The Industry Column – 14th April

Pete Davis, managing director of marketing ideas search engine Getmemedia.com, ponders over the search for a new sponsor for the FA Cup.

There seems to be some confusion surrounding the Football Association’s (FA) search for a new sponsor for the FA Cup.

While reports in the marketing press are claiming that the FA is struggling to find a replacement sponsor and that it has been in the hunt since last summer, the FA itself is saying that there are plenty of companies interested but that it is making sure it gets the right value for its sponsorship.

I suspect the reality is somewhere between the two. Sadly, this is a sign of the times. With the FA looking for £32 million spread over four years, a lot of companies will be looking at what else they could potentially get for £8 million a year, from what is arguably more accountable media. And it’s not just the direct spend that brands need to concern themselves with for this type of sponsorship, they need to leverage this sponsorship and have full time staff on it to bring it to life with their customer base.
 
Although I strongly believe that sports sponsorship is a very powerful channel, in a tougher economic climate brands are tempted to be looking for media that are firstly more accountable and secondly much more direct. One of the challenges with this type of sponsorship is that it can be a very slow burn, with brands having to be involved for some time to really reap the benefits.

On this basis, one has to ask the question as to whether the outgoing FA cup sponsor has stuck with their sponsorship long enough to actually get the real benefit from it.  For example, Vauxhall coming in as the England sponsor will have to overturn the good work that Nationwide has done establishing itself in the fan’s eyes, and arguably it will need another four years before it is seen by people as owning that particular sponsorship.

The FA Cup is a truly historic competition, and to probably 95% of football clubs and their supporters it’s still a big deal, with a real chance for anyone outside the top six big clubs to have some success. Arguably it has more associations than any other league competition. And maybe in some respects its history is its undoing; other football sponsorship properties such as the Carling Cup and the Barclays Premiership are easier to gain association with. The FA Cup is always going to be the FA Cup.

The reality is that whoever does take on the FA Cup sponsorship will need to put a substantial amount of money behind it. It will be a hugely beneficial association for whoever takes it on, but it needs to be given time. With the level of investment the FA are looking for, £8m is a very good budget for an above the line brand campaign. And at times like this, the old saying “No one ever got fired for doing a TV ad” is likely to be ringing true in many brand managers’ ears.

This is a big and very exciting property, but at the moment, unless there’s a big brand out there with a lot of money to put in for awareness the FA may find things a little more difficult than they would have liked.