Digitalization for events also plays an important role in sports marketing.
Philipp attended the ESB Congress – the platform for sports, entertainment & marketing – to discover the latest trends in digital sports marketing.
The ESB Marketing Network invites to dance in Vienna and we already hear the Danube Waltz. The reason for the invitation was the annual exchange of representatives from the sports industry. Since everything at the congress always revolves around the latest trends and developments in digital sports marketing, Eventnet can't be missing, of course. And if you call yourself future-oriented, you have to take the train - it was a relaxed 8 hours from Berlin to Vienna.
Speaking of the future, it's already here in Austria - at least from a German perspective. Because on July 1, strong relaxations of the Corona rules came into effect. FFP2 mask requirement: Dropped. Closing time: abolished. Large events: Can take place. So a Danube waltz would really have been in it, but of course that wasn't the point of the trip. We wanted to make contacts, exchange ideas, and the ESB gave us the perfect setting for that.
What are the top topics for digital sports marketing this year?
Challenge: Sustainable activation of the participants
The morning was all about sponsorship activities. The speakers agreed that the biggest challenge in digital sports marketing is sustainable activation on site. In the event industry in particular, digital interaction options are often lacking. As painful as this may be for event organizers, this pain point suits us very well.
For us, WiFi is the ideal touchpoint for greater involvement digitally . We all know that attention rarely comes by itself. You have to give people something. We offer participants free WiFi and our customers opportunities to interact. The interface between the two is our freely configurable login landing page. Win-win. Some can take part in the event undisturbed by dead spots and others can get as close to the customers as possible, namely directly into their hands.
Opportunity: Storytelling through social media and email campaigns
While the lunch break was used for networking in a relaxed atmosphere, the afternoon was all about getting down to business. The focus was on social media and here too the speakers quickly identified the prevailing trend: the shift from branding to storytelling. While it used to be enough to show brand presence at sporting events, you now have to produce content tailored to the young target group.
Here, too, we have a clear use case: automated email campaigns. Best practice is, for example, follow-up emails with suitable offers or content. The trigger for the email can also be set during the event when the user logs into the WiFi. Then we have the option of attracting participants with a competition, for example. In digital sports marketing, one thing is always particularly important: users must be made an attractive offer so that the desired activation is achieved.
Hand on heart - how was it?
Digital sports marketing is an area with many, many possibilities. We became aware of that after this event. Staging brands with new, digital possibilities is generally an exciting topic. Sporting events offer a very special attraction here: because there are many exciting stories to tell. The participants have a very special connection to the event and brands have the opportunity to position themselves as strong partners. Digital approaches can also be used to win over the young target group.
Sport & Brand was our first ESB Congress and will not be our last. When the time comes, we will take you with us again.
