Marketing Committee

1.2.4 Marketing Committee

The Marketing Committee develops the plans and strategies to place the event in the market, with the purpose of generating publicity and sponsorship. Publicity can be done through various modes such as social media, print media, television and e-mail, while sponsorship can be generated in cash or in kind by making media partners, food partners and drink partners through calling on and meeting various companies. The committee also organises campaigns related to the event.

Pre-sports event / tournament. Before the event, the committee prepares a strategy for arranging sponsorships and the publicity of the event, arranges meetings with or calls on sponsors, and prepares the MoUs for sponsorships.

During sports event / tournament. While the event is on, the committee issues press release(s), works with the media, manages the methods of communication, fulfils the requirements of the sponsors as per the MoUs, and arranges for the telecast of the event.

Post sports event / tournament. Once the event is over, the committee issues a press release and may arrange for a re-telecast of the event.

Why this committee matters. A tournament that nobody hears about attracts neither spectators nor sponsors, and a tournament that promises a sponsor visibility but fails to deliver it loses that sponsor the following year. The Marketing Committee is therefore judged on two different things at once: how much attention the event generates, and how faithfully the committee honours the sponsorship agreements it has signed — the two go hand in hand, because sponsors fund events in direct proportion to the publicity they expect to receive.

A worked example. Before hosting a district badminton championship, the Marketing Committee would approach local businesses for sponsorship — a sports brand to provide equipment in exchange for its logo on the banners and the players' bibs, a beverage company as the official drink partner, and a local newspaper as a media partner that agrees to cover the event. It drafts a short, factual press release announcing the dates, venue and participating schools, and shares it with the newspaper and on the school's social media pages. During the event, it ensures the sponsor's banners are actually displayed and their products actually distributed as promised, takes photographs for a follow-up release, and after the event issues a results-based press release — who won, notable performances, and thanks to the sponsors by name. …