What is sponsorship and why should a commercial organisation agree to sponsor a sporting event or club?

Simply put, it's the endorsement of a product or brand by an individual, team or event. A detailed definition comes from the International Chamber of Commerce. Sponsorship is:

'any commercial agreement where a sponsor contractually provides financing or other support, in order to establish an association between the sponsor's image, brands or products, and a sponsorship property (club, event or athlete/player), in return for the rights to promote this association and/or certain agreed direct or indirect benefits'.

As a means of communicating with existing or potential consumers, sponsorship is attractive because TV advertising is comparatively expensive. It costs more than £20,000 for a 30 second TV advert broadcast on ITV, in order to reach a peak time audience.

Sponsorship means that the commercial brand name is visible to spectators on a TV screen throughout an event. TV viewers are exposed to the brand continuously, not just for thirty seconds during the advertising breaks. In the case of long duration events, such as Test Match cricket, this could mean TV viewers being exposed to your brand name for up to 8 hours.

But sponsorship is about more than just having your brand recognised on the TV, it's more about highlighting the proximity of a brand to things that consumers love, so that a relationship develops between the brand and the event/individual/team being sponsored.

How does sponsorship work?

The benefits to the Sponsor are seen as wide ranging and include:

• Increased product awareness
• Improved corporate image
• Product positioning
• Enhance an advertising campaign
• Client entertainment
• Tax deductions!

The 'payback' that the company receives also provides benefits for employees in the form of privileged access to the sponsored sport, and can have a motivating effect on the whole workforce. A company can expect all or some of the following from a sponsorship deal

• Display of logo/brand identity on athletes/equipment (eg racing cars)
• Display of signage at event site
• Naming rights to event, series competition or team (or racehorse if that's what is being sponsored)
• Client entertainment at events
• Personal endorsements by athletes/players/coaches
• Identification in PR material and communications
• Promotional displays at events
• Provision of equipment (eg shoes, clothing)

Whilst in return the sport in question can expect

• Money!!
• Raised profile

It has to be said that whilst much sponsorship is highly visible and on our TV screens, local grassroots clubs and events also seek sponsors in the same way as their professional counterparts and for a local or regional business the benefits of involvement here can be as significant as for a household name. Indeed local business using sports sponsorship have the advantage of becoming more a part of their community than their competitors and are seen as truly supporting local people and initiatives.