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The proposal will see the country provide branding on the club’s kit, back branding on interviews, matchday advertising, partnership status, local training camps and ticketing and stadium hospitality. Soccer has a huge television audience and can attract huge spending and huge eyeballs. But is it an effective way to market a country? And is the money well spent? Brendan Knott examines ethnic branding and football. We asked him four questions.
Is this a good idea for nation branding?
Sponsorship of a sports team, event or individual is an accepted and proven marketing communication tool. As countries, regions and cities increasingly focus on potentially competitive customers in the global market – in this case, tourists – some destinations have embraced sport as a marketing hub.
Typically, destinations promote themselves through association with a sporting event or team in their geographic area. For example, visit Catalunya in Spain support the Spanish club FC Barcelona.
It is less common to use a more strategic approach to connect with audiences whose destination is elsewhere.
Can it help tourism?
We must understand that tourism destinations are “brands” that compete with other products for attention. SA Tourism therefore has a mission and budget to attract international tourism. There are several ways to promote a brand or engage with your target audience. Sports sponsorship has grown as a marketing tool as it has shown its ability to break through advertising clutter and attract customer attention. In general, it reaches a place where you can relax and engage in the usual love of sports.
Sponsorship can achieve different objectives for a brand. Typically, the organization seeks greater awareness of the brand by having it appear on player jerseys and signage around the stadium. This is especially helpful for new or relatively unknown brands in a market, or to maintain top-of-mind among consumers in that market.
The second main objective is to improve or change the brand name among the target audience in cooperation with the sports team. Brands typically benefit from the positive awareness of their sponsored team’s fans. This is why the global sports sponsorship industry is estimated at USD 77.69 billion by 2022 and is projected to grow at a rate of 8% over the next few years.
From what SA Tourism has shared, their aim seems to be to reach an international audience that follows the football Premier League, and in particular to reach the key UK tourism market. However, it is debatable whether this high-profile, high-cost approach is the best way to spend their marketing budget to grow international tourism.
Are there any prerequisites for this approach?
Two other high-profile sponsorships of football clubs in the past decade include Malaysia’s $3.6m sponsorship of United Kingdom team Cardiff City in 2013; And Rwanda’s $12m-a-year sponsorship of UK team Arsenal FC, with “Rwanda Visitor” written on the sleeve of the team’s kit. In the year Signed in 2018, the Rwandan accord has been specifically criticized as an attempt at “sports washing”. This concerns the concealment of human rights abuses in African countries in an attempt to gain goodwill through sponsorship.
On this occasion, Rwandan President Paul Kagame is known to be an Arsenal fan. Sports marketers refer to this as an example of the “Chairman’s Folly” sponsorship approach. In the case of SA Tourism, the strategic rationale driving their decisions is not fully explained.
With the recent FIFA Men’s Soccer World Cup fresh in our minds, the example of Qatar and its sports sponsorship is also relevant. In addition to its sponsorship of several sporting events, the Qatar Foundation supports FC Barcelona, while Qatar Airways supports another European soccer giant, PSG. These sponsorships are seen as attempts by the nation to distract from criticism of workers’ rights and other human rights and freedoms. It is too early to assess whether hosting the World Cup has helped Qatar’s image or the growth of its tourism economy.
What are the possible disadvantages?
The media and public opposition to the SA Tourism sponsorship deal indicates a lack of local public support for this initiative. Instead of seeing this as a good marketing opportunity, government funds that could generate tourism revenue could be better spent – on local sports sponsorship or other projects in general. Destinations should not aim to grow their “external” brand at the expense of expensive “internal” brand strength.
The examples of Rwanda and Qatar in particular show that negative media related to sports washing reduces the expected benefits. In the case of South Africa, it may appear to be an attempt to counter negative global media coverage of the country’s energy crisis and other pressing challenges. SA Tourism has given the plan a precondition, which is expected to go ahead despite growing unrest over the next few months.
This article is reprinted from the discussion under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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