New marketing concept for DFB Cup shortlisted for German Sports Marketing Award 2010
Platform developed by the DFB and Infront is a first for German football, providing great added value for sponsors and increased revenues for clubs
This is one of 10 short-listed nominees for excellence in sports marketing. The award is provided by the German industry Magazine SponsorS and Event Sport Business (ESB), a networking platform for sponsorship and event marketing. It will be presented during next year’s ISPO SpoBis Conference, which will be held in Munich from 22-23 February 2010.
For more details on the award and making an online vote (only until 18 December) please visit: http://www.spobis.com/en/awards/marketingpreis/
One of the world’s most popular football competitions
The DFB Cup is one of the world’s most popular domestic football competitions. The cup final has been one of the highlights of the sporting year since 1953. From the 2008/2009 season, live television coverage has been increased dramatically to all 63 games. Against this backdrop, the DFB and its marketing partner Infront launched a new, integrated marketing concept – the first of its kind in German football.
The goals set were ambitious. As well as reducing the total number of advertising partners and streamlining the advertising presence, the strategy aims to strengthen the perception of the DFB Cup as a premium brand. Planning certainty is much improved for the participating clubs, as they can plan for the long term and achieve substantially higher revenues.
High level of exclusivity and a strong premium character
The new concept provides a level of exclusivity as yet unseen in German football. In the past, individual marketing of the matches led to the involvement of around 1,000 advertising partners for the DFB Cup over several years. This system was replaced in favour of a simple, two-tier sponsorship hierarchy with just four TOP partners and eight SPOT partners and central marketing for all 63 games. Reinforcing the impact created by the reduction in partner numbers is a clear sponsor hierarchy and product category exclusivity. Strong advertising presence and additional commercial rights offer sponsors a broader range of options for activation and brand communication. This premium environment is created by consistent stadium dressing with uniform DFB Cup branding at the forefront.
The delivery of the new concept in the 2009/2010 season and the greatly enhanced coverage that it has created, have established the DFB Cup as one of the premier brand communication platforms in Germany, if not the world.
Immediate Marketing Success
This has been rewarded by immediate marketing success. Very rapidly, four of Germany’s leading brands (Jack Wolfskin, Bitburger, Deutsche Post and Deutsche Telekom) signed up as TOP partners, alongside eight attractive SPOT partners. In total, the new concept generated an increase in value of 70% and advertising revenues rose by up to four times per club for the first main round of the competition.
Infront also demonstrated its capabilities during the realisation phase. For the first round, the company installed the new DFB Cup design and over 7.5 kilometres of advertising boards in 32 advertising-free stadia.
Records were also broken in terms of the TV viewing figures. After the third round, the cumulative viewing audience had reached 246 million with 568 hours of coverage. On average, ARD and ZDF (German state broadcasting companies) achieved market shares of 20%. Thus far, spectator numbers in the stadia have reached a total of 870,000. The high level of fan interest has already had a positive impact on sponsors. DFB Cup ‘newcomer’ Deutsche Post achieved a 38% increase in its brand awareness after two rounds of the competition.
Offering exclusivity, much enhanced television coverage and a premium environment for sponsors, as well as increased revenues for clubs, the marketing concept for the DFB Cup is both a success story and a first for German football.
For further information, please contact:
Jörg Polzer
Manager, Communication & PR
Infront Sports & Media AG
Tel. +41-41-723 15 15
Fax +41-41-723 15 16
press infrontsports.com
www.infrontsports.com
