Sports CMO’s: 3 Recommendations to Improve Emotional Connections with Consumers

Even though consumers have never been more accessible to brands than they are today,

building an honest relationship with consumers in any industry is becoming increasingly difficult with the addition of new technologies across multiple platforms. As a student at Northwestern University who is passionate about sports marketing, I have found two videos that show the old ways of sports marketing, which was to praise the ego of a specific athlete, is becoming less relevant while more consumers are finding that there is a much deeper emotional connection that can be satisfied through these sports figures and brands.

In his video titled, Nike Marketing Strategy: How Nike BrandingFlatters Athlete’s Egos, from 2013, Graeme Newell does an outstanding job of explaining the thought process behind the storylines of Nike advertisements seen in the past. He touches upon how Nike is selling something that has incredible passion and tenacity, both traits we, as consumers, believe we embody. Newell identifies a five step formula that provides an outline for a narrative of a universal story that just works when it comes to appealing to consumers. This five step plan has been tried and trued in their marketing, as everyone loves a victory tale, but I am not confident that the modern day consumer is buying this narrative as much.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfSIOu_BMHF/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_locale_test

More Than An Athlete World Tour,  LeBron and Nike use sports as a vehicle to encourage people from all around the world by uniting them around one common interest. This is a prime example of a brand and an athlete trying to make an impact beyond the playing field.  Nike took a risk deviating from their traditional style, however, by stepping back and allowing the focus to be on LeBron’s mission to inspire communities the narrative appears much more authentic.  People identify with the relationships being built on screen and while they may not have met LeBron personally, they now see Nike in a new light.  By serving a purpose other than ‘performance enhancing gear’ Nike is able to connect on a deeper emotional level with consumers.

After examining both videos above and learning from my marketing classes at Northwestern, I recommend three action ideas for sports CMO’s to consider when creating marketing content.

• Think People First - Athletes might have a special set of skills that seem unnatural to the normal viewer, but athletes are most importantly people first, often times sharing much more in common with the normal viewer than expected.
• Make an Impact - Sports are just the platform athletes are now using to make an impact on the world and marketers need to recognize the collective benefits of giving athletes the attention they deserve, off of their respected playing field.
• Use Stories to Inspire - The art of storytelling is becoming more and more important and there are a vast number of important stories that need to be told; we must find them and let them inspire.

Sports marketing has always been about building up the individual athlete, however the future of sports marketing will be centered around building emotional connections with athletes on a much more personable level, as athletes continue to take advantage of the platform that they stand upon.

My name is Steven Reese and I am a senior at Northwestern University. I am pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies with certificates in Leadership and Integrated Marketing Communications. Currently, I am volunteer coach at the local high school while I finish my degree. After graduation, I will hopefully start my career in sports marketing. Please follow me on Twitter and Linkedin.