The ad industry has always been ageist. So when Bram Williams, strategist and founder of AW (formerly Archibald/Williams), woke up one day to the sobering realisation that he was, in fact, the old guy now, he knew something had to be done. Enter The Third Act, an AdNews exclusive series that aims to celebrate different generations within the industry and provide perspectives that everyone can learn from – or, at the very least, find mildly interesting. In this article,
Bram sits down with Noah Coopey, a freelance sports journalist at Soccerscene, to discuss the current trends shaping the future of sports marketing, and why those responsible for it should make bolder moves.
Bram opens by stating the obvious: sport is everywhere. “I don’t think there’s ever been more attention on sport - and from all sectors - in my lifetime, even in a country as obsessed as Australia” he says. What might not be as obvious, is why. Particularly for Noah, for whom sport’s dominance is the norm, although even he can acknowledge that its “upward trend” is evident. For Bram, the why comes down to the value of the live sporting moment. “There aren’t many entertainment mediums left these days whereby you’ve got to experience them at a specific time, and in a certain place, to get the full value and impact” he goes on to say. “And as such, sport continues to take on even more importance in the broad social and entertainment mix - brands are throwing everything at it, as it captures people in a truly unique way.” For Noah however, it’s the opposite. While he doesn’t deny the value of the live sporting moment, he feels that the fragmented modern media landscape is largely responsible for the prevalence of sport, stating “it’s not just about finding time on a Sunday to watch the matches back to back - you can watch them on catch up, get the highlights on socials, listen to the game analysis on a podcast or read a post match review somewhere. Communication has exploded. And if you have any interest in the industry, sport can literally take over 24 hours of your life if you let it!”
In truth, both schools of thought are correct. Why then are most sports ads so uninspired of late? Surely this is the time for marketers to be going all in? Bram looks back to the recent State of Origin series, noting that no one other than perhaps Telstra, who aired an ad that essentially just made fun of themselves, took the opportunity to have their “Super Bowl moment” in front of the biggest TV audience in the country. Noah puts this down to the unpredictability of sport and the inherent risk associated with that from an advertising perspective. “It’s a unique marketing realm where there’s a real lack of solidity as you just can’t predict what’s going to happen from one game to the next - and marketers don’t tend to do well with the unknown.” For Bram though, who remembers the good ol’ days of sports advertising (and made a fair few of them), this is precisely the irony. “Organsiations today are so conservative with respect to reputation and accountability and political correctness, but the heart of the drama in any sport is risk-reward! You don’t get one without the other. You only have to look back at brands like Nicorette that used to sponsor Warney for proof that it works, too”
Another take from Noah on the risk aversion in sports marketing focuses on the rise of individual player brands. There have of course been sporting legends and icons since day dot, but never have we experienced a time whereby so many athletes are able to turn themselves into businesses. “I can’t help but wonder whether player brands give clubs and codes the freedom to be a little lazy” he says. “It’s easier to have them shine then go all in on the team - you still attract eyeballs, but with less risk. Unless of course they do something really stupid publicly, but even then, it doesn’t necessarily spell disaster.” As someone who grew up with social media - a channel undeniably responsible for facilitating this trend - it’s a fair observation. And whilst Bram is in total agreement, he offers a slightly more sobering insight that should inspire sports marketers to seize this moment and strive for more emotionally impactful advertising. “The shift towards this mentality seriously threatens to white-ant sport.” He goes on to explain; “what truly makes people emotionally connected to sport runs far deeper than the success of the icon. The bedrock of people’s passion is cultural, it’s generational family ties, it’s geographical. It’s got real, deep-rooted meaning.”
Noah counters this with a reference to the hugely successful Drive to Survive. “I’ve got a fair few mates - both guys and girls - who couldn’t care less about F1 until they watched the show. And now, some of them are waking up at 1am to watch races.” Perhaps then, it is possible to engender passion far more superficially than how Bram describes. Perhaps, in a content hungry world, all you need is a decent production budget, the right amount of drama, and some interesting personalities. As Noah states, “that show was simply a well-executed brand or marketing idea that actually influenced real cultural change.” It’s anyone’s guess as to whether F1's newfound fanbase will still be invested in the sport in a decade’s time, but Bram isn’t sold, and questions the sustainability of shifting so much value from performance to person. “I can enjoy the soap opera as much as you, but the more it becomes about players - their brand stories, net worth, and asset base - the more of a threat they pose in transcending their clubs. And this will have a detrimental effect on people’s commitment to the sport itself.”
A saving grace that Noah offers here lies in the younger generations’ love of authenticity. As much as the movement toward player over team will continue, it operates in a fickle, volatile landscape where "empty calorie content” can be spotted a mile off. “There’s a real push-back, bigger than I think people realise, against bandwagoning, which is exactly what we’re talking about here with seemingly every athlete seeking sponsors and partners. There’s all these jokes now about how the game’s gone” - this term being a popular reference to the loss of core values, authenticity, and tradition in sport thanks to modern commercialisation. He believes this presents a really interesting opportunity for sports marketers to not just chase the icon of the moment, but instead do something a little more unexpected and relatable. On this, Bram agrees, stating “the underdog storyline is still highly captivating - I mean look at Wrexham!” before giving an example a little closer to home; “if I were a brand looking to support test cricket at the moment, I’d be throwing all my money behind Scotty Boland. When he gets the chance to step up he always gets more interest thanks to his subplot that heroes perseverance, humility, and relatability, which is a stark contrast to the aforementioned icon culture.” Since genuine, human stories will always have the power to cut through, what Bram says next rings true; “brands need to get way more in tune with the fact that there is value in the unpredictability of the human element of sport vs the predictability and bankability of iconography.”
Which brings us full circle. If sport is becoming an even bigger part of normal people’s lives, surely sports marketers have an obligation to diversify and amplify their range of emotional storytelling? Which by its very nature means doing something five degrees left of the obvious, not just using Usain Bolt as a lazy representation of how fast Omo’s product is, or putting Nathan Cleary on a Rexona ad. It means thinking outside the box and doing something creatively unexpected, which may just have the power to offset the looming white-ant threat. Something I think we can all agree is a good thing, otherwise, in the wise words of Bram “if players become mercenaries and fans lose their tribal pride, we’ll just be left with a version of the bloody Kardashians.” And nobody wants that, right?