Giving endangered species a sporting chance

By Quentin Langley

According to some research by Good, Burham and MacDonald of the mammalian mascots of clubs in the ten richest sporting leagues in the world 30% are endangered and 33% are critically endangered. 

What a fascinating finding that opens some rather obvious solutions. Yes, of course, clubs could donate a dollar from every piece of branded merchandise they sell to conservation causes. Of itself that would be a considerable financial boost for the endangered species. And, yes, it could earn some favorable coverage for the clubs.

But a good Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program is much more than this. 

A good CSR program involves mobilizing your publics to the cause. In this case, the most relevant publics are fans and athletes. The clubs have millions of devoted fans - in the case of the top clubs, hundreds of millions. Fans are extremely loyal to their brand. To associate some of this loyalty with a good cause would benefit both the club and the cause. 

As leading CSR expert, Pamela Mounter puts it, "to have credibility, a CSR campaign should be recognised as being part of an organisation's DNA, which means engaging and involving employees". How much more is this the case when the employees are globally famous brands in their own right?

Sports clubs have very high profile athletes who can speak out for the cause of preserving the endangered species. Again, the benefits run both ways. Top athletes earn most of their money from sponsorship and branding deals. Becoming associated with a good cause enhances their value to commercial brands, as well, of course, as benefiting the cause.

Good, Burham and MacDonald have conducted one of the most brilliant pieces of branding research in years. It is brilliant in its insight and potential rather than its complexity, I doubt it took them long and could have been conducted entirely on Wikipedia. They are zoologists rather than branding experts, but it is now up to those of us in branding and reputation management to pick up the baton and publicize their research for the potential it has to change the world. 

 

Comments

[Pamela Mounter]

Just to add to this if I may, there is a world of difference between CSR and sponsorships/donations. CSR (sometimes more broadly cited as corporate responsibility) are fundamental to an organisation's DNA. Sponsorships and donations could come from anywhere: the link between them and an organisation is tenuous at best and at the whim of the chair (or partner.)

As Quentin says, what an opportunity sports clubs would have if they used their high profile athletes to speak out about the cause of endangered species.