Patronage games

Though its experience of sponsorship is shorter and has been marred by corruption scandals, Poland has embraced it whole-heartedly and sports at the national level attract big money. Local-level sports are less fortunate, but opportunities are growing by the day.

The greatest sports stories are of epic struggles to triumph in the face of adversity. They are tales of underdogs and hometown heroes, arrogance and falls from grace. Even matters which would ordinarily fall outside the realm of sport, like China's handling of Tibet or Poland's struggles to develop its infrastructure, take on a different light when viewed through the prism of a major sporting event, such as the Olympics or the Euro 2012 soccer championships.

No wonder then, that businesses want to be associated with sport. When the opportunity arises, companies usually queue up to sponsor a sporting event, an athlete or a team, seeing in these a great opportunity to enhance their own brands. Usually, but not always - as with any other marketing situation, advertisers try to avoid being associated with scandal and negative news.

Red cards

A prime example of a scandal ending a sports sponsorship occurred last week, when press distributor Kolporter withdrew its patronage of the Korona Kielce soccer club following the detention of Paweł W, the manager of the club. Dariusz W, the former coach of the club from 2002-2004, was also detained and admitted to having fixed matches for the club.

TP and other firms are said to be considering similar moves, according to Puls Biznesu daily. TP's Orange mobile brand - which is owned by France Telecom but managed by PTK Centertel (a part of the TP group) - is the title sponsor of the Orange Ekstraklasa premier soccer league, but ongoing corruption has apparently annoyed Carlsberg Polska and JW Construction, which sponsor the Widzew Łódź and Polonia Warszawa soccer clubs, respectively, are also fed up with corruption, according to Puls Biznesu.

Attracting the crowds

These incidents, while indicative of a serious problem in Poland's soccer establishment, haven't deterred all sponsors. Nor is soccer the only game in town.

According to the experts interviewed by WBJ, the ability to attract crowds and heighten emotions is what makes any sporting event an effective environment for marketing. They added that the situation in Poland was no different than in other parts of the world in that respect.

"Spending on marketing during national-level events is comparable to spending around the world," said Artur Łobanowski, the head of Dream Factory, a sponsoring and product placement services company. He noted, however, that the licensing of athletes' images was cheaper than in the West.

On the national level, Polish athletes have no problem attracting sponsors. Orange spends as much as 80 percent of its sponsorship budget on sport. The company's three-year sponsorship contract with the Orange Ekstraklasa league is worth zł.31.6 million.

According to Wojciech Jabczyński, the spokesman for TP, PTK Centertel has spent zł.60 million over the last three-and-a-half years to support the league with media campaigns, player training camps and community programs for fans.

TP is also the main sponsor of the Polish national soccer team. In return for its patronage, the TP group uses soccer-themed materials in the launch and promotion of its services. "Sponsoring sport distinguishes us from our competitors," Jabczyński told WBJ.

Olympic opportunity

While national-level sport presents lucrative opportunities to conquer more of the domestic market, international sport offers the potential to win global recognition as well as profit.

Polish bank PKO BP, for example, sponsored the Polish Olympic team during the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens and the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin. It spends around one-third of its sponsorship budget on sport and plans to support the Polish athletes this year in Beijing and in Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The bank has a contract with the Polish Olympic Committee, valid from 2007-2010, to sponsor the teams.

Not all firms are equipped to support an entire Olympic team, but opportunities still exist to support individual competitors. Last month Gefco Polska, a logistics company, signed a contract to sponsor Olympic weightlifter Szymon Kołecki.

"Sponsoring sport is the cheapest form of advertising," Bogdan Młynarczyk, general director of Gefco Polska told WBJ.

Big companies, big games

Although potential sponsors of high-profile sports often engage in bidding wars, local-level or less popular sports often struggle to attract significant patronage. "There are a lot of small, unknown companies [that will chip in], but few well-known brands," Dream Factory's Łobanowski noted.

Tomasz Zabielski, who is president of sports marketing company Main Events as well as personal manager of Szymon Kołecki, agreed. "The sports market in Poland lacks money, and the situation is difficult," he told WBJ. He added that many large international companies operating in Poland are simply uninterested in investing in local sports teams, however necessary their support might be.

"The big companies are interested in big games," Gefco's Młynarczyk said.

Meanwhile, those businesses that decide to invest in local sport tend to expect immediate success and a quick return on their investment, both Zabielski and Łobanowski stressed. "They lack patience," Zabielski added.

Effective investments

Sponsors' reluctance is understandable, since their investment will only pay off if the team or sport in question can attract a big enough audience. "Sponsoring is not an act of charity," Młynarczyk stated.

"The effectiveness of advertisements [displayed during sporting events] depends on the outcome of the event, relations with fans and the sporting infrastructure," said Adam Pawlicki, an expert from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Dream Factory's Łobanowski said that the success of sports sponsoring depended on two factors - the quality of the entertainment as well as the interest of the media. "It is media interest that makes 'strongman competitions' worth investing in, for example," he said.

The experts agreed, however, that local sporting events in Poland attract far fewer spectators than their counterparts in Spain and Germany.

"This is a vicious cycle," Zabielski admitted, stressing that the issue needs to be worked out through a series of small steps. "We need long-term and carefully designed activities to build up sport in Poland, especially in the countryside," Zabielski stated. He added that money alone would not suffice for such an undertaking. "Businesses need to approach sponsoring as they do their work … they need to show patience."

When it's done conscientiously and patiently, the sponsoring of local sport does pay off, especially as a way to enhance a company's brand and its reputation for CSR. "Such a firm [earns a reputation] as a friendly employer which is engaged in local community activities," Gefco's Młynarczyk said. He noted that his own firm supported several soccer teams and a local soccer school for children.

Seeking a sponsor

Lower-profile sporting groups cannot afford to be passive if they want to attract sponsors, Młynarczyk said. Actively searching for sponsors is especially important for sports which are relatively new to the country, such as American football.

The president of the Polish American Football League, Jedrzej Stęszewski, said that each of the league's football teams has its own way of finding sponsors. "These are mainly local companies … or the local authorities," he said, adding that there was huge potential for promotion at events like picnics or charity auctions held by the football teams.

PR is also crucial. "Our efforts to get media attention are so great that we have become a nuisance," Stęszewski said. He stressed that his sport was growing and becoming more professional with every year. "There are more viewers every year," Stęszewski said, noting that a game in Warsaw attracts about 600 people and that the league's official website has 10,000 unique visitors each month.

He also noted that the potential for sponsoring American football is growing as the sport matures. "Sponsors are becoming more interested in our sport. At the same time, though, the teams' expectations of sponsors are growing," he said.

Amateur events

Big sponsors may shy away from local-level sport, but they do operate locally by funding amateur events. The sponsoring portfolio PKO BP, for example, includes the Bieg Piastów, a ski race in Szklarska Poręba, and a children's chess tournament, among other events.

Timex Group Polska, for its part, is the patron of the annual Warsaw Marathon and the Mazovia MTB Marathon, a local bike race. "These types of events brings us closer to people, especially those who are related to sport," Anna Borg, managing director of Timex Group Polska told WBJ. She noted that although such events still attract fewer fans than in the West, their audience is steadily growing.

Cooperation between sport and business on the local level is a complex issue, but experts remain optimistic about the future. "Without the help of business, sport will not develop in Poland," he said. "[But] the situation will be changing for the better in the next five years," he concluded.