Glen Kirton told members of the European Sponsorship Association that while broadband and mobile technologies offer powerful ways of delivering content, their value is zero if the content itself is not compelling.
Chairing a workshop at the association’s annual congress in Lisbon, Portugal, he aimed to put excitement over the potential of new media in sponsorship into perspective.
“For years people have been tempted to believe that just because these new media exist they automatically have a value for sponsors,” he said.
“The message to the conference is that is simply not the case. New media are just that; means of delivering messages and content. As an industry we need to be aware of the potential of new media for delivering content to new areas and in new ways, but must never lose sight of the fact that it is the quality of content which counts to sponsors.”
Kirton, former head of soccer at ISL, recalls his experience at the Swiss marketing company.
“Once sponsors had brought rights to, say the FIFA World Cup, they wouldn’t pay more to be on the FIFA website because they made the assumption that the rights they had already bought included website exposure.
“Today’s sports marketers have to understand that new media can be used to add an additional dimension to the offer to sponsors but that only counts for something if the content and delivery are sport on.
“New media are a means to an end not an end in their own right. The sports marketing sector must fully understand both the potential and the limitations of the different media and use them to enhance and add real value to the sponsorship offer.
“Each sponsor has different objectives and requirements, and the skill is in being able to understand how new media can deliver against these objectives. That may be as broad as exposure on a 3G highlights service or as specific as data capture and product trailing, initiated through a click-through on an event, club or federation website.”
