It Doesn’t Always Require Data to See a Partnership Is Working

Evaluating the performance of sponsorship and partnerships is a crucial element of sports marketing. Often, including in many posts on this blog, the focus is on the direct, measurable impact on specific business goals and objectives.

However, it is not always possible to completely isolate the impact of a partnership on long-term sales, market share gains and other growth drivers that are affected by a plethora of internal corporate actions and outside influences.

But just because a direct line can’t be drawn identifying a sponsorship program as the key factor in overall brand success, it doesn’t mean we should ignore the partnership’s obvious contributions.

Take Dr Pepper for example. The flagship brand of Keurig Dr Pepper achieved a milestone earlier this year when it became the second bestselling soft drink in the U.S., moving ahead of Pepsi behind Coca-Cola, according to market share tracking by Beverage Digest.

While there are numerous reasons for Dr Pepper’s gains, including an overall increase in marketing spend, social media popularity, a shift in Pepsi’s priorities to promoting its zero sugar offerings, etc., Dr Pepper has gone all in on its affiliation with college football through official sponsorship of the College Football Playoff since 2014, a partnership with the ACC, and its Fansville ad campaign, now in its seventh season, airing spots throughout the college football season on ESPN, CBS, and FOX.

The brand also has activated in numerous ways including its longstanding tuition giveaway program and NIL deals with star players such as last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams. In short, it has achieved “ownership” of the sport in its category, something that is difficult to do among industry giants that top the sponsorship spending charts.

Is Dr Pepper’s association with college football responsible for its market share increase? Not solely, but it would be difficult to claim it has not been a principal factor.

The same can be said for Bud Light’s rekindled official beer partnership with UFC.

The brand suffered steep sales declines in 2023 following its promotion of trans social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney and subsequently backtracking from the association in the face of heavy criticism from social conservatives. Bud Light’s sales were off 28 percent year-over-year last December, according to industry analyst Bump Williams Consulting.

With its six-year UFC partnership kicking off in January, Bud Light’s sales decline has slowed this year, according to an article this week in Sports Business Journal.

Does the partnership deserve all the credit? No. But as BWC president Dave Williams told SBJ, the brand is “going back to the playbook—they’re injecting humor and relevance [into its marketing] and identifying areas where consumers that they may not have been reaching before are watching or engaging.”

With parent Anheuser-Busch’s reputation for best-in-class partnership measurement, it’s a good bet the brewer has internal data that pinpoints the specific impact of the UFC alignment on Bud Light’s sales and reputation. But even from an outside perspective, it’s pretty easy to discern that there is a positive influence coming from the sponsorship.