Guest post: Richard Williams is a digital strategist at digital web agency, Rawnet. Rawnet are also a supporter of the Digital Sport London event series.

Earlier this week, I found myself sitting on the toilet (Yes! – I have gone there in the opening sentence), eagerly opening new browsers on my phone, searching for the pair of trainers I had just seen on a football player’s Instagram page. You see, I’m a toilet browser. And like 75% of the male population, whether they admit it or not, I bring my iPhone to the toilet with me to pass the time.

Luckily for you, my toilet habits have nothing to do with this blog.

Impulse Influence

Whilst searching for the trainers I had just seen, it struck me that I didn’t actually like them at all. In a moment of pure madness, I had managed to get sucked into the ever increasing sports star influence trap. I love all sport, but in particular, I am a total Football fan. I live and breath it. Give me the choice and I would be a footballer over any other profession on the planet. Couple this with the realisation that I am a child at heart and it’s a very dangerous position to be in when the England Captain shows me his latest gold-plated, white and black studded trainers.

I instantly buy into his choice of footwear and ultimately begin my quest to emulate him. I then calm down and realise that walking into the Rawnet office wearing them would form the beginnings of a lifetime of office banter. Instead, I declined to purchase.

Lack of Athlete Endorsement

Poor taste aside, many of the material purchases or style choices I have made over the last 20 years have been heavily influenced by different sports stars, and in particular, the main man – David Beckham. It’s very easy to isolate Mr Beckham when analysing the link between brands and consumers. He’s the people’s choice, and has been for over 15 years. However, I question whether brands have taken note of this and progressed things any further.

Looking at the stats, nearly £33 billion is spent Worldwide each year on sports endorsement, yet only a staggering 3% of this is actually dedicated to athlete endorsement. For years, the brands have favoured teams, leagues and associations, with the view that these institutions will give them direct access to the mass TV and fan markets.

For the likes of Coca Cola and Hyundai, this serves a very strong purpose and raises brand awareness. But are they missing a trick along with the smaller brands who cannot afford mainstream pricing? With the mass growth of social media and the ability to connect with sports stars 24/7, we have already seen the steady rise of individual player power and influence. No longer does a brand need to enter lengthy negotiations and multi-million pound agreements when they can use individual players to directly influence fans. Like me, these fans hang on every single word that is broadcast by sports stars through their Instagram, Twitter or Facebook accounts.

What’s more, the ability to niche down and create targeted marketing campaigns becomes a complete reality. If you take football players as an example, we know the demographic of their followers will mirror the area, or country, with which they play. It’s safe to say that Wayne Rooney has a strong following in the Manchester area rather than in Bournemouth. We also know that he will have a strong favour of male fans over female – and no, I’m not referring to his looks! This ultimately allows brands to deliver targeted campaigns to the people who really matter to them. With the wealth of analytics tools and the emergence of web services such as Klout, there is no reason why a brand cannot analyse the sports market, review engagement levels/demographics/followers and choose an individual sports person who can deliver their branded message to a targeted, engaged fanbase.

Digital Soapbox

World famous ex-basketball star Shaquille O’Neal has carved out one of the most enviable and lucrative social brands on the planet. Having recently opened his home to 30 of the top brand executives in the United States, including Ralph Lauren and Toys R Us, he allowed them to approach him with targeted campaigns and endorsements. As a result of that meeting, Shaq agreed a deal with Nabisco to promote Oreos by sending out a personalised tweet:

“I’m going to see how many Oreos I can eat in 15 seconds”

The result? 10 percent of the 4 million followers clicking through to the Oreo website. Success all round.

Direct activation through sports stars allows a brand to capitalise on the now. Taking the recent Commonwealth Games into account, the ability to capitalise on a lesser known athlete at the moment they win gold could arguably yield more impressive results than Mr Rooney would while he suns himself in Dubai. It removes the risk of agreeing a long-term sponsorship with a player in the hope that they hit a ‘hot streak’ and prove a marketing ROI, only to break a leg and play Playstation for months on end. It effectively turns the tables, and returns the control to brands.

Why is this beneficial to brands?

• They can cut through the noise and engage their target market.
• It’s more cost effective.
• It allows for instant activation and engagement.
• Campaign success can be measured and used as a blueprint moving forward

Out with the Old

It’s clear to say that the influence of sports stars is only rising, and I don’t believe that we need to just focus on the likes of Rooney and Beckham. Social media is now providing lesser known stars with the platform to engage and ultimately create a tangible and marketable brand for themselves.

I predict that we are in the beginning stages of a sports marketing revolution. I believe brands will wisen up to the fact that they do not need to create and invest in traditional marketing campaigns when they can simply activate relevant personalities with huge influence over their fans.

Whether you are a local retailer wishing to tap into the popularity of your local team’s rugby captain or a ‘Blue Chip Company’ utilising the likes of David Beckham, there is now a clear and measurable route to market using digital channels. Those who wish to stay ahead of the curve will prosper, while Head & Shoulders will continue to push out cheesy adverts with Joe Hart!