Widely acknowledged to be an industry leader and trendsetter, Kim Skildum-Reid is a corporate sponsorship strategist, trainer, coach, and writer with 24 years' experience and a blue-chip client list from around the globe.
Sports marketing is big business globally. And easy pickings for brand hijackers, ambush marketers, ticket scalpers, online phishers and merchandise knock-off artists. More than 50 percent of consumers say they are sports fans (Gallup). Major sports events such as the Summer and Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cup, Super Bowl, NCAA Basketball Finals, World Series, NBA Finals, NASCAR, Formula 1 Racing, Wimbledon, PGA Tour, Rugby Union World Cup and the Tour de France attract millions of viewers. The Super Bowl is perennially the most-watched television broadcast, as well as the top at-home party event of the year, surpassing New Year’s Eve.
According to Sports Business Journal, advertisers spend more than $15 billion on sports advertising annually and an additional $16.4 billion is spent on arena/stadium signage and promotions. With growing migration to Internet engagement of fans and followers, online advertising at sports web sites should top $1 billion by 2011 from $859 million in 2009 (eMarketer).
According to IEG Sponsorship Report (www.sponsorship.com), sports sponsorship spending exceeds $10 billion and sports licensing is a $13.7 billion revenue stream (The Licensing Letter) for leagues, clubs, athletes and event organizers. Top licensors, like Major League Baseball, National Football League, National Basketball Association and NASCAR generate billions in licensee revenues for all manner of goods, services and entertainment products. Star athletes, also, are brand franchises unto themselves. Tiger Woods, alone, generates $100 million in endorsement income as the most highly compensated golfer in the world.
Its no wonder business is booming for online scammers, brand name hijackers and property rights pirates. Sports marketers and sponsors trying to protect their trademarks and brand names say they're facing a proliferation of digital hijacking online while on the ground, increasingly global and better organized international counterfeiting rings are flooding the market with more sports merchandise and apparel knock-offs than ever before.
Doing Away With Foul Play in Sports Marketing will follow the CMO Council’s previously successful Protection from Brand Infection and Secure the Trust of Your Brand initiatives. There will be a special focus on sports sponsors in the apparel, footwear, auto, consumer electronics, CPG, financial services, food/beverage, travel and hospitality, high technology, sporting goods, media/entertainment, and communications sectors. Leading international sports bodies, sports industry publications, retail trade groups, property rights holders, media networks, and sports sponsorship firms will be invited to affiliate and contribute content, analysis and experience as affiliate partners.