Summer of Sport: How advertisers can take home gold with fans

Sport, in one form or another, will be almost inescapable this summer. While one-off tournaments such as the UEFA European Championships and the Paris Olympics are the headline-grabbing events, there truly is something for everyone.

From Wimbledon to the T20 Cricket World Cup and the Copa America Finals, even the most avid fan will struggle keeping up with every kick, leap, tee-off, or innings this summer.

For brands, these events are the perfect opportunity to reach a wide audience of highly engaged consumers at scale. We have come a long way since sport’s first sponsorship deal which saw marathon runners handed Oxo drinks during the 1908 Olympic Games in London to fuel their efforts.

Today, with brands reaching avid sports fan across a range of channels as they support their favourite teams and athletes, advertising has become a key part of any tournament experience.

However, in such high stress and potentially frenzied atmospheres, brands can easily find themselves near content that would hinder their chances of reaching their audience.

The risk of the game

During the 2020 UEFA European Championships, superstar striker Cristiano Ronaldo reached over the desk he was sitting at to grab the bottles of Coca Cola in front of him. Instead of taking a sip, he pushed them out of the frame of the cameras, grabbed a bottle of water, held it up and said “water!” to the global press.

For Coca Cola, one of the tournament’s main sponsors, this snub was the opposite of what it would have wanted from their ad spend. Indeed, its share price fell by 1.6% in the aftermath.

While this level of negative ad placement won’t happen to many brands, the truth is that these sporting events present just as many pitfalls as they do opportunities. Negative news stories around these competitions are nothing new, and international news often seeps into these environments.

The Russian Olympic team, for example, has been banned following both a doping scandal and the country's invasion of Ukraine, while the lead up to the 2022 World Cup saw host nation Qatar’s human rights violations brought up regularly in the press.

Once tournaments start, the risk of brand safety issues only hightens. Just as the outcome of a 100 metre sprint can change in a split second, the narrative around these events can shift rapidly, with media outlets and social media streams quickly picking up negative stories. For example, in the fallout of the 2021 UEFA Euros final loss, a number of England players were racially abused on social media, with the story being picked up by all major news outlets.

These fast moving events demand fast moving tools – but far too often advertisers are left reliant on outdated safety solutions.

Shuffling the defence

Keyword block lists have, for many years, been the first line of defence for advertisers against potential brand safety issues. However, in today’s fast moving online landscape, these tools no longer cut it. Their blunt approach not only risks harmful ad placements, but can reduce the reach of ad spend.

For example, if a controversy erupted around a player within a football team, marketers will need to react quickly to stay away from coverage of this player. But blocking their name could also cut off advertisers from perfectly safe content – such as match reports.

For this modern problem a modern solution is needed – this is where AI can prove pivotal. AI-powered solutions, such as Mantis Brand Safety, better ascertain the true context and sentiment of any webpage, rapidly and at scale.

These solutions also give advertisers greater control over their specific brand safety needs. Mantis Brand Safety is aligned with Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) guidelines to maintain rigorous standards and allow marketers to customise the solution to their brand safety needs.

Playing to the crowd

In most sports, one of the keys to success is precision. Whether it's keeping your tennis serve inside the court by millimetres, leaving the blocks on the split-second the starter pistol goes, or nestling a football in the top corner, success can rest on finding moments of quality within the finest of margins.

For a successful summer of sports, advertisers must take this approach and harness tools that allow them to more effectively place their ads in high quality and contextually relevant locations. Mantis Curate provides marketers with access to trusted and premium publishers that have been uniquely created to ensure maximum contextual relevance.

These tools allow marketers to weave themselves into the narrative of the tournament itself, following specific teams or athletes as their journeys unfold – while safe in the knowledge that negative content will be avoided. Dynamic ad delivery also serves fans up-to-date messaging that reacts to what is happening on the field.

If the England team goes deep into the tournament and the weather brightens up, a supermarket may want to deliver ads around its barbeque range. Dynamic ads take this a step further and show consumers where their nearest bricks and mortar store is.

As the summer of sport starts to truly heat up, having the right brand safety solution will be key for any brand looking to find their audience while avoiding red cards. Embracing the power of AI-enabled solutions gives advertisers the control and precision needed to navigate these fast-paced tent-pole events.

If you’d like to find out more about how our suite of solutions can power your summer of sport advertising, get in touch with our team.