With all the hype around the Olympics and some big name sponsors promoting the games, it’s almost impossible to turn on the television or look in a magazine and not see an ad that in some way incorporates sports. However brands don’t need to wait for a big sporting event to capitalize on the popularity of sports.
So the question remains, why are sports so popular in advertising?
Aside from the high viewership of sporting events like the Olympics or the Super Bowl, there are a lot of positive characteristics associated with sports: team work, dedication, competition, entertainment and being the best. For many brands, those are the very characteristics they are trying to embody and represent to their target market.
With so many viewers engaged in sports, with sports and sport celebrity, it goes without saying that it’s a good way to build brand awareness, branding following… and obtain brand loyalty. There are some die-hard sports fans out there who will support their team till the very end. If a brand associates themselves with a customer’s favourite team, it creates a connection, a sense of solidarity and some of the loyalty the customer has towards the team will be transferred to the brand.
Using sports is clearly easier for some brands more than others. Brands like Nike, Liquid Nutrition and Gatorade have an advantage as they supply products that are used or required within the world of sports or health.
All three brands use athletes as brand spokespersons in their ads. Gatorade used Sidney Crosby in their G-Series commercials.
By having an athlete who is at the top of his game endorse the product sets a standard for those who play sports. The crucial element of the ad is that the viewer actually sees Sidney drinking Gatorade. If you want to be the best and play hockey like Sidney Crosby you fuel, you train and you push with Gatorade.
The challenge for some brands is to find a way to leverage the popularity of sports when they aren’t directly related to sports and health.
If a brand’s product or service doesn’t directly relate to sports, they can still use sports to their advantage by emphasizing shared themes and characteristics.
When you think of your Visa card, your mind doesn’t necessarily thinks of sports, but yet they sponsor the NFL. Visa is successful in their ad because they play on two elements of sports: dedication and entertainment. Visa knew how much fans love football and the extent they go to when celebrating the sport and their team. Visa uses that knowledge to position themselves as a brand that helps fans get closer to football.
Even brands who operate business to business have found ways to incorporate sports.
Dentsply created a Gold Performance campaign, in which they dubbed specific products as gold performance products, signifying those products as the best of the best. Even though Dentsply doesn’t speak to sports, athletes or any organization in particular, sports were used as a vehicle to spread their message of superior quality.
Sports, with their mass appeal and popularity, can be a great tool to spread brand messaging. What are some of your favourite ads that utilize sports?
It’s all around us. Stars, personalities and with the Olympics around the corner, athletes, persuading us to buy into a brand. This isn’t anything new. In the world of social media and twitter, celebrity influence is becoming stronger,marketers are able to quantify their following and influence. The fact that many brands get celebrities to act as their brand spokesperson, appearing in commercials, using their products in music videos, etc… has always been a true and tried marketing strategy. It’s an easy leap from personality to brand… someone who represents and speaks on behalf of the brand to the public and literally becomes the brand personified.
A celebrity brand spokeperson/ambassador can help a brand relate to their target audience as it’s easier to connect with another human being than an abstract notion of what a brand is. The spokesperson brand strategy really became prevalent and mainstream when Nike used Michael Jordan in 1984. Today you see Jennifer Hudson in ads for Weightwatchers, Jennifer Aniston promoting Smart Water and various music artists signing along to Pepsi.
However, a spokesperson can also be someone from within the brand itself. Many brands chose the founders to act as spokespersons. Presidents’ Choice does it with Galen Weston. Franchise operation Liquid Nutrition combines the two. Liquid Nutrition is backed and enable by owners/spokespersons such as Steve Nash, Suzann Pettersen, Russell Martin, Torah Bright, Matt Ryan, Vincent Lecavalier and Elaine Hastings.
When choosing a spokesperson, it’s important to keep these steps in mind:
Identify the key values of the brand. What is your brands positioning statement? How do you want the public to perceive your brand? How does your brand identify itself in the marketplace?
Research possible candidates who might embody those values. A spokesperson can’t be just anybody. They have to fit in with the brand. Any associations with scandal-ridden individuals can have negative results for a brand. Remember what happened with Kate Moss and Tiger Woods?
Develop key messages. What specifically do you want the public to know about your brand? It will be the job of the spokesperson to deliver those messages.
Don’t make the spokesperson the brand.The spokesperson must embody the brand, represent the brand and build brand momentum. But the brand must be able to stand, grow and develop a persona on its own. The spokesperson is just another channel through which the brand spreads its message. Nike did this well…
Make sure the spokesperson is media trained. It is essential that the spokesperson knows the key messages and is comfortable engaging with the various channels through which consumers get their information, whether it be print, television, social media or radio. A spokesperson has to be able to speak and correctly deliver the message based on the medium. If not, the message gets lost.
What has your experience working with a brand spokesperson been like? What steps did you take to find an appropriate spokesperson?
It use to be that Brand referred to product, but in today’s world, the use of brand has taken on new applications. I see a lot of reference to Personal branding and Inward branding. In fact I just recently read an interesting article on Forbes.com about Donald Trump, and the concept of the human brand. Have these terms been renamed to speak to the times and establish a sexier term for initiatives that were always around but never deemed as important as Product branding?
This post concentrates on Personal Brand. I will expand on Inward Branding in a separate post.
Whatever industry you play in… or work in, Personal Brand and Branding are increasingly important for you to achieve business success…but what does Personal Brand really mean anyway?
Personal: it’s you. It’s your personality. To bring up The Donald again, he IS his brand. In the world of social media and constant communication, it is increasingly important to brand yourself. You don’t have to be a public speaker, or a blogger, looking for a job or a celebrity, and still you need to brand yourself. Branding yourself personally provides you with a point of differentiation from others in the business arena.. so when you will need it, you can draw upon it. You need to build awareness of you. In short, you are the product. It’s your game face!
I believe marketers not only always knew this but they knew how to work their own style to create a personal brand. However business and sales managers and executive, although very business focused may not have been so personal brand savvy.
In today’s communication era the need to have a defined personal brand is no longer a nice to have… but a need to have. In order to stand apart, to get ahead, it is no longer okay to just have a name with a good solid handshake! Just like a product Brand….you have to have a persona, a way to make sure that you do not blend into the background.
Are you among those that are mystified by this new brand adjective? As I browse the my LinkedIn network, I find a lot of discussions about “personal brand”… What is it? How to own it? How to achieve it? It’s really not that hard, (says the marketer!). Think of yourself as a brand… Lululemon, Nike, Channel or whatever Brand gets you excited. Now take that excitement and turn it onto yourself. Ask these following questions: What makes me different (what talents do I have?) What do I want others to remember about me? How do I make myself stand apart?
Here’s a 3-step approach to creating your, yes, very own, personal brand:
1. It’s all about the first impression…. at first.
The informality of business has allowed for a multitude of possibilities to set you apart. Maybe it’s a certain style of clothing, or like me, wearing a distinct colour. Yes, I wear purple every time I see a client. Initially I started doing that to assist in branding my firm. I accomplished that but it has also become synonymous with me! Be careful not to go too overboard. Always be cognizant of whom you are meeting, what their style is like and what the “acceptable tone” of the company is. Standing apart doesn’t mean making a spectacle of yourself, it means you have to be assertive in your statement, without overpowering your statement with props and fanfare.
2. Leave something behind…with that first impression…
Top the incredible first impression with a business card to leave behind. This business card has your coordinates and a positioning statement that succinctly states what you can deliver on… on what sets you apart in the business arena. This is probably going to be a lot harder than deciding what clothes you have to wear! It’s difficult to describe yourself, your abilities and what you do in one sentence. Start by asking what makes you different from others? What experience can you state (professional and personal) that provides you with an edge? Reach out to your colleagues and business associates and ask what they see as your biggest strength.
3. As with product brands… you have to deliver the goods….
Each one of us has bought into a brand promise, whether it’s a service or a product, and have been disappointed. You know what I mean? The brand just didn’t live up to to its sizzle (brand promise). So be sure that doesn’t happen to you. In other words, you could look great, exude all the energy that sets you apart from others and make that first impression count. Top that fabulous first impression with an equally fabulous designed business card with that concise positioning statement and you have it made…. Or almost. You have to live up to your promise and to your uniqueness. You have to deliver on the sizzle and maintain the reputation that your Personal Brand is based on. And that’s the most important step in developing and establishing a Personal Brand and ensuring your business success.
Keep posted on the second part of this series about Inward Branding. I invite you to join in the conversation! If you got here via a link from a friend, or LinkedIn, I invite you to join the conversation on marketing, branding and design… sign up on 3H hoopla! here.
It may be a market warrior’s dream to make the brand they develop for a company into an icon. Chanel, Coca-Cola, Nike, Michelin – all brand names that have become synonymous with their symbolism. Brands that became more than commodity culture, they became pop culture. When you have strong visual cue, brands are conduits. People relate to them on a personal level because good brands, ones that survive, have personality and wit. Going beyond the brand mechanics, they position themselves. They never follow a trend… they should encourage one.
Image provided courtesy of the Nike, under the creative commons license.
Iconic brands might be an industry brass ring, but brands don’t fail if they fail to become cultural icons—many widely respected brands still maintain a name within a designate community, such as Sick Kids and Anne Taylor.
Brands aren’t just for corporations either. Personal brands come by way of blogging, podcasts and other new media-driven personalities. Whether it is creating a personality for a product, or a person, the key is conveying that character to the market. The human element, in all forms of art, is the one that resonates. So get to know your brand, and perhaps in the future, everyone will know it too.
