UNITING THE WORLD THROUGH SPORT: Winning sports marketing strategies

Not a lot captures the world’s imagination the way sporting achievement does. Successful athletes become role models and household names everywhere in the world. Little wonder then that there are always lines of companies willing to stump up big bucks to hitch their brands to the available sports wagons. But the risks can be great. Sponsored athletes regularly get into trouble whilst sporting events may fizzle into forgetful duds or, even worse, memorable scandals. The bottom line is that there is a lot more to sports marketing than getting your product on athletes or flying a flag at a sporting occasion.

Out of all the non-sports brands, Visa is one of the world’s biggest sports marketers – from the Rugby World Cup to the Olympic Games, the list goes on. As the person with overall responsibility for the electronic payment organisation’s sports marketing in Asia Pacific, Chris Taylor, Visa International’s Regional Head of Sponsorship and Alliance Marketing, will share the techniques and insights he has developed over nine years in the game.

In an interactive presentation, Taylor will cover:

* Why invest in sports - what value does Visa get out of sports marketing and how do they go about maximising the value from their sports marketing programmes?;

* Identifying the right sports properties to meet your objectives; and

* How Visa extends the return on their investment beyond just brand awareness at the event.

Regardless of whether you’re a sports marketing expert or a complete novice, if you are involved in any facet of sports marketing or if you suspect that getting involved in sports will be beneficial for your brand, this Marketing Peer Briefing will provide both long and short term value.

Chris Taylor has been at Visa International for over five years, as Director of Marketing for Australia and New Zealand and more recently as Regional Head of Sponsorship & Alliance Marketing for Asia Pacific. In his roles at Visa, Taylor has been instrumental in achieving strong brand health growth and has leveraged effectively some of the world’s largest sponsorship events including the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the Rugby World Cup 2003 and the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. Taylor joined Visa after working at Visa’s agency, Pinpoint Marketing where he specialised in below-the-line and sports marketing platforms to maximise a wide range of sponsorship properties including the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, Rugby World Cup, the Australian Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks. Prior to joining Pinpoint, Taylor worked at Coca-Cola in sales and marketing and has held various marketing roles in the UK. Taylor has a Bachelor of International Business degree from Griffith University in Brisbane.

The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) was formed on 1 October 1973 as a statutory board of the Government of Singapore, established by an Act of Parliament under the SSC Act of 1973. It comes under the umbrella of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, and is headquartered at the National Stadium in Kallang. The SSC operates various sports facilities located all over Singapore, and its main function is to promote sports participation to all Singaporeans.