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Ignorance greatest undoing for most sportsmen

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IGNORANCE has been blamed for the way local sports personalities often seem to fall on hard times after the end of their playing careers, despite opportunities to use their brands to lead decent lifestyles.

In most parts of the world, active and retired sportspersons get rich pickings from endorsements, sponsorships and a number of events where they use the power of their brands to generate income.

However, many retired Zimbabwean sports stars find themselves being abused by some people who splash peanuts to take advantage of these strong brands.

Sports and Recreation Commission spokesperson Tirivashe Nheweyembwa believes the local sports-people need to research more on how they can fully exploit their brand value. “The general observation, locally, is that we have not fully exploited this area for a number of reasons like limited of knowledge on the athletes’ managers and general misunderstanding of the area.

“Internationally, we have noted that most clubs’ revenue is driven to a large extent by this area.

“However, we still have a lot of work to do but I am happy that the SRC will this year put much of its weight in this area in order to unlock revenue.

“There is also need for those managing the athletes to have an in-depth knowledge of prospective sponsors rather fishing in the pond as this approach yields very little results.

“They must read their financial results, understand their philosophy.

“Sponsors or organisations which want to be associated with sporting personalities attach conditions before they get anyone to partner them as Brand Ambassadors or endorse their products and the following is what they look for: –

“1. How good is the athlete because it can’t be any athlete? Is the athlete going to drive the numbers that they want which will ultimately prop up their sales figures (remember when David Beckham joined Real Madrid or when Ronaldo joined Juventus) the shirts or jerseys went out of stock.

“2. Will their association with the athlete in question prop up their brand to the level that they want, for example, will the arrangement help them increase their market share or it will lead to a contagion effect of their brand?

“3. What is generally the disciplinary record of the athlete?? Is he/she a well behaved athlete or he is a good athlete but with bad conduct?

“4. What are the business objectives that they are trying to meet by associating themselves with a certain athlete, is there a point of congruence or it’s for the sake of it?”

However, there have been a positive developments on the ground with the likes of CAPS United’s Gabriel Nyoni using the social media to create a powerful brand.

Former Zimbabwe internationals Alois Bunjira, David Sengu, Edward Rainsford and Mpumelelo Mbangwa have also used their brand power to establish themselves as sports pundits. Minister of Youth, Sport, Art and Recreation Kirsty Coventry is also a powerful brand and that has landed her various leadership roles across the globe.

However, concerns remain over the way a powerful brand like Moses Chunga is not being fully tapped into for the former Warriors captain to benefit.

The post Ignorance greatest undoing for most sportsmen appeared first on Zimbabwe Today.


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