INTRODUCTION
It is with the bold objective of turning the city of Angra dos Reis into the Brazilian DASH capital that the DASH on the Aquidabã Tennis Open Campaign took place. Of course, this is a middle to long term goal, because a lot must be done in order for it to become a reality. But these are the necessary first steps.
ACTIVITIES
There were four parallel initiatives during this campaign:
The sports event sponsorship in itself;
The disponibillity of the online material on the webpages at www.mercadoDASH.com, www.DASHnegocios.com, and www.DASHpag.com;<br< a=””> />The active contact with merchants, with visits and meetings in their business premises;
A final survey with 10 selected merchants.
ON THE PROMOTION MATERIAL
The Business Cards
Very important for networking, and keeping in touch. It contains a phone number and email address for further contacts, and, most important, the url for the website with more detailed information.
The Flyers
Great for mass distribution. Contains not only the same informations from the business cards, but also many more interesting and attractive slogans and facts, in order to stimulate curiosity about DASH.
The Banners
The idea with the banners is the constant exposure of the DASH brand it allowed during the 40 days they were displayed at the tournament site. Anyone around could see it, and the logo image will be registered in each person’s mind. Nice slogans and key sentences were also there, as great curiosity stimulators. Finally, the DASH related websites’s urls advertised on the banners, drove users into the those internet pages for more info.
The T-shirts
They were shared by all the other sponsors to the event. The best places to put the logo, in my opinion, are on the sleeves. Second option of preference is a big logo at the front. The back part of the Tshirt was for small logos of various different sponsors, sharing the space: it’s cheapear, but is still able to give the logo a good deal of exposure.
The Caps
A nice item. Displays the DASH logo in it’s front, highlighting it. It was made with quality materials, in order that people will want to use it not only in loco, during the tennis open event, but also everywhere, at work, at school, in the streets, at the beach, in shopping malls, etc.
REACHED PUBLIC
Not only the public participating at the tennis open event were reached by this campaign. As a result of the door to door visits to the main merchants in the city of Angra dos Reis, there is a great number of the most varied sort of services and stores.
Here is a list with examples of the kinds of businesses reached:
games store
computers parts and accessories stores
computer repair maintenance stores
computer schools
printing services
stationery stores
coffee shops, delicatessen, bakeries
bars and restaurants
fast food
imported goods, perfums
clothes
beauty parlours
groceries
cable tv and internet provider
bike repair
motocycle store
jeweleries
travel agencies
small hotels, inns
amongst others.
MERCHANTS SURVEY
As a last tool to better assess the possibilities of the city of Angra dos Reis to become the Brazilian DASH capital, 10 of the most important merchants if the city were given a simple questionnaire on their opinion on key subjects.
These were the merchants who were selected to answer the submitted public opinion survey:
Printing services;
Computer parts and repair;
Real estate agency;
Jewellery;
Bodybuilding;
Video Games;
Stationery store;
Chain of fast food restaurants;
Chain of Japanese food restaurants;
Cable TV, telefone and Internet provider;
The results of this survey were an important source of experience. The most important is the fact that the merchants were not confortable answering some of the questions. Some complained that the survey touched two delicate issues, “the banking system” and “the government corruption”. Some merchants have asked for privacy, and to not have their answers identified, and some merchants simply decided not to answer.
There was also one respondent who complained that the questions were proposed in order to allow only one possible answer, biased in DASH favour. Actually, the idea behind the survey was to introduce an “inherent allert” about the subjects that justify the cryptocurrencies (government, financial and banking system problems). So, to be honest, it was actually a “feature” intended for the survey, to be, indeed biased, but always honest, as long as it’s “alert message” is efficiently transmitted.
MAIN VICTORIES
Direct contact with the public (networking)
Introduction of the basic notions which justify the cryptocurrencies (Global financial, banking, etc)
Awareness of the option for a substitution of the fiat-banking system
Monetary and Tributary situation in Brazil as a reason to opt out
Presentation of DASH on a practical way (Mostly by use of the DASH Android wallet)
An advantage to be emphasised, regarding the real life face to face contact is the fact that most part of the people we talk to have no idea that cryptocurrencies exist, allowing them to protect themselves from the injust financial system. Also, there are no “crypto-prejudice”.
MAIN PROBLEMS
The most remarkable problem is fear. Some people’s questions are:
Is it legal?
Is it safe?
Isn’t it too difficult its adoption?
Other worries people demonstrate are:
There are no customers, so there’s no reason I should start accepting it.
Where can I spend it? No businesses accept it around here.
I need fiat money to pay my suppliers.
What about accountancy? How am I supposed deal with it?
And, also, for some people, the idea of an alternative currency sounds like something bordering illegality, or of dubious reputation (like a ponzi scheme, a scam, for example). A solution to overcome this vision is, definitely, by introducing DASH to the people in an environment of SPORTS, of education, or of humanitarian efforts, for instance, so that the dubious reputation is eliminated by the good resulting image.
SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS
For sure, there are many points to be perfected, especially because I had no previous experience in such actions. But from all that I have lived during these days of the campaign, there are two suggestions for improvements that come to mind:
Small, fast and practical open courses on the subject of the cryptocurrencies
There is a great potential of winning good users and merchants if such simple one or two days courses are offered, preferably for free. Such courses would cover the most important philosophical basic justification to the cryptocurrencies, but, most important, they would introduce attendees to the DASH usage in a practical way.
Athletes sponsorship
Maybe better than the sponsorship of specific events, the sponsorship of good young and talented athletes seem to be a very important step towards the successful marketing of the DASH brand. Better yet if DASH does it in different parts of the world, with different sports modalities.
A young, but talented, well selected athlete will not demand high expenses. In return the brand “DASH” will be visible, with the logo exposed in competitions, trainings, TV exhibitions, etc.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
Marketing and sports walk hand in hand. The great brands are aware of this, and are always present in sports events.
The most well known and preferred investment on the sports market is sponsorship. And that’s because of its basic characteristic of enhancing the value and positioning of the sponsor’s brand on its target market.
According to estimates from the main marketing companies, the global entertainment sector moves, each year, US$ 1 trillion. From this total, around US$ 360 billion fuel the sports industry (Eduardo Marini. Uma Jogada Bilionária. Isto é. January 5, 2000. </br<>http://www.istoe.com.br/reportagens/30750_UMA JOGADA BILIONARIA )
Sports sponsorship is one of the marketing promotional activities that has developed the most along these last years. The expectations regarding the success of this kind of sponsorship have been exceeded. Estimates show that the amounts invested worldwide in this activity have grown more than a thousand per cent during these last 25 years, reaching the sum of US$ 69 billions in 2010. (Tzanetin. Por que as empresas investem no esporte? FutMKT. April 30, 2012. http://www.futebolmarketing.com.br/2012/colunas-por-empresas-investem-esporte)
“Sponsorship revenues projected by FIFA Brasil 2014 – patrocinadores -are 10% higher than those obtained in the last World Cup in South Africa” (Débora Montesinos. FIFA to reap US $1.4 billion in sponsorship revenues from Brazil 2014. Portada, January 27, 2014. http://latam.portada-online.com/201…lion-in-sponsorship-revenues-from-brazil-2014)
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Source: Kyle Stock. Is Nike Spending Too Much on Superstars? BloombergBusiness, March 21, 2014. http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-03-20/is-nike-spending-too-much-on-superstars
According to Melo Neto (Francisco Paulo de Melo Neto. Administração e Marketing de Clubes Esportivos. Sprint, Rio de Janeiro, 1998) sponsorship presents three basic objectives:sales increasing, brand valorization and empowerment, and the improvement of the company’s communication with its customers and partners. But, in the specific case of sports sponsorship, the main objective is the empowerment of the brands, given the strong appeal that sports exerts on the media, the size of this market, and the gain of reputation by the brand, by associating its name to the athletes, events and teams.
Nowadays there is a huge number of companies which associate their brands to musical, sports, cultural and, more recently, socio-environmental responsiblity events. Sponsorship is one more marketing tool, bringing experience to the consumers, aiming to obtain their loyalty or at least to win their sympathy. (Marcelo Azevedo. Patrocínio: retorno através de visibilidade, vendas e comportamento. Patrocínio & Marketing, August 24, 2009. https://marcelosazevedo.wordpress.c…traves-de-visibilidade-vendas-e-comportamento)
Some benefits brought by sponsorship actions:
Institutional promotion;
Targeted marketing;
Customers loyalty;
Services and products promotion;
To get in touch with opinion leader professionals;
To be recognised as a promoter of ideas and of content;
To generate new mailings;
Tax incentives;
Mass social recognition;
Generation of spontaneous media;
Source: Marcelo Azevedo. Benefícios do Patrocínio. Patrocínio & Marketing, June 10, 2009. https://marcelosazevedo.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/beneficios-do-patrocinio
One of the advantages indicated by Pozzi and Oliveira, regarding sports sponsorship as media, lays in the fact that most part of the messages, during an sports event transmission, reaches a captive viewer, in a moment of relaxation and, therefore, much more receptive to such messages. (POZZI, L.F; OLIVEIRA, M. Patrocine o Evento Certo. Mercado Global. São Paulo, n.99, p.13.15. 1996.)
Sports are a very good investment option, not only for companies, but also to the media, and this is what gives its strong quality of omnipresence. (Ricardo Guilherme Monteiro de Almeida; Profª. Drª. Heloisa Helena Baldy dos Reis. Análise da Relação do Patrocínio Esportivo entre Clube e Empresa no Futebol Brasileiro. Convibra Administração, 2010.http://www.convibra.com.br/upload/paper/adm/adm_909.pdf)
“Considering the huge amounts involved, you would imagine sponsors of athletes and events have clear answers when asked about their return on investment (ROI). You would be wrong. Industry research reveals that about one-third to one-half of US companies don’t have a system in place to measure sponsorship ROI comprehensively.” (Jeff Jacobs. Is sports sponsorship worth it? McKinsey&Company, June, 2014. http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/is_sports_sponsorship_worth_it)
DASH must link its image with good initiatives, and SPORTS is an important option.
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