Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

What we know about marketing at major sporting events

Article • WARC Best Practice, February 2020

The current thinking and reading on the subject of sports marketing – aligning a brand or product with an event or team – including major sporting events such as The Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup or The Super Bowl.

What we know about sponsorship effectiveness

Article • WARC Best Practice, February 2020

Examines how brands can build awareness and increase equity through effective sponsorship.

What’s working in sponsorship

Article • WARC Category Intelligence, February 2020

Global strategies, campaign updates and trends in sponsorship.

How to plan an effective sports sponsorship strategy

Article • Neil Hopkins, WARC Best Practice, March 2018

Provides marketers with key best practices on planning an effective sports sponsorship strategy, which is dependent on a rigorous strategic planning process to ensure effective targeting.

Barclays updated its sponsorship framework for better strategy

News • 19 February 2020

Barclays, the British financial services company, was for 15 years the title sponsor of the top flight of English football – a new model for measuring its sponsorship investments has allowed it to adapt strategically and anticipate the effects of ...

Three steps to measure business return on sponsorship

Article • Tom Goodchild, WARC Webinars, February 2020

Tom Goodchild, director of effectiveness at Fuse, shares best practice for marketers seeking to understand both the short- and long-term impact of their sponsorship activities.

How Barclays evaluates its sponsorships to make better investment decisions

Article • Sam Peña-Taylor, Event Reports, MRS Sports and Gaming Conference, February 2020

British financial services firm Barclays has built a framework for evaluating sponsorships capable of evolving over time that uses clear inputs to understand each investment’s business impact.

The importance of creative sponsorship activation

News • 07 February 2020

As brands grapple with the effects of short-termism in marketing, sports sponsorship can perform a dual purpose, delivering both immediate outcomes and longer-term results by placing brands at the intersection between consumers and the things they ...

Three steps to sports sponsorship effectiveness

News • 03 February 2020

With some $65bn being spent on sports sponsorship globally each year, brands need to get smarter about how they measure returns and look beyond simple outputs such as media ROI, engagement and sponsorship awareness.

Creating a sports sponsorship framework

Opinion • Alex Brownsell, February 2020

Sponsorship is a vital channel for marketers, but for too long measurement has remained a mystery. This month's edition of Admap explains how brands can achieve sponsorship effectiveness.

Sponsorship in transition: The outlook for 2020

Article • Jim Andrews, Admap, February 2020

A summary of key trends in the North American sponsorship market.

How to score a home run with sponsorship

Article • Maren Seitz, Admap, February 2020

Four success factors for sponsorship effectiveness.

Creativity and long-term brand-building through sponsorship

Article • Neil Hopkins, Admap, February 2020

As the cost of activation increases, brands should apply a creative lens to sponsorship programmes.

How to make the most of your sponsorship

Article • Alex Burmaster, Admap, February 2020

A seven-step guide to sponsorship best practice for marketers looking to ensure they maximise ROI.

Finding and activating the ‘sweet spot’ on the sponsorship platform

Article • Professor Tony Meenaghan, Jill Downey and Jamie Macken, Admap, February 2020

Examining how brands can stand out in a cluttered sponsorship property.

Creating a sports sponsorship framework: Admap summary deck

Article • Admap, February 2020

A summary of new thinking and best practice on creating a sports sponsorship framework from Admap.

Sports sponsors need to tap fan goodwill

News • 27 November 2019

Traditional measurement of sports sponsorship packages indicates an uplift of 30% in commercial effects when fans are aware of the linkage, but this more than doubles when fans can see how their own experience improves.

Generating fan goodwill: The key to increased sponsorship effectiveness

Article • Professor Tony Meenaghan, Jamie Macken and Mark Nolan, WARC Exclusive, November 2019

Research study by Core Ireland showing that fan engagement is a key driver of effectiveness in sponsorship.

Smirnoff x Live Nation UK: Sustainable waterfall and bar festival activations

Case Study • Beryl Crofton-Atkins, WARC Media Awards, Entrant, Effective Use of Partnerships and Sponsorships, 2019

Smirnoff, the vodka brand, promoted its Infusions drink to socially-aware consumers by partnering with Live Nation to run sustainable activations at summer music festivals across the UK.

Co-op x Live Nation UK: Festival Partnership Programme

Case Study • Beryl Crofton-Atkins, WARC Media Awards, Entrant, Effective Use of Partnerships and Sponsorships, 2019

Co-op, the food retailer, partnered Live Nation to connect with a younger audience by creating convenient pop-up supermarkets at six leading music festivals in the UK.

Zhonghua: How Zhonghua Shone Through

Case Study • Lisa Lu, Tony Chan, WARC Media Awards, Bronze, Effective Use of Partnerships and Sponsorships, 2019

Zhonghua toothpaste went from being a heritage brand stuck in China's saturated, commoditised toothpaste category, to a formidable challenger in the cosmetics category.

Carlsberg Danish Quarter x Live Nation UK: Festival Programme

Case Study • Beryl Crofton-Atkins, WARC Media Awards, Silver, Effective Use of Partnerships and Sponsorships, 2019

Carlsberg, the beer brand, launched Danish Pilsner to music fans in the UK through a number of brand activations at six major summer music festivals.

Axe: Starladder 2018

Case Study • Filatov Dmitriy, WARC Media Awards, Entrant, Effective Use of Partnerships and Sponsorships, 2019

Axe, the leading deodorant brand in Russia, created a branded online shop to increase sales via e-commerce.

Aquafina: Aquafina Vietnam International Fashion Week

Case Study • Anh Vu, WARC Media Awards, Entrant, Effective Use of Partnerships and Sponsorships, 2019

Bottled water brand Aquafina elevated brand awareness in Vietnam through sponsorship of a leading Vietnamese fashion platform.

Volkswagen: Bye Bye Beetle

Case Study • Eliza Poor, Jordan Heathfield, Delinda Pu, WARC Media Awards, Shortlisted, Effective Use of Partnerships and Sponsorships, 2019

Volkswagen announced it would be retiring its much-loved VW Beetle, so it launched a farewell event in China to give the Bug one last sales push.