries?
That issue never specifically crossed our minds, but our general approach was that we wanted to be a good citizen in whichever market we operated. Chelsea had 500,000+ kids per annum experience its community coaching scheme, we worked with Right to Play and Help a London Child as our two main charity partners, we taught adults and children how to learn English and Maths and we would go into local schools regularly to teach kids the benefits of healthy eating. Our intention was always that wherever CFC went, we would take these programmes with us.

Football is a global product and top clubs are global brands. For example, more and more football fans from Slovenia have their »first choice« team from the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A … Is the success and prestige of the club today the deciding factor when it comes to engagement of new fans?
It’s a very important first step, but it’s only the first step. Clubs have got to get better at recognising potential customers and treating them as such. Clubs are either too lazy or too busy to understand this. It wouldn’t happen in other walks of life.

You were leading the club’s marketing department in the era of biggest successes. Beside players like Frank Lampard and John Terry the most important role was played by Jose Mourinho. What was Mourinho’s effect on clubs marketing in times you were involved with the club?
Jose’s effect was massive. Not only did he turn the team into winners but he was a globally recognisable personality which kept the club in the news. Unfortunately his behaviour was not always positive for the club.

How do you see Jose Mourinho as a brand and regarding to his future moves (Inter, Real Madrid) and about his »Special One« behaviour?
His brand is well managed and as long as he continues to be successful on the pitch he will continue to be in demand.

Your work at the club includes also sponsors activation. Chelsea’s partners are brands like Samsung, Adidas, Singha Beer … How »deep« has the club been involved in sponsors activation and how delicate is to find effective brand fit between sponsor and club such as Chelsea?
The relationships with our sponsors were very deep. We built a team to service our clients who were customer-focussed and who understood our clients’ business sector. We had aspirations to grow our brand and in the absence of our own local-market representation our sponsors took on an even more important role. We would create joint marketing plans with sponsors, hold workshops for everyone to swap plans and ideas and a key philosophy was that if a sponsor needed extra rights for an activation which delivered value to the club we would absolutely consider it. Rightsholders need to be more flexible in how they deal with their sponsors.
I think we are going to see this concept evolve more over time and if Clubs won’t invest in developing their own local offices and local activations they are going to drive the value of their sponsorship proposition downwards. There are two reasons for this: firstly it is obvious that the better proposition a Club can offer its sponsors, the higher the price it can sell sponsorship. That is obvious. But down the line sponsors are going to ask why they should do the Club’s marketing for it and pay a rights fees. Clubs can’t have it both ways.

You work now as a sponsorship consultant. In one of your recent blogs you wrote: »I strongly believe that it’s not hard to ‘do’ good sponsorship but it’s even easier to do it badly.« You also mentioned it is not a rocket science but still … Where is in your opinion the key to activation success and what would you recognize as future trend in sponsorship activation?
There are many ingredients. The first is to write your activations strategy before you do the deal. That way you don’t pay for unnecessary rights and you don’t forget any you might need. You also need top-down support – it’s impossible to build a successful sponsorship unless the board backs it.

Ben, our last question is also linked to football. Football Money League seems to be more and more world for itself … Is there a future for »smaller« clubs which are not owned by millionaires? What would be your message to them?
My message would be quite clear: invest in your customers. It doesn’t matter if you are not a »big« club or a successful club. Learn all you can about your customers and treat them well. Invest in CRM to predict their behaviour and start to learn about what products they want, how much they are willing to pay and when they want them. This applies to all Clubs but I think 50,000 fans about whom the club knows everything is a far richer commercial proposition than 50,000,000 who are watching on TV somewhere in the world.

Be sure to check out Ben’s blog – click here. You can also follow him on Twitter – his username is Ben_Wells1.

»Strastno se zavzemamo za odličnost. Z zagnanostjo vas povezujemo z vsemi in vsem, kar potrebujete. Vaše življenje nam je v navdih, da kot uigrana ekipa iščemo vedno nove vrhunske rešitve. Vse, kar delamo, delamo za vas. Z vsem srcem,« so v obrazložitvi zapisali pri Telekomu Slovenije. Kampanja naj bi bila s svojo družbeno odgovorno vlogo naravnana k uporabnikom njihovih storitev ter prihajajočim olimpijskim igram v Londonu.

»Kot ponosni pokrovitelji Olimpijskega komiteja Slovenije podpiramo vrednote, ki jih predstavlja življenje in delovanje slovenskih vrhunskih športnikov, nosilcev olimpijskih medalj, svetovnih prvakov ali podprvakov: Primoža Kozmusa, Vasilija Žbogarja, Petra Kauzerja, Sare Isaković in Blaže Klemenčič. To so zlasti vztrajnost, nepopustljivost, timsko delo, pripravljenost na spremembe in ciljna usmerjenost. To so vrednote, ki jih v Telekomu Slovenije postavljamo na prednostno mesto našega poslovnega delovanja,« so še zapisali pri Telekomu.

Del kampanje je tudi pet video oglasov, v katerih nastopajo omenjeni športniki. Posnetki (prilagamo posnetek Blaže Klemenčič) prikazujejo povezanost Telekomovih uporabnikov in slovenskih športnikov. Osrednje sporočilo posnetka je: »Vse kar delamo, delamo za vas. Z vsem srcem.«