Sponsorship of Gatorade and Melbourne City Football Club - Research Proposal Example

Student Name: Course: Instructor: 23rd May, 2016 Sponsorship Proposal Gatorade and Melbourne City Football Club 22nd May, 2016 A day without sunshine is like, you know, night – Steve Martin Table of Contents Overview…………………………………………………… 4 Fixtures……………………………………………………..5 Target Markets……………………………………………..6 Marketing Plan……………………………………………7 Other Forms of Promotion………………………………..8 Benefits…………………………………………………11 Investments……………………………………………..13 Works Cited……………………………………………..14 Appendix…………………………………………………15 Overview Football is a very much revered sport among so many people in the world. For various reasons, the number of football fans around the world is so enormous, most pay loads of money just to follow their teams around the world during tournaments. At Melbourne City FC, there is way more than just football. Besides ensuring that our fans are fully entertained with the best possible entertaining game, we also make sure that all our fans are catered for in many ways. For example, the club offers a school resource section that is run by Football Federation of Australia and the Hyundai A-League, in conjunction with the Westfield W-League (“Melbourne City FC” 1). This is fitted into the curriculum used in the country and with Asian countries, meaning that exchange programs can be a reality. Gatorade is a great option for a company that can offer some form of sponsorship to Melbourne City FC. For many reasons, all the teams that Gatorade sponsors get to have a great option when signing the sponsorship deal since a wide array of suggestions point to a possibility that more benefits may be drawn from each of the partners signing deals (“Heitner” 1). In this case, Gatorade will get to have a partner that can offer publicity, while Melbourne City FC will have a partner that funds a great part of its efforts to clinch the trophies in each tournament. World over, energy drinks provide or work as a means of refreshment for a number of people, sportspeople included. This means that as a partner, Gatorade is bound to gain from a high presence in most of the games where Melbourne City FC plays. More often than not, companies will go to great lengths to gain such an amount of publicity, seeing as Melbourne City is a great contender for the A-League trophy most of the recent seasons. Fixtures It goes without mentioning that most matches are always held in the evening when the sun has gone down and football fans have free time out of their busy daytime schedules. As such, the fixtures are always tailored such as to meet the schedule of fans when they are free to mingle with others and have fun. The following is an example of what the following week will look like for the team: Monday: Exercises and Full training session Tuesday: Exercises and Full Training Session Wednesday: Training Session Thursday: Exercises Friday: Full Training Saturday: Friendly Match with Any Team Sunday: Rest Target Markets Gatorade is a choice energy drink for most people globally as it is positioned as commanding nearly 46% of the sports drink market share. It goes without saying that this makes it the biggest market share holder over rivals like Lucozade and others. Consequently, it follows that a sponsorship with Melbourne City is bound to give it an even bigger appeal among a number of followers of the team. Besides these fans, there are also bound to be incidences of target markets that arise from publicity gained during Melbourne City FC matches. : 1. Melbourne City FC players in all the levels of football leagues, from League-A to the lowest tier. This particular target market will use Gatorade as the sports drink of choice for the whole team. 2. Football fans from other cities in Australia. There are football fans who find it very relaxing to visit the stadium or home location of the Melbourne City FC is not busy with matches just so they can get some time off with their adored football players. 3. Prospective market from neighbouring areas. The areas around Melbourne City FC stadium and around Victoria are likely to come into contact with Gatorade products courtesy of the advertisement and publicity that Melbourne City FC offers to the company. As such, they are wont to be first time customers, or even feel more attached to the drink due to the company’s decision to sponsor their home team. 4. The halo effect from having a top club like Melbourne City FC associate with another top brand like Gatorade is also likely to shift focus for other sports drink consumer all over Australia. This means that there will be a ripple effect off the hype created nationwide, not only in Melbourne and its precincts. Marketing Plan In recent times, it has become quite critical that we tailor our football matches with what our sponsors have to offer. In line with this, we have developed a marketing plan that will factor in areas where our fans may find interesting to use, while also creating chances, every now and then, for our sponsors to get value for their money. There are various channels through which our matches may be broadcasted to all and sundry, so that we can create a big attendance: Mainstream Media Currently, Melbourne City FC enjoys sponsorship from a top pay TV service provider, Foxtel, which is a reputable company that has pioneered in the pay TV industry (“Shilbury” 15). As a matter of fact, it was involved in airing the 2007 Asian Cup, with one of the matches recording the highest viewers in the match between Japan and Australia. The sponsorship deal is in a great way helpful to the club since it helps reduce the cost of advertising promotions through mainstream media. TV While it is estimated that the more than four million Melbournians could be potential fans, it would be prudent to base this against the current numbers (“Cockerill” 1). As aforementioned, the highest number of viewers that Foxtel managed to garner in 2007 is a record high 419000 viewers, this means that Melbourne City FC could garner anything between 400000 going upwards in TV viewers if an aggressive marketing campaign is carried out. Radio Radio is traditionally a media channel that tends to attract a wider range of prospective fans across age brackets. As a matter of fact, it is more appealing to the young at heart than television. Be that as it may, figure 1 in the appendix shows that listenership is very much higher during the evening time than most of the day apart from mornings. This means that Melbourne City FC fans have a splendid time in the evenings listening in to matches that may be broadcast or are analysed during live events. Newspapers and Magazines In the current sense, print media is a very influential way of reaching prospective fans. Besides this, it is mainly through print media that most fans get to find some of the products associated with football clubs. For instance, print media like magazines tend to publish big photos of football stars who play for Melbourne City FC. Currently, there are many newspapers that are free to offer advertising space to Melbourne City FC. Other Forms of Promotion The three mentioned channels of advertising and promoting Melbourne City FC may be great, but cannot really be sufficient to market such an outfit. In line with this thought, it would be prudent to note that there are extra measures that if deployed, the club may find itself in even better footing. Publicity The mere fact that in recent times, there has been no other team that meets the standards set by Melbourne City FC in terms of sponsorships means that there needs to be more vigorous activities aimed at shifting focus from the main activity that is football, to others that are provided by the club (“Stotlar” 56). For instance, the school resource is among the many activities that tend to provide prospective fans with some auxiliary activities to keep them occupied, especially when the season is off. As such, a PR firm like AMPR could come in handy to make sure that all our services are spoken for in all aspects, including the necessary legal aspects. It is known that football clubs offer various forms of entertainment besides the actual matches that have a huge following from adoring fans. However, now and again, football clubs find themselves in situations that need professional outfits to address. These shall be tackled if and when they happen by the aforementioned professional outfit whose reputation precedes it. Besides carrying out the necessary PR tasks, AMPR will also be the main point from which all communication on various incidences comes from. This means that the Melbourne City FC will focus on its main goal – To be the best football club in Australia’s A-League, and possibly, farther than the boundaries. Website The Melbourne City FC has an online presence through the website http://www.melbournecityfc.com.au which is visited at least twice by every visitor daily. This translates to a fairly well-placed website that the club uses for various purposes. Within the website, information on fixtures, league standings and offers for fans is found. Further, the website carries out important information on sponsorship deals with all of our sponsors in such a manner that they are all allowed to also use the website as a point of advertisement. Your ordinary football club websites contain what appears to be limited to issues that pertain to the club, without rally breaking down some relationships. For instance, Melbourne City FC is among very few clubs that strive to be very open about all their relationships with various stakeholders, and as such, lays bare all necessary information about sponsors, deals and other very necessary information for all interested parties to find and consume. This policy of openness enables more people to find it easy when looking for necessary information about particular issues they would like to know. Raffles Our fans are our lifeline. This applies in all that we do in the club and for the club. As such, it is our endeavour to always keep them informed, and where necessary, offer support for always keeping up with the club performance. The wider Melbourne and Victoria community have always been our source of inspiration, and as such, we have to offer something in return besides good performance. Community raffles are channels through which we get to fund raise for our community as a form of CSR (“Melbourne City FC” 1). This keeps our relationship cordial and very helpful to one another since it is a way of showing our gratitude towards our fans and the community that lives around the city of Melbourne. Gatorade has a very big challenge keeping up with most of its sponsorship deals and maintaining the performance it is enjoying as a top sports drink manufacturer. Such a schedule is what makes up a leading company associate itself with an equally successful football club. Despite this, a joint initiative with Melbourne City FC to create events such as charity games is not really a bad idea since it will be a great way of creating a better relationship with all those that are involved. A great example of such a CSR move is when Gatorade started Beat the Heat Campaign in the NFL as a means to educating stakeholders on the importance of keeping your body hydrated during warm weather (“Gatorade” 1). This may come in handy in the Australian scene since summer is always very warm However, in the case of Melbourne City FC, a charity game would be appropriate since the League-A is now on a break, and the team is free from its regular rigorous schedule. Benefits The benefits that accrue for both partners is innumerable. It goes without saying that besides the financial benefits to Melbourne City FC, there are various benefits that it comes upon as a result of signing a deal with Gatorade. Same can be said in the case of Gatorade. There are various benefits it will accrue as a result. The following are just a few of the benefits to both the partners: i. Sponsorship Gatorade gets to choose a number of activities during which it will have the chance to freely advertise any of its various services without charge and unlimited times. This means that the Gatorade will be adopted as the official sports drink of choice for use by partners and other participating members. ii. The club stadia and other facilities will be decked in official Gatorade colours and other associated logos. Far much than is anticipated, the team will also be dressed in official uniforms spotting the Gatorade name and logo where possible. iii. All the associated activities will have to include a prime spot for the sports drink manufacturing company to advertise any of its services. iv. On the other hand, fans will be an even bigger part of beneficiaries since, and as aforementioned, they can and will be beneficiaries from raffles, promotions and other activities geared towards making them feel appreciated for being our loyal ambassadors. v. It goes without saying that the club is also a major beneficiary of the sponsorship since it receives funds to enable it carry out most of its activities like clothing players in the correct kits. The general idea behind sponsorships is that both partners benefit mutually. Such bilateral benefits may mean that there are agreements to shelve totally, or partially, association with sponsors that may appear to be in competition with others. For instance, Etihad Airways is the current principal sponsor of Melbourne City FC. Be that as it may, this sponsorship proposal is a very detailed document that is solely aimed at securing a new deal with another partner since Etihad Airways may not renew the current contract after it elapses. As such, it is only pragmatic that an equally reputable sponsor is sought after in a timely manner to avoid inconveniences that arise due to staying without a principal sponsor for a long period of time. Investment There are various areas where the financial deal penned between Gatorade and Melbourne City FC may apply. A regular deal may vary from time to time, but our deal is meant to make Gatorade our principal sponsor, meaning that they will be in charge of more than a single aspect of the sponsorship. Clearly, this will include more than just the basic kit and stadium sponsorship, meaning that the Gatorade will get to garner more than just the regular benefits that out non-principal sponsors get. The following are areas that are noteworthy: i. Stadium: Since we already have a field, Gatorade will sponsor the maintenance and stadium use fee over the period of sponsorship. This stands at a whopping $35m annually over a period of five years subject to review. ii. Kits and training gear will also be part of the deal. The specific amount is placed at a modest $15m, which is a three year deal. iii. The medical insurance of the team is well catered for. However, now and again, we find it difficult to maintain medical staff and facilities due to a slightly hire budget for such (“Prifti” 1). We would like the company to sponsor a medical insurance deal that takes care of each player for the period of sponsorship. iv. More often than not, players are covered at approximately five times their weekly salaries. As such, each player should be subject to a similar insurance cover. Works Cited Heitner, D. Gatorade Goes Big During NBA Finals. Forbes Sports Money. 2013. Web. http://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/2013/06/11/gatorade-goes-big-during-nba-finals/#393dddf63243 Cockerill, M. Why Competition’s Richest Club Melbourne City are Failing to Succeed in A-League. The Sidney Morning Herald. 2015. Web. http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/why-competitions-richest-club-melbourne-city-are-failing-to-succeed-in-aleague-20151212-glm92m.html Gatorade. Gatorade and NFL Launch Beat the Heat Campaign to Educate Athletes, Parents and Coaches about Heat-Related Illnesses. PRNewswire. 2010. Web. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gatorade-and-nfl-launch-beat-the-heat-campaign-to-educate-athletes-parents-and-coaches-about-heat-related-illnesses-98503789.html Melbourne City FC. Melbourne City FC School Resource. 2016. Web. http://www.melbournecityfc.com.au/community Melbourne City FC. City in the Community. 2016. Web. http://www.melbournecityfc.com.au/community/city-in-the-community/qjnuj9h7aqyr1pznjqkwablkw Prifti, T. Pricing the Premier League. Tokiomarine Kiln. 2013. Web. http://www.tokiomarinekiln.com/news-views/blog/posts/pricing-the-premier-league/ Shilbury, David, et al. Strategic sport marketing. Allen & Unwin, 2009. Stotlar, David Kent. Developing successful sport sponsorship plans. Fitness Information Technology, 2005. Appendix Figure 1. Source: http://www.radiotoday.com Read More