While sports and firms are separate, there are cases where they cross over and here are three examples.
A sports organisation’s ground or sports arena is both the literal and metaphorical home of the team or club. Being such a key part of the organisation, the name of the ground means an awful lot to the fans, so when a company sponsors a ground it is a huge deal. The Etihad Airways board of directors, who are heavily involved with a football team in the north of England, have sponsored both the teams football tops but likewise the club’s stadium. By sponsoring such a tremendous team, it gives the brand the gravitas and significance any firm would long for.
There are firms that have been directly involved in the development or establishment of football clubs or some other sporting organisations. Some firms will create athletic or sports teams for their workers so that they can stay fit and get a good amount of exercise in. This was a lot more popular in the early part of the 20th century, and so there are quite a couple of sports clubs that were established in this period. The custom has also occurred later in the century, and it also occurs all around the globe; in Japan the Honda board backed the creation of a soccer team which today plays in the 4th division of the Japanese division system. There are other teams founded through businesses in Europe, with about the most effective coming from the Netherlands. In many cases the team will have a sports logo that it similar to the company that’s started it, or the club will wear a kit that consists of the company’s colours.
Sport provides a great amount of sponsorship prospects for any company that wants to move into this sector of advertising. The advantage of this means of marketing and advertising is that there are games each weekend, frequent news stories following players and clubs, but also a multitude of types of advertising available. Within all the sorts of marketing and advertising one of the most prevalent is to sponsor a club’s football shirt. The club does not receive money directly from the sale of football tops, alternatively they get paid by the sponsors for the right to sponsor a shirt with the clubs logos on; so it is important that the team gain sponsorship from a huge brand name, to pull in a big brand the club must sell as many shirts as possible. This form of marketing and advertising is not limited to just soccer, it is common in practically all sports for a shirt to include a minimum of one sponsor, the exception being national teams shirts which are not endorsed by any brands. There are other significant kinds of advertising in sports, and one of them being the sponsoring of whole divisions, and this is something the Telecom Italia board opted to do, through its sponsorship of the top Italian division.