The Benefit of Sponsoring Intramural Sports on Campus
Sponsoring intramural sports on college campuses is a smart marketing investment. Sponsoring teams and events can lead to increased sales, heightened brand awareness, and customer loyalty. And sponsorship is not just reserved for large brands—small and local shops can also use it as a marketing tactic to improve their standing in the community. The best place to start? Intramural sports.
Intramural sports are a college student’s outlet to relieving stress and creating memories on campus. For your brand, they’re the gateway into the collegiate social scene. From branding opportunities to social media curation, the options for promoting your company are endless.
Below are the top four reasons why we love intramural sport sponsorships.
Increased Reach on Campus
Students want to connect with their peers, be active, and have fun. Of the 75% of college students who utilize campus recreation facilities, 80% of them participate in intramural programs—that’s a lot of students! By sponsoring intramural sports, your brand is able to authentically connect with students on a large scale. If you want to have the widest reach, consider sponsoring sports with large teams, like soccer, basketball, and volleyball.
Endless Branding Options
If it’s not moving, put a logo on. The branding possibilities are seemingly endless when it comes to intramural sports. If you’re like me, one of your favorite parts of intramural sports is the uniform. Most participants will wear their tees outside of the league, and if you’ve branded them, this will increase your brand’s exposure on campus. Budget dependent, you can supply the teams with cotton or Dri-FIT tee shirts.
In addition to uniforms, every sport has its own necessary equipment. More equipment, means more items to brand! Depending on how much you’re able to spend, you can brand as little or as many items as you would like. Even the smallest amount of branding can have an impact. For example, if you were to sponsor a volleyball league, you have the option to brand the tape of the net, game balls, poles, pole mats, referee stands, and referee flags.
Providing low cost promo items that are relevant to the sport is another great way to get not only the players but also the spectators involved with the brand! Our favorites include water bottles, sunglasses, hats, and sweatbands.
Shareable Moments
College students love to share their experiences on social media. Whether it’s the opening game, playoffs, or epic sport fails, students are constantly posting to social during intramural sports. Your branded uniforms, equipment, and promo items increase your chance of being featured in these social posts.
Creating a branded hashtag will also increase your brand’s exposure and makes it easy to track what students are posting to social. And let students know you want their content! If students know your brand will share their content, they have a bigger incentive to post and share the brand experience and drive awareness.
Intramural Sports are FUN
If you’re looking to make your brand feel more fun and accessible to college students, intramural sports are the way to go. This is a great way to integrate brand into authentic lifestyle moments and help foster student relationships on campus.
Want more? Check out these blogs
- 3 Ways Campus Rep Programs Pay for Themselves
- The Rise of Micro Influencers on College Campuses
- 6 Tips for Hiring a College Marketing Agency
How can YMC help?
Want to bring your brand to campus? Finding the right partner is key to your success. Here at YMC, we’ve been helping brands connect with 15- to 29-year-old consumers for two decades—we’d be happy to share our wealth of knowledge with you. Contact us today!