Marketing and branding is all about telling the story to the target market. It sounds so basic, but it actually tells the target market what the brand is all about and represents the target market.
In a globalised world and economy, Malaysia needs to do better than those in USA and Europe. Malaysia is in a unique position, closer to some of the largest market namely China, India and Indonesia and with total ASEAN population is close to 600 million. Air Asia sponsors the ASEAN Basketball League. Why basketball and not the G1FT that I mentioned, except Formula 1 ? Basketball like Formula 1 represents the identity of Air Asia. How does the basketball plays ? It is quick, agile, fit and energetic, fast and flexible which very much represent Air Asia. Is started with ASEAN as Air Asia has a very strong brand in ASEAN with the Air Asia Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the upcoming one Phillipines and Vietnam.
In this blog entry, I shared my thoughts that there must be and shall be a strong connection between the sport and the sponsors. Though many people consider the sponsorship as part of annual advertising and marketing expenditure and impact the bottom line of the company income statement, but if it is done properly, I view it as long term intangible investment that will benefit and ensure company's survival in the future i.e. Return on Investment [ROI].
So, if I were the Chief Financial Officer of a company, the following are some [12] twelve of the questions that I shall ask the marketing team and the public affairs to answer before making the final decision ;
1. How the sponsorship and branding strategy represents the company identity ?
2. What stories the team will tell the target market , brand loyalty and perception?
3. Who is the target market and audience ?
4. What is the expected ROI as a result of this sponsorship and branding strategy- IRR, NPV ?
5. Potential sales and revenue increase over the 3-5 years ?
6. How is the monitoring will be done that it will meet the target financially ?The KPIs and Measurement ?
7. Potential cost optimization resulted from branding strategy ?
8. How this will affect the product mix ?
9. Potential new business development and new market segment ? Winning proposition ?
10. Target market share ?
11. What is the value creation ?
12. Benchmark against the competitors ?
13. The choice of medias ?
Listen to the video about sponsorship, marketing campaign, marketing and branding
DISCLAIMER: Notice :Opinions, stories , thoughts expressed are blogger's own and do not necessarily represent the views of the institution or the organizations by which the blogger is employed or any specific person who so ever, either dead or alive.
Hi! I am a green e-mail! Unlike my brothers and sisters, my presence on the Internet does not harm our environment. Please go to greenscroll.org and help make the Internet green like me! 
