Soccer, tenis, ice-hockey, baseball, …..almost everyone became interested in sport as a part of its life. We are fans of respective teams, players, love to watch them, emulate their style….They look so good on posters, different videos, images.
But have you ever been thinking of, who’s behind their marketing? We have made an interview with Ladislav Kazan, a representative of ifthen Sports, an agency, representing many of the most successful sporting teams in Europe and the Americas, helping them to establish strategic partnerships and offer solutions to meet their marketing goals.
How did you get into this branch? I believe it’s a dream of every fan to combine their job and hobby together.
Since my childhood, I always wanted to play football. I loved it. Played it, watched it and even supported our local teams.
Later as I started with marketing (albeit not studying it), my company was focused on other areas. But then it came to my mind, when speaking with guys from ifthen – why can’t I simply work with my greatest hobby, when the nature of my business is so close to it. Marketing and sport come together, both are here to play with people’s attention. So I jumped into this branch as well and it worked.
Is it hard from the beginning?
Yes, of course, but guys in ifthen are professionals, so I was able to jump directly into the scene, reading even more about the possibilities in soccer (as it remains the most popular sport globally). But this was not a big problem for me, I adored it. We all know that if our jobs are our passion, the respective education comes quickly.
What did you have to understand or learn in this area?
The system. Before, as a fan, you don’t see all the systematic connections, albeit you compare teams, nations, etc. Now you have to take it more seriously.
There are criteria like what kind of reach you should focus on, if it should be local or international, so if for example respective European countries at the European championship are interesting also for the other nations, or they can reach only their national audience. Then comparison of respective nations, or the level of teams. Here for example the UK league is more often watched even by non-UK soccer fans as the German one and broadcasts pay more attention to it because of this fact.
Then you have to understand, which team is going to be successful. If the team has a necessary system, reliability and solidity of a club. Furthermore, if it is available, open and cost-friendly for a business. A consultant is here to help them, to provide them specific advice how to strengthen their brand. And with such knowledge money comes as well.
If the club understands your qualities and the possibilities of your help, you can move further and conclude a partnership agreement. Then you have to show your skills, to set specific tools, related to sponsorship and individualize your offer, improve the sponsorship package, following the needs of the club, you’re entering relationship with.
Your entire team, your sales guys, have to understand the entire branch and what they are negotiating for, from the objectives, tools to a large-scale overview of the respective sport.
What is the geographical range of your activities?
Naturally, soccer (I am mostly focused on this area) has a global reach, as it is the most popular sport in the world. And that is an advantage, that I can speak about famous European teams with nearly everyone on this planet.
But core of my activities are in the Central and Southern Europe, with Italian or German top leagues as the No. 1 for me. But I also negotiate with smaller ones, like in Switzerland or in Slovakia.
Can you mention any recent success, you have reached?
Our last success was a deal of Italian top soccer team AS Roma with a financial institution, I should not mention yet, becoming one of their top sponsors. These moments motivate you in your career and tell you to work further.
So do you wish to continue in this business?
Of course. As I have mentioned before, if your passion becomes your job, it’s the biggest motivation to remain in such area and work on yourself to become professional.
Sure, we see this all the time. So we wish you many successful sponsorship deals in the future and we hope that we can do another interview in a year with couple of new top agreements in the branch.
Thank you guys!
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