Adapting to change key challenge in sports marketing

Frequent and rapid changes in new technologies and in the habits of the sport fans force sports marketing strategists to constantly adapt to tastes in the market, Jerome Martin, global head for marketing sport for Agence France-Presse, said.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency on Thursday, Martin said: "We are on a market which is evolving very quickly. I am not even sure that in 10 years, we will use the same social networks.

"It is what is interesting, and it is extremely fast."

Sports marketing is a vast and complex domain which includes sponsoring, building up of strategies, the organization of sports events, logistics and ticketing.

Martin, who has 25 years of experience in the field, said adapting to these rapid changes is the main challenge for people involved in sports marketing.

"Either you are running after the new emerging trends and you are on a defensive mode, either you try to innovate permanently. With this second mode, there are risks, sometimes it can fail, but at least, you make progress, you see and understand some things," he said.

Martin also addressed the SportAccord convention, the main world sports networking event, held in Bangkok from April 15 to April 20.

Anadolu Agency is a media sponsor of the event for the third time.

At the same time, the proliferation of digital platforms and technologies allow to target more precisely specific sections of sports fans.

"If you focus for instance on YouTube, you only touch a certain type of population. But if you want to touch a section of the population with high income, we know that it is better to focus on Instagram," he said.

Strategies also differ, according to the regions or the countries.

In China, for instances, specific approaches will be used to have a presence on Weibo, the Chinese version of Facebook. Traditional media has not been completely eclipsed by the proliferation of new technologies, as they would focus more on analysis and substantial stories.

"I see social networks more as a new tool than as a media which will replace traditional media," Martin said.

The sports marketing expert also said Asia is a rising region in terms of global sports, with the possibility of India being a candidate in the next future to host the Olympic Games.