A new study from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council suggests that many sports marketers and sponsors ignore or inadequately invest in brand protection programs even though they believe trademark violations and property rights issues are undermining brand value and assets.
The poll of more than 225 senior level sports marketers was part of the CMO Council’s latest initiative, “Doing Away with Foul Play in Sports Marketing,” which aims to make sports franchise owners, event hosts, marketers and sponsors more aware of trademark trespassing, property rights violations and online scams, frauds and infringements.
The study was sponsored by MarkMonitor (www.markmonitor.com), a global leader in enterprise brand protection, which offers solutions and services that safeguard brands, reputation and revenue from online risks. Started more than a decade ago by an intellectual property attorney, MarkMonitor views the sports industry as an increasingly important customer segment.
The study showed most sports marketers believe brand infection negatively impacts the value of their sponsorships and undermines brand trust. Making matters worse, many companies do not have brand protection programs.
While counterfeiting and knock-off merchandise may have been the biggest threat to brands in years past, the study reveals that marketers today have other concerns. Forty one percent of respondents list ambush marketing by competitors as the top issue in brand protection, well ahead of the 29 percent still focused on counterfeiting. Twenty seven percent say improper behavior by elite athletes and players is a top issue, and 26 percent focus on online brand hijacking.
To protect against such threats, the study reports sports marketers and property owners are employing a variety of new defenses. Thirty four percent run “genuine and authentic” marketing and merchandising programs to combat IP infringement, and 24 percent try to minimize the impact of these issues to reduce potential negative exposure. Almost as many marketers (23 percent) use third parties to gather intelligence on violations, and 20 percent actively pursue and prosecute counterfeiters.
Alarmingly, according to CMO, 26 percent do not participate in any brand protection programs at all.
“The brand protection issues that sponsors and sports properties must protect against are changing,” noted Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the CMO Council, a global executive group representing some 5,500 marketers in nearly 100 countries. “Sports marketers are using the same strategies and tools to protect their brands and IP that they were using when knock-off merchandise was the only threat. But as the sports industry grows globally, and as fan bases go digital, not enough brands are adjusting to the new challenges.”
Kent Huffman, the CMO at technology company BearCom, agreed, telling Sports Litigation Alert that “effective brand protection in a constantly evolving digital marketplace is a growing new challenge. We as marketers owe it to our chief executives and stakeholders to proactively address this concern.”
And many are.
Fifty two percent of respondents report they track, monitor or measure the use of their brand in these new engagement channels, while 23 percent are developing a strategy to do so. Still, 25 percent do not have a brand protection plan for digital media.
“Digital media is a double edged sword for sports properties,” said Frederick Felman, chief marketing officer of MarkMonitor. “The level of engagement with consumers and fans is a huge opportunity for marketers to boost awareness and grow their brand. But they are also facing constantly evolving online threats and need to have a plan to protect themselves.”
He added that the problem is especially acute in the sports industry, where a brand can be cheapened and revenues depleted by opportunistic marketers bent on making a buck.
Sports franchises are especially susceptible.
“Professional sports teams benefit from a passionate community of fans, who, for example, buy apparel as a way to support their team,” Felman said. “Little do they know that they are undermining the team they so rabidly want to support.”
Detailed findings of the online consumer survey can be found by visiting http://www.cmocouncil.org/resources/form-foulplay.asp.
