In theory mobile operators could be supposed to be the perfect sponsors for sporting events and clubs. The market is highly competitive and sports provides good contact with the audience. Though in fact the only Russian telecommunications company widely supporting athletes is the MegaFon. Elena Alexandrova, Megafon's sports and social programs executive, told SBC why the company has chosen sports to be its main marketing platform.
– What teams and organizations does the MegaFon support?
– We don't work with professional clubs. But our company is an official partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2014, we are also the biggest sponsor in Russian football as we support the Russian Football Union and the Russian Football Premier-League. We also work with the Continental Hockey League and the Russian Hockey Federation. In 2011 we started our partnership with the Russian Biathlon Union. Together with some other big corporations MegaFon is taking part in the construction of the Forula-1 track in Sochi. For us supporting sports is absolutely natural, as it is an essential part of our philosophy, and we spend on that around $40 mln per year.
– How does the company choose to sponsor a particular kind of sport?
– Usually these are team sports like football or hockey. We decided to start working with biathlon as its popularity grows steadily. With further improvement of broadcasting technology its audience will keep growing. Basically we are interested in the most popular sports and competitions.
– Is it done to improve the company's image?
– It is also connected to social responsibility. And it also has its technical side. For example we are working on several long-term projects in Sochi. Marketing and image components prevail when football and hockey are concerned. But it is a much more complicated story with the Olympics and especially Paralympics. You can't count on getting immediate financial profit from any sports sponsorship programs.
– Which side usually initiates your company's sponsorship programs?
– It's always different. We have well-established partnership with football. We started to sponsor icehockey after our CEO was addressed to help the Russian national team that had some financial difficulties. As for biathlon that was the Megafon that started the negotiation. We don't sit and wait for the offers.
First of all we are interested in the marketing and PR-opportunities. But at the same time we always try to find a way for our sponsorship programs to be an extension for our social projects. For example we usually support youth competitions.
– What are the most important points of a sponsorship agreement with a sports organization?
– For football or hockey these are the parts concerning broadcasting. Our task is to place our advertisement for it to be present on the screens during the entire game. Then we check the possibilities to invite the athletes and coaching staff to take part in our campaigns and try to use the arenas for our events.
– Has the MegaFon addressed any consulting agencies to join its sports sponsorship programs?
– When working on the activation program for our Olympic project we invited the specialists from the Octagon agency. But all our sponsorship programs for hockey and football were created by our staff.
– Is a mobile operator a perfect sponsor for sporting events?
– That's true for our company. But our competitors are far not that active in this field. It mostly it depends on the philosophy of a particular company. And we shouldn't forget about sportswear manufacturers. These are the companies that can't do without sports. They have the strongest connections with the teams they support. A mobile operator can be a sponsor for any kind of events. Simply because all the people use cellphones, no matter what they do and what they like.
– Are you planning to cooperate with the FIFA World Cup-2018?
– We are thinking about such an opportunity. But it's too early to speak about partnership. We need to know what terms and conditions will be offered.
– Which of your social projects in sports is the most important one?
– Our key project is the football tournament for orphanages and boarding-schools " The Future Depends on You". It was started in 2005 and now covers most of the Russian regions with about 2 000 teams. The finals will be played in Sochi in May, and the two winning teams of different age will go to London to visit "Arsenal" and "Emirates Stadium".
The teams for the qualifiers are registered by our regional offices and the procedure is very simple. In 2011 the Russian Football Union joined us for this project. That must make it much easier for us as now we will be assisted by the representatives of the RFU in different parts of Russia. With the rapid development of the tournament it became too expensive (only the finals in Sochi will cost us around 35 mln rubles) and first of all too complicated for us. First of all we are a mobile operator and not a sports federation.
We would be also very glad to see more partners joining the project. These could be sportswear and equipment manufacturers as for them our championship could be a great marketing platform.
– Does MegaFon always support its partners in sports with money? Or is it sometimes possible to provide service instead?
– Normally we do both. Besides investing money we also provide SIM-cards, gadgets and internet. Sometimes we act as a mobile partner which means that we provide not money but service – cellphones, special rates etc.
