The game is always on!

We have recognized for years that sport is part of popular culture and entertainment like fashion, movies and music. But actually some of the world’s biggest and most valuable brands are within Sports. According to The Forbes Fab 40, (lists the 10 most valuable sports brands in the world in four categories: businesses, events, athletes and teams) Nike, The Olympic Games, FIFA, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, Manchester United and Tour de France are amongst the most valuable Sports brands in 2012.

But what makes successful sports brands interesting is that, besides that they are creating $-value for them selves, successful sports brands uniquely deliver value to their stakeholders and especially to their sponsors, because they contain:

• AUTHENCITY
• VALUES & ENGAGEMENT
• EXPERIENCES
• PERSONAL ENGAGEMENT
• SOCIAL COHESION

There are a lot of similarities between succeeding in sports and managing a brand.

One of the first similarities that comes to mind is the matter of  ‘Performance’.  Successful athletes know that in order to perform to their maximum they need to train – and train hard. But besides training they need to manage their bodies, their equipment and not at least their minds.

Managing a brand takes the same efforts; the hard training involved in never being satisfied with how the brand is performing and always looking to improve it’s skills and deliverables. Managing the brand’s body and equipment translates to making sure that the brand’s experience providers, the organization and its distribution, are working optimally at all times. Managing the mind of the brand, means managing the collective thinking and ethics about the brand amongst stakeholders, keeping the spirit positive and engaged.

Like athletes unfit brands does not perform well. And solving the matter of bad performance often means having to change ‘ways of doing’ and implementing new routines and ways of thinking.

Photos: e-Boks.dk, www.artsjournal.com