Why it’s better to outsmart the competition, than outspend

01 July 2024

With a large part of Cazoo’s demise being attributed to an overzealous approach to sponsorship, we explore why an effective sponsorship strategy is more important than your budget.

Last month Cazoo fell into administration just three years after committing to an estimated $36m spend on sponsorship across Europe alone. While the precarious nature of the post Covid automotive industry was no doubt the dominating factor in their demise, there are still questions to be asked about why an enormous budget failed to save the brand.

A blinkered approach to audience

The purpose of sponsorship is to drive sales and build positive brand associations that set you up for the long term. Partnerships should raise your profile, enhance credibility and connect you to new audiences.

Seeming to lean into the trope that car buying is led by men, Cazoo aligned themselves with every sport that over-indexed on an ABC1 Male target. On paper, this approach should have worked. However, this blinkered focus to sponsorship actually limited their exposure. They were stuck in the same echo chambers, capping the numbers of new entrants into the brand. In a long car buying process with multiple influences, you need as many people open to your brand as possible and Cazoo’s strategy meant their influence would only ever go so far. 

 

Presence that lacked purpose

Snapping up sporting rights across multiple Premier League teams, cricket, golf, rugby and horse racing, Cazoo left no sponsorship stone unturned. Unfortunately the partnerships said little about the brand.

While their approach helped increase awareness to 60%, YouGov data showed the dominant opinion on the brand was neutrality. This is because they didn’t build an alliance with fans. An example of the inadvertent apathy caused by their scattergun approach was Aston Villa vs Everton—known as the Premier League “Cazoo Derby” due to presence on both teams’ shirts. A moment in the football calendar where Cazoo couldn’t pick a side to champion for fear of blurred allegiances. By not fully utilising the power of fans Cazoo relegated themselves to a label on a shirt, rather than part of the sporting community.

Shaping sponsorship strategy around a creative platform

In 2022 our client Heycar was being outspent by Cazoo 3x1. Our award winning campaign that ultimately saw Heycar tripling its brand awareness and overtaking Cazoo, as well as Cinch, in search and sponsorship was an integral part of our solution.

Knowing we couldn't afford to be at the most well-known sports events, we needed a sponsorship strategy that outmanoeuvred brands like Cazoo and Cinch, raising awareness of Heycar as an alternative choice for buying your next car.   

We had already created a distinctive creative platform ‘Buying a car never felt so good’ and this foundation allowed us to be single-minded about only sponsoring sports and events in feel good emotional territories because that was how it felt purchasing a vehicle with Heycar.

Though our choices to sponsor comedy and music events or World’s Strongest Man were not the highest profile or most expensive, they were guaranteed to reinforce the feel good moments we wanted to be associated with. 

 

Activating sponsorship through the line

Consumers expect brands to be highly entertaining and engaging, so for Heycar simply being in the right places wasn't enough. We were determined to breathe life into partnerships across channels by developing content that added a new perspective to our sponsorship; From onsite activations to developing behind the scenes content and working with affiliated talent on their own channels.   

Although Cazoo chose properties that would amplify the brand, they missed opportunities to squeeze incremental equity out of those partnerships that would add more substance to the associations they were building.

 

Four takeaways for brands approaching sponsorship:

1. Select partners based on your brand platform

Scattergun sponsorship is not a strategy decisions need to be driven by a bigger idea. Start with what message you want the sponsorship to reinforce about your brand and then select associations that are truly relevant. 

2. Add value through engagement

Don’t just settle for plastering the brand everywhere you can. You also need to create content off the back of your affiliations that ingrain you into the hearts and minds of communities that you’re trying to connect with.

3. Understand all your audiences

A nuanced understanding of who you’re trying to reach and what motivates them will help you think outside the box when it comes to sponsorship. Overcoming audience misconceptions that prevent a cross sector strategy.

4. Know what sponsorship success looks like

Measuring effectiveness is part of any campaign but when it comes to sponsorship clear KPIs that hold partners accountable and regular reporting can help you pivot when circumstances demand a change in approach. 

 

Cazoo is proof that a big sponsorship budget does not equate to big results. But, a clear brand strategy will help you make decisions that reap the long term brand benefits of sponsorship allowing businesses of all shapes and sizes to outsmart their competition, rather than outspend.