Polish volleyball players reached the final of this year’s Olympic Games in Paris – for the first time in 48 years. There they won silver, losing to France in the final. Will this promotion increase their existing marketing potential and will we see them in advertisements more often than before? It is worth remembering that for years they have appeared in advertisements for the Plus brand, which is their sponsor. They recently appeared in an advertisement for the adidas brand and previously they advertised for Rexona (Unilever), among others.
According to sports marketing experts, silver medal at the Olympics will not result in a significant increase in the number of advertisements featuring Polish volleyball players.
– This did not happen after two consecutive World Championships, nor after the European Championships. – notes Adam Pawlukiewicz, an expert at Pentagon Research. He points out that volleyball players have been on the market for more than a decade. – The lifespan of any sporting success is very short today, and the key to maintaining the interest of the media and fans is constant success. In the case of volleyball players, the Olympic medal was not a one-time shot. Since 2006, the Polish national team has regularly won medals at the World Championships, European Championships and the Nations League. Let me give you an example. About a dozen years ago, the recognition of volleyball players was similar to that of handball players during the time of Bogdan Wenta. In the past, almost every fan in Poland knew names like Bielecki, Lijewski and Jurecki, today only handball fans in our country can name at least a few players from the national team. In turn, almost all volleyball players who played in Paris are very recognizable, our interlocutor notes.
Silver at the Olympics is not a game changer
Grzegorz Kita, president of Sport Management Polska, speaks in a similar tone, admitting that the success of volleyball players is historic, but he does not expect any revolution in the advertising and marketing approach to this discipline and this national team. – Paradoxically, this is related to the fact that This sports product is already so strong and recognizable that the Olympic silver medal is now part of a larger whole of many years of success in volleyball, and not a watershed moment. Over the years, volleyball has gained a large group of fans – large, but quite fluctuating around its peak. Sponsors also seem to be “consumed” there. Companies that have seen the potential of volleyball are mostly already there. New ones could emerge, but this would require a creative approach to building on this success and a new approach to the sales pitch, says Grzegorz Kita.
Opposing the previous speakers is Monika Płaczkowska, Director of Partnership Sales at Sportfive, who believes that We can definitely count on an increase in interest in volleyball players themselves. – Let’s remember, however, that their successes have been ongoing for many years. That’s why the image of volleyball players is systematically used by brands. During the Olympic year, in addition to sponsors of volleyball teams and clubs, the individual image of athletes was also heavily used by brands such as Oshee, Pluszzz, Huawei and Rexona, says Monika Płaczkowska. She adds that volleyball players, who also performed well in Paris, can expect a greater increase in interest, and the biggest boom is likely to come from our medalists in individual sports, such as Aleksandra Mirosław, the expert notes.
A chance to negotiate more favorable contracts
Adam Pawlukiewicz notes that Polish volleyball – both at national and club level – has had sponsors who have been financing the sport for many years, with Plus being the prime example. Volleyball fans associate PGE with Skra, Asseco with Resovia, and Trefl with the Sopot club of the same name. – Olympic silverware can help athletes negotiate more favorable contracts, although I don’t expect the volleyball sponsorship market to change dramatically. Volleyball still has great market potential, mainly due to the fan base of the sport. Quantitative research on volleyball fans shows that they are generally educated, well-deserved, with a high level of personal culture and therefore very attractive to sponsors – emphasizes the Pentagon Research expert.
– Today, I would see more space for brands that already work with Polish volleyball, but also for the PZPS itself, which could now literally treat the Olympic silver as high-octane fuel and use it for a very active and comprehensive promotion of the discipline and its possibilities – adds Grzegorz Crest.
Intelligent, hard-working, with character
Adam Pawlukiewicz emphasizes in an interview with Wirtualnemedia.pl that Polish volleyball players have the image of intelligent, characterful and hard-working people, in fact all brands fit them.
– A good example is Aleksander Śliwka, who a few months ago became an ambassador for the isotonic drink company Gaminate. This is a credible advertisement because the recipient can easily believe that the athlete really uses these products. The same is true for Wilfredo Leon, who advertises Plusssz dietary supplements, the expert emphasizes.
He adds that All volleyball players who participated in the Olympics will be able to count on individual advertising contracts. As an example, he cites Norbert Huber, who is one of the main players on our team, but certainly not a clear leader, and has 102,000 followers on Instagram. – That’s a little less than Bartosz Zmarzlik – four-time world champion in track and field and arguably the greatest Pole in the history of the sport. The fact that volleyball is watched in every corner of Poland has a big impact on the potential distribution of products, especially fast-moving products from the FMCG industry, he notes. In his opinion, it could be a good move for advertisers to cooperate with charismatic Polish former representatives such as: Michał Kubiak, Zbigniew Bartman, Marcin Możdżonek, Małgorzata Glinka-Mogentale or Katarzyna Skowrońska.
Polish volleyball scores highest attendance at Olympics
It is worth noting that the performances of Polish volleyball players were most often watched during the Olympics on TVP. The biggest hit on Polish television was the Poland-France match, in which the Polish national volleyball team won its first Olympic medal since 1976.
The final broadcast on TVP1 was watched at home by 4 million viewers. The broadcaster’s share of the match was 45.5%. The Polish team’s fight for the silver medal at the Olympic Games was watched by 4.6 million viewers in prime time. Another 1 million viewers applauded the match away from home (OOH). On the Polish television websites TVP Sport, TVP VOD and TVP GO, the France-Poland match had 1.043 million views.
Also on Eurosport, the 1st final of the men’s Olympic volleyball tournament had the highest audience – it was watched by almost 1.7 million viewers, which gave the station a 16.90 percent. share.
