England’s Early RWC Exit – Opportunity Rather Than Fallout

Last week we asked Rupert Pratt from Generate for his thoughts on the immediate impact and wider implications for sponsorship.  See http://bit.ly/1GvRHPu

This week it’s the turn of  Sophie Morris, Chartered Marketer and Director of Millharbour Marketing Consultancy, to put her views forward…

So, that’s it, England’s World Cup tournament is over.  Of course, much has been said about the impact of that for all elements of the game, but in terms of sponsorship, I believe there is an immediate impact but it needn’t be a long term one.

I agree with Rupert that England team sponsors will drop leverage around the rest of the tournament. They have lost out on that ‘feel good factor’ around their sponsorship and, although they won’t have to pay their performance related sponsorship fees to the RFU, they have lost the opportunity to make the most of the activation campaigns they did have, with a lot of content going unused. But I don’t believe that they should ‘down weight’ plans for 2016 and beyond.

As well as the standard press statement, O2 told me that “As team sponsor our above the line activity will now be scaled back until the 6 Nations, but Wear the Rose will continue to be our positioning in 2016. We had scenario planned all eventualities, but obviously this is the one we were least hoping for!”

Better to be part of the new era

The coming years could be the most interesting time in English rugby – The Big Come Back! Sponsors will want to be part of that.

Compare it to investing; you want to find areas of growth and high potential. Ideally you also want to go against the market – buy when others are selling. Now is the opportunity for English Rugby; invest now and see the return come in the next four years.

Isn’t it better to be part of the resurgence than to be remembered alongside the embarrassing early exit? I see this as a great opportunity for current sponsors, and new ones, to be part of a new era of English rugby. 

If the reasons for starting the sponsorship still hold true, then to drop support shows a lack of loyalty. Trust is key in most customer considerations and so brand perception is most likely to stay high if brands stick with the team through to the days of glory that are coming if all the punditry about coaching and new players comes to light.

There are also the negative connotations of dropping support for your team. When the fans stay true (as we saw against Uruguay), if you abandon the team, and therefore the fans too by association, that is very damaging to their perception of your brand.

We’re always talking about creating engagement and relationships in sponsorship, so don’t break up with those you’re trying to create that with. If it still fits your marketing objectives and criteria, then don’t give up on it. There is no case for moral turpitude here, they just underperformed and that is sport. Any sponsors ‘jumping ship’ can expect to see propensity to buy fall amongst the rugby contingent that they spent a lot of money trying to target.

Wider Implications

There are hits to be taken by TV to the tune of £1m per match (MediaCom) and pubs by £5m (London Business School). But just as sponsors knew the ‘group of death’ situation three years ago, so did everyone else. They will have planned for a RWC without England in the latter stages.

Rugby fans love good rugby and most will watch the rest of the tournament. Australia v Wales this weekend was one of the most thrilling so far and likely to draw in new fans from other sports and big eventers when those headlines hit the media. The knock out stages will still draw in massive numbers.

England going out doesn’t make a big difference to the rest of the Tournament or to World Rugby. In fact, it allows us to look at other stories such as the success of the Japan team, which will increase the global exposure of the sport.

We have already seen TV viewing figures in Japan go from 2m to 25m throughout this tournament. What a great lead-in to them hosting the next round in 2019. 

But there are other countries making an impact too. Georgia finished third in their pool and have automatic qualification for the next RWC as a result. This presents them with a great opportunity to attract sponsors, knowing they will be on the world stage again soon.

So the implications really are limited to England Rugby (the team and the Union) and its sponsors.

State of the Sponsorship Industry

There is still a real misunderstanding of sponsorship’s place in the marketing mix and what it can do to contribute to wider objectives. We can see this even at the highest level.

Sponsorship has a huge potential to provide extraordinary experiences for fans, customers and staff. Engagement activities that you can’t find through any other means, you can find through sponsorship. You just have to do it properly, planning and measuring with the same scrutiny as you would any other element of your marketing. 

Get every possible bit of value out of the assets you have and activate strategically. Rather than being a dying form of marketing, I see it at a stage of huge potential and growth. Brands are starting to see the value beyond ‘logo-slapping’ and with unique assets and digital activation they can have direct access to a much wider market than ever before. 

Going too far with digital activation of sponsorship

The move to digital marketing can be seen across the marketing board; although there is a danger of going too heavy on digital activation.

Anyone can do digital. And that brings a very strong threat from ambush marketing. Sponsors have the unique assets to give a truly unique engagement, in live experiences and digitally, so they need to make the most of that.

We are getting close to digital saturation and it’s the live experience that makes the biggest difference in terms of brand perception and stay longest in the memory.

The future of sponsorship

Sponsorship needs to get smarter. It needs to focus on fan engagement in the true sense of the words, not just holding competitions with your unique assets and posting through your owned media. We need to move away from simply activating the rights you have and to finding the emotional connection between the fan and the sport, and then making a genuine contribution to that and integrating it across all your touch points.

Sponsors should also develop the game they are investing in, not just expect a return on their sponsorship fee. They need to find a balance between the high profile brand associations, fan engagement activity and actually making a difference. You need creativity in activation and effective integration with the rest of your marketing to really leverage your investment.

The future of rugby in England

The biggest loss to the RFU is in not growing the game further and inspiring the next generation. This will happen to some extent but not to the expected figures had England gone the whole way.

I have already seen record numbers of attendance at my club’s youth training sessions. And sitting on the RWC Regional Legacy Groups, I know what work has gone into preparing clubs to benefit from the Tournament, by the RFU, sponsors and our group itself. That work will still have an impact but we will never know the growth that could have come.

Despite that, English clubs will be better off. There is the investment to come from ticket sales and work from sponsors such as O2, QBE and CBRE had made a huge impact on the game before the Tournament even started, in bringing people to the game through O2 Touch, QBE Coaching Club and the All-Schools programme. 

The Legacy groups also helped deliver a legacy to clubs with improved facilities and support, including the Social Media Toolkit I produced as part of the RFUs Make Contact programme. 

It has been a wonderful tournament so far and a great advert for rugby, despite England’s early exit. I think anyone watching the games will have seen a sport full of passion, pride, courage and respect. It is therefore a game that people new to it will want to get more involved in: whether just watching more of it on the TV, going to games, starting to play, volunteering in our clubs, or getting in on the business side and even sponsoring! 

And it’s not just big companies that can get involved. There are 2,000 rugby clubs in England. Whatever the size of your business, there’ll be a local club near you looking for sponsorship. And in return for a couple of thousand pounds you will have a direct relationship with hundreds of new potential customers, who will all think you’re a hero for helping their club – if you activate and integrate it properly.

Sponsorship has huge potential. We just need to ensure that brands have the means to realise that potential.