“Sub groups” key to online sponsorship success?

Our main Website provides a wide array of content for all Colts fans. Our social networking platform, on the other hand, will offer Colts fans opportunities to express themselves as individuals, and link up with others who share common “sub” interests. I think this “sub” interest territory may turn out to be the richest ground to mine for sponsorship revenue.

Imagine you are Cheverolet. You’re a Colts sponsor. You know that 12% (on average) of Americans are in the market for a new car in the next 6 months, but only a small percentage of those are considering Chevy. How do you use your Colts sponsorship to attract buyers?

You’ve chosen to become a Colts sponsor in order to position your brand with Colts fans. On the team Website, you figure approximately 85% of the visitors are AVID fans of the team, so that’s going to be really rich territory for you. So you think to yourself, “how do I connect with those AVID fans so that the 12% who are in the market will consider buying Chevy, and so that Chevy is well positioned in 6 months to engage with the next 12% that moves into purchasing mode?”

There are lots of ways to activate your sponsorship online:

- You could use banner ads to promote your latest deals.
- You could sponsor a tailgate section (at the stadium and/ or) on the Website that features your products in photos and videos and captures customer testimonials.
- You could run a register to win contest to raise awareness and generate sales leads.

All these things will work. But there’s more that can be done in social nets

The Web 2.0 movement is all about interaction and giving site visitors the tools they need to customize their experiences. Inside our social net, for example, each fan will have the option to create his or her own profile page to show the world whatever he or she wants to show. Beyond the profile, however, fans can also form (or join) groups.

Groups can be based on any “theme”. The most obvious “theme” is geography. Colts fans who live outside Indy will join groups of other Colts fans in their area so that they can meet up and enjoy games together.

In addition to geography, however, groups will form around all kinds of sub-interests. There will be groups themed for hobbies (e.g. Colts fans who love to golf); Groups themed for special interests (Colts fans for the environment); and even groups for special needs (football widows).

So what if Chevy created a group for pickup enthusiasts?

Content could begin with tailgating, and pimping your truck with Colts stuff, but it could go well beyond Colts. Drivers could post their photos to the group and post their comments to the group. Surveys could be fielded among the group (for informal research). Inside the group forum visitors could banter back and forth inside with Ford drivers and Dodge drivers. Brand managers could engage in this conversation (if they didn’t mind getting their hands dirty). They could even blog about their love of trucks, or their interest in the Colts. Either way, they make themselves real to Colts fans who love trucks, and that’s what’s going to lead to sales.

Drivers would end up getting to know other Colts fans who share their love of pickups. They might even decide to meet offline, either for games or truck rallies, hunting trips or whatever. The bottom line is that through creative use of its Colts sponsorship, Chevy created a way to add value to this sub-group of fans, and found a way to get closer and perhaps build relationships with drivers that it wouldn’t have met otherwise. Now all they need to do is make them an offer for a Chevy truck.

This is just one example, but this strategy could apply to any product category, even politics. In fact, the MySpace “content channel” strategy is a good example of what I’m talking about. Check out the political channel here.

Politcal advertising happens to be growing fast online, and it’s a category that the Colts typically miss. So I’m going to approach the Indiana political parties with this idea. What could be better than a candidate blogging about his or her love for the Colts…and using that as a jumping off point to address the issues of the day?

Groups can be tailored to any brand, even packaged goods.

Here’s a glimpse at a potential Coke group:

Groups can also be based on “causes”.

Here’s a portion of a screenshot for an “All Pro Dads” group inside MyColts:

One big challenge for the Colts will be to provide base content for these sub-groups to get started. We would have to rely on user generated content to carry the day. But if we pick the low hanging fruit, those categories with lots of online money looking for audiences (like auto, travel, etc), we should be able to get the ball rolling.