Neill Duffy
Chief Executive & Founder
In brief, what does 17 Sport do and what is your approach to sponsorship and partnerships?
17 Sport is the world’s first sports impact company, a certified B Corp operating at the intersection of sport, business and purpose.
We provide strategic, commercial, activation and measurement solutions to progressive brands, sport properties and athletes to help them deliver positive business, social and environmental outcomes. In short, to do well by doing good through sport.
What approach differentiates 17 Sport and makes your sponsorship strategy unique?
At 17 Sport, we believe that purpose-led sponsorships are more effective than traditional sponsorships in building trust, relevance, loyalty and advocacy – both internally and externally. We therefore lead with purpose in everything we do.
For us, being purposeful is about more than just acting responsibly but rather finding ways to leverage one’s resources, influence and ecosystem to help solve important social and/or environmental challenges while also delivering positive business outcomes.
All our work starts with identifying the “why” behind our partners’ investment in sport, i.e. what is the problem they want to solve, “how” they can best go about achieving this and “what” we can do together to drive the social, environmental and business outcomes that they desire.
What do you see as current trends within sponsorship, and how are they affecting how you work and how you deliver on strategy?
Because people care about what a brand stands for and the difference it is making in the world, sponsors are increasingly looking for ways to activate their investment in sport in a purposeful way having recognised that doing so is good for business.
Ninety-one per cent of respondents in 17 Sport’s recent Sport & Purpose Survey – senior marketing executives from around the world – indicated that purpose-led sponsorships perform better than traditional sponsorship campaigns, particularly in terms of enhancing brand perceptions. As a consequence, 72% believe that purpose-focused sponsorship activations are likely to increase in the coming years.
Progressive sponsors are starting to leverage their influence with sports properties to encourage them to start contributing in a more meaningful way towards building a sustainable future for the world. An example of this is an initiative like the Sports Sponsors Climate Pledge, which was launched in 2023 by ChangeNOW and 17 Sport and signed by sponsors Accor Group, EDF, Orange and Sodexo.
Each of them committed to demanding that the sports events they sponsor set science-based, carbon-reduction objectives aligned with the Paris Agreement and certified by an independent third party.
Wider Goals podcast with Neill Duffy
Sponsors are also recognising the increasingly important role that more and more athletes are playing in driving the positive transformation of sport into a force for good. As a consequence, athletes are playing an increasingly important role in the sponsorship mix, as evidenced by the large number of corporate teams that are being deployed by sponsors of the IOC, IPC and Paris 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.
More and more athletes are also being more discerning in their choices vis-a-vis which sponsors they align with, as evidenced by Kylian Mbappe recently refusing to promote a national French soccer team sponsor with whom he did not feel aligned from a values perspective.
Also, sponsors are more open than at any time in history to collaborating with other like-minded organisations and individuals to leverage their collective influence and resources to help solve important challenges together.
Purpose-led coalitions initiated by 17 Sport like Go Green Africa, the Sport Sponsors Climate Pledge and the Adaptive Sport Coalition in Southern California are great examples of this growing trend.
How has sponsorship changed for 17 Sport over the past few years, and what predictions can you make about how it’s going to change in the next five years?
The power of sponsorship is increasingly becoming recognised by brands as much more than just a cost-effective media buy, hospitality opportunity or fan engagement tool. Companies also need their sponsorships to help them connect with their Gen Z and Gen A audiences in ways that make it clear what they stand for and how they are contributing towards building a positive future for the world.
Those sports properties that best recognise this and are able to transform their value propositions from an advertising equivalent value-based model to a value-for-people-and-planet model will be the ones that will draw the most sponsors’ attention and thrive in the coming years. And those that actively involve the fans in doing good with them will fare even better.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Our work starts with the permission our partners give us to think and act differently. We couldn’t do what we do without the trust, commitment and support that we receive from the likes of adidas, the IOC, Sanofi, WIPRO, Formula E Cape Town, Go Green Africa, ChangeNOW, Weleda, EDF, and athletes like Ezra Frech, Clervie Ngounoue, Nicolas Mahut and Benoit Badiashile, for which are forever grateful.
