I am very proud that Iberdrola has accompanied the Spanish National Football Team at the most decisive moments in its history: the 2010 World Cup tournament in South Africa, where the team achieved the pinnacle of its success, and the UEFA EURO 2012 championship, which made the Spanish team the first ever to win three major tournaments in a row: UEFA European Championship-World Cup-UEFA European Championship. However, I’m also proud that we have supported the national team through difficult moments and situations, such as when it was eliminated from the last World Cup, which was held last summer in Brazil.
Who has ever heard of a case of sponsorship in sport that was a failure? If we ask any brand for feedback on a sponsorship campaign, they are sure to say something along the lines of: “it’s going well”.
On top of that, if we know, for example, that many of the National Team’s football matches are viewed by over 10 million people or more than 50% of the audience share, or that the Formula 1 World Championship has on average 39% of the audience share with over four million viewers, are these figures a guarantee that a sponsorship will be a success?
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As if that were not enough, if we see that an increasing number of brands are trying to associate themselves to major events, leading sportspeople or great teams, is it possible to be successful with so many other brands involved?
First and foremost, we have to remember the reasons for investing in this sponsorship and what the main goals were when we decided to do so.
At the end of 2008, we realised that the scores for some of our brand attributes were falling and that knowledge of the brand was gradually declining. Therefore, the goals that we set at the time and which we are still pursuing and evaluating, were as follows:
- To increase brand knowledge as much as possible so as to consolidate our leading position in the sector.
- To reinforce some of our attributes, such as solidity, solvency, reliability or proximity, with a view towards enhancing our brand image. 
We decided to look into various alternatives and different possibilities for sponsorship. Before coming to a decision as to which one to choose, we were very clear about the following:
- If the company chose a sponsorship, it would have to be coherent and consistent with its strategy and it should not consist only of a financial contribution.
- We had to be selective, taking care not to dilute our brand value by sponsoring something random. It would have to be something that would really contribute and generate value. Sponsorship is not just about putting a logo on a T-shirt or on a motorcycle, or about placing the brand in places where it can be seen by millions of people.
- Planning with time, to determine if this is really what the brand needed.
Once the company decided to invest in becoming the Main Sponsor of the Spanish National Football Team and sponsor the kits, the Communication Division got down to work, with lots of enthusiasm and #goodenergy, to achieve the goals we had set ourselves. Our motto is that if something can’t be measured, then it can’t be managed. We started measuring from the outset and on a continuous basis, in terms of ROI (return on investment), i.e. how profitable the advertising was, but more importantly in terms of ROO (return on objectives), i.e. the extent to which our objectives were being met. ROI measures how effective a sponsorship is and it can be used for negotiation, but it is not useful for measuring how effective a sponsorship is; we need the ROO for that.
All of the experiences with the brand provided by this sponsorship – ranging from face-to-face street marketing events, inviting football fans to join in our “La Energía de la Roja” on-line platform (with over 200,000 followers), activities with our employees and other stakeholders, as well as the presence of our brand in the various media and advertising campaigns organised to promote the National Football Team – enabled us to attain the goals we set ourselves, one year after another.
Iberdrola recently renewed its sponsorship of the Spanish National Team until 2016, which is when the UEFA European Championship will be hosted by France. On this occasion, we have also added support for the U-21 Team and the Women’s Senior Team. This is a clear indication of Iberdrola’s unwavering commitment to our country, to Spain as a brand and its image abroad; not to mention to Spanish sport.
I hope that Iberdrola maintains the effort and enthusiasm for achieving our goals over the next two years and I am convinced that our National Football Team will do the same, so that we can achieve the success that we are both striving for.
