Sponsorship can sometimes be a vague and undefined thing.

If you’re a brand, you’re certainly supposed to know exactly what you want out of a partnership with a sports team before you spend lots of cash and sign on the dotted line. But it’s not always that simple.

Depending on what your brand does there might be an obvious link to create content and show support. But for lots of brands there just isn’t that connection between sport and what they do. And for things like airlines and financial services it can be hard to strike the right note.

Usually it’s the team that seems to go out of their way to create something for the brand. That makes sense, after all, they are the recipients of the sponsorship money and it’s up to them to make value for the brands they work with. But it can go the other way, too, and this month’s Stanley Cup final between the Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Washington Capitals provides a really good example of that.

McLean, Va. based @CapitalOne knows what’s up. #ALLCAPS cc: @sportslogosnet pic.twitter.com/C5jEgrDQkA

— Chris (@chrtomas) May 27, 2018

In this case, Capital One, the credit card company whose US headquarters is just outside Washington DC, showed their support for the Capitals by actively changing their logo to mimic the Capitals’ badge.

It’s a nice move to show support for their team who are in the showpiece final of the NHL season and it’s also a great way to show that sponsorship can work both ways. In the end, it’s the sponsor who will get the most out of this, and endear themselves a little more to Capitals fans.