Why the onus is on retailers to set the creative agenda during next year's sport free summer
As we look forward to the start of the Ryder Cup tomorrow, we find ourselves coming to the end of an action packed year of sport which also included The Glasgow Commonwealth Games, The Fifa Football World Cup and three legs of The Tour de France in England (across Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire and London).
While the World Cup was the retail highlight (despite England’s disappointing performance), what was interesting about 2014 was the strong regional dimension which characterised the year’s sports calendar.
The Tour de France brought with it a torrent of retail activity across Yorkshire - from Halfords and Morrisons’ pop-up shops at Harewood House and Asda’s sponsorship of the ‘Tour Makers’ to the many hundreds of independent retailers that went out of their way to celebrate and make the most of the occasion. Retailers that identified the local opportunity, capitalising on increased footfall and enthusiasm, emerged as winners.
In July, The Commonwealth Games brought the spotlight to Scotland, particularly the host city of Glasgow. We saw the likes of sponsors John Lewis stocking Team Scotland merchandise north of the border and supplying white goods to the athlete’s village. Elsewhere Morrisons ran experiential activity and food tasting across parks in the city. Both were great, localised and impactful initiatives. Retailers large and small truly managed to capture the mood of the Games in a truly Scottish style.
Most recently we’ve seen attention turn towards the Ryder Cup which, while a global event and only of niche retail importance in the overall calendar, has local engagement around Gleneagles golf course. We saw only last week that the Gleneagles Hotel released its own brand film to communicate its 5-star credentials ahead of the competition. Outside of this though – apart from a strong European and US following on social media and an opportunity to have a selfie with the Ryder Cup in Glasgow, so far we haven’t witnessed any stand out activity that’s impressed or inspired.
To deviate a little, it’s worth noting that this is the first major event to be held in Scotland since the referendum last Thursday, and the spotlight remains firmly focused. Despite the majority voting to stay in the UK, we expect that the continuing debate and on-going negotiations will accelerate a broader shift we’ve seen towards a more regional marketing agenda - not only in Scotland, but across Wales, Northern Ireland and within England’s regions. Anyway, enough of the politics and back to the sport!
Granted, the events of 2014 may not have been on the scale of the Olympics a couple of years ago, but it was great to see regional and local marketing strategies working successfully, driving targeted sales opportunities and truly engaging local communities.
But with the long 2014 calendar of sport now at an end, our attention turns to 2015. Similar to last year, 2015 has very few major sporting events, with the Rugby World Cup the only large scale event of note outside of the regular annual fixtures like the FA Cup final or Wimbledon.
During these quieter periods, brands tend to concentrate more on their own corporate agendas, meaning the onus will be on retailers to set the creative agenda and put in place a series of strong trading events to deliver a clear and consistent shopper campaign across the summer months. With discounters like Aldi and Lidl scaling up their operations – and resultant market share – we expect driving shopper engagement through events will prove a key determinant of success for the big four grocery retailers in 2015, irrespective of how busy the sporting calendar is.
Alastair Lockhart is insight director at Savvy Marketing.