Marketing Of Sports In India To Create Olympic Winners
Gold in Olympics! Isn’t it a dream come true? It did come true this time. Not just gold, but we could bag 7 medals; 1 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze. Our biggest achievement this year was the men’s hockey team winning a medal nearly after 40 years. But is that appropriately enough for India?
India is the 2nd most populated country with 1.3 billion people. Still, we had a contingency of only 126 competitors, and we could bag just 7 medals. Whereas the US has a tally of 113 medals. Most European countries too fared well, closely followed by African countries.
The sports participation ratio that is the percentage of the adult population participating in sports, is very less in India. Is it because Indians are not fit to be athletes? The simple answer is No. India is just not a sporting nation!
But India is most interested and invested in cricket, in its various forms, like test matches, one-day cricket, IPL, etc. So, we do have the best of the best sportspersons. But that’s just in cricket. And why is that so? If it can happen in cricket, then where are we lacking in other sports, and the Olympics in particular? Can we get more Olympic winners in the future?
Jo dikhta hai who bikta hai (people buy things that are seen). This is the mantra of marketing. If you want something to be popular, it needs to be seen, heard, or even ‘fan’domised. Marketers can run their magic on any product to make it most attractive. And a sport certainly needs the magic touch.
Marketing of sports is the promotion of sports, sporting events, sporting associations, and sports teams. This kind of promotion is directly concerned with sports. The approach towards sports marketing should have the aim of helping churn out great achievers in the varied field of sports.
Listed below are few effective ways of how sports marketing can help achieve the task of producing medal-winning athletes in our country –
SPORT AWARENESS:
One of the biggest issues with the Olympics & many other sports, in general, is lack of awareness. The majority of the Indian population is simply not sufficiently aware of the Olympics or the sports involved. Hence the lack of interest. Developing interest in any sport can be achieved by organising events involving these sports. This can be done in collaboration with local sports associations or governing bodies. This should be with the aim to not just entertain, but also for people to try out and become aware.
TARGETING AT EARLY STAGES:
For any sportsman to excel they need to start early. So, the target for the promotion of sports should be kids and young adults. No doubt efforts should be made for creating an ecosystem of coaches, training facilities, infrastructure, and equipment. There should also be an effort to generate immense interest at a very young age. Players, products, and sports should be promoted in a way that inspires young talents. Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu said, “Young people will see me & they will be inspired, just like I was with Mary Kom.”
GRASSROOTS SPORTS MARKETING:
Grassroots sports marketing is concerned with promoting sports to the general populace. This is done to increase the popularity of a sport not as entertainment but as exercise. The target is to increase participation in the sport. Athletes enjoy direct revenue from endorsement deals. Being the face of a brand makes them more accessible to people who do not follow sports. This can lead to those people beginning to follow sports for the sake of this athlete or team. Sports marketing raising interest in a sport in general benefits everybody associated with that sport.
EVERLASTING CONNECTION:
India is the most Cricket crazy country in the world. And that has got a lot to do with how the sport was promoted. Various formats of the game, the publicity of the players, viewer participation through various apps and games like ‘DREAM 11’, are the ways in which it garners fan following & keeps the audience ever connected to this sport. This makes the players, the sports association, media, etc. perform their best and be at the top of their game. This approach was also tried with the local sport of Kabbadi by launching PRO Kabbadi. We should similarly encourage all other sports.
GOLD MINING:
India is such a vast country that can offer naturally talented sportspersons in abundance. To help accomplish this goal, what we need to do, is to launch comprehensive talent hunts, which include large-scale campaigns, promotion, advertising, etc. We need to invest heavily in finding, funding, and fostering medal-winning athletes. A 21st-century push that attempts to nurture young talents towards grabbing more medals in sports have already turned up in government programs, in upgraded corporate revenue streams, and private programs with names such as ‘Olympic Gold Quest’ and ‘Anglian Medal Hunt’ .
SOCIAL MEDIA:
In today’s digital age, social media plays a vital role. It is the best way to create more buzz about something. It impacts the audience on a different level. Over the last decade, social media has revolutionized the sports sector. It helps to keep up the momentum and engage more fans and viewers. One of the powerful uses of social media is the ability to quickly and efficiently communicate with people all over the world. The biggest advantage of social media is the element of real-time. With the power of social media, athletes can benefit by connecting with their fans, build a personal brand, and promote themselves. No doubt social media has evolved to become the perfect complement to sports marketing.
DIRECT SPORTS MARKETING:
From fanatics to casual viewers, sports can capture the attention of more people in comparison to any other kind of event. As long as sports continue to thrill hundreds of millions of people, they will continue to be a prime event to deliver advertising messages. Sports presents a huge audience for brands and athletes alike. A successful sports marketing campaign can linger in the minds of consumers for years. Any marketer who associates themselves with a particular team gains instant credibility in that fan’s mind. Since the revenue ultimately goes to support the team, the marketer is considered a sponsor and invested in the team’s success.
Branding can make a huge impact on the general public. By associating players to a particular brand, it gives a sense of belonging. People are now more excited as they are happy to see the players getting associated with brands that they are using. People who are not much aware of the sport or the sportsman also develop the eagerness to become aware of them. It thus creates a great connection between sports and the audience.
India’s admirable performance in Tokyo Olympics 2020 has generated a never-seen interest in the various types of sports. There is an urgent need to keep the momentum up and running so that we can achieve the now impossible-seeming task of becoming a sporting nation with medal-winning athletes. Sports marketing will play a significant role in making this vision become a reality!