Sports Marketing Method, a new tool developed in conjunction with Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, aims to provide more sophisticated measurement of sports marketing as more advertisers incorporate the discipline into their communication plans.
Although popular sports such as baseball, soccer, golf, tennis and motor sports have long been attracting major sponsorship deals, smaller companies are now seeing the potential in more niche activities such as extreme sports, explained Hakuhodo representative Ushio Hirasawa.
"Sponsorship is becoming more diverse to meet particular purposes," Hirasawa said.
Companies are also becoming more focused with what they want sports marketing to achieve, Hirasawa added, with goals ranging from corporate image and sales promotion to social contribution and measures targeting employees.
Sport has grown increasingly popular in Japan over the past decade, with the number of people playing sport once a week increasing by over a third, with live attendance also on the rise.