Chapter 7 Nike: As always, the "love" of the World Cup

What is "sponsorship"? What does a "sponsor" need to do? What benefits can "sponsorship" bring to the "sponsor"? Open sports marketing professional books, we can find relevant theoretical definitions.Sponsorship is “a payment of cash or equivalent to an asset (usually sporting, artistic, entertainment, or event) for a potentially exploitable commercial opportunity for that asset” with the primary purpose of facilitating marketing communications.In layman's terms, as far as sports events are concerned, sponsorship means that a company spends money (or equivalent) to purchase the right to sponsor a certain event, and has the right to use the relevant assets of this event to promote its own products or brands.Sponsors can use many methods such as team uniform advertisements, venue advertisements, TV advertisements, field activities, customer entertainment, sales promotion, etc. to increase product sales or enhance brand image.

Sports sponsorship has become one of the marketing methods that many large companies around the world are eager to adopt.As evidenced by data, in the United States, sports sponsorship spending increased from US$850 million in 1985 to US$5.4 billion in 1996, and reached US$6.4 billion in 2002.In 2002, the global sports sponsorship spending was as high as 16.4 billion US dollars. As sports goods and clothing companies directly related to football, they have become the most active part of the World Cup. Together with many other types of companies such as beverages, electronic products, and fast food, they support the World Cup in the form of sponsorship. At the same time, he also obtained huge commercial benefits for himself from the World Cup.Nike sporting goods company is a typical representative among them.Some details of Nike's sponsorship marketing planning, organization and implementation around the World Cup are worth learning for other sponsors and potential sponsors.

As we all know, companies have to spend huge sums of money to qualify as official World Cup sponsors. Adidas became one of the official sponsors of the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, with a sponsorship fee of up to 40 million euros.As a result, Adidas can display its own brand on the competition venue, and can also legally use the "World Cup" name and logo in its advertising and marketing activities. The organizer also provides it with 200 to 250 tickets for corporate public relations and promotional activities, etc. .However, many companies are unable or unwilling to spend such a huge amount of expenditure in exchange for the qualification of official sponsors, but use innovative marketing methods to promote themselves with the help of the World Cup.

In this regard, Nike is a successful example. As an unofficial sponsor of the World Cup, it insists on not sponsoring large-scale events, but sponsoring players and teams, using this as a platform to use marketing mix to promote its products.Taking the 2002 World Cup as an example, through its successful sponsorship marketing, Nike made its annual sales reach 9.9 billion US dollars, consolidating its position as the world's largest sporting goods manufacturer. In the world's largest market, the United States, Nike has a market The share (40%) is far more than Adidas (13%) and Reebok (12%).Even in 2004, when Adidas merged with Reebok to bring its combined turnover to $11.1 billion, Nike still far outperformed with a turnover of $13.7 billion.At present, Nike's sporting goods market share (31%) is still the first in the world, while Adidas is 28%. In the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, Nike’s total advertising budget was 1.4 billion US dollars. Because of the repeated tastes of the World Cup, Nike has set up an advertising budget of 1.8 billion US dollars for the 2006 World Cup, which is much higher than its two main competitors. Rivals Adidas (US$1 billion) and Puma (US$220 million), their dream is to use the World Cup to surpass Adidas and become the number one in the world football product market.We have reasons to believe that Nike's dream is not a fantasy, because in 1994, Nike's turnover in the football market was only 40 million US dollars, but today this figure has reached 1.5 billion US dollars!

So, how does Nike use the World Cup to make a fuss?Which of its sponsorship marketing strategies are worthy of our reference and study?Let's take the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup as an example to study how Nike conducts sponsorship marketing. 1.Planning and organizing events related to the competition.Nike founded the "Nike Village" (Nike Village) during the World Cup and invited many sports stars sponsored by the company.It's a move that's bound to bring in crowds of groupies who come here for a lot of physical activity with the stars they love and adore. "Nike Village" has become a successful case of experiential marketing.

2.Creative advertising planning and implementation. During the 2002 World Cup, Nike organized a five-a-side football match, and planned and launched a series of corresponding advertisements ("Scorpion Fight" series).Nike also installed large Nike electronic billboards on the exterior of many buses. While playing the company's advertisements, it also broadcast the World Cup to the public at any time.Although Adidas was the exclusive sporting goods sponsor of the World Cup, according to a survey at that time, 70% of the respondents believed that Nike was the official sponsor of the event.

3.Sponsor teams and players.Nike selects teams or players who are likely to win, signs sponsorship deals with them, and builds brand associations between Nike and these winners.Such as Brazil, Portugal, South Korea and other teams, as well as Portugal's Luis Figo, Brazil's Ronaldo, England's Wayne Rooney, Ferdinand and so on.When these teams win or these players score goals, Nike can use the exposure of TV broadcasts and news points to enhance its brand image. Of course, in addition to the above-mentioned sponsorship strategies, Nike also combined many other strategies in the marketing mix, such as launching commemorative (limited) products before the event, sales promotion before and after the event, and so on.

With the help of the "spring breeze" of the World Cup, Nike has successfully gained a foothold in the football field, and has achieved the ability to compete with Adidas.With the approaching of the 2006 World Cup, Nike and Adidas, the two giants of the world's sporting goods industry, will start a new "fierce battle". Vivid and creative marketing campaigns.