Brand partnerships help accelerate the growth of grassroots talents. These partnerships are mutually beneficial collaborations for the club and brand as well. Here, brands come in to provide both financial and in-kind support while gaining marketing advantages from the club.
Developing clubs through brand partnerships ensures players have access to improved facilities, better equipment, and enhanced training. SportPesa, through the Tujiamini initiative, supports the development of grassroots talents through strategic sponsorship. Learn what brand partnerships are, their types, and their benefits in the sections below.
Read Also: Sports sponsorship tips in Kenya: what works, with real Tujiamini success stories.
Brand partnerships are agreements between brands and clubs to collaborate. Under the agreement, brands provide financing, equipment, and services to support the club's growth. On the other hand, clubs help promote the business. This makes it a mutual benefit agreement because it gives the clubs a chance to grow while brands gain strategic marketing rights. For instance, grassroots teams like Mathare North United, Mega Star FC, and Cheptal FC are in partnership with Tujiamini to support their continued talent development.
This is a club sponsorship program in which the brand's logo appears on the players’ jerseys. This ensures that brands are seen by the audience during matches. It’s essential to develop firm team sponsorship opportunities across Kenya.
This is a way to support the sports club's development without giving them any cash. Being a cashless partnership, brands provide products or services such as equipment, gear and transport. This helps ensure that the clubs have all the necessary materials for their successful growth.
These brand partnerships with sports clubs are primarily marketing strategies for the brands. It is commonly offered to clubs with large online presences on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. Here, clubs promote brands through their social media platforms, websites or through online content to reach more fans. In return, the clubs receive the agreed support, whether in kind or in cash.
This is a condition-based partnership in which clubs receive the agreed support only by meeting the set goals. For instance, the clubs should promote the brand’s products to their audiences and receive a certain percentage of sales. This partnership, also known as a commission-based agreement, helps clubs secure the funds needed to support their day-to-day operations.
This happens for the main sponsor, whose name is linked to the club. Mostly, it is a long-term sponsorship partnership deal with football teams. Brands achieve the highest level of visibility under this agreement, translating into more customers and sales.
Read Also: Driving impact through brand sponsorship- Tujiamini’s role in empowering Kenyan sports.
The grassroots sports partnership is a win-win situation for brands and the clubs. Here, the clubs receive the requested support, while brands gain exposure and trust.
● Clubs get financial stability, which ensures they can meet their daily operational costs.
● Clubs can use the brand's marketing channels to gain more fans.
● Since most brands are well known, it helps boost the club's image to a professional one by proving their success.
These partnerships give grassroots clubs a chance to build goodwill in their local area.
● Brands gain marketing rights, which help them build their reputation, which leads to an emotional connection with the fans.
Brands also gain access to specific target customers through fan-engaging matches.
● Since it all builds around marketing, brands have increased sales, which translates to more income and overall well-being of the brand.
● Brands gain exposure since they have their logos on the club's jersey, stadium and digital platforms,s which ensures great visibility.
Apply for the Tujiamini sponsorship today to get these benefits all at once.
Brand partnership is a five-step process with sports club funding as its main aim. To secure these deals, clubs should research which brands align with their theme, develop a winning pitch, and clearly define the ROI for the brand. The key steps are:
This is the first step in which one tries to determine which brand to request support from. Here, it’s important to check for brands which align with your club’s values. For instance,e if you are a grassroots team, considering Tujiamini as your top option is a great pickup line since our main goal is helping talents grow.
Before brands engage in these deals, the first question will be about what you can offer. Knowing the worth of your club is important because it helps prove you are worth investing in. The worth may include social media following and event attendees.
This is the step where one briefly writes about the club. Here, to win the brand's attention, the writer should clearly show what the club has done and its goals. Also, one explains what they are requesting and how it will help the club achieve its goals.
At this final stage, the pitch is sent to the brand. To prove the club's potential as indicated in the pitch, the coach or manager attaches a video of the club in action. They can also provide links to their social media profiles to demonstrate their large following. Finally, the manager briefly explains how they plan to meet the brand's ROI targets.
Brand partnership and sponsorship are two closely related terms with different goals and longevity. Brand partnership refers to a long-term collaboration in which the parties support each other for mutual benefit. On the other hand, brand sponsorship is a short-term agreement in which brands provide financial and in-kind support to clubs to enhance brand awareness and visibility.
Read Also: Brand sponsorship for sports clubs: the guide to winning partnerships.
Corporate partnerships for clubs are crucial to talent development; however, they are a process that might be affected by several factors. Knowing these drawbacks and how to handle each helps clubs secure these deals smoothly. Key drawbacks include:
Since you are getting into an agreement involving money, financial disagreements may arise. For instance, once you are asked to account for the cash given, and you are unable to. This might escalate the issue, leading to the termination of the agreement. To navigate this smoothly, always involve financial experts when tough financial questions arise.
Despite assurances that the brand will fund the club's operations, unforeseen circumstances, such as bankruptcy, may arise. If the brand can’t continue facilitating the club's operations, the club is left with unpaid bills. Once the scenario escalates, it may result in the total shutdown of all club operations, negatively affecting talent development.
Commonly happens when the club stops performing well, leading brands to cancel sponsorship agreements because they are no longer benefiting. To curb this, clubs ought to ensure persistence in their performance to keep fans engaged. This not only safeguards the brand's interests but also protects the club's future.
Once the club meets the operational agreements set by the brands, it is considered reliable, which might prompt the brand to cancel the deal. The ROI might include clicks, searches, posts and reactions. The only way out is to achieve the agreed performance metrics, and if not, a proper explanation and a plan to cover up are necessary to protect your relationship with the brand.
Contact Tujiamini today to learn what is needed to land these deals.
The 3 C’s of partnership are communication, collaboration and commitment.
Creating a brand partnership is a process which starts with finding a match, offering value through pitching and finally signing an agreement.
Brand partnership refers to a mutual benefit relationship between two or more partners working together.
The key components of a successful brand partnership are mutual value, complementary audience, shared goals & values and clear communication.
Developing clubs through brand partnerships is one way to protect the future of upcoming talent. These partnerships ensure grassroots talent has both the financial and in-kind support needed to reach their goals. SportPesa's Tujiamini initiative is at the forefront of turning dreams into reality through youth club sponsorship programs such as the Cheza Dimba award, among others.