The issue of effective sports sponsorship is a complex one, especially in an age where generic brand awareness without affinity is no longer enough. It was one we discussed at a recent event featuring former All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick. Sean spoke about the All Black’s intense focus on ensuring sponsors have a profile appropriate to the status of the team.

Sean Fitzpatrick recognises the importance of brand sponsor profiles.

The All Black brand itself - hugely powerful and full of heritage – is the priority: selecting the right sponsor is not merely a matter of who has the deepest pockets. The NZRU carefully selects its brand associations, who in turn can leverage links with a team synonymous with the best in global rugby. The team is also notable in its management of the sponsor/ team/ athlete relationship – ensuring that players are totally clear regarding the sponsor’s expectations of them beyond on–pitch success. This avoids recent embarrassments which have dogged other teams, like England’s risible behaviour at the Land Rover brand player driving day.

The key aspect of this discussion is that there are many factors that contribute to a successful relationship between an organisation and the sports category. Key to this is proactive stewardship from the start – ensuring that sponsor, team and players alike are all fully aware of what is expected of them. This can be difficult, as the delicate balance of power between the three means that who holds the ultimate power to preside over this decision is unclear: the money men, the team board or the players themselves. However, the nettle must be grasped, and early on in the relationship. This is how long standing sports brand partnerships are built – ultimately where the sponsor becomes synonymous with the team and rooted in the psyche of supporters.

Ultimately it is the supporters themselves who all too easily get left by the wayside when it comes to sponsorship decisions, even though they may be the passive brand ambassadors themselves; the ones who need to understand why their team is carrying the banner of a specific brand upon their chests. Think of how Newcastle United fans felt carrying the Northern Rock logo after the bank fell, or indeed the backlash they have recently experienced over rebranding St James’ Park as the SportsDirect Arena.

Fans have reacted badly to St. James' Park rebrand as the Sports Direct Arena

How this brand association is undertaken and communicated to fans is just as important as the rightness of the fit for the brands themselves – Bolton’s longstanding association with Reebok while initially divisive has lessened considerably over time and the naming of Coventry’s RICOH arena went without mention among the fans, although by this point brand sponsorship of stadiums had become widespread around the United Kingdom. However many teams have faced backlash by embracing inappropriate brands as sponsors simply by dint of the association between the brand and the team not being clear or being deemed appropriate. There are numerous examples of this misalignment. Dow has recently encountered criticism from MPs and human rights groups for seeking to wrap the London 2012 Olympics stadium. This backlash is also is hardly confined to the world of sports. Several poets recently withdrew themselves from consideration for the TS Eliot prize in protest against its sponsorship by an investment management firm.

Sport has great potential to bring people together – just look at the building anticipation about this summer’s Olympics, eclipsing other, more regular sporting competitions which are leveraged every year by sponsors. The issue here is creating standout in a branding-dense summer and making sure that spend truly means something. For example, McDonald’s sponsorship of the Olympics is often met with derision by the man on the street, who does not associate calorie rich fast food with elite athletes and may not be familiar with McDonald’s drive towards gold standard employee training and development.

McDonalds COO Don Thompson and IOC's Jacques Rogge sign a sponsorship deal to run until 2020.

Whether McDonalds delivers on their CSR objectives against spend, associates with team sports and gains mileage from its training and employment links in the long term remains to be seen. Another factor in the sponsorship equation therefore is sustenance – making sure there is a legacy for the spend beyond brand visibility at the event, alongside hundreds of other brands. New Zealand specifically toured country ambassadors internationally promoting the long standing benefits for the Rugby World Cup – something the UK will likely emulate given the infrastructure investment and long term rejuvenation of East London areas like Stratford the Olympics has allowed.

In essence, finding the right combination of appropriate sponsors, fan buy-in, clear player communications of sponsor expectations and responsible team management and communications to the lead sponsor may seem like brand alchemy. Ultimately, all parties need to acknowledge that it’s not just about receiving significant sums of money to pay for a logo. While maintaining this balance may seem a difficult line to walk, it is worth remembering that the right fit can pay real dividends for all parties involved. It is only when problems are encountered that decisions ultimately need to come down to issues of effective brand governance on the parts of all involved come into play.

Toby Southgate is CEO, UK & Ireland, The Brand Union