If you’re a fan of watching the match on a Sunday afternoon, or the boxing on a Saturday night, you will probably find a wide range of sporting advertisements between segments of the show.
These are normally 30 second clips that use sports to showcase a brand.
But how do these small films get onto your screen? How does it all begin? And who is involved?
Here at Sport & Motion, we have worked on many sports productions in many different industries, and we’ve created this 7-step guide to building the perfect sports advertising campaign.
Let’s take a look.
Step-by-Step Approach to a Sports Advertising Campaign
Step 1: Building the Concept
Everything begins with an idea.
One of the great things about sports productions is there are no limits. Whether you want to use global influencers in wide-reaching locations, or simply an unknown sports talent with nothing but a ball at their feet, either can be used in effective ways.
The brainstorming phase involves marketers, creatives, and often athletes themselves, sitting down to discuss the campaign’s core message, theme, and goals. A key factor here is deciding on the audience, and how best to appeal to them.
Whether it’s promoting a new product, celebrating a milestone, or supporting a cause, this stage sets the foundation for the entire campaign, and the end goal at this stage is to have a clear vision of how the final product will look.
Now the steps to bring it to life begin.
Step 2: Choose Your Team
Once you have the plan in place, you need the people to help create it.
While a core team will have been established in the planning phase, you still need to pick out sports talent to play key parts.
One option here is to use recognised names, such as we did in our advertisements starring Anthony Joshua and Son Heung-Min. Athlete endorsements play a significant role in sports advertising.
Brands collaborate with athletes whose values align with the campaign’s message. These partnerships are carefully cultivated to ensure authenticity, creating a genuine connection between the athlete and the brand.
Another good idea is to use up-and-coming talent, who can really leave an impression and resonate with the viewer at home.
Step 3: Develop a Creative Plan
So, you have the concept and the vision for the final product, now it’s time to delve into the nitty gritty.
Using sports choreographers alongside copywriters, designers, and more, work out a play-by-play guide to how each scene will look.
They create visually stunning graphics, write compelling ad copy, and produce videos that evoke emotion and excitement.
This will be your blueprint that everyone will work from in the coming months as the production is bought to life, so make sure everything is well-covered and easy to understand.
This is another key document and plenty of time should be spent ensuring it is perfect before the filming begins.
Step 4: Pick Your Platforms
Modern sports advertising spans across various platforms, including TV, social media, websites, and even physical installations.
A multi-platform strategy ensures that the campaign reaches the audience wherever they are, maximizing its impact.
Each platform might require tailored content to suit its format and audience expectations.
For example, a younger audience may resonate more with a campaign that features heavily on social media and is more interactive, whereas you may get more reach from a different audience if you do television advertisements or sports events appearances.
Finding the right platform and tailoring your sports advertisement to be optimised for this is key to getting the most impact from your target viewers.
Step 5: Create Your Content
Now the time has come to create the content.
This is when all of the planning, meetings, recruiting, and more, come together to bring the vision of your sports advertisement to life.
Everyone will be present to ensure the production that is being acted out and filmed is in line with the plans created in the development phases.
This is one of, if not the most important stage and meticulous detail needs to go into every shot to make sure when it is all complete, the final product is as stunning as can be.
One of the key roles we fulfill here at Sport & Motion is the sports choreography aspect of this, and you can step into our shoes for a day in the life of one of our team in this guide.
Step 6: Launch and Promote
Once everything is done and your sports advertisement has been approved, it is time to get it live.
This is a really exciting stage as you get to see your production in the flesh and live on the medium it was intended for.
Brands often carefully choose the timing of the campaign launch to coincide with important sports events or moments that resonate with the target audience.
Social media teasers, countdowns, and behind-the-scenes sneak peeks build anticipation and excitement among fans, so don’t be afraid to build a buzz before the big day.
Once your campaign is unleashed, it is time to breathe a sigh of relief as the hard work has been done, but that doesn’t mean you can stop there.
Step 7: Engage and Analyse
Once the advertisement is live and is being seen by an audience, you need to assess the performance and see how it’s going.
Engaging the audience is vital for the campaign’s success. Brands encourage interaction through hashtags, contests, and challenges that encourage fans to share their experiences.
This user-generated content becomes an integral part of the campaign, fostering a sense of community and involvement.
Constant monitoring of the campaign is also essential.
Brands track metrics such as engagement rates, website traffic, social media mentions, and sales data. This information provides valuable insights into the campaign’s performance and helps marketers make data-driven adjustments if needed.
And finally, you should keep an eye on the campaign’s success in meeting its goals, whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving sales, or enhancing brand sentiment.
This analysis informs future campaigns and provides valuable lessons for continuous improvement.
Sports Advertising from Sport & Motion
Looking to build an exciting sports advertisement for your brand?
Sports & Motion can help. Whether you need choreographers, sports talent, influencers, and more, our database is sure to have the perfect person to fill the role.
Want to know more? Then get in touch with our team today.
