SPORTO is the leading sports marketing and sponsorship conference in South East Europe. It connects brands, rights holders, agencies, event organisers, athletes and students. It’s main aim are to educate, present trends and to share know-how. The SPORTO 2017 summaries of presentations and panel discussions gives an overview of all the content covered last year.

Malph Minns, Managing Director of Strive, was invited to speak as the first ever presenter on the subject of esports. Entitles ‘What is the esports opportunity?’, Minns gave an overview of the esports landscape discussing what the opportunities could be for brands and traditional sports rights holders alike, as well as pointing to future trends.

He was in good company, as a host of international experts covered a variety of topics including:

  1. Podium performance – getting beyond the logo: PGA European Tour Chief Technology Officer, Michael Cole, offered insight into the world of Olympic sponsorship from his time as London 2012 Marketing and Communications Director for BT Global Services.
  2. Social Media – it’s more than a game: Ex-VP of Digital and Brand Strategy at NBA team the Phoenix Suns, Jeramie McPeek took a closer look at the strategy behind social media engagement and discussed the 10 ways in which sports teams should be utilising social to tell their brand story and grow their business.
  3. Smart insights, great work, lasting trends – stuff I like and why: Ex-Havas Sports Global Chief Strategy Officer, Fredda Hurwitz, shared a few of her favourite case studies from around the world. She demonstrated why smart insights lead to great work.
  4. Creating content to get and keep fans attention: Jon Burkhart explains how brave, actionable, likeable, long lasting, surprising and customer centric content does best, give good and bad examples.
  5. Creating a global holistic story: NBA EMEA Senior Communications Director, Maik Matischak, explained more about the leagues approach to PR and communications, with an emphasis on Europe.
  6. #TheToughest: Mark Brennan (AIB, Head of Digital and Innovation) and Mark Doyle (AIB, Brands Group Director) explained how during the financial crisis, when AIB were on the edge of peril where advertising did nothing to connect the bank to  an outraged public, they used sponsorship to re-establish brand trust and increase positive sentiment.
  7. Fan engagement and insight: Facebook, Twitter and Neymar – Guilherme Guimaraes shared fan engagement activities of the Brazilian national football team and Olympic team during the world’s two biggest sports events, and the biggest events ever to happened on Brazilian soil. Tied in with this was digital activity around the world record signing of Neymar by Paris Saint-Germain FC.
  8. Sport meets technology – Achim Ittner shared insights from SAP’s work with some of the biggest global rights holders, including the NHL, Manchester City FC, San Jose Sharks etc, demonstrating how technology can bring fans closer to the action.
  9. Expanding Juventus‘ universe: black and white and more – Interbrand shared how they freshened up the club’s visual identity to meet both on the field and commercial needs, giving behind the scenes insights.
  10. Brand and rights holders relationships – Strive Sponsorship Managing Director, Malph Minns, discussed with Jeramie McPeek (ex -VP of Digital and Brand Strategy, Phoenix Suns) discussed the key takeouts from the conference and also how best brands and rights holders can work together to reach common goals.

To download the SPORTO 2017 summaries of presentations and panel discussions, click here.