Sponsorship marketing needs a dramatic re-think – particularly sport sponsorships. Why? Because it’s just as dangerous being too successful as being an abject failure. Clients end up pouring good money after bad. And chasing diminishing returns.

Let me explain.

As a kid in rural NSW there were only three professional competitions my friends and I cared about. One-day cricket in summer, footy in winter (rugby league in my case) and the Bathurst 1000 race nestled between the two.

All three were heavily sponsored by cigarette brands.

Many would argue rugby league’s heyday was during the 1980s. The premier competition in the world was the Winfield Cup. Tina Turner was doing the ads. The players were superstars. And experts still rank some of the Grand Finals as the best games ever.

Similarly, the soundtrack to most Aussie summers was the One-Day Cricket tri-series – forever to be known as the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup. It was usually Australia, the West Indies and one other nation. Legendary players and phenomenal games.

Then, of course, there was Mt Panorama and Peter Brock – forever entwined. His Marlboro Holden Dealer Team cars dominated in the late ’70s and early ’80s to the point where the organisers changed rules from year-to-year to give everyone else a chance. He usually won anyway.

You could argue all three sponsorships were hugely successful. I suspect they tipped well past their use-by date. They were too successful.

Winfield, Benson & Hedges and Marlboro became too intertwined with the competition or team. The audience no longer saw it as a sponsorship, simply as a name. The Winfield Cup, Benson & Hedges World Series Cup and Marlboro Holden Dealer Team were no longer connected to cigarette brands pouring in millions.

Welcome to the world of diminishing returns.

There are plenty of similar examples today. Do you connect Max Verstappen’s F1 Red Bull with the energy drink? How about Shane Van Gisbergen’s Red Bull Holden? It’s just the name of the car, right? When Nathan Clearly lifted the trophy to win the Telstra NRL Premiership last year did you think 5G or NBN? How about the KFC Big Bash in summer? Much as KFC has done a brilliant job ensuring the attendance of the ‘Bucketheads’. The name is now in dangerous territory. Again, diminishing returns.

So, what can we do?

The easy answer is to keep moving. The Olympic Stadium at Homebush has been known as ANZ Stadium, Telstra Stadium and Accor Stadium. AFL and NRL jersey sponsors change almost yearly. In the past 5-years my South Sydney Rabbitohs have switched from Crown to Fujitsu to Alcatel to Aqualand to MG Motors.

Or you can redirect attention into a core product. adidas has a massive sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup this year. The cornerstone is providing the ball to be used in every game. Just watch for the carefully manufactured controversy as teams start to train with the new ball. It’s too light. It swings too much or not enough.

Or you can ignore the outward facing branding and focus on the contra. Every year, IBM provided the scoring and smarts for the Australian Open tennis. The value they found wasn’t in the signage or the kiosk in the main concourse, it was in the exclusive marquee where they hosted their B2B customers and prospects. Schmooze with booze.

The one thing you can’t do is simply rollover last year’s sponsorship without thinking. Do that and you’re burning your budget faster than an ’80s footy-fan with a bunger.

Anyhow…

Rob Morrison is a rarity in advertising – a grey-haired creative. Rob’s experience includes time as a Creative Director at Ogilvy, BWM (now BWM Dentsu), George Patterson Y&R (now VMLY&R), Campaign Palace and Wunderman. He now runs his own consultancy – morrison.collective.

Here are two more opinion pieces from Rob Morrison: