More and more tire companies have opted to supplement (even replace) their motorsports sponsorship activities with forays into hockey, football, basketball – and a variety of other sports – proving that the sports marketing trend is here to stay.

Since we last examined the phenomenon, tire company involvement in non-racing sports marketing has increased across the board, pointing to a positive ROI and a boost in brand awareness that tiremakers feel is well worth the time, effort and expense.

But how are these sports marketing decisions made? What goes into choosing a team for sponsorship? And perhaps most important from a dealer perspective, how can a tire manufacturer’s sports marketing involvement benefit tire dealers?

Kicking Off
While each tiremaker has its own selection process, the general idea is the same: examine which markets to target for boosting brand awareness, look at teams in those markets, and proceed from there as time, budget and dealer involvement allow.

“Our goal with sports sponsorships is exposure for the Toyo brand,” says Amy Coleman, Toyo Tire USA senior director of marketing, “so when considering opportunities we ask ourselves many questions: Where is the organization, team or sport headed? Is it growing? How big is the fanbase? What demographics do they reach? Is it local, regional, national or even global? Is there a dealer or other Toyo subsidiary that would also benefit from a direct relationship? Can we leverage this relationship with our dealers? Are there competitors in the space already?”

She adds, “In addition to the pure business side of it, we also are looking for organizations and individuals that convey a ‘driven attitude,’ reflecting the Toyo brand’s philosophy, ‘Driven to Perform.’”

For Hankook Tire America Corp., which has in-stadium behind-home-plate advertising partnerships with 26 of the 30 Major League Baseball teams and a dasher board program with a number of NHLteams across the U.S. and Canada, it’s large­ly a question of geography when determining sports marketing deals.

“Selecting which teams to partner with involves looking at who and where we are trying to target,” says Calvin Pak, general manager of marketing strategy. “Of the 26 MLB teams that we advertise in-stadium with, there is no single geographic region that we are focusing on. We have selected the 26 teams in a manner that gives us the greatest overall nationwide coverage and penetration. Add to that the bonus coverage we receive on Fox Sports, ESPN and other broadcasts and replays, and our baseball marketing activities have been successful.”

According to Fred Koplin, Yokohama Tire Corp. director of marketing communications, the tiremaker formalized a sports marketing selection process in 2006, when it started the trend. “It begins with wanting our premium brand to be associated with premium sports brands in a market,” he says. “With our budget, it’s very difficult to compete on the national scale. Therefore, we established an approach that focuses our business by region or market. We look at our business, focus on a market we think has a certain criteria for success, then we  ask if there are great sports brands with which we can align ourselves. Then we look at the cost and expected rate of return, and we pull the trigger. Every year, we evaluate the process.”

Koplin adds that Yokohama focuses on sports marketing because it appeals to a broader segment than motorsports. “We’re proud of our long history in motorsports involvement, but at the same time, we recognize that it’s important to go beyond motorsports.” The tiremaker currently has partnerships with MLB’s New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels and Philadelphia Phillies, plus the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots and Chicago Bears.

Kumho Tire USA’s Rick Brennan, vice president of marketing, says a large part of finding success with sports marketing is the same as anything else: “networking, finding the right people, and matching up what you want with what they want.”

“At the start, we asked ‘Who can we pick that’s going to do well so that when we jump into this we can ride on the coattails of their marketing and image power?’” he explains. “It made sense for us to pick markets where the fans have a high level of emotion. It wasn’t enough just to put our sign out there – because we can do that anywhere. We’re trying to really connect emotionally a lot faster.”

Brennan adds the tiremaker has used sports marketing to keep up with the evolution of the Kumho brand – from being a low price, low cost provider to a second-tier positioning. “We have a lot of catching up to do,” he says. “There’s a gap between our awareness and image with the consumer. We’re trying to catch that up, but do it in a way in which we can bring our retailers along.”

Kumho currently has sponsorship deals with NFL’s New York Jets and Buffalo Bills, NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat, University of Southern California Athletics and USSF Men’s and Women’s National Soccer teams.

Standing Out
With so many tiremakers competing in the sports marketing arena, finding ways to stand out is a hard part of the strategy.

Coleman says that in addition to traditional ad campaigns and promotions, Toyo weaves sports partners into all aspects of its business. “From appearances by UFC fighters in our booth at SEMA and at dealerships to taking UFC lightweight Anthony Pettis to the Baja 500, we are having fun with our partners,” she says. “At Baja, for example, Pettis was able to experience desert racing for the first time. In addition to giving him a memorable experience, we were able to capture great video content and photos that we shared with our fans through our website, YouTube, Facebook and other channels.”

For Kumho, it’s the emotional connection Brennan says sets the tiremaker apart from its peers. “We’re really the only ones doing it because it takes more time, more effort, and more arms and legs,” he says. “To really connect and do it effectively and be complete, that takes a lot more effort. But the return can be big – not just with the consumer, but with the management of the team, as well.

“When we’re out there, we mean as much to the team as they do to us,” Brennan continues. “Because we’re out there giving away items with their logo on it, we’re connecting the team with the fans who come in so it makes an even better experience for them, which elevates the circus of putting on a show, a game.”

Koplin says Yokohama thinks about sports marketing in a comprehensive way, rather than just as another form of advertising. “I suspect the way we approach the analysis of the opportunity and evaluate what each component of the sponsorship contributes to the overall good is different from some of our competitors,” he says. “At Yokohama, we’ve always been kind of an underdog. We have to be a little bit smarter, we have to be more clever and we have to be closer to the customer.”

The Dealer Connection
Koplin adds that Yokohama’s sports marketing partnerships heavily involve tire dealers, which also sets the tiremaker apart from the competition. He says it’s a big benefit to dealers who are willing to take advantage of the opportunity and promotion elements, who “leverage it by incorporating it into their local marketing plans and advertising schemes, so it freshens up their message when they’re talking to the consumer.”

“We want to connect with our dealer team, but we also want to connect with the fans in the market – the dealers’ customers,” Koplin says. “The beauty of our sports marketing program is we can touch each of those components through advertising, promotions, dealer hospitality and more.”

He notes that dealers who are proactive and embrace the opportunity – by using the sponsorship as part of their local marketing message – have experienced an increase in store traffic and see more customers who are interested in finding out more about the brand and the promotion. “We have to get out there and really understand what is going to help that particular dealer,” Koplin says. “We don’t have the cubic dollars to set the table and say, ‘here it is; if you want it, enjoy it.’ We really have to align every­thing, from our sales and marketing teams to our dealer team and sports partner.”

Hankook’s Pak says dealer involvement in the tiremaker’s “Great Catch” and “Great Hit” baseball-themed consumer rebate and car giveaway promotions has been “exceptional.” He adds Hankook leverages its in-stadium efforts to support in-store promotional efforts, providing “a nice synergy between programs that complement each other.”

“We have seen a high level of store participation in the promotions, which tells us that dealers and consumers have a positive opinion of the promotions,” he explains. “Since ‘tire’ is a low involvement category in terms of consumer brands, those tire brands that associate with popular sports marketing initiatives provide extra support for tire dealers when dealing with consumers in sales situations.”

Kumho’s Brennan says the final – and most challenging – piece in forming a sports marketing campaign is getting a tire retailer involved. “It’s hard to get them enthusiastic,” he explains. “They’ve all got their own plan and their own way of doing things, so in order to convince them to get on board, we have to walk in with a complete package.

“A dealer doesn’t have extra people that he can devote to figuring out how to use sports marketing to the best of his ability, so we have to have a solid idea for a promotional strategy and tactic package – then demonstrate how it works and show a dealer what he needs to do,” Brennan adds. “We do a lot of the arms and legs for the dealer to get him involved, and then we need to go in there and make sure he gets connected. It only works if he jumps on board, as well.”

Measuring ROI
As with most marketing efforts, sports marketing doesn’t have a straight dollar-in, dollar-out ROI. Sales, brand awareness and social media, among other aspects, all make up part of the picture. So how exactly do tiremakers measure ROI?

“In addition to the impressions and value we receive during events, we also leverage the sponsorships in our social networking activities – promotions, Twitter chats, shared content, etc.,” said Toyo’s Coleman. “On those platforms we can measure reach, engagement and more. We also have used tickets to events to help incentivize our dealers to reach specific goals or to help drive sales during sales events.”

Hankook’s Pak explains the tiremaker looks at measurable items – ad values, number of impressions, cost per thousand, etc. – but also focuses on the “immeasurable values our sports marketing investment brings to us, such as emotional values.”

“For instance, we connect a lot of our sports marketing initiatives with customer relationship management programs such as hospitality events to give special and rare opportunities for our dealers to experience,” he says. “Also, sports marketing provides a big boost in increasing our brand awareness efforts for consumers, as our sports marketing investment asset values are accumulated over the years.”

Yokohama looks at increases in brand awareness, sales, and either the change in attitude of tire dealers toward the brand, or the degree to which dealers supported or participated in a promotion.

“We’ve seen a steady pattern of favorable results, but the magnitude of those results varies by market,” Koplin says. “I think that is due to a combination of local market factors: the team, the local dealer composition, and how well we’re all lined up and in sync. Just like a sports team, every player has a role in performing to the team’s peak. That’s the way we look at it at Yokohama – we’ve got to have the teamwork between our sales, marketing, advertising, and then very importantly, the dealer.”

“Of course you always look at whether it had any impact on sales, but brand building and many of the things we’re doing may not have an impact on sales,” Kumho’s Brennan says. “We look at overall brand index awareness numbers each year. We look at the area of the country and demographics to determine if what we did actually had an impact.”

He notes another way to measure ROI is by keeping in tune with the marketplace: “Do you hear a buzz? Are people talking about you?”

Brennan stresses that success with sports marketing requires patience. “It takes a long time, sometimes years. We’re staring to hear, ‘This guy came in and bought Kumho tires because of what you guys did on Facebook,’ or ‘I didn’t know you before, but now I do, so I bought a set of your tires,’” he adds. “We’re starting to get people to come back after they’ve connected with us for the first time through sports marketing. We don’t get thousands of these comments a day, but it shows that we are touching people in a way that’s positive.”

With so many tiremakers doing the brand awareness and demographics research – and spending significant dollars perfecting their sports marketing techniques – tire dealers should take advantage. Whether it’s professional, college or local level sports, chances are there’s an opportunity to partner with a tire manufacturer for a program in your area.