The efficacy of sports advertising, and the costs to do it well, were hotly debated by a panel of CMOs yesterday at the IMG World Congress of Sports. “We get great returns for our sports marketing,” said Nationwide Exec VP & CMO Matt Jauchius. “If you’re not the biggest spender, and we’re not, you have to find the hardest working assets. We think sports can be one of the hardest working assets in our portfolio.” He noted that after the company refreshed its logo and launched a television campaign with Broncos QB Peyton Manning, “consideration for the brand” was up by 20%. Harman Global CMO Ralph Santana noted the company’s move to incorporate sports into its marketing, in addition to its heritage in audio, has paid dividends. He said, "The value equation has kept pace with the costs. It’s really efficient for us. ... The NBA is the perfect fit. It’s where the tastemakers are. They have a global platform. It’s been great.” But not all panelists take the same approach. Chobani CMO & Brand Officer Peter McGuinness is trying to raise awareness going the grass-roots route school-by-school thanks to a deal with IMG. “There’s a social and food component,” he said. “It’s sold on campus and we go through the strength coaches. We’re the No. 1 yogurt brand but only have 33% awareness. It has arena signage -- we thought it made a lot more sense for us.”
DETHRONING CONTENT, ELEVATING EXPERIENCE: The panelists engaged in a lively discussion about whether exclusive content is a difference-maker. Santana said, “I’m a contrarian when it comes to content. Everybody is trying to negotiate for unique content, but if we all buy into the adage that ‘content is king,’ I’d say, ‘experience is the emperor.’ Curating an experience is the real currency for brand marketers. If you can create the right experience, you can generate conversation, generate engagement at retail to drive the business.” Constellation Energy Retail Energy CMO Bruce Stewart contended that using content through sports messaging helps the power generator tell its story, which he said is “too complex” for short commercials. “We create opportunities through sports,” he said, “the opportunity to extend story-telling and use social elements to get to a wider base.” Jauchius said, “We spend quite a bit of money in the channels. It has to be something interesting to your target segment and relevant to your brand. I’m the number seven spender (in insurance), I spend over half a billion dollars a year. I focus on getting something interesting to our target audience at the right time. (Our strategy) is going fewer, bigger, better. You better strike true at what you do.”
NFL FALLOUT: The CMOs discussed the fallout, or lack thereof, on sports advertising from the various domestic abuse scandals the NFL dealt with last season. They all see the league weathering the storm and said the NFL made the right moves. Jauchius, “There was no fallout. The NFL took aggressive action. It’s a structural change and this will play itself out.” His comments were essentially echoed by the other panelists, who also called on the league to establish no-tolerance rules for players before they are allowed to join a team. As for the escalating costs of a Super Bowl commercial, McGuiness says, “For us it was easy math. We have the highest repeat numbers. We just needed to make more people nationally aware of our brand.” Jauchius addressed the social media fallout from Nationwide’s sobering ad during this year’s game. “We weren’t setting out to ruin anyone’s party,” he said. “We spent a lot of time and research because we didn’t want to hurt anyone who had lost a child. If you take the second, third, fourth causes of death among children they’re less than preventable accidents. More than half of those happen in home. We wanted to raise awareness, and sales were all up over 20% the week after the Super Bowl. There were haters on social media. That was disappointing, but that’s the world we live in.” He left with this parting shot, “Don’t be surprised if you see us again next year for the Super Bowl.” Stewart, though, said not to expect a Constellation Energy spot. “We won’t do a Super Bowl ad,” he said. “We entertained one (two years ago) when the lights went out in New Orleans. Thank God we didn’t do that. We will continue to advertise around education and investments."
