citizensound listened in on the Sports Marketing panel to see whether there were any insights to be picked up from bringing the worlds of sport and marketing together.

Rob Simmelkjaer, former ABC News anchor and ESPN reporter, bravely dealt with continual sound distortion on the mikes and ran a really interesting panel. Meanwhile, Gianluca Vialli provided an example of a true professional…modest, charming, insightful and engaging - many of the young Premier League stars could learn from him in more ways than one.

I asked them what lessons could be learned from the sports world for the music world, as more brands move into music.

Dominic Fawcett, Managing Partner of Mindshare, rightly stated that there has been too many instances in sports marketing where the connection between brand and sport made little sense to consumers. He was also concerned that the creative expression of the brand/sports partnership was a little too forced -

Brand X: We are part of the team

…ouch…

Meanwhile Kevin Roberts, Editorial Director, SportsBusiness Group raised two interesting points. For him, the sports world is struggling with a fanbase that is ageing, be it cricket, football, rugby, tennis or the Olympics. no such problem in the music world.

Secondly, Sports he said struggle to attract lots of female fans. So sports marketing is also limiting from a brand’s perspective. Another reason why music makes sense for many brands…

So citizensound does have a future then!