The college sports ecosystem, while sometimes viewed as fragmented, is ripe for opportunity for savvy marketers and brands who are able to create close connections with campuses across media platforms, experiential programs and big events. That was a takeaway from a roundtable of marketers discussing college sports partnerships at the Octagon Sports Marketing Symposium. “That illusion of fragmentation? We view it as an immense amount of opportunity,” said Wells Fargo VP/College Sports Pam Batalis, who also heads up local market sponsorship for the bank. “The beauty of the illusion of fragmentation is customization, and we have the ability to almost Rubik’s cube our strategy.” Batalis said that like any sponsorship in its sports portfolio, which includes more than 30 colleges and universities, its presence in college sports aims to increase awareness, favorability and preference. However, perhaps unlike other sports properties, Batalis said that the college space has “every difference audience segment with fans at any point in their life stage, whether they are opening their first savings account or might be looking for financial advice for their portfolio.” “What we try to do is create an authentic connection and engage each of these very diverse audience segments,” she said. “You want to create activations that allow them to spend more time with their favorite team, get insights or an angle from branded content or give them a VIP experience that improves their team with their team.”
LOT OF SWIM LANES: ESPN Senior VP/Sports Marketing Rob Temple said that the ability for a brand to come in at the school level, the media level, the conference level, the event level or some combination of those can “all lead them to the top of the market.” “There are a lot of swim lanes and a lot of elasticity,” Temple said. “That may be overwhelming to someone and you can waste a ton of money and frustrate yourself with the fragmentation, but there’s a reason there is so much consistency [among sponsorships in college sports]; they understand the passion of these fans and figured out that the value can really exceed their investment.” Temple pointed to the success of The Home Depot’s partnership with "College GameDay," which was the first time that ESPN allowed a brand’s logo on the front of a news desk. “Home Depot deserves a lot of credit,” he said. “They embraced the experience and really unlocked the marketing value and that relationship with fans.” There is also the opportunity for brands to filter down across the college spectrum, Temple said, highlighting brands like Nissan, who have a partnership with the Heisman Trust as well as with schools as well.
LOOKING FOR FLEXIBLE PARTNERS: Pac-12 Conference and Pac-12 Networks VP/Marketing Heather Vaughan said that as the only conference that owns and operates its own media entity, it looks for partners that want to be integrated across that entire platform. “We work with partners essentially from A to Z and are able to provide them every single touchpoint leading into an event,” Vaughan said. “We really look for partners who we can work with, understand their investments and goals, and really integrate their brand.” Batalis said the fact that there are more options available to brands is leading some of them to reconsider exclusivity in the college sponsorship space. “If you can help me differentiate and engage in a really authentic way, I’m willing to talk about taking exclusivity off the table,” she said. Temple noted that there are multiple sponsors that coexist in the same category and are finding success, such as Chick-fil-A and Taco Bell for the CFP, as well as Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper. “One marketers’ frustration and fragmentation is opportunity,” Temple said.
NOT WORRIED ABOUT COLLEGE SCANDALS: While college sports have been marred by scandals in recent years, the marketers said they still feel the space is a strong investment. “I’m always amazed with college sports, as the fans are so committed to these schools beyond what goes on on the field, and it tends to weather what goes on,” Temple said. He noted ESPN is currently working on a documentary for college football's 150th anniversary in which viewers will “see a lot of challenges that the sport and the college ecosystem has gone through, and it has weathered it well.” Batalis said that while the recent off-field issues have not given her a pause, there has been some concern. However, she noted that “the entire college sport ecosystem has a avid and enthusiastic and diverse fanbase, and that’s why brands get involved,” she said. “The best way a brand can help is to engage this very enthusiastic fanbase and help them through it.”
