AS A SPONSOR of the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Euros and one of the world’s greatest footballers Cristiano Ronaldo, Castrol has identified football as a core strand of its sports marketing strategy.
And the oil brand is at the leading edge of activating its sponsorship on social media platforms, making particular use of Ronaldo’s huge popularity on digital outlets.
“Cristiano Ronaldo is an asset that has given us a great opportunity to create both long format and short form content, which we distribute both in broadcast and digitally,” Paul Goodmaker, Castrol’s global sponsorship communications manager, told the Sports Marketing 360 delegation.
“And social media, through Ronaldo’s channels, gives us a huge audience we can reach and engage with.”
Castrol employs sports agency M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment to work with the brand on its digital strategy. The partnership has so far resulted in two major activations – a TV documentary and the first-ever live Facebook interaction with fans – centring on Ronaldo’s football aptitude and dedicated fanbase.
“As a social media property they don’t come much better than him. He’s got 48 million fans on Facebook and over 13 million followers on Twitter. So in terms of his reach, it’s absolutely massive,” said Haran Ramachandran, digital director of M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment.
As well as the extensive audience Ronaldo enables Castrol to reach, the levels of engagement are also proving successful for the brand. “We monitor some of the other sponsors of Ronaldo to see the level of engagement we get,” said Goodmaker. “And our posts, which he posts on our behalf, are consistently the most engaged posts compared to other sponsors.”
By Luke Harman
Follow Luke on Twitter: @lukeharmanSBG