The Business of Sport Marketing

Sporting moments offer brands a rare chance to step onto the biggest stages in culture and connect with mass audiences in real time. Some events cast an enormous net, such as the World Cup or the Super Bowl, drawing in die-hard fans and casual viewers alike. Others may command a smaller audience, but one that is deeply loyal and highly engaged. 

Wherever you choose to show up, success is not guaranteed by presence alone. It is about getting the fundamentals right: maximizing the power of talent partnerships, unlocking meaningful use of IP, and tailoring creative to work seamlessly across every channel. The brands that win are those that understand the nuance of the moment and design for it, not just around it. 

This is how you outperform the competition on the playing field.
This is where you go for gold. 

Advertising For Fans & The Sport Dividend

Advertising to fans is fundamentally different from creating work designed for broad appeal. Fans are more emotionally invested, more attuned to niche references, talent, and cultural nuance. When brands participate authentically in the moments that matter to them, the work resonates more deeply than work that simply shows up without true connection. Advertising “for fans” can look a little something like this:  

The key driver of this commercial uplift is a shift in emotional response. Among fans, we see a marked increase in happiness and a clear reduction in neutrality. Fans feel positively about sport, and that positivity carries over to the brands that show up within it. This holds true across every sport we tested, from football to tennis. 

That said, even the most loyal fans are discerning. Passion raises the bar. Simply featuring sport is not enough. There is a playbook to follow to ensure you strike the right chord with this audience and turn attention into advantage. 

Rule Number One: Make the Partnership Mean Something

The first step in advertising for sports fans is getting the partnership right. There is a reason sportswear brands like Nike and Adidas appear so naturally in major sporting moments, while a fast food brand may have to work harder to justify its presence. The connection makes intuitive sense. But this is not just about logic. It is a proven driver of both long- and short-term commercial return. 

When brands take deliberate steps to create genuine meaning in their partnership, the impact is measurable. Star Rating increases by +0.4 among fans, and Spike Rating rises by +0.15. In NFL terms, that is a meaningful gain in yardage. 

So what does creating meaning actually look like? 

A strong brand-sport connection can take many forms. It might come through storytelling, a shared purpose behind the scenes, or by embedding the brand into the sporting experience in a way that adds value. For example: 

• Authentic connection: M&S featured Ian Wright in its Eat Well Play Well campaign to promote its healthy Eat Well range, linking performance nutrition with a respected former professional athlete. 

• Joint purpose: Barclays’ Women’s Super League campaign, It all Starts with a Chance, extended beyond promotion. The brand also committed to improving equal access to football for girls in schools, reinforcing credibility. 

• Value Creation: IBM enhanced the Wimbledon experience through Introducing Match Insights, providing fans with data, match statistics, and performance analysis. The brand added a layer of insight that deepened fans’ understanding of the game. 

For fans, meaning is the multiplier. When the partnership feels earned rather than imposed, the commercial return follows. 

There is, however, a catch. 

Talent works hardest when it feels natural. When athletes are given agency, when their personality comes through, when we see vitality, distinctive accents, and spontaneous expression, fans respond positively. The effect compounds because it feels real. 

When the same athlete is placed in a stiff testimonial, awkwardly reading lines to camera, the reaction can quickly turn negative. Fans are highly attuned to authenticity. They know when something feels forced. 

The takeaway is simple: feature the talent, but protect the truth. Fans want to see their favorite players in environments that feel credible and earned, not transactional. 

Rule Number Three: IP Drives Impact

Talent is not the only investment that pays back with fans. The use of official IP and explicit sporting references also drives a stronger response. Ads that feature recognized IP see a +0.8 uplift in Star Rating among fans compared with those that do not. That is a significant gain. 

IP can take many forms. It might be the use of the NFL logo in a Super Bowl spot, the Olympic rings in a campaign, explicitly naming the World Cup or Premier League, incorporating official match footage, or creating an anthem tied directly to the event. These signals matter. 

They make the brand’s connection to the moment undeniable. More importantly, they allow the brand to tap into the emotional equity that already surrounds the event. Anticipation, pride, rivalry, nostalgia. These feelings are already building among fans. Leveraging IP connects your brand to those existing memory structures and amplifies intensity and positive emotion. 

Here is an example from the 2010 World Cup that still stands out, and offers inspiration for the upcoming games: 

Rule Number Four: Competitive Context Beats the Competition

Sport campaigns take many forms. Some reference the event but unfold in everyday settings such as pubs or high streets. Others show training montages in the build-up to a tournament. And some place athletes directly in competitive action. It is this competitive context that scores highest with fans. 

Just as great advertising during a TV show should feel like a seamless extension of the entertainment, sport campaigns should feel like a natural part of the game-day experience. When ads feature competitive action, Star Rating increases by +0.5 among fans. 

The impact goes deeper than immediate enjoyment. Competitive contexts tap into forms of happiness linked to longer-term business effects, including feelings of being uplifted and pleased for others. These emotional triggers, identified in Orlando Wood’s research, are associated with stronger enduring brand impact. 

Fans want to see the action. They want to feel part of it. And they want to see brands participating in that competitive energy. This does not have to mean official match footage or action confined to a pitch, court, or track. Competitive action simply requires athletes going head-to-head. That dynamic creates stakes, emotional highs and lows, and sustained engagement. 

Take Pepsi’s 2022 World Cup campaign as an example. The setting may be unexpected, but the competitive tension is unmistakable. 

Create with Confidence® 

As you gear up for the World Cup, LA28, the Grand Prix, Wimbledon or next year’s Super Bowl, approach your campaign planning with fans front of mind. Getting it right early can make the difference between simply showing up and truly winning the moment. 

Our expert guidance team can help you optimize creative from script to final film. With System1’s Test Your Ad platform, you can gain insight from both fans and non-fans to understand how your work performs across audiences. You can also benchmark early launches for major events using our Test Your Ad Competitive Edge database to see how your campaign stacks up in market. 

In part two of this series, we will explore how to extend the reach of your sporting campaign beyond fans and engage even the most disengaged viewers. In the meantime, if you are ready to aim for advertising gold at the next big sporting moment, get in touch with our team and start the journey.