Connecting with sports
Eighty percent of the world’s population is a sports fan, with soccer being the favorite, according to WorldAtlas. By Kahory Gil
One of the strategies most used by brands is the search for athletes in order to boost their level of sales, an example of success is that of Messi with Adidas, by posting a photo on social networks of “La Pulga” on Instagram, this generated $3.6 million for the brand, according to Hookit data.
In addition, figures like Cristiano Ronaldo and “Canelo” Álvarez generate great traffic on social networks, which is why they attract brands to invest in their image, where CR7 has 588,000 followers on Instagram and the boxer has 2,438 fans on Twitter. , according to information from Jumps SMS.
Brands take advantage of the high number of followers that athletes have on social networks, to obtain a greater reach through them, a clear example is that of Cristiano Ronaldo who generates great income for companies after promoting products.
The trend that has not gone out of style among brands is to have a sports figure to promote a product. Just as Leo Messi did again with Louis Vuitton at the end of the World Cup when he arrived in France with a suitcase from this luxurious brand, with a clear objective, to promote the products of this firm after winning the World Cup with Argentina.
“Sports Marketing has evolved a lot in recent years, the industry has been transformed, before there weren’t many opportunities because they asked you for two to three years of experience to work with Nike or Adidas, but today I think the story is different”, assured Rafael Coronel, CEO & Founder of StayPro.
The connection between the athlete and the brand begins to become effective in that consumers prefer a certain product over the competition simply because it is promoted by their favorite star.
An example of success was that of Real Madrid with Adidas where CR7, by sharing his photos dressed in merengue in 2009, generated profits of 216 million dollars for the brand, which dresses Florentino Pérez’s team, according to data from Hookit .
Sports Marketing encourages the brand to project its advertising to gain prestige among its consumers. Tigres is the most valuable squad in Mexican soccer and has fully immersed itself in digital assets with the launch of its NFTs or Tigres Fan Tokens and the sponsorship of Bitso.
For his part, Club Tigres Marketing Manager, Miguel Hernández, highlighted the importance of brands in soccer teams as a key to sales projection.
How to connect with athletes
Recently, André Pierre Gignac became a trend on social networks by posting a photo with the Alpura milk logo, where he appears with a flag dressed as a gladiator with the legend: “Lechendas”, because after being crowned in the MX League the brand sought him out to invite consumers to taste the great legends of Tigres.
Finally, the sponsorship scheme has evolved, Andrés Laban, Sports Marketing Director of Adidas, assured that the rise of the different sports disciplines has driven these changes, “The commercial scheme changed and with it the sponsorship of the brands, especially since the sport has promoted new points of contact”.