The Power of One

As the final group qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia drew to a close last week, there was a general sigh of relief. The Netherlands and USA will be missing but last minute magic from Messi ensured Argentina will be present. How long can such a drawn-out qualifying system be maintained? Is this really what the football fan wants to see? Bland and meaningless matches against countries of limited interest to home fans?

Hang on, UEFA will be introducing the ‘Nations League’ that will ‘rejuvenate national team football’ as part of ‘UEFA EURO Qualifying’. Really? Having studied the explanation on UEFA.com (which took 10 minutes to read) it was evident there will be another complex qualifying route for EURO 2020. Amongst others, it will result in one team in the bottom 16 of the UEFA rankings qualifying amongst the 24 teams at the EURO 2020 Finals. Friendlies will be replaced by matches in the ‘Nations League’ that will deliver competitive and meaningful football. This was a process that started in 2011 and was ‘unanimously adopted at the XXXVIII Ordinary UEFA Congress in Astana on 27 March 2014’. Progress?

From 22 to 24 September 2017 at the O2 Arena in Prague, the inaugural Laver Cup was staged. This is tennis’ version of golf’s Ryder Cup. Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe were captains of six player teams for Europe and Rest of the World. With five tennis sessions of singles and doubles over three days, there were 83,273 paying customers that resoundingly confirmed this concept was a success. Only one question, why had this not happened 20 years ago? Ultimately, it was Roger Federer’s agent, Tony Godsick who brokered support from key stakeholders in tennis to ‘get it done’. Watching Federer and Nadal partner in doubles was a ‘first’ that may never be repeated again. A combination of serious tennis with some innovative rules and point scoring system to maximize entertainment for the fans.

But how will these sporting bastions in traditional football and tennis capture the attention of the passionate millennial audience who primarily comprise of digital natives? Well, take a look at new concepts such as ‘Tough Mudder’, the endurance event series with compelling physical experiences and content plays. During the first livestream from the ‘World’s Toughest Mudder’ event in Las Vegas there were one million people viewing from 200 countries, watching five to ten minutes at a time. Perhaps nothing compared to football and tennis but a clear reflection of the direction and interest of the coveted millennials demographic. And, sponsored by Coca Cola, Lucozade and Amazon.

In the US, Amazon will attract advertising from 63% of brands compared to Google (54%), Facebook (53%) and Twitter (27%) over the next 12 months. Amazon is no longer the go to site for only books, 66% of consumers bought clothes, 64% personal care, 63% home décor and 43% grocery items. Amazon has the ability to offer mass customization as opposed to mass marketing, something which has been noted by Unilever’s CMO, Keith Weed. Writing in a recent post, Weed argued marketers who traditionally created and marketed brands to the majority or largest segment need to think about building brands in ‘segments of one’. How will sports leaders address this?

Clearly, there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. Some brands, like Rakuten, the Japanese e-commerce company still believe in mass market sponsorship deals. Having secured the prime position on the playing shirt of FC Barcelona, Rakuten recently signed a partnership with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. When you are looking for brand recognition outside the home market, partnering with one global brand per sport delivers a tick in the box.

Ultimately, the challenge for all brands, administrators and marketers is the same: we need to build deep and meaningful one-to-one relationships at scale with data driven insights, innovation and creativity. Choose your partner wisely!