In the past
five years, hundreds of millions of shillings have been pumped into various
sponsorship initiatives in this country.
In addition
to soccer and rugby, which have received immense support from betting
companies, telcos and beverage manufacturers, athletics has also been at the
funnel-end of a lucrative web of organisations keen on contributing to Kenya’s
economic growth through sports.
A decade
ago, the sponsorship conversations revolved around specific initiatives like
stadia development and specified tournaments or partnerships with sports
governing bodies. The board leaders then were Safaricom and EABL, yet little
did we know that those would not be long term flicks. The betting companies
moved in and changed the sponsorship game not only on the numbers front but
also in regards to the objectives of sponsorship.
Considering
the huge amounts involved, you would imagine that sports and event sponsors would
have clear answers when asked about their expected return on investment (ROI).
You would be wrong to assume that.
A simple
dipstick survey among key stakeholders reveals that about a third to half of sponsor
companies do not have a system in place to measure sponsorship ROI
comprehensively, which potentially costs these organizations in many ways.
Failure to comprehend the impact of sponsorship on our economy through sports
might just be one of the key reasons for our poor performance in various sports.
.
To manage
sponsorship spending effectively, stakeholders must first develop a clear
sponsorship strategy—the overall objective of the sponsorship, the target
demographic, and which area the sponsorships can support. For instance, a lot
of funding has been pumped into the soccer arena in this country; the national
league plus the top five league teams command a staggering one billion in terms
of sponsorship.
While this
figure looks appealing, the general growth of the sport is wanting. All we have
been doing is adopting short term measures of branding team apparel and stadia,
which has contributed zilch to the growth of the sport.
In an ideal
situation, potential sponsors should be jostling for strategic opportunities to
put up or revamp stadiums in the outskirts of Nairobi which would serve as
feeders to the league groups. Granted, we have Wanyama at Tottenham in the
English Premier League, Mariga in Serie B, Italy. But what we require to drive
the sports agenda as a nation is a strategic plan that is supported by a talent
identification mechanism at the grassroots level as well as development of sports
infrastructure that is driven by government in collaboration with sponsors.
Without
a doubt, sponsorships have the potential to reach beyond short-term sales to
building a brand’s identity. Brand strength contributes between 60 and 80 per cent
to overall sales, making this benefit critical for sustained, long-term sales
growth.
While
in the beginning it might make sense planting all your logos on Yego’s apparel
for visibility and brand identity, as a brand you are likely to reap more value
if you took the bold step of establishing where Yego and his javelin prowess
originated from and set up a world class Javelin training facility that is open
to locals. In five years, your brand could be hosting its colours on 10
athletes flying high in the junior championships and by the time you are done
with the medal marathon in junior championships, half of that team will have
joined the national team. At this level you could get nothing short of Olympics
glory for your brand!
On
soccer, the journey to the EPL might not be just through the apparel. It should
be be a journey for many local stars who in return will deliver national glory
for the country and your brand too.
This article was also published in the Business Daily
