What
we do

Sports sponsorship is the most prominent kind of sponsorship on the market. Companies in Germany invest EUR 3.5 billion every year in this area alone – and this figure is on the rise. Without corporate funding, however, cultural sectors such as music or art would also be severely limited.

In addition to financial payments, our members offer support in the form of expertise, staff and products in the various fields. Sponsorship can also often establish a direct connection between fans and clubs, teams or athletes, which significantly enhances the fan experience.

At S20, we always keep an eye on developments in the sponsorship industry – and identify trends and innovations early on.

The most significant factor which is driving change in the sports and sponsorship market is digitalisation. Social media, for example, has really taken off over the past few years. From Instagram to Twitch, it now offers some of the most relevant communication tools.

At the same time, the e-sports market has seen enormous growth – it now reaches users all over the world via digital platforms. Even though they are only active in virtual spaces, the heroes of various e-sports disciplines have established themselves as ambassadors with huge reach. As a consequence, our members are involved here as well and are intensifying their sponsorship activities in digitally driven sports competitions.

What is more, other technological innovations are set to shape the future of sports sponsorship. There are constant advances in technologies such as facial recognition, augmented reality, interactive displays, holograms and voice assistants, and they are increasingly being used for brand activation.

In the first edition of the S20 Trendradar, published in German in 2020, the following key findings were seen as significant for the coming years:

1. TECHNOLOGY IS DRIVING TRENDS
2. PURPOSE AND SUSTAINABILITY ARE MUST-HAVES
3. GOOD TIMING IS EVERYTHING
4. TIKTOK IS THE NEW SNAPCHAT

A few years ago, Snapchat was the rising star of the social media platforms, but TikTok has now overtaken its competitor in terms of active users worldwide. When it comes to sports sponsorship, the experts also see much more potential in TikTok.

All of this will have an increasing influence on sports business and communication in the years to come. S20 regularly discusses new technologies with external experts so that it is always aware of the latest developments, and the same applies to the issues of environmental protection and sustainability.

It goes without saying that all of these developments should be viewed in light of globalisation – digital technology means the sky is the limit for sport and sponsorship. Many S20 members operate internationally, so their activation activities and communications target various markets.

For many companies, corporate responsibility (CR) has been a crucial competitive factor for a long time. Where sponsorship is concerned, any measures and communication need to fit in with the company’s corporate values in order to be seen as authentic.

All S20 members have made CR a core part of their corporate strategy, so responsible sports sponsorship plays an important role here. We want to reflect the importance of this issue and respond to consumers’ changing expectations – without losing track of our communication goals. To achieve this, our members’ sponsorship activities will be shaped by responsible sports sponsorship going forward. The aim is to make these forms of activation the norm, while also developing the foundations to gauge the effectiveness of the measures.

How can you quantify the impact of sponsorship measures on a company and the image of a brand? That is the core question of this area of focus.
Measuring the impact remains a challenge, as there is still a lack of clear measurement instruments in this area. KPIs such as reach are evaluated and recorded differently by companies.

In order to improve the success monitoring of our members’ activities, we are cooperating with selected partners from the scientific community to provide an answer to this question.

We proactively assist our members in legal matters and offer guidance on relevant sponsorship issues. More specifically, this advice includes:

• The Guidelines on Hospitality and Criminal Law, which was compiled in collaboration with the German Olympic Sports Confederation and the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (2017, expanded edition in cooperation with the association of Sponsoring Providers VSA)
• The Anti-Doping and Anti-Sports Manipulation Clause
• Legal issues relating to digitalisation
• Compiling expert assessments

The responsible working group also handles other issues, such as tie-ins and manipulation.