The Evolution of Football Sponsorship at Nationwide
The Evolution of Football Sponsorship at Nationwide
For years sponsorship has been big business. Brands clamour to associate themselves with clubs, sporting events, festivals and broadcast properties. For some brands it has been difficult to prove the benefit and impact that these sponsorships provide. However when sponsorships have been activated as a component part of an overall strategy their values, whilst not always robustly quantifiable, are often seen as intrinsic drivers of performance.
The reason for sponsorships can be varied. From wishing to get your logo/brand out to as wide an audience as possible, to being associated with something that your target audience are passionate about all the way through to providing the perception that your brand has stature, which might be difficult to evidence elsewhere.
Stage One – National
Nationwide Football League Badges
As a national brand, with the general customer perception of smaller and almost provincial provider, Nationwide needed a vehicle to back-up their national presence. Football was an obvious area, as it is the sport with the largest spectator and playing base. But rather than jump in with a top flight club that would have provided potential view of scale quickly, it was equally as likely to polarise views.
The option to sponsor the football league came up and this was seen as a perfect opportunity. After all, nearly every town and city in the country has a football club and their support is fanatical. Being title sponsors of the league and subsequently the conference provided the real ‘one of us’ feel to the sponsorship.
Nationwide did such a great job of its sponsorship, the tail of the deal lastesd a minimum of 8-12 months after Coca Cola assumed the role. By that time Nationwide was now being seen as a national player.
Stage Two – Scale
The next stage once Nationwide was recognised as a national player was to create the perception that we were a large-scale organisation to rival the Big 4 Banks (after all Nationwide was always largest or second largest mortgage lender in the UK).
Nationwide England Team Sponsors Logo
The opportunity to sponsor England came about. Green Flag has been sponsors but did very little with their partnership. This was a deal that could be done and for us at Nationwide to make a big impact with a premium property. The England national team was going through quite a successful period (relatively speaking).
However, as with the dilemma of polarising views that came with sponsoring a top flight club, we could be in danger of alienating whole geographies within the UK. Many high level discussions were had and the decision to go ahead was on the basis we could be title sponsors or associate sponsors for the other home nations (Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales).
Thankfully discussions with the other home nations went well and they were also secured as partners. It is a relatively well shared notion that Nationwide approached these sponsorships a little differently and with a bit more creativity than previous sponsors. Undertaking guerrilla marketing techniques before the World Cup in France and utilising player appearances in a better way than just wheeling players in to offices.
This stage was all about creating the perception of scale or size, which according to all our research and customer feedback it did.
Stage Three – Giving Something Back
Scale was achieved and the public seemed to perceive us as a genuine alternative to the Big 4 Banks. However as a brand Nationwide wanted to embody everything that a building society stood for. At the same time in the sponsorship team we wanted to make the sponsorship more valuable and connect it at a deeper level with our customers. Nationwide as a business had adopted “Proud to be Different” as both a strapline and mission statement. This was seen as a way of underpinning our difference and benefits of coming to a building society, without using confusing financial services words such as ‘mutual’, ‘members’ and ‘Building Society’.
The whole concept was to highlight how we are different through everything we do and in every way we interact with our audience. This was demonstrated through the radio ads featuring the Little Britain actors and the TV ads featuring Mark Benton, using humour for the first time in a major campaign for a financial services provider.
We decided to take this in to our sponsorship activity and rather than using it purely as an opportunity to gain exposure we wanted to turn the whole sponsorship on its head and give all the benefits back to the customers. The sponsorship activity was rebranded ‘Sponsored By You’ essentially as a Nationwide customer you were sponsoring the England team. Your name appeared in programme ads. Your name could appear on digi-boards, you could meet the players etc.
This turned sponsorship from a pure brand and awareness activity to a channel for loyalty and customer retention. This was aided by the move into UGC and Social Media before any of the current players were either here in the UK and definitely before any of them made it big.
Summary
The evolution of our strategy at Nationwide replicates how sponsorship when done well, has evolved. To make sponsorship effective, you need to take it beyond the badging and exposure of tradition and move it across many channels and give something to the target.
Whilst sponsorship can not claim credit for the shift in mindsets of the public it was certainly a substantial contributory channel. Thankfully throughtout the evoultion the company were willing to take risks, push boundaries and offer a creative approach. Crticial to gain standout in my opinion.
Bring your sponsorship to life and make it part of your targets conversation. That way you can move sponsorship beyond awareness driving, to much more of an engagement driving activity.
Most people know of my experience in digital marketing, however I have masses of experience in sponsorship and above the line. However, so I don’t disappoint, the follow-up to this post will be ‘How sponsorship properties can be brought to life online’. Some of this will be from personal experience at Nationwide, whilst others will be looking at best practice.
As always comments appreciated on here or via eMail.
What Happened to Foursquare?
Whilst considering approaches for our clients Social Media strategies, I was doing the usual thing of wondering what platforms would suit their customer base and of course the objectives of their activity. At one point last year people were heralding the dawn on a new era. Social Media was finally finding its feet and earning its commercial water wings. Not in a traditional digital marketing sense, but in a multi-channel sense. What was driving this, the advent of Foursquare.
Foursquare was the new thing we all needed to get excited about. Taking people’s passions and love for social media and melding itwith their new found love with smartphones and a pinch of real-world and the ingredients were there for a winning combo. Or so we thought. This view was backed up by the decision in August 2010, at Facebook to launch their Foursquare killer, Facebook Places.
Easy to say it now, but I remember sitting in the offices at Best Buy and being quite cynical about the whole thing, while others were raving. Whilst I didn’t doubt the concept of blurring social with real world, my belief was that this would have to be simplified to the extent the user wouldn’t have to do a thing and there was a sufficent reward for them doing so.
For a while I did doubt my own wisdom. I signed up to Foursquare, after all, if you’re in the industry thats whay you do. I had Google Wave, Google Buzz, Bebo, MySpace etc etc log-ins but no idea what they are now. More and more contacts started popping up. Note I used the word contacts. It seemed to get quite noisy and then ther integration with Twitter came about and my timeline got loaded with people checking in to shops, sports grounds and fast food outlets. Frankly it got a little annoying. The point of the word contact was, most of the interactions were by people I knew in digital or technology, with a few friends who were early adopters. None of my proper friends could be bothered.
The rewards on offer at the likes of Foursquare just aren’t interesting. Pretty juvenile really becoming the mayor of HMV in Oxford Street. Apologies to all the various Foursquare mayors I have just offended. I read with interest the fact that Facebook was closing its Places service, whilst it isn’t completely backing out of geo services it does show that its not the Xanadu some thought it would be.
Maybe Facebook just got it wrong and Foursquare demolished Facebook places. Ironically the biggest boost Foursquare got to its numbers was when Facebook announced its Places service. In terms of people looking for Foursquare on Google it would appear that the search volume has already peaked. The August 2010 Facebook announcement got it mainstream and created the big boost, the numbers levelled but still at a higher than pre-announcement. Foursquare also had a second boost around April this year when Amazon announced its servers had taken out both Foursquare and Reddit.
Google Trends view on Foursquare search volume
The light for Foursquare is that although things haven’t really sparked for them in the UK or Europe in general, they are big on technology advanced Asia and the population of Indonesia seem to be searching in their droves. Some would say we need to treat Google data such as this with some scepticism. Whilst I wouldn’t pass comment on that, even if you don’t believe the core numbers, the trend is still there. Backed further by a quick search on Alexa.com where a similar story can be found.
The same pattern is true in terms of reach according to Alexa. The April spike exists in April, but after that, the traffic drops back. For me this demonstrates a lack of engagement with Foursquare. Not complete lack of engagement, but low engagement on a relative base to the likes of Twitter and Facebook, its not to say it can’t happen.
My view is that there could still be a place for Foursquare or an equivalent service. However they need to offer real value to users, something that makes users want to engage or embrace mobile technology to its fullest and minimise the engagement and actions needed in the physical world. Foursquare and other services such as Gowalla still have a long way to go. Once somebody has cracked it, the sector could ignite and present great currency for users and no-brainer commercial options for multichannel brands.
Remember the key to all of these platforms is mobile. With this in mind we need to keep a watching eye on Google, with the rise of G+ and obviously the Android operating system gaining momentum, they could be in a good place to crack it. If the minds at Google can work out what “it” is.
Facebook Sponsored Stories How are they doing?
Back in the depths of winter Facebook announced that it was going to launch Facebook Sponsored Stories. This sparked a lot of noise around intrusion of privacy, turning users/friends in to spammers and a number of other hysterical responses. After the dust settled, the marketeers took to the web and initial views were quite positive, with many saying it was the natural evolution of Facebook Ads. A recent review by industry mag NMA claim that Sponsored Stries are 46% more effctive than standard Facebook ads
Just in case you aren’t sure quite what Facebook Sponsored Stories are then here is my brief summary. Sponsored stories are linked to friends timelines and they show a brand when that brand is mentioned by your friend on your news feed. For example, if Starbucks were utilising sponsored stories and your friend mentioned Starbucks in their activity the ad (sponsored story) would appear. The rule states that brands cannot control the story they can only associate with actions. Here is an example unashamedly stolen from Mashable. This news feed example is just that, advertisers can choose what actiosn they want to associate, e.g. specific actions in an app
How a story would look, followed by an example of a sponsored story
As this demonstrates the sponsor (in this case) Starbucks doesn’t really interfere with the original message, which has meant user feedback to Facebook hasn’t been as negative as first feared. The other positive behind Facebook Stories compared to Twitter‘s sponsored Tweets is that Stories is user-generated providing a lower feeling of intrusion, whereas Twitter’s version is Advertiser generated and in theory could and often has no relevance to the user.
The key point behind sponsored stories if you are considering them for your brand or clients is that they cannot link out of Facebook. Consequently this isn’t a direct traffic driver to a latest offer you may have on your site. However it can increase fans and engagement with your brand on Facebook.
The other benefit to page owners, is that not all your fans have the same privacy settings. Just because somebody ‘Likes’ your page it doesn’t mean they will see all of your content. Using the Starbucks example above if the user had put on their settings they didn’t want to see your photos, sponsored stories can associate those photos with that user, which means they will see them.
Perhaps the biggest issue users may have as more advertisers jump on Sponsored Stories is the fact that they can’t opt out and prevent their image being used. The ony option is to click the X button and remvoe the story.
To clarify there are seven types of sponsored stories, we have detailed the type of Sponsored story – Story Content – Who sees the story:
1. Page Like – Somebody Likes Your Page – Friends of Your Fans
2. Page Post – Published a post from your page to your fans – Your Fans
3. Page Post Like – One of your fans liked your post in last 7 days – Friends of the Fan who liked your post
4. App Used and Game Played – Somebody used your app or played your game twice in last month – User friends
5. App Shared – Somebody shared a story from your app in last 7 days – The sharers friends
6. Check-in – Somebody checked in and claimed a deal in last 7 days in your Facebook Places – The claimers friends
7. Domain – Somebody liked, shared or pasted a link to content on your site in past 7 days – The sharer’s friends
Based on the current reaction and the reported increase in effectiveness I would definitely consider using this as a tool. Potentially at present to increase the Facebook following of a brand, however I’m sure as thigns evolve more options will present themselves. This is obviously a personal view but it seems to be one that supports Facebook’s desire of not wanting to be seen purely as a DR advertising platform. Their goal is to get their hands on some of that lucrative brand marketing cash that is still pretty much firmly locked in to established agencies and TV advertising. Who knows this may help to break some of that stranglehold.
Best Ads at the Moment
Its been a while since I commented on Hot Ads on TV at the moment but a handful that have caught my eye recently. They are both completely different ads with wildly different production but both have an element of humour, which potentially explains more about me than great advertising. If there was one common theme between the ads (which in advertising law isn’t good) you could easily miss what is being advertised especially on first view.
Doggy Dentures
This ad, if you haven’t seen it, is for Pedigree Dentastix, chew treats for dogs that apparently help them clean their teeth. This is a ridiculously simple ad but the whole view of the dogs with gleaming white dentures just works.
Volkswagen
This has polarised opinion in a few quarters, but in my view is a classic ad. Once again relatively simple in the sense that the boy dressed in his Darth Vadar costume tries to use the force on various objects. The darkside Star Wars tune plays throughout and at the end the lad genuinely thinks he used the force when the lights flash on his dad’s VW. Brilliant!
Cadburys
The dancing clothes is a great ad. Complex fance moves and oversized settings are what makes this ad great. Technically very difficult to master and film but looks ridiculously simple on screen. However Cadburys have come up with another tune that just works, even resulting in “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off” being in the charts earlier today.
And the not so good…
Comparethemeerkat
Apologies for all you meerkat fans, but I seem to remember in the very early days when I rated the original ad so highly, that I thought the concept could annoy after a while. Well I think Alexander hit that stage a while back and is now just plain annoying. So much so, I think I prefer the GoCompare opera man.
A4U Awards 2011 – Winner of Best New Entrant
The A4U Awards were on the other night, hosted by comedian Rufus Hound. For those of you not aware of A4U Awards, the annual event attracts the good and great from affiliate marketing and acts as a kind of whose who inthe industry. Sadly I couldn’t make this year’s event (yes I was invited) due to illness.
There were some great winners at the event including our own network partners Affiliate Window, who did really well, as they always do. It was a special event this year as the efforts of myself, AW and my team were recognised as “Best New Entrant” this year. This was largely down to the great numbers we achieved, the strong relationships we built with key affiliates and the huge share of our sector that we captured almost over night.
This award comes off the back of the other recongition we received recently when we were voted fifth in the Top 100 UK Social Media brands #sb100 . This award and recognition are great honours that recognise the amazing efforts and success we have experienced as an Online Marketing team at Best Buy in the UK.
I would like to thank the team at A4U Awards and the panel for the award. Of course big thank to AW and the internal team in makign our programme such a success. If the guys at A4U are reading this, please let me win one next year, I promise I will be there to collect it 
New Series of The Apprentice Starts Tuesday
Whilst writing about the new series of The Apprentice is hardly a normal topic for a Marketing blog, I make no apology for it. For me The Apprentice is up there with the top programmes on TV. Both from a creative point of view and the way they have made people understand that a career in commercial organisations need not be boring.
My main hope for this series of The Apprentice is that they have selected candidates that want to be on the show for business reasons, not to try to catapault themselves in to a mini-celebrity. The likes of Saira Kahn, Ruth Badger and more recently Kate Walsh have been good candidates but seemingly as intent on celeb status than a job with Lord Sugar.
The challenges provide great tests of the candidates talent and commercial acumen, although they quite often focus a lot on sales. The characters are often so far out in terms of how exagerated they become to achieve stand-out for the crowd, some end up becoming parodies of themselves.
People in my network of friends have often said I should enter The Apprentice as they believe I could do well. Frankly I don’t think I could put up with some of the candidates and how they behave, so its probably best I stay away.
Anyway, the show starts on BBC 1, Tuesday at 9pm and the candidates have already been unveiled. We have people from all walks of life including the usual suspects from Sales and Marketing Backgrounds. I for one will be glued to my set to see how the candidates shape up and will expect the losing project manager to go in the first episode.
One element of sadness is that Margaret left the team. That isn’t a negative around Ms Brady (Peschosolidio), more an endorsement for Margaret. You could tell both her and Nick had an honest working relationship with Lord Sugar and none of it was forced. With Karen because she was added to the show it fills a little more ‘done for TV’.
That being said, I can’t wait to hear Lord Sugar say for the first time, You’re Fired!
Oh one other slight negative, I really don’t like the after show half as much now Adrian Chiles has left.
