Organising Committees of future Winter and Summer World University Games came together at the FISU headquarters in Lausanne, for a marketing and communication workshop, on the eve of the FISU Executive Committee meeting scheduled for 21-22 February.
The focus of the workshop, conducted by a data research agency, was how intelligent media and market research can help organisations generate better value for existing and potential sponsors.
Fabienne Meyerhans and Regula Schweizer of the Lucerne 2021 OCRepresentatives from forthcoming World University Games including Lucerne 2021, Lake Placid 2023 and Ekaterinburg 2023 were present to brainstorm together on best practices and model approaches towards sponsorship of the biggest multi-sport event for university athletes.
“We think that the dual career aspect of FISU’s student athletes is a big asset,” said Lucerne 2021 Marketing & Sponsorship Director Fabienne Meyerhans. “The whole concept of excellence in mind and body or that of creating future leaders is something that helps to convince sponsors.” The Lucerne team has therefore, decided to focus their efforts on these themes in the run up to the next edition of the Universiade. Lucerne 2021, incidentally, will be the last edition that will be called the ‘Universiade’. The event will be known as World University Games thereafter.
“One of the strengths of the FISU World University Games is the demographic of those involved,” said Lake Placid 2023 Project Director Ashley Walden. “The age group – young students – is one that sponsors are interested in, so that is something we can leverage.”
Ashley Walden and Kelly Sweeney-Foley of the Lake Placid 2023 OCWorkshop leader Kevin Engist, from Intelligent Research in Sponsoring (IRIS) agreed that university students were the biggest asset of the games. “Student sports, compared to professional sport, has some very positive attributes. Student athletes are a modern, dynamic group that is unscathed and likeable, without scandals,” he said.
One of the crucial issues for the organising committees was the fact that media values and market research may not be relatable from one host city to another, as circumstances surrounding different editions of the World University Games may vary greatly. Whereas in North America the recognisability of the Games is relatively low, it is not so in Russia.
“We can rely on the success of the Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade,” said Anna Kopenkina, Director of International Relations and Cultural Projects at Ekaterinburg 2023. “We don’t need to explain what the event is or its impact and can build on the legacy of Kazan (2013) and Krasnoyarsk.”
Anna Kopenkina, Dmitry Tugarin and Zeyn Arif of the Ekaterinburg 2023 OC