Big Business Tries to Build Better Image

Why would the Ford Motor Company, which builds products designed specifically for adults, pour thousands of dollars into high school sports when those athletes are several years away from purchasing any of their products?

Why not?

That seems to be the reasoning Ford and several other corporations use when explaining why they allocate part of their marketing or public relations budgets to the CIF Southern Section.

There aren’t many short-term, measurable benefits for Ford, which donates $5,000 to $10,000 a year to co-sponsor the Southern Section basketball championships. No 15-year-old is going to run out and buy a Mustang after seeing a Ford advertisement in the championship-game program.

But maybe, Ford hopes, when high school students are ready to buy a car down the road, they’ll remember it was Ford that helped underwrite those basketball championships.

“If we based this on someone buying a car, we probably wouldn’t do it,” said Bob Harner, Ford’s Western Regional Public Affairs manager. “We do it for the long-term awareness of our company. We want to be a favorable name when they go to buy cars.”

Most corporations that sponsor high school athletics do not expect immediate returns on their investments. They are more interested in creating a positive image and good will. They believe that it is their responsibility to “give something back to the community,” and promoting high school sports is one way to do it.

It’s also good public relations.

Who wouldn’t want to be associated with high school sports? There may be a recruiting scandal every now and then and some may wonder whether there is too much emphasis placed on winning, but, on the whole, high school sports are still considered healthy.

Coca-Cola has long been involved with sports advertising and marketing, from the professional level on down. Coke currently pays for the awards at Southern Section championship events, and it supplies its soft drinks for participants of those events.

In addition, Coke is involved with the Orange County Athletic Directors Assn. and sponsors a most valuable player award, given to a boy and girl in every sport in every Orange County league. Coke presents a trophy at the individual’s awards banquet and provides drinks at the event.

“I think Coca-Cola realized a long time ago the importance of sports as an activity people enjoy being involved with,” said Dennis Anderson, Coca-Cola Youth Marketing Coordinator in Los Angeles. “They fit our image of fun and refreshment and good, wholesome activities.

“And, of course, they (high school kids) are the future buyers of our product and we feel it’s important that they realize Coke has been interested in them all along. We’re not really hard-selling to the youth. Certainly, sales are important, but in my area, marketing development, I like to do things that build a real positive image.”

Said Chuck Benner, public relations director for Adohr Farms, a Southern Section sponsor: “You never know when you’re going to get anything out of it, but we feel we owe it to the community to do anything we can to help youths. Sports seems to be what interests kids the most, so we do that.”

Adohr Farms, producer of dairy products, sponsors the Southern Section’s Shake-Hands-For-Sportsmanship awards. For three years, the company has presented a plaque at a Dodger game to a team from each of the section’s 61 leagues that best exemplifies sportsmanship, from the playing fields to the drill team.

In exchange, the CIF gives Adohr Farms a full-page ad in the championship-game programs for each sport.

“People seem to know Adohr Farms because of our involvement and we get a lot of nice comments about that,” Benner said. “The kids playing sports today are the homeowners of tomorrow who are going to be buying the products. We want people to identify with our products.”

Whereas most companies are aiming for long-term benefits, others have found some immediate, measurable results.

Before becoming a Southern Section sponsor three years ago, The Finals, a corporation specializing in team sales of competitive swimwear products, supplied about 45% of the section’s swim teams.

According to Brad Glenn, who handles marketing, sales and promotions for the Long Beach-based company, The Finals has increased its share of the prep aquatic market to about 60%.

“We do a little better in the Southern Section because of our sponsorship,” Glenn said.

The Finals donates about $7,500 a year to the Southern Section, which uses the money to help finance its swimming and water polo championships. In return, the company, which bypasses retail stores and sells directly to teams, receives a full-page advertisement in each of the championship-game programs.

Business has improved because of CIF sponsorship, but Glenn, a former swimmer at Southern Illinois University and the University of Maryland, stressed that increased sales were not the motive for The Finals’ sponsorship.

“We’re a company founded by swimmers and we like putting some of our profits back into the sport,” Glenn said.