A few days ago, I came across an article on research that shows the value of exposure that local football clubs in Kenya. This was interesting especially when you see 9-digit figures! For anyone not aware of the football scenario in the country, then just say it was appalling! However, it seems someone has identified an opportunity and seems on the right channel. Let us all hope that the new sports policy document will put things in perspective.
Now, it is emerging that Kenya wants to bid for 2020 Olympics!! That is an achievable dream and I hope all is in place to have a bidding team. However, I remember sometime back when a former minister mentioned a bid for 2016! In my opinion, we should probably aim for 2024 or 2028 while we put our house in order.
Last week, I was in Qatar for a meeting. The tiny nation that will host the 2022 world cup! I say tiny since it is only 11,586 sq. km, smaller in comparison to Central province (former) in Kenya (13,191 sq. km!!), a place you can drive around and cover all major areas within a day! Apart from its massive natural gas reserves, the small country is taking up a new position as a centre for sports. This is not just soccer, but most other areas by hosting events like tennis, athletics and host of others. Of course, someone will pick that line of ‘importing (buying out) athletes’! That could be a bygone strategy as the ‘imports’ may only perform well for some time, then their careers start taking a nose dive. That is debate for another day.
Overall, the key aspect here is sports not only develops talent, but also develops brands. Look at all major sponsorships especially from the (media) audience numbers across major sporting cities around the world. People associate the city with a given sport, which by extension, impacts identity, of the country. People live and dream the sport. Think of Australia, a sporting nation that has put facilities for citizens in their neighborhoods to participate in their favorite sports. Of course this has a positive impact on health and lifestyle.
We have a great pool of talent across sports disciplines. However, we are yet to harness our potential both along specific and across these disciplines. One way could be through sports festivals and of course the huge amount of sponsorships that go with such festivals. Sevens rugby has a foot on this and the numbers speak. Other disciplines can take up that line and see ways to develop festivals aligned to their sports. One-day event does not necessarily pool crowds, unless there is a lot of communication to raise awareness before it happens, e.g. marathon.
As I write this piece, the cricket world cup just concluded in India. The Kenyan team has performed dismally, losing all the matches. This does not go well, especially when you live and work with cricket fanatics. However, the key objective here is not the score line, but the fact that millions of people in the sub continent now know Kenya. There could be little following of the game in Kenya but from Middle-East to Asia, especially the sub-continent, cricket has almost fanatical and mammoth followers. A taxi driver illustrates this scenario when he asked about my country. The moment I mentioned Kenya, he was excited talking endlessly of the team’s performance in all the matches, accompanied with the obvious sub-continent nod! He even knows a large part of the team by name. He explained the performance – batting, the bowling of respective Kenyan players. I wished him well as his favorite team prepared for the semi final match.
In another study, Brand Kenya had identified sports, especially athletics as a key element in its work. Plans to use athletics, especially the key Marathon competitions around the world, as part of developing the brand, indicates the significance of sports in marketing. The recent performance in Spain and Paris just goes to show the need to invest more in this idea. However, it would be important to consider incorporating other sports depending on the target locations. For instance, In the Oceania, incorporate Rugby; in the sub-continent, incorporate Cricket. In other words, align the promotion for given location with sports that would resonate with the citizens. Audience estimate show about 2.2billion people from 220 countries tuned in for the just concluded cricket world cup, majority from Asia (mainly the sub continent)!
There is a lot of literature on sports and marketing – brand building, sponsorships and so forth. Marketers are yet to realize the full potential of sports in developing their markets as well as brands.
This is due to:
1. Lack of well structured approach to integrated sports management. There are various sports federations and associations to cater for different sports in the country. While each caters for its line of interest, communication at national and regional levels of various events is lacking. Hence, there is little involvement of the community (consumers) to such events. How many people knew there was cricket world cup? How many knew Kenya participated? Who is Kenya’s team captain?
a. Would it be possible for the federations / associations to share a communications budget to have a wider audience?
b. Using events of a particular sport to raise awareness of others. For instance, during the Kenya vs. Angola match, one could highlight the Rugby Sevens matches that would happen in Australia. You would not only capture 30K plus audience, but also raise awareness of the game and a cord of nationhood! It may seem out of tune, but like the sports channels provide highlights, so should federations work together.
c. As a starting point and due to limited budgets that most cite, the marketers involved in these sports should not only see the recreation and winning of tournaments but also the long term investment and returns. What attracts a company to invest $3 Million (Ksh.249Million), for a 30 seconds spot during super bowl? That may seem a tall order to compare but it happens.
2. Inadequate facilities and infrastructure. This requires commitment of high capital outlay and long term resource investment – time, labour etc. The tiny nation that I mentioned earlier won the bid due to showcasing a commitment to invest in state of the art facilities that would even take care of the high temperatures. In addition, there is commitment to high end infrastructure – telecom, rail, roads, and telecommunication and of course energy.
At local level, we need to reclaim the community halls – do you remember the council halls in different parts of the country where people developed on indoor games, especially boxing? We should also raise more awareness and involvement in the schools games festivals! Equity bank had been a sponsor of this event; we need more on this front.
3. Diversity of sports. Are we only an athletics and soccer nation? We have not yet exploited other sports disciplines. Apart from athletics, other areas we have made international entry but not very successful include Rugby, volleyball, swimming, chess, cricket and basketball. We need to invest more, train harder and encourage more participants. This not only raises the profile of the game, but also has more followers (and more consumers!!). Golfers had a plan to cascade the game across the country. To host the Olympics, we need to develop talent, interest and involvement across many disciplines. We need to market and develop other disciplines.
4. The question of sports ambassadors. Who is the face of a certain sport? Does he / she live that sport? Can the youngsters look up to him / her as a great athlete of our time? Do the relevant sports bodies continue working with the retired athletes to ensure the upcoming talents have role models? Pele, the soccer legend from Brazil continues to ‘live and eat’ football and now can watch the world cup 2016 in his country. People involved in marketing sports should continue working with retired champions from the respective disciplines. Once again, when I look at the ones doing this, the list is limited to the ones above.
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