Show the Logo!
3/3/21
Blog
Now that the football stands are deserted, there are acres of space crying out for pitchside advertising. Last week I saw all those hopeful messages pass before my eyes, clamouring for attention, three rows thick, stacked up, as it were, one on top of the other. And dynamic LED advertising hoardings are better still, because they provide sponsors with even more space to entice punters.
The little bit of extra exposure that clubs can offer sponsors in this way is a small consolation for the empty stadiums. In an earlier article in this bulletin I voiced my doubts as to whether the focus on visibility was genuinely the key to commercial success for sponsors, but now that logo mania seems to have reached fever pitch in sponsor country, it might be a good idea to take another look at when these advertising hoardings work, and when they make absolutely no sense.
It is essential for brands to be recognisable. People often make decisions intuitively. We don’t like to stop to think and weigh things up carefully, it costs too much energy. Recognising a brand sends a positive signal to our brain, and that signal helps us make decisions. Simply put: when confronted with an aisle full of crisps in the supermarket, we tend to opt for a brand we’ve seen before. Apart from the name, the logo is the most effective element for creating recognition.
In our brain a logo acts like an anchor that’s connected with specific associations we have with the brand. So when we’re in the crisps aisle in the supermarket it helps us make (usually subconscious) connections between, say, the Lay’s logo and the brand’s involvement with football. And these two things together trigger the positive signal that prompts us to pop a packet of Lay’s crisps into our shopping basket. In short: logos are key communicators. Companies that succeed in highlighting their brand logo via their sponsorship encourage fans to favour their product over competing offerings in the supermarket.
The sponsorship message on a pitchside advert must therefore always be specifically designed to widen the recognition of the brand. Research reveals that successful advertising hoardings (which generate strong recognition) have a few things in common. They are always simple, clear and consistent. That is to say: they only display the logo, in clear and recognisable colours, with few if any changes over time, no extra messages (you have different instruments for that), and no variations with sub-brands or product types.
It may be anathema for creatives, but an advertising hoarding that displays the Hyundai logo in a visually consistent and clear manner really has more impact than a virtual LED hoarding featuring the latest electric SUV model shooting to and fro, followed by the latest campaign slogan. Talking about consistency: we recently saw a completely revamped KIA logo prominently displayed around the Australian Open tennis court. The partnership between KIA and the tennis tournament is already into its 20th year, but evidently the people at the top felt it was time for a logo switch. I had to look three times before I recognised KIA in the new logo. They may live to regret this.
Better logo recognisability improves the chances of people opting for your brand. And visibility on LED hoardings contributes to that recognisability. That’s the ultimate selling point for all football clubs that still have three rows of advertising space on offer. And if they really want to help their sponsors in these challenging times, they should keep those logo displays as simple as possible. Forget all the creative antics, just show the logo!
About Sponsorship Impact
We have been helping international brands optimise their sponsorship strategies for over 20 years. We not only prove the brand growth that sponsoring provides, but also identify opportunities to improve sponsorship strategies.
