The Bergman Group's approach to sports marketing may be unique. We believe that the actual sponsorship of athletes and athletic events—while of tremendous value to a client—represents only part of the benefit to be derived from the investment. Much greater value can be realized through programs that enable the client to leverage that sponsorship far beyond the limited relationship with a given athlete or the sponsorship of a specific event.
But first, a word about how and why a sports marketing program can work. Organizations with limited budgets face a significant challenge building awareness of their brands, products and services. This is especially the case when a business-to-business client must reach a highly targeted but geographically disparate audience.
In our years of advising B2B companies, we have found that a well-designed and executed sports marketing program—specifically, the sponsorship of Professional Golf Association (PGA) players—can confer upon the sponsor instant credibility, and for a very reasonable cost.
Few companies, it goes without saying, can afford Super Bowl sponsorships, naming rights or luxury boxes at major tournaments or sports arenas. Only a handful can make Tiger Woods or LeBron James available to meet their customers, or arrange for such superstars to wear their clothing or endorse their products.
But for the client with a restricted budget, the services of the right PGA golfer are not only possible, but also remarkably cost-effective. These golfers travel throughout the country, which solves the geographical problem, and they are accessible to the client and its customers, which offers an additional advantage: Not only do they perform in tournaments on the client's own turf, but they can also be made available for golf outings at which clients and their customers can participate. These and related events provide recreational settings for cultivating important business relationships.
The Bergman Group's experience in successful sports marketing programs takes five forms. First, we've handled all aspects of event planning and management, for both charitable causes and business organizations, at the local, regional and national levels. These include the Crown Royal Open and Henrico Open in Virginia, and the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Our staff, before coming to the Bergman Group also worked on sponsorship events involving NASACR drivers Jimmy Johnson and Hut Strickland.)
Second, in the area of sports-marketing sponsorships, we have acted as liaison between the professional athlete's agent and the sponsoring organization. The role of the athlete's agent, after all, is to make sure the athlete's interests are protected. Ours, in these arrangements, is to make sure the client's communications goals are met. We have negotiated and arranged personal appearances and golf outings involving John Rollins, Omar Uresti, Daniel Chopra, Tom Kite, Aaron Baddeley, Brian Bateman and Woody Austin.
Third, we've provided advertising support for sports events, developing ads, videos and other promotional materials that the sponsor can leverage well beyond the event itself. Fourth, we've provided promotional materials for the athletes themselves, so they can seize all opportunities available to them in the business-to-business environment. We help them position themselves as businessmen and spokespersons. (We designed and built the website for PGA golfer John Rollins.)
Fifth, and finally, we have helped our clients realize the full range of possibilities that sponsorship of a sports event presents. Through partnerships with manufacturers of clothing and athletic equipment—Firethorn, Cleveland and others—we have enabled the client to offer, at a discounted price, golf clubs, balls, shoes, pants, bags and travel gear bearing the client's logo. We've also created an e-commerce Intranet site through which our client's sales force can purchase these products, again at a discount, for their own use or as gifts for their own customers or potential customers. The distribution of these products can lead to new and lucrative business contracts.
We're especially proud of our work on behalf of Sandler Training, which—working with close to 200 franchisees in offices throughout the United States and the world—specializes in sales support and reinforcement. For the second straight year, we've made it possible for Sandler Training to sponsor three PGA golfers.
We recommended golf sponsorships for a very specific reason. Like professional golfers, sales professionals are paid based strictly on how well they perform. Golfers also rely on personal coaching much like that which Sandler Training provides.
So it makes perfect sense for the golfers that Sandler Training sponsors to speak about how important their coaches are for them—and how coaching can help any sales professional. These statements have been made in video vignettes that Sandler Training franchisees send in HTML emails to their clients. (It was for Sandler Training that we developed the e-commerce Intranet site selling the company's themed products.)
At the most basic level, sports marketing program can take many forms, but it almost always results in increased name recognition and positive media coverage. In 2008 alone, for example, PGA golfers wore the Sandler Training logo in 45 PGA tournaments, placing the client in the company of the best-known brands in the world, including Nike and KPMG.
Sandler Training's PGA Tour sponsorship has enabled a national company with limited marketing dollars to reach its target audience, build brand awareness and create entertainment-based opportunities and themed products to strengthen relationships with Sandler Training's franchisees and their clients and prospective clients.
A successful sports-marketing program relies on a variety of communications disciplines.
The Bergman Group understands them all and can design and execute such programs for you.
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