With airlines "keen to promote their brand to win over the ever-competitive passenger segment, major Middle Eastern carriers have increasingly been turning to sports sponsorship as an effective affinity marketing tool," according to Nadia Khan of ARABIAN BUSINESS. In football, cricket, athletics or any other professional sport, "the opportunity to emblazon an airline’s brand across shirts, merchandise and stadiums appears to be too tempting an opportunity to miss." Raymond Kollau, founder of Airlinetrends.com, an independent industry and consumer trends research agency, said, “Sports are all about emotion. By aligning themselves with individual athletes and national sports teams, airlines are tapping into the general public’s emotions -- which can be a powerful way of branding.” Although advertising budgets have generally come under pressure in an era of airline cost-efficiency measures, "the popularity of sports sponsorship has been rocketing to unparalleled levels of investment." Kollau: "For the new airline players who are making their mark on the global arena, the massive reach that sports still has makes it an ideal platform to build their brands." Research on global airline sponsorship expenditure from specialist sports business analyst IMR Publications "shows football is indeed by far the most popular sport to be sponsored by airlines across the world, with the heftiest spenders coming from the Gulf region." IMR Publications Founder Simon Rines said, "Middle Eastern carriers represent the biggest investors in sponsorship among global airlines, with Emirates and Etihad spending in the region of $250 million between them on sports rights annually" (ARABIAN BUSINESS, 12/29).
