Sports purpose campaigns aren’t delivering on their promises

Nick Palmer-Brown – Head of Sport & Entertainment, FleishmanHillard UK

Sport is a paradox. This year alone we’ve seen its capability to be a hugely compelling vehicle for good. However, we’ve also witnessed its ability to illuminate inhumanity on the world’s biggest stages. It’s a place where some of the biggest cultural and social issues of our time bubble to the surface in increasingly poisonous ways.

Investing in sport is not only shrewd – it is essential. What’s more, doing it with a purposeful sentiment at its heart is becoming a more proven commercial lever to drive a deeper, more emotional connection with fans. Though there is much work to be done on proving the increase in commercial value, the early signs suggest it uplifts key brand metrics in all the right areas.

But how can brands and the agencies advising them go further to maximise impact? By cooperating and partnering with other brands. By working together, purposeful campaigns can make real and lasting change.

The truth is, the majority of brands looking to get into this space are yet to make the impact they desire. To be candid, impact seems to have lost its meaning. Brands are looking for a silver bullet to move the dial – this is where awareness and triggering change have become conflated and at some point we need to centre ourselves on the real world change we need to see. We must also consider how far a campaign (and budget) will go to make that impact. That’s how we reconcile cultural and commercial value.

CSR activations used to be an obligation, a way of balancing the sentiment cheque book and contractual promises to rightsholders. But the combination of driving towards social impact and achieving cultural relevance are now so intertwined that commercial value can be straight lined into deeper emotional connections.

Many governing bodies are focusing investment into top to bottom education programmes, but with minimal cultural cache attached. On the other end of the spectrum, thousands of disparate campaigns aim to infiltrate culture to spotlight varying issues from racism towards players, to diverse representation at leadership levels. All raising awareness of meaningful, if not critical issues.

But it isn’t easy. There’s a disconnect between businesses aiming to achieve genuine positive societal impact with sports purpose campaigns and their desired outcome. It is our responsibility as marketing and communication advisors to ensure that before brands rightfully invest in purposeful sport campaigns, they must target the right partner with the right ambition in the right sector. But, as agency advisors, we can and should be taking it even further.

We must help brands look at every problem they wish to solve through a holistic lens; less focusing investment at individual issues and one-off moments to drive awareness. Instead, we must urge cooperation with other organisations, charities and governing bodies in the space – and encourage more substantial partnerships with the communities that fill sport. Instead of brands and rightsholders trying to balance lower scale purposeful change and ROI, they can combine their powers to make a disproportionate impact. By uniting these entities to focus on the problems as a whole, together we can finally build towards an actively positive and tangible outcome. Giving impact a meaning once again.

Not only does this create genuine change, but the creation of relevant partnerships will build long term brand love, help businesses achieve growth and excite consumers by working together. The days of self-serving sports purpose are over; genuine cultural impact only comes from cooperation. As the old adage goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. After all, who doesn’t love a collab?