Keynote speech about sport club -and athlete brands. Moreover, recent examples of sponsorship activation.

1. Digital Business Course:
Sports Brands
Laurea University of Applied Sciences, November 2015
DR. ARTO KUULUVAINEN, M3 RESEARCH A/S
AK@M3RESEARCH.COM
+358 40 538 7515

2. Who is Arto Kuuluvainen?
• Background in Academia (Turku, Strasbourg)
• Now working for M3 Research A/S (& advising SK Motio Finland Oy)
• PhD (2011, International Business, Turku School of Economics)
• Family traditions & work experience in sports and sports business
• Creator of one of the first university-level sports management courses in Finland
• Expert interviews given to numerous medias (f.ex. Yle, Yle Puhe and MTV3.
• Blog: Urheilujohtamisen sekatyömies (http://kuuluvainen.blogspot.fi/)
@kuuluvainen

3. Fan = consumer?

4. 1. Sports Clubs and Brands

5. The most valuable sports teams (Forbes, 2015)
1. Real Madrid, Football, 3.26 billion dollars
2. Dallas Cowboys, American Football, 3.2 billion dollars
3. New York Yankees, Baseball, 3.2 billion dollars
4. FC Barcelona, Football, 3.16 billion dollars

6. Most important income sources for sports
clubs
• Media deals (f.ex. NFL’s network deals worth over $5 billion a year, not
including its $1.5 billion-a-year pact with DirecTV. The English Premier
League has $2.7 billion-a-year pact with Sky; +70% compared to previous
deal.)
• Sponsorship (in Finland usually appr. 70 % of club’s income, globally the
share is clearly lower)
• Merchandise
• Ticket sales
• New sources f.ex. NFL & Yahoo -partnership (streaming services ) and
Fantasy games.
• How to monetize social media?

7. BUILDING BRAND EQUITY IN A SPORTS CLUB
(Gladden et al. 1998)

8. Brand identities; Espoo Blues vs. HIFK
(Helsinki) (Jokinen 2013)

9. 9

10. 10

11. 2. Athletes as brands

12. 2. Athletes as Brands

13. The most valuable athlete brands (Forbes, 2015)
1. Tiger Woods (Golf) $ 30 million
2. Phil Mickelson (Golf) $28 million
3. LeBron James (Basketball) & Roger Federer (Tennis) $27 million
4. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Cricket) $21 million

14. Athlete as a brand
• ‘ A unique, distinctive combination of unplanned and planned factors that mark out a player as
being different to other players thus enabling the immediate identification of the player and the
activities in which they are involved’. (Burton & Chadwick 2008)
- However, unlike other brands and/or products, people are unique. It is difficult to imitate and
impossible to replicate brands such as Ronaldo or Beckham
- Athlete brands are relatively short-living brands and ageing of the athlete will change these
remarkably.
- Good theoretical framework for understanding superstar-brands in sports: TOPSTAR (Chadwick &
Burton 2008)
- Case Teemu Selänne: http://kuuluvainen.blogspot.fi/2015/01/henkilobrandin-anatomia-
kirurgin.html

15. 3. How companies can utilise
sports in branding?
SOME EXAMPLES

16. Case: Red Bull
http://kuuluvainen.blogspot.fi/2015/03/tarina-punaisesta-harasta-
miten-red.html

17. Case Jokerit & Huawei
AUTUMN 2015

18. Activation examples
1. Launch (3.8.2015):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRbKqnufXe4

19. Activation examples, Autumn 2015

21. Social Media Activations, Autumn 2015

22. What was the role of sponsorship
activation in increased sales?

23. More examples:
• Unicef & Gothia Cup (CSR): #sweatforwater
• Rugby World Cup:
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1364494/rugby-world-
cup-2015-brands-getting-action

24. The Future? (PwC 2015)
“The interest of club sponsors, suppliers and broadcasters in knowing a fan’s
daily habits, food preferences and other preferences will help clubs to derive
greater value from their contracts, as well as enabling them to enter into new
partnerships.”
“Hyper-targeting” will become the new norm for fan engagement: fans will
have customised access to the official club application with special content
display on their favourite stars, merchandise wish-lists and an interest-based,
categorised news section.”

25. Role of social media  Still increasing!