The folder reached the desks of the highest executives of the main multinationals related to soccer in Argentina. The “offer” had a value (US$ 20 million for a seven-year contract) and the possibility of linking the brand name with the most successful club in recent years at the local level: River Plate’s Monumental stadium. However, the response was not as expected. “For a company like ours, it’s not business. It is a lot of investment and the return on branding does not justify it”, was one of the responses. The refusal was replicated in another of the companies to the surprise of the leaders of the Núñez entity, since they considered the idea “revolutionary.” In practice, the market had responded with its pocket to their idea based on the heart.
Now, the question arises regarding the cost-benefit that implies, for a company, linking its brand with a football stadium, based on the case “Monumental-River”. “Usually, the ‘naming’ is given to a new court, not to an old one,” explains a specialist in sports marketing. And he elaborates: “There is the case of the Wanda Metropolitano, of Atlético Madrid. They tore down the old ‘Vicente Calderón’, they went to the ‘Wanda Metropolitano’, and started from scratch”.
Tool. “The ‘naming’ is a tool to install a brand. There are companies that have less knowledge, that are starting up and have a track record, but are not fully known. The first stage of knowledge is through ‘naming'”, points Fernando SarniCEO of McCann Market. In the report “Champions League Stadium Naming Rights Study” It is highlighted that Germany is the most developed market in this business, since more than 80% of the Bundesliga stadiums have a sponsor, followed at a great distance by the Premier League (30%), Italy (10%) and Spain (only 5%).
In Argentina, for now it is an “idea in development”. The “naming” generates resources that “are used to finance improvements to the space or build a new stadium and the name is given to the company. It’s not just a branding business, but it has to do with what you want people to use the stadium for. Brands use these strategies for other things, linking up with new customers, offering them benefits, doing shows. Brands are associated with a club because of their prestige and, from there, actions are generated”, he explains. Mariano Elizondodirector of the Diploma in Management of Football Entities of the Center for Sports Studies of the Austral University. Sarni adds his vision: “It is for companies that need more recognition, to be in the consumer’s mind, so they take advantage of these spaces where they have great mass and scope. Thus, they speed up processes to be closer to the consumer’s head “.
Why doesn’t the idea catch on? he answers it Rodrigo ScanduraCEO of the agency four crowns: “Local football fans always wanted to maintain the historical foundations of their teams, but there are more and more examples around the world that show that a brand can give stadiums an injection of money, visibility and technology to enhance and highlight them”. There is a basic problem for Argentine soccer: the obsolete structure of the fields. or. The “One”from Silver studentsappears as a tempting option for companies, from the hand of its ideologue, Juan Sebastián Verón, since it has an English style and was designed with the idea of a more comprehensive use.
Show. The reference points to the fact that, according to Elizondo, in many markets “a sports show is the excuse to spend a Sunday afternoon”, which implies that a club offers its members spaces to have lunch, buy clothing or receive all kinds of of services. “They are large spaces where people entertain themselves during a match”, he points out. “There are few cases because it is a matter of market maturity. Using the ‘naming’ associated with sports has a more North American tendency, related to the NFL, the NBA, etc. In Europe too. We are just taking advantage of it in South America,” adds Sarni.
“Many times, brands only put their name on a shirt or a stadium. It should be the beginning of a relationship with the audience. They would have to do more things. They don’t know how to take good advantage of the relationship they build with the clubs they through sponsorship in sports”, agrees John MarencoCEO of Be Influencers and member of the Board of Directors of interact.
From his vision, “when a brand is associated with a niche sport, it is because they have certain values to which companies want to respond. When we talk about a club, massiveness is sought, and values such as success. They all want to be with institutions that, beyond their popularity, are also successful. It is not the same to be in a good moment in a successful club, than one that always loses all the time”, he highlights. “It is a relationship of years, but it is necessary to evaluate the strategic location of the stadium, number of mentions, repetitions per year in which the brand will be seen at a local, regional and global level, understand what type of public will attend that stadium. Like any sponsorship, you have to develop it, promote it and make it grow”, closes Scandura. Questions that the football planet has not yet managed to decipher.
Marcelo Alfano
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by Marcelo Alfano
