Title sponsorship is first and foremost a way of making consumers aware of a brand name, putting the brand into the mouths of fans as they talk about a team, competition or other property. Think of the top of mind awareness and positioning of the brand towards its recognition and attribution.

Having a title sponsorship gives many strategic benefits towards a single or multiple name right holders, just think of the cross-branding agreements, the combined media, the business community and a lot of International cooperation. A frequent usage of title sponsorships are stadium names or league names.

A stadium or league provides an opportunity for a club to monetise its stadium’s name by entering into a naming rights sponsorship deal, with big national & international companies and brands keen to affiliate themselves with a high-profile sports team and to collaborate in brand building.
Naming rights agreements are generally long-term contracts and depends on several factors, such as physical branding, advertising and signage at the stadium on a match day, the use by the club or stadium of the partners’ name in the media (exposure & joint media initiatives), exclusive supply rights to the stadium (for instance, a food and beverage company may require exclusive rights to supply certain products on matchday); and “back-end rights”, including matchday experiences at the stadium which can be used for corporate hospitality, the rights of first offer and refusal on various events or items relating to the club and stadiums.

That said, valorizing a title sponsorship during the whole of the sponsoring communication process isn’t easy, valuing the impact on a name rights holder in brand awareness or in brand capitalization is the hard part, but if done right, a title sponsorship is the best form of advertising in the heart of your target group.

Photo credits @facepeeters