Philips – soccer sponsorship case study

Challenge
With soccer gaining in popularity in the United States, Philips saw an opportunity to use sponsorship as a vehicle to communicate their brand, as a third of their core target are involved with soccer in one way or another.

However, given that this was a new type of marketing activity for Philips in the US, they wanted to track the sponsorship very carefully to ensure it was having a positive effect, as well as attempting to quantify that affect. Doing this as early as possible would also help in the planning of future sponsorship monies. i to i research was commissioned to evaluate the sponsorship.

Insight
The reaction to the sponsorship was more positive than expected. Philips were particularly interested to learn that even by sponsoring a non-major US sport, they were still tapping into the US sense of patriotism:

“Sponsoring an American sport means loyalty and pride in the US and this goodwill will reflect positively on Philips.”
“I'd be more likely to purchase Philips knowing they are giving back to something important.”

In addition, the sponsorship reflected well on people’s view of Philips as a brand more generally:

“They are a fairly forward-looking brand since soccer is becoming more popular in the U.S.”
“They are community minded and care about things other than just making as much money as possible. They are also successful enough to be able to sponsor a team.”

More surprising still was the fact that even though they had just started sponsoring soccer, they were already perceived to be the second most significant sponsor. Asked for spontaneous mentions of sponsors of US soccer, Philips (6%) came second only to Nike (14%) and was ahead of Adidas (4%).