{"id":5314,"date":"2023-08-10T01:56:46","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T05:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/2023\/08\/10\/put-the-story-first-what-sports-marketing-can-learn-from-wrob-wryan-and-wrexham\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T10:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T14:47:09","slug":"put-the-story-first-what-sports-marketing-can-learn-from-wrob-wryan-and-wrexham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/put-the-story-first-what-sports-marketing-can-learn-from-wrob-wryan-and-wrexham\/5314\/","title":{"rendered":"Put the Story First: What Sports Marketing Can Learn From Wrob, Wryan and Wrexham"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Pete Jackson, Head of Planning at <\/em>Trouble Maker<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve just spent a king\u2019s ransom on that big sports sponsorship. The deal will parachute you into the hearts and minds of a new audience group, leveraging the sport\u2019s excitement and credibility as well. You\u2019ve also done your due diligence. The value of the package has been checked by a third party, the bundle of assets seems fair, global markets appear to be bought in and we know how much it will cost to activate. Everyone was very happy\u2026 until as it turned out, it didn\u2019t really move the needle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could this have happened? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To answer this question, let us pop on our hard hats, and pay attention to a gloomy narrative that has been developing over the last 20 years \u2013 as advertisers, the story is a short and scary one: most people ignore most marketing messages as the examples here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a> illustrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And even if it does move the needle, experts in the field argue it only benefits a handful<\/a> of enormous brands, and more importantly it ignores the meaning that people are extracting from your sponsorship assets. Why are you there? What do you stand for? What value are you adding?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The heart of the matter is this. We need to stop prioritising the spreadsheets and the valuations and begin to prioritise storytelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Welcome to Wrexham juggernaut can teach us many things about sport but one element marketers may pay attention to is Wrob and Wryan\u2019s focus on storytelling. And here are three key lessons we can take away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ONE: Prioritise storytelling at the OUTSET<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We love a scorecard in our industry. What assets will we get? What is the target audience overlap? The cost to activate? Competing category sponsors in the sport? Regional penetration anyone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about prioritising storytelling above all of these? Given all the evidence above citing people\u2019s complete ignorance to most marketing messages, we should really consider how we stand out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you watch the Welcome to Wrexham<\/em> documentary, you\u2019ll hear Wrob and Wryan talking about how they decided which football club to buy. They used a scorecard including cost, fan numbers, latent fan potential, catchment area, club history and a few other elements. But at the top of the list was storytelling. Wrexham\u2019s story was the defining variable, and one key reason why the takeover is seen by many as being so successful thus far. As many have pointed out, the documentary itself paid off the initial $2.5 million investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key questions to ask yourself:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n