Impress Sponsors: 2024 Ultimate Guide For Football Clubs
- Best Practice, Facts & Figures, Trends
- Read Time: 8 min
Acquiring sponsors is crucial for soccer clubs to ensure financial stability and long-term success. With the ever-widening economic gap between the top clubs and the rest, this principle of existence applies more than ever. In this comprehensive guide, we look at different aspects, best practices and strategies that can help football clubs impress potential sponsors and build successful partnerships.
1. Preparation: Content for a convincing presentation
Preparing a convincing presentation is the key to a successful sales pitch. The following content should not be missing from your presentation:
Club history and values
Okay, this is obvious, right? But it’s not just about a chronological list of the club’s history and successes. Also try to highlight lessons learned from your history. Clubs that have existed for 70 years or more have certainly not always been a bed of roses. Show your interviewer what conclusions and adjustments your club has made as a result of the individual ups and downs. The more honest, the better. A clear review of the club’s history reinforces your values as a club.
Best Practice
Many traditional clubs in Germany and Austria have dealt extensively with their role during the Nazi regime – Bayern Munich, SK Rapid and FK Austria Wien, to name just a few popular clubs. Such a sensitive topic should not be a comprehensive part of the sales pitch. If you mention your club’s learnings in 2-3 sentences, possibly including a positive example from the recent past, this will suffice. You convey to your counterpart that you as a club or sales employee do not only have hymns of praise for your club in your repertoire.
Target group analysis
Show that you understand the potential sponsor’s target group and how your club can appeal to them.
Best Practice
FC Barcelona presents sponsors with personalized target group analyses early on in the negotiation phase to outline the strengths of its diverse, global fan base.
Added value for the (potential) sponsor
Clearly present the benefits of a partnership, be it through increased visibility, targeting or other strategic objectives.
Best Practice
Manchester United offers its partners the opportunity to be present on certain continents or in selected regions for specific target groups. This is because not every company is interested in advertising as widely as possible (with a large scatter loss). The advantage for Manchester United is obvious: its global appeal is used to increase sponsorship revenue.
Success stories
Self-praise stinks. But of course you also talk in detail about your club’s achievements and feel-good stories. It is even better to outline successful activation measures developed together with sponsors in the recent past. Share positive experiences of previous sponsors to build trust and emphasize the value of a partnership with your soccer club.
Best Practice
Borussia Dortmund’s presentations show how sponsors Evonik and Puma have benefited from the club’s global awareness and success through long-term partnerships.
2. Creating the presentation: Digital tools for that special touch
Choosing the right digital tools can take your presentation to the next level.
Improve your graphics with Canva
Use Canva for engaging presentation designs with modern graphic elements to visually impress.
Interactive elements
Best Practice
Liverpool FC uses Prezi to attract the attention of potential sponsors through dynamic presentations with embedded videos and stadium animations.
Videos are essential
Integrate short videos to create emotional connections and present the club in a lively way. For example, have the CEO of your soccer club send a greeting message if he is unable to attend the sales pitch in person. It’s just as cool if an employee from the marketing department sends a nice message and gives a brief insight into their daily work.
Best Practice
Juventus Turin creates high-quality image videos that are integrated into presentations to convey the passion and fascination surrounding the club.
3. Sponsorship services: These stadium advertising spaces offer the most added value for sponsors
LED Board
Particularly effective, especially for TV broadcasts.
Best Practice
In the Premier League, the stadium marketing focus is almost exclusively on the LED perimeter board. Well, in the Premier League you can afford to do without other forms of marketing around the pitch. But it also shows that the LED board is indispensable even in the billion-dollar Premier League business.
Learn more about optimizing the LED perimeter board advertising of your football club.
Interview stele
High visibility during interviews before and after the match.
Best Practice
Almost all sports clubs in the world now have an interview wall. Invest in a Plexiglas stele that allows TV viewers to experience the stadium atmosphere during interviews. Particularly important: contact the production manager of the TV broadcast. TV broadcasters often work with depth of field to make the sponsor logos appear a little blurred. Your club should counteract this, because your sponsor wants maximum attention. The desired results can be achieved through direct dialog with the production manager.
Fan stand advertising
Direct contact with fans, ideal for regional sponsors.
Best Practice
Hamburger SV offers regional sponsors advertising space in the fan areas of the Volksparkstadion in order to address the local target group as precisely as possible.
Virtual advertising
In times of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (XR), digital advertising space can also be used in the stadium.
Best Practice
In the USA, Nickelodeon has been providing impressive experiences for several years with its big Slime show on live television. In Europe, on the other hand, there is a strong focus on virtual LED perimeter advertising. Agencies such as sporteo are leading the way here – virtual advertising can now also be seen on the LED power pack.
4. Sponsorship services: These jersey advertising spaces offer the most added value for sponsors
Chest advertising
Maximum visibility, but often exclusively for top sponsors.
Best Practice
Of course, every sponsor would like to use the chest sponsorship on the shirt of their soccer club to promote their company. In most cases, the chest is reserved for your main sponsor.
A great example in the recent past was Bayern Munich, which agreed with its main sponsors to produce a special jersey for CSR topics at one home game per season.
This does not have to be a disadvantage visually either, as the For-the-Oceans jersey developed together with adidas is still one of the most elegant Bayern jerseys in history.
4. Sponsorship services: These jersey advertising spaces offer the most added value for sponsors
Chest advertising
Maximum visibility, but often exclusively for top sponsors.
Best Practice
Of course, every sponsor would like to use the chest sponsorship on the shirt of their soccer club to promote their company. In most cases, the chest is reserved for your main sponsor.
A great example in the recent past was Bayern Munich, which agreed with its main sponsors to produce a special jersey for CSR topics at one home game per season.
This does not have to be a disadvantage visually either, as the For-the-Oceans jersey developed together with adidas is still one of the most elegant Bayern jerseys in history.
Sleeves and shorts advertising
Alternative surfaces with good visibility. As a sleeve and pants sponsor, you benefit in particular from slow-motion headers or close-ups of corner kicks.
Collaborations with fashion brands
Recognized fashion houses and hip fashion brands have an incredibly large and diverse target group that you will find very difficult to reach as a soccer club. In most cases, this should also be compatible with your kit supplier. Be sure to clarify this in good time, as it would be a shame for your club to miss out on this opportunity.
5. Digital products for a higher advertising value in the fan community
Mobile apps
Offer sponsors placements and fan engagement tools in your club app for direct fan contact.
Fan forums and blogs
Create digital platforms for sponsors to connect with the fan community.
Best Practice
FC Bayern Munich enables sponsors to get involved in the official fan forums and thus establish a direct connection to the fan community.
Podcasts
Produce a club podcast in which sponsors can appear as guests to convey their messages directly to the fans.
6. Social media platforms: Reach young target groups
Instagram & TikTok
Visually appealing platforms for young target groups.
Best Practice
Borussia Dortmund reaches young fans and sponsors through creative Instagram and TikTok campaigns that reflect the club’s dynamism and passion.
Youtube
Hands up anyone who thought that YouTube had reached its zenith around 10 years ago! Wrong, we were wrong too. YouTube is alive and well and more relevant than ever. The target group of 10 to 14-year-olds search for content on YouTube more often than they do on Google. Take advantage of the hype and regularly produce short videos, ideally in portrait format, and offer sponsors intelligently placed advertising space.
7. Community events: Reach fans away from the matchday emotions
Fan events, Member days, exclusive meet-and-greets and more
Direct contact with supporters, ideal for sponsor presentations.
Best Practice
VfB Stuttgart organizes an annual fan day where sponsors are interactively integrated into the event to engage directly with fans.
Charity events
Involve sponsors in social initiatives for positive associations.
Best Practice
New York City FC integrates sponsors in social projects to create not only financial but also social added value.
The search for sponsors requires careful planning, a convincing presentation and the use of digital tools. Soccer clubs can develop long-term successful partnerships with sponsors through strategic sponsor placements in stadiums, on the jersey, in digital products and through a targeted social media presence. Through community events and an authentic club presentation, sponsors leave a lasting impression on fans.
So, optimize your sales pitch right now. You will benefit from it. Trust me.
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written by
Paul Mayer
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