Sports is big business for certain, but sports branding is bigger business still.
Big names like Nike, Adidas, Puma, Reebok (or, in this day of dropping consonants and texting – rbk), Marlboro, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Carlsberg, McDonald's, Burger King, to name ten, are all heavily invested in some form of sports sponsorship or the other.
Corporate sponsorship equals branding opportunity on the team's (or individual's) jersey's for the sponsors. World famous logos are world famous in my mind because of two qualities – 1) quality products which people want to purchase and consume for benefit of self, and 2) quality logos which people want to be seen associated with for benefit of ego.
For example, Ferrari
is a coveted brand, no doubt – the maker of a universally acclaimed quality sports car. Discerning buyers buy Ferrari, blah, blah. However, you can be certain that more people wear Ferrari caps or jackets than drive the car – and you can be even more certain that Ferrari does NOT manufacture caps or jackets (or key rings, or the like) in their factory in Maranello.
So what is it that attracts people to don the Ferrari cap or jacket even though they don't (or couldn't) own the car? One thing, and one thing only - the prancing horse logo, what that logo represents, and far more importantly the perception of that logo to a onlooker.
It's a beautiful logo no doubt, but logo is not the only thing. The logo more importantly is associated with a brand that people want to be associated with too.
Not to undermine another universally acclaimed vehicle manufacturer, but tractor maker John Deere does not enjoy the same appeal among the masses as does Ferrari – even with its beautiful prancing deer logo. However, another former tractor manufacturer, Lamborghini
and its charging bull logo is a different matter altogether.
Bottom line is that the standard of the product and what I like to call the 'association vanity index' both have to be high to make it to people's imagination and by that route onto the sports sponsorship jersey.
Its easy to visualise a Puma or a Nike logo on a athlete's shirt, but what about a monkey or a cute turtle caricature? A hippo? How about the local super market chain logo (for example Piggly Wiggly) on jersey for a team called the Cougars? Not only does the name sound too cutesy for a team that wants to project aggression and power, but the all more cutesy logo just wouldn't do in this case.
Some things just don't go.
And brand association is something that money just can't buy. Coca Cola has a brand value worth far excess of its assets – same too each sporting team or figure has a brand value that just might not go with a haemorrhoidal ointment (come to think of it one would be really hard pressed to find such a team or a sports personality who would fit that bill).
Of course there are sports professionals who endorse such products on TV but you can be sure they'd never wear the logo on their shirt. But if they did, it would have to be a really cool logo (but one definitely not made with the name of the product!).
A logo is much like a person's signature fragrance, hairstyle, dress sense or appearance – while people might like someone with 'personality,' they more often prefer someone associated with a certain finesse. Someone who, in close proximity, makes them look good too.
People in general are shallow. Image sells because imagination is so easy to fool with 'beauty' – couple that with a brand value with a sky-rocketing AVI (association vanity index) and that's that, hook, line and sinker!
Brands evolve with time and sometimes the imagination must be allowed to as well, the real challenge is always keeping its link close to the intrinsic value of the brand. Click the video below to see the evolution of the Batman logo through the years... a logo that has allowed the imagination to keep pace without ever forgoing the brand essence and the essential association vanity index.
You can bet any team in the world would love to wear the Batman logo (that is if Batman
was a consumer product).
And when you can do that successfully, you can get your logo on a sports jersey. :)
Big names like Nike, Adidas, Puma, Reebok (or, in this day of dropping consonants and texting – rbk), Marlboro, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Carlsberg, McDonald's, Burger King, to name ten, are all heavily invested in some form of sports sponsorship or the other.Corporate sponsorship equals branding opportunity on the team's (or individual's) jersey's for the sponsors. World famous logos are world famous in my mind because of two qualities – 1) quality products which people want to purchase and consume for benefit of self, and 2) quality logos which people want to be seen associated with for benefit of ego.
For example, Ferrari
is a coveted brand, no doubt – the maker of a universally acclaimed quality sports car. Discerning buyers buy Ferrari, blah, blah. However, you can be certain that more people wear Ferrari caps or jackets than drive the car – and you can be even more certain that Ferrari does NOT manufacture caps or jackets (or key rings, or the like) in their factory in Maranello.So what is it that attracts people to don the Ferrari cap or jacket even though they don't (or couldn't) own the car? One thing, and one thing only - the prancing horse logo, what that logo represents, and far more importantly the perception of that logo to a onlooker.
It's a beautiful logo no doubt, but logo is not the only thing. The logo more importantly is associated with a brand that people want to be associated with too.
Not to undermine another universally acclaimed vehicle manufacturer, but tractor maker John Deere does not enjoy the same appeal among the masses as does Ferrari – even with its beautiful prancing deer logo. However, another former tractor manufacturer, Lamborghini
and its charging bull logo is a different matter altogether.Bottom line is that the standard of the product and what I like to call the 'association vanity index' both have to be high to make it to people's imagination and by that route onto the sports sponsorship jersey.
Some things just don't go.
And brand association is something that money just can't buy. Coca Cola has a brand value worth far excess of its assets – same too each sporting team or figure has a brand value that just might not go with a haemorrhoidal ointment (come to think of it one would be really hard pressed to find such a team or a sports personality who would fit that bill).
Of course there are sports professionals who endorse such products on TV but you can be sure they'd never wear the logo on their shirt. But if they did, it would have to be a really cool logo (but one definitely not made with the name of the product!).
A logo is much like a person's signature fragrance, hairstyle, dress sense or appearance – while people might like someone with 'personality,' they more often prefer someone associated with a certain finesse. Someone who, in close proximity, makes them look good too.
People in general are shallow. Image sells because imagination is so easy to fool with 'beauty' – couple that with a brand value with a sky-rocketing AVI (association vanity index) and that's that, hook, line and sinker!
Brands evolve with time and sometimes the imagination must be allowed to as well, the real challenge is always keeping its link close to the intrinsic value of the brand. Click the video below to see the evolution of the Batman logo through the years... a logo that has allowed the imagination to keep pace without ever forgoing the brand essence and the essential association vanity index.
You can bet any team in the world would love to wear the Batman logo (that is if Batman
was a consumer product).And when you can do that successfully, you can get your logo on a sports jersey. :)
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