Job search site Indeed will evaluate other sports sponsorship opportunities after a successful initial partnership. Indeed’s first foray into the sector as a partner of the Int’l Champions Cup summer football tournament exceeded the expectations of the Austin, Texas-based company, said Mary Ellen Dugan, Indeed's VP of Global Marketing. “We were really just quite impressed with the results and quite thrilled with them.” Indeed became the tournament’s first global partner after it signed a one-year deal for its North American and Australian legs. Matt Grandis, VP of Corporate Partnerships & Media at Ascendent Sports Group, valued the deal in the high-six to low-seven figures. The partnership with the ICC, which ran from July 11-Aug. 5, saw Indeed’s awareness increase by almost 3%, according to Dugan. “That says to me this is a really successful time to be talking about this and being involved with those activities,” Dugan said. She added Indeed didn’t expect to see this kind of increase. The unexpected rise in awareness, combined with the passion shown by the fans, has resulted in Indeed considering other opportunities in football and other sports with similarly passionate fan bases. The company’s awareness not only increased in countries that hosted games, but globally, Dugan said. “It was successful in each country.” The tournament aired in more than 160 countries reaching more than 800 million households, according to tournament organizers Relevent Sports. “Anytime that you can take your name and put it aside Manchester United, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid it becomes a no-brainer,” said Matt Belson, SVP/Group Account Director at Mullen Lowe. The Boston-based ad agency, in collaboration with Indeed and Medicom, created the stragtegy for the partnership. Belson: “Instead of just taking a logo and throwing it up on the walls, we looked at how does jobs fit into football?”
JOBS MAKE FOOTBALL WORK: The concept included broadcast commercials, social media interactions and a chance to land a job as a team liaison, among others. The measures corresponded with the three key areas identified by Indeed for the activation of the partnership: Finding a way to engage job seekers with its product; showcasing Indeed’s perspective that lots of different jobs make the world, or in this case, football, work; and engaging its employees and clients. Dugan told SBD Global that the team liaison job listings on Indeed.com received more than 12,000 views. On social media, Indeed counted almost 20 million impression, including more than 400,000 views on YouTube. “We saw about a 17% engagement across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram,” Dugan added. Belson pointed to a further example that this partnership was about more than logo presence. The stadiums that hosted the ICC games needed to hire people for the event and after talking to organizers those jobs were posted on Indeed. The company also invited more than 550 of its clients to attend the games. Despite all the positive feedback, Dugan declined to comment on Indeed's intentions for next year’s edition of the tournament. Belson, on the other hand, thinks that the results “merit the conversation of looking at year two.”
