Par for the cause: the rise of 'sportivism'

It was only a small gesture, coupled with a single word, but the ramifications of superstar footballer Cristiano Ronaldo swapping a bottle of Coke for ‘agua’ at a recent Euro Championships press conference were enormous.

In making a point about a healthy lifestyle, Ronaldo singlehandedly wiped $4 billion USD off the Uefa sponsor’s share price, demonstrating the increasing power and influence of modern athletes and sounding a death knell for outdated sports marketing tactics. Goodbye crass product placement, hello ‘sportivism’.

Goodbye crass product placement, hello ‘sportivism’.

Though it might seem like a modern phenomenon, sport and activism have a long history, points out Matt Readman, CSO at London's Dark Horses. It started in the 1920s with Eric Liddell, the Christian runner who refused to race on Sundays, and reached a high point in the 1960s, with boxer Muhammed Ali’s stance against the Vietnam war, and athlete John Carlos performing a black power salute on the podium at the 1968 Olympics. The difference, says Readman, was this was the pre-commercial era: athletes were simply using their fame to highlight causes close to their hearts, with no brand involvement.

Above: Cristiano Ronaldo replaces Coca-Cola with water at a Euro 2020 press conference.

Fast forward to 2018, when sports giant Nike controversially chose Colin Kaepernick, a former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and civil rights activist famed for taking a knee during the national anthem to protest police shootings of unarmed African Americans, to front its Dream Crazy campaign. It was a huge gamble (people burned their trainers in protest and threatened to boycott the brand) that ultimately paid off commercially and creatively, sending the sports giant’s stock soaring to an all-time high, winning multiple Grands Prix at Cannes, and ushering in a new era of ‘sportivism’, which has seen brands pair up with sportspeople to promote social change, rather than simply shift fast cars, luxury watches and nutritional supplements.

It was a huge gamble (people burned their trainers in protest and threatened to boycott the brand) that ultimately paid off.

Take BT’s recent Hope United campaign, which unveiled a brand new ‘team’ of footballers in a bid to tackle online hate ahead of the delayed Euro 2020 tournament. Drawn from across the men’s, women’s and disabled football associations, the 18-strong squad includes elite players like Marcus Rashford, Rio Ferdinand and Lucy Bronze, who’ve all personally experienced abuse. “We could have done a traditional telco campaign about staying connected, but [online hate] is a much bigger issue impacting football right now. So many players wanted to get involved as it’s a cause close to their hearts and they all want to do more to stamp it out,” says William John, Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi London.

Above: Nike's 2018 campaign that put politics, civil rights and sport side-by-side. 

Contrast this purpose-driven advertising to the glossy TVCs and pack shots of the 80s, 90s and Noughties – the era of the ‘super athlete’. “That wasn’t about ruffling feathers and changing the world: it was about performance, commitment, dedication, being heroes on the pitch or the court,” says Readman. Simply put, Nike didn’t want Michael Jordan to be anything more than a basketball player (albeit the greatest one of all time).

Rather than being perceived as superhumans, athletes are showing all-too-human vulnerabilities.

So, what’s driven this shift? Readman says it’s a confluence of two factors. “You’ve got brands who are more focused on purpose, and want take a moral leadership role, and athletes starting to realise they’ve got more power and can hold their own views.” Social media has created a culture of openness and access, with many sportspeople using their vast reach on platforms such as TikTok or Instagram, to offer a no-filter, ‘behind the scenes’ view of their lives and careers. Rather than being perceived as superhumans, athletes are showing all-too-human vulnerabilities: see tennis star Naomi Osaka’s very public struggles with depression and anxiety. And this new breed of sports personality demands a fresh approach from brands seeking to harness their star power.  

“Sports personalities in 2021 are multi-faceted, multidimensional characters, whose ambitions need to be represented in partnerships [rather than] commercial transactions,” says Simon Joyce, Chief Business Officer at COPA90. “The most forward-thinking brands are viewing sports talent not just as recognisable faces and social media value, but as access to building progressive and impactful programmes built on shared values and beliefs.”

Social media has created a culture of openness and access, with many sportspeople using TikTok or Instagram to offer a no-filter, ‘behind the scenes’ view of their lives.

One such initiative is Burberry’s collaboration with footballer Marcus Rashford MBE. A household name following his efforts to end child food poverty in the UK – and famously forcing the government into a U-turn on free school meals – Rashford, like David Beckham before him, has rapidly become that rare breed of athlete who transcends their sport. It would have been easy for Burberry to stick England’s golden boy in a signature plaid-lined trench coat to smoulder for the camera, but instead, they’ve joined forces on an ambitious charity initiative to support young people and youth culture around the world.   

Above: BT's Hope United campaign aims at tackling online hate with the help of British sports stars.

Alongside these ambitious initiatives, brands are also turning to film to tell real, human narratives about sporting icons. Guinness has done this particularly successfully as part of its long-running Made of More campaign, sensitively chronicling the coming-out of gay England rugby player Gareth Thomas. More recently, COPA90 and EA Sports’ documentary, 93 Famille, about Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappé, chose to focus on the rising star through the lens of his family and the creative culture flourishing in the Parisian suburbs of his birthplace, making for an emotional piece of content that goes far beyond pitch performance.

Your brand’s life is literally in their hands, so you’ve got to be really careful that the story you’re telling is true.

Done right, partnering with an athlete gives brands unprecedented access to their fan base – but what are the potential pitfalls to be wary of? Simply put, authenticity needs to be at the heart of any partnership. “Mapping the organisational values to the relationships of talent, ambassadors, influencers and creators is a must,” says COPA90’s Joyce. “Your brand’s life is literally in their hands, so you’ve got to be really careful that the story you’re telling is true,” adds Dark Horses’ Readman, “because if they do something awful, and that narrative is turned on its head, your brand will suffer.”

Nike is a brand that knows only too well the pitfalls of constructing hero narratives around its all-too-human ambassadors. From 2009 to 2013, a slew of famous sporting faces including Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods and Oscar Pistorius – who’d been portrayed in campaigns as heroic survivors with perfect lives, or ultimate nice guys – all fell resoundingly from grace. “All those stories came crumbling down dramatically, and it was a really hard thing for [Nike] to recover from,” says Readman.

Above: Guinness's film examined what it was like for rugby star Gareth Thomas to come out as gay.

By contrast, Dark Horses' campaign for Nissan Ariya, featuring Naomi Osaka, centred around the idea of two sides to a character: powerful, yet also reserved. When the publicity-shy Osaka withdrew from the French Open on mental health grounds, her actions supported rather than undermined the brand story. Similarly, when selecting players for BT’s Hope United team, it was key that they had all personally experienced online hate, says Guillermo Vega, CCO at Saatchi & Saatchi. “Fans are discerning and will overlook brands that simply use sportspeople as a badging exercise – the partnership needs to give them access to their heroes in a new, authentic way for it to land,” agrees COPA90’s Joyce.

Rather than investing time and effort in curated brand content, [TikTok] offers a chance to show a different side to their personality.

As well as new forms of sports marketing, there’s a new wave of brand ambassadors joining the old guard of professional athletes and sports stars. “The growth of the creator economy has paved the way for a more diverse range of TikTok personalities to be seriously considered for sports campaigns,” says Olly Roland-Jones, head of sport brand partnerships at TikTok, the micro video entertainment platform which became an official Euro 2020 sponsor this year. 

Influencers like Callum ‘The Dragon’, Lia Lewis and Ben Black regularly amass millions of likes for their clips – and are increasingly being chosen to front brand campaigns on the platform, such as Nike’s #MagicBoots, which called on fans to showcase a football trick while wearing their Nike boots. “Rather than investing time and effort in curated brand content, the platform offers a chance to show a different side to their personality and connect with fans in unique and authentic ways,” adds Roland-Jones.