Sports Marketers Not Doing Their Jobs – Tinubu

Deji Tinubu

 The Chairman of the Lagos State Sports Commission, Deji Tinubu, has blamed the failure of corporate bodies to sponsor young athletes in the country on the failure of sports marketers to do their jobs.

Tinubu, who spoke with our correspondent in Lagos, said sports marketers had failed to convince the companies on their plans for the athletes.

He said, “One of the problems we have in Nigeria is presenting a case. The antecedent that you need to convince these companies is not there and the sports marketers have not been working enough to convince these companies about their plans.

“These companies want to see integrity, dedication and professionalism. You have to present your case to them that on what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it before the companies can buy or key into it.

“Many people go to the companies that they have athletes, which they want them to support, and they think the corporate bodies will jump at it. It is not going to happen that way. Many people call who themselves sports marketers in Nigeria do not truly know how the job is done.”

The LSSC boss said that corporate bodies needed to understand the rudiments of sports sponsorship, adding that they should see athlete sponsorship as a long-term investment.

“The goal of sports marketing should be to let the organisations know that the investment they are putting into the athletes is not for the short-term rather it is a long-term project which they would gain from when the athletes begin to succeed,” he said.

“For instance, when a company sponsors a young athlete for a period of four years, it will cover the athletes’ nutrition, training costs, education and others which will help the athlete to focus on the task of winning laurels. When such an athlete succeeds, the company’s name will surely be a part of the success story.

“Also corporate sponsors need to realise that they need to invest in young athletes and be a part of their success story rather than going after ready-made ones. Today everyone knows Usain Bolt but some companies were responsible for his getting to this stage of his career.”