iris addresses the ‘uncomfortable truth’ about sports marketing by launching iris SPORT

Today, iris announces its plans to launch a dedicated sports marketing division. A global collective of specialists from sport, lifestyle and entertainment backgrounds – iris SPORT will harness the power of ‘passion, provocation and participation’ to create meaningful, two-way conversations between fans and brands.

Over the last 16 years, iris has been behind some of the most memorable and unique sports campaigns – from its 7 year partnership with Johnnie Walker in Singapore for Step Inside The Circuit, to adidas There Will Be Haters, to the Force Of Black activations for the All Blacks at the 2015 Rugby World Cup – and even opening the exclusive Ferrari garage (digitally) to F1 fans for the first time with Shell.

However according to iris, brands and sports properties aren’t harnessing the opportunities available to them. Many are still prioritizing traditional media approaches, favouring the ‘Chairman’s Choice’ rather than real innovation, and not evaluating whether activity or assets are driving any real business or brand value.  

More than ever, brands in sport have an opportunity to participate meaningfully and vibrantly as part of culture – but few are grabbing this with both hands.  

The ‘uncomfortable truth’ is that sports fans have changed, the channels they operate in have been transformed, but mainstream Sports Marketing is still in the dark ages.

Nico Tuppen, Managing Director, iris SPORT (pictured above) said, “Sports Marketing is still stuck in a 1970’s world. It’s still middle-aged men talking about passion and glory, trying hard, and the joy of being a fan.  A whole new generation of male and female sports lovers is bored of this. They want sport to be colourful, diverse, entertaining, social.”

“It’s more than being passionate about the game or displaying loyalty to a team. We believe it’s as much about culture as it is about sport – and should resonate with what we describe as the ‘Slash Generation’; an audience that wants brands, assets and campaigns to be more creative, more provocative and more challenging.”

iris SPORT will work closely with the micro-network’s consulting, CRM, data & insight team, iris Concise, to add commercial rigour across all activity; from identifying the right partnership or influencer, to evaluating the activity and proving its worth.

This means better performance from sponsored assets, better real time analysis of the activity and better integration of campaign metrics from the start.

Tuppen continued, “This is where the real difference (and benefit for clients) lies; our approach with iris SPORT actually understands the real commercial return of sports marketing.  It is this unrivalled blend of resource, experience and capability that ensures our clients sports activations always win. We have already seen what we do completely transform our clients business and approach.”

iris SPORT will be rolled out globally across the iris worldwide network – with teams already in position in Amsterdam, Singapore and Sydney.