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The Two Leaders

ActiveJet has been the main sponsor of Legia Warszawa since November 2011. Over this time this brand, whose offering includes but is not limited to printer toners and inks, lighting (including LED) and UPS power supply devices, has not only reinforced its position of industry leader, but also increased its market share. Most importantly, this happened while the demand for alternative printing consumables was in significant decline. The decision to sponsor the leading Polish football team definitely contributed to achieving such a good result. According to the study conducted by Pentagon Research the total media value of sport sponsorship in Poland in 2012 reached PLN 2,5 billion, and in comparison to 2001 it grew twelvefold. The first place in the ranking of sports disciplines belongs to football whose media value in 2012 was estimated for PLN 1 160 billion. Studies also show that sport marketing becomes an increasingly popular and effective method of image promotion and reaching the client. ActiveJet used the “EURO 2012 effect” well by deciding to sponsor a leading Polish team during the time when the public opinion’s interesting in football reached record levels.

“I was a member of Legia Warszawa’s track and field division for many years. Actually, I could say that was growing up together with this club. Business and sport have a lot in common and they can complement one another. This synergy is achieved in, among other things, Legia’s sports marketing, because the fans are also our target group. We can already see that the money invested in sponsoring Legia has borne interest. The brand’s sales grow despite the declining market, and on only one day the value of the football players’ photos together with a visible logo amounted to PLN 0,5 million, and that’s only in print. This shows what value Legia’s players create for ActiveJet on the field,” commented Piotr Bieliński, Chairman of the Board of ACTION S.A.M

“By sponsoring Legia Warszawa we have managed to achieve very good sales. The interest in the club is huge. Studies show that Legia has more than 2 million dedicated fans in Poland. Furthermore, the frequency with which the players wearing shirts with the ActiveJet logo appear on TV, in the papers and on the internet made the ActiveJet brand easily recognisable. This in turn facilitated the conclusion of new distribution agreement with, e.g. the Metro Group chain. By sponsoring Legia Warszawa we also decided to optimise the traditional advertisements. Having analysed various scenarios, we concluded that acting as the Main Sponsor of Legia Warszawa we will also support our Partners who sell the ActiveJet products to end clients. We were the first company from this industry in the world to become involved in sponsorship on such a scale, and we are now observing extremely satisfactory business results of this collaboration,” said Rafał Ornowski, BoM Representative for the Brand at ACTION S.A.

The Legia Warszawa Effect

ActiveJet uses the marketing “Legia Effect” in several ways. ActiveJet logos can be found on the players’ shirts and in various sections of the stadium. This way they can be noticed not only by the fans at the stadium (on average there are 21.000 spectators), but also by hundreds of thousands of football fans following the game on TV. Legia Warszawa has also issued the greatest number of club fan cards from all the football clubs in the league: more than 210 thousand. The brand’s recognisability if reinforced by the presence in the printed media and online. Calculation made for the printed press show that the AVE reach index for publications made only on 20 August 2012 amounted to more than PLN 0,5 million, and texts featuring a large ActiveJet logo were published in the most popular dailies, including but not limited to, Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita and Super Express. During the whole 2011/2012 season Legia Warszawa was mentioned in press and on the internet 25 224 times. This proves how popular this capital football club is.

The Most Media-friendly Team in the First League

Legia Warszawa placed first in the First League of Football Business 2012 ranking organised by the international consulting company Ernst & Young, also taking the first place in two sub-categories: media-friendliness and effectiveness. Legia Warszawa’s success was assured on the one hand by its sports results, and on the other by its commercial success. Legia owes its top position in the “media-friendliness” category to its very good performance in the Europe League, winning the Polish Cup and placing third in the First League. This also translated into the greatest value of Legia Warszawa’s club shirt in the league (advertising equivalent) that exceeded PLN 15 million. On the one hand this proves the interest in, and on the other – the marketing value of the club seated in Łazienkowska street.

Legia’s Players in ACTION

On 23 April the team and the coaches of Legia Warszawa visited the facilities of ACTION S.A. in Zamień. Piotr Bieliński, Chairman of the Board of ACTION S.A., greeted the guests, praising their achievements, and wished them further successes and the title of the Champion of Poland. ACTION’s president received a shirt with his name and the number 1 printed on it, after which he invited the guests for a tour of the company’s logistics centre. Edward Wojtysiak, Vice-President of the Board of ACTION S.A., described the latest technologies used in storage and freight forwarding of goods. During the day the warehouse employees chatted with the players, collected autographs and had photographs taken with them. Then, Legia’s players and their coaches attended a meeting with ActiveJet clients and ACTION’s employees. The visit ended after 3 PM when Legia’s players had to depart for their afternoon training.

The data used in this article are based on the Ernst & Young report entitled The First League of Football Business 2012, the Sport and Money Report prepared by the Businessman.pl weekly, the data from the generally available Pentago Research study results, and own calculations.