‘Sustainable hype’: One CMO’s playbook for sports sponsorships
Joining education platform Udemy as CMO a year ago with a goal to drive brand awareness, Genefa Murphy convinced the business to explore sports partnerships.
By Molly Innes
Sports sponsorships are evolving beyond brands simply sticking a logo on a football kit or car bumper, becoming multi-faceted partnerships that help marketers increase sales, drive brand awareness, connect with different audiences and grow brand loyalty.
Such tie-ups are, however, pretty expensive and while measuring the impact of sponsorship is getting easier, convincing any CFO of its merits from a standing start is tricky territory for even the most established CMOs.
Genefa Murphy joined education platform Udemy a year ago, after a career spanning various senior marketing roles in the tech sector. With a brief to grow brand awareness, one of her first moves was to convince the CEO to invest in sports partnerships, noticing the opportunity sponsorship offered for the then 13-year-old business.
When it came to getting sign off for Udemy’s deal with McLaren Racing, Murphy explains “there was definitely some convincing needed”.
