The brands that won gold at Tokyo 2020 and F1’s smoking problem: Sponsorship and marketing newsletter 02/09

How Toyota, Adidas and Nike won gold

There was a lot of chatter leading into the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games about whether sponsors would be receiving much value from an event that was destined to look significantly different from the one they had signed up for. Indeed, against the backdrop of empty seats and a disgruntled Japanese public there were concerns that being associated with the Games might even cause some companies brand damage.

Just over three weeks on from the closing ceremony in Japan, sponsorship intelligence platform SponsorPulse has provided some answers. The Toronto-based company sifted through 3,500 consumer interviews conducted across the US, Canada, the UK and Japan from 9th to 16th August to find out which brands were able to ‘own the podium’ during Tokyo 2020.

Both global and national sponsors in each market were ranked based on aided and unaided awareness in the minds of consumers, as well as the impact their association with the Games had on their brand favourability, brand image and purchase/usage.

Interestingly Toyota, which is one of the IOC’s global TOP partners, claimed gold in Japan despite its decision to pull Olympics-related television ads in its home market. The carmaker was in the top three for both aided and unaided awareness in the host nation, but perhaps most importantly ranked highest for impact on brand favourability and second for impact on brand image. 

Based on the findings, it would probably be fair to suggest that Toyota’s favourability and image rose among Japanese consumers because of its decision to dial down its marketing activity around the event domestically. Rather than ignore the pandemic situation surrounding the event, the fact that Toyota essentially stood with the Japanese public could be something that it stands to benefit from in the long run.

Elsewhere, sportswear giant Nike topped nearly every metric in the US, ranking second only for impact on purchasing. Consumer packaged goods brands such as Coca-Cola performed well from an awareness perspective, while Team USA sponsor Milk Life broke into the top three for impact on brand image and topped the charts for impact on usage.

Meanwhile, in the UK, it was Nike’s rival and Team GB kit supplier Adidas that featured in the top three for every metric. There was also significant awareness for national partners such as supermarket chain Aldi and flag carrier British Airways, the latter of which ranked top for impact on brand favourability. Snack food brand McVitie’s also appears to have benefited from its sponsorship of Team GB, ranking highest for impact on brand image and fifth for impact on purchasing. 

The IOC might be interested to know that Japan showed the strongest connection to the TOP partners, of which Coca-Cola, Visa, Toyota and Samsung proved to have the strongest presence in consumers’ minds. But it was a slightly different story for the likes of Procter & Gamble and Airbnb, which failed to register among the top brands for unaided awareness in the US, the UK or Japan.

From an engagement perspective, any suggestion that people weren’t going to show interest in Tokyo 2020 because of the circumstances proved to be unfounded. SponsorPulse found that nearly eight in ten consumers engaged with the event across all measured countries. 

You can check out the report in full here.

What makes a marketable athlete?

As ever, SportsPro’s annual list of the World’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes has made quite a splash. If you haven’t seen the rankings yet, I imagine your mind is probably drifting towards someone like Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Brady or LeBron James for the number one spot. In which case, click here for a surprise.

Without wanting to give too much away, below are what I found to be some of the more interesting takeaways from the top 50:

• Half of the top ten – including the top three – is female

• 21 countries are represented on the list, although nearly half is American

• There are athletes from 14 sports, including 22 from soccer

• Nine members of the USWNT feature on the list

• There are no golfers or NHL players, as well as just one representative each from the NFL, MLB and athletics

Ultimately, the list is an eclectic mix of familiar names and sporting icons, but also features those who have aligned themselves with a cause and taken a stand over the past 12 months. Whether you agree with the rankings or not – and I’m sure there will be many of you who don’t – it can’t be denied that the list paints an intriguing picture of the changing nature of athlete marketability.

Formula One’s smoking problem

There is renewed focus on Formula One’s relationship with cigarette makers after the publication of a new report by tobacco industry watchdog STOP and Formula Money, which has called on the sport to sever ties with companies such as Philip Morris International (PMI) and British American Tobacco (BAT).

Cigarette brands were once among the top sources of sponsorship income for Formula One teams before the series banned tobacco advertising in 2006. However, the likes of PMI, which sponsors Ferrari, and BAT, which sponsors McLaren, have found a route back into the sport by not explicitly promoting smoking or their products.

In fact, the report, titled ‘Driving Addiction: Tobacco Sponsorship in Formula One’, estimates that PMI and BAT are on track to spend US$105 million on the series in 2021. That is the same amount they spent last year, which according to the study marked the highest spending in the sport by tobacco companies since 2006.

Formula One has made no secret of the fact that it is succeeding in growing its younger fanbase, but the big problem now, STOP says, is that more young people are being exposed to PMI and BAT through the series’ growing social media and esports presence in particular.

‘Tobacco sponsorship of F1 is now at a level comparable with 2006, when the sport supposedly banned such activity,’ the report reads. ‘It shows no sign of slowing as it rides F1’s mission to expand its global reach. Indeed, F1 has given tobacco a licence to be present on more platforms and in more venues than it could ever achieve on its own.

‘F1 still hasn’t been able to shake its addiction to Big Tobacco’s money and the price may be paid by a new generation of young race enthusiasts across the globe.’

Top dealers

We might now be more familiar with Amazon snapping up media rights to premium sports properties, but it still feels like more of a novelty when the company makes a move in the sponsorship space. However, in the past couple of weeks Jeff Bezos’ sports marketing team has been busy, signing deals to become the sleeve sponsor of Italian soccer side Napoli and the naming rights partner for esports’ League of Legends European Masters. 

Five deals you might have missed

Three things I’ve been reading

1. Turning attention back to the World’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes, SportsPro’s Ed Dixon has been writing all about what this year’s list tells us about the future.

2. Elsewhere on the SportsPro pages, Alex Charkham, who is the chief strategy officer at sports and entertainment marketing agency Fuse, has been stating the case for the commercial and marketing success of The Hundred.

3. And finally, an interesting read on AdWeek, about how the NFL’s Raiders franchise are rebuilding their fanbase after playing their first season in Las Vegas behind closed doors.

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