2015 – A turbulent year for sport sponsorship
2015 will be remembered as a difficult year for sport and a tough year for sponsors associated with those sports placing them in the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons
As scandal after scandal broke, the question was, how many of the biggest brands in the world would continue to support the federations and the individuals involved in those scandals? Some decided to cancel some of the biggest sponsorship deals in world sport, others chose not to activate around their sponsorship programmes, whilst others just carried on regardless.
Despite these problems, sports sponsorship continues to become an increasingly important part of many marketing strategies. The radio silence from sponsors in 2015 has started to lift in 2016, most notably around Euro 2016. However, the impact of 2015 can still be seen around the lack of marketing activity from official sponsors of the 2016 Olympic Games – a tournament struck by controversy in its build-up.
The second edition of Sportcal’s Global Sports Impact (GSI) Report 2016 delves deeper into the sponsorship of major sporting events in 2015. Sponsorship of sport is often an undervalued impact of sport and the GSI Report aims to identify the impact of sponsors on host cities and nations.
The GSI Report 2015 looks at some of the major events of 2015 and compares the activation programmes around those events.
The Rugby World Cup was the most commercially successful in the sport’s history, and showed how brands can use an event to engage meaningfully with the general public. In contrast, the FIFA Women’s World Cup was the missed opportunity of the year when it came to sponsors.
In the aftermath of the FIFA scandal, very few brands made a meaningful impact on what was the biggest women’s football tournament in history, missing out on a golden opportunity to engage with an audience not often reached by sports sponsorship.
The GSI Report 2016 explores the strategies sponsors used to activate their partnerships around these events and identifies how brands and governing bodies can use commercial rights to connect with fans further.
Along with in-depth analysis the GSI Report showcases the brands and business sectors that have been most active in the world of sports sponsorship over the past year.