Sports, sponsors make a pretty good team, forum panel says

When maximizing returns on business marketing dollars, nothing beats a day of fun with your favorite team, according to sports executives speaking at the Daily Herald Business Ledger Newsmakers Forum Thursday.

More than 100 local business leaders and entrepreneurs attended the forum at the Meadows Club in Rolling Meadows to hear the panel of executives from area sports organizations discuss how to best utilize sports marketing dollars. The panel agreed that the money spent with sporting teams and events can develop a positive, emotional relationship with the audience in a way other forms of marketing cannot.

Roger Wexelberg, president and general manager of the Chicago Rush arena football team, identified three key aspects of sports marketing: fun, value and affordability of product. When a sports team can achieve the three keys as part of the fans' experience, that positive effect spreads to business sponsors and partners as well.

“Those things are important to families nowadays,” Wexelberg said. “You want them to enjoy themselves for two hours, not break their bank, and be of value to them.

“That gives the sport and its sponsors value to the product.”

Andy Viano, general manager of the Schaumburg Boomers minor league baseball team, echoed that thought, noting sports events have a captive audience who will spend a few hours continually exposed to a sponsor in a positive environment.

“It's a family of four — parents with two kids — staring at your board in the outfield for three hours,” Viano said. “They're in a good mood, they're making memories that will last a long time, and they'll associate your brand with that good mood.”

By contrast, Viano said people looking at a roadside billboard may see it only for a few seconds and could be in a negative mood because of their commute.

“It's about creating a direct, special and intimate relationship with people,” he said. “It's that warm and fuzzy association that we're striving for.”

It's especially important for local sports organizations to make themselves relevant to the community, as that creates the ability to expand the relationships between the team, its fans and the business community, said Dan Migala, publisher of the sports marketing newsletter The Migala Report. He called that relevance “putting yourself on the front porch of the community.”

“If (sports teams) are doing their job, they will connect with the brands and the business partners that will accelerate the heartbeat of the community,” he said.

Matt Starr, sales and marketing director for the Western Golf Association, noted corporate hospitality is another effective tool for marketing. Hosting hospitality suites at events like golf tournaments such as the WGA-run BMW Championship gives businesses an opportunity to build relationships with their client base. He noted five keys to running a successful hospitality event: defining your objectives; knowing your audience; working up and creating a budget; managing invitations; and following up after the event.

“Staying organized and having a good plan makes for a good marketing strategy,” Starr said.

While college sports operate at a different level than the pros, the audience is prime territory for business, according to Jeff Compher, director of athletics at Northern Illinois University. Compher noted college sports has the largest fan base and the largest female fan base of any sport, along with a large affluent-fan base. It is also prime territory for reaching the Millenial generation, where a business can start building brand loyalty, he added.

The success of NIU's football team over the past several years has given the university exposure that has helped build sponsorships to more than $1 million a year. NIU has outsourced its sponsorship sales, which Compher said has helped the university take advantage of its growing notoriety in the national sports scene.

Outsourcing sports sponsorship sales “is a growing trend,” he said. “They are working on a regional and national level to get sponsors and bring them to the table for NIU. That is something we couldn't do ourselves.”

Presenting sponsors for the Newsmakers Forum were the Chicago Rush and NIU MBA College of Business. American Slide Chart/Perygraf was a corporate sponsor for the event.