Sports marketing conference: New areas and fresh ideas

On October 26, the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus completed the educational project "Sports marketing conference".

Speakers from Belarus and the Russian Federation, together with representatives of sports federations and sports clubs, discussed the development of marketing in sports, building a brand development strategy in sports and attracting sponsors and partners.

The conference was opened by the Vice President of the Belarusian NOC Dmitry Dovgalenok who noted the importance and relevance of such events.

In the first part of the conference, experts fielded questions from the participants during a panel discussion. The speakers included the founder of the Media Football League Nikolay Osipov (Russia), the head of the commercial department at WFC CSKA Moscow Elina Magomedova (Russia), director of the Minsk cycling club Aleksei Ivanov (Belarus), the head of the marketing department of the Belarusian NOC taly Ostrovsky.

Vitaly Ostrovsky, Head of the Marketing Department at the NOC of Belarus, said that the focus is on problematic issues of sports.

"The working conditions in this area are constantly changing. We have invited speakers from Belarus and Russia. We touched upon the issues of liaising with audiences, working with limited budgets. In marketing, there are the cases when a particular project draws attention even in the absence of significant funds. We have many federations and sports clubs taking part in the event. We will continue to work in marketing," Vitaly Ostrovsky said.

During the plenary discussion, the participants proposed to create a platform at the Belarusian NOC to discuss the projects in sports marketing with the involvement of business, sports clubs and federations. The possibility of establishing special prizes of the NOC of Belarus in the field of event management and sports marketing was also discussed.

Elina Magomedova (Russia), head of the commercial department at WFC CSKA Moscow, believes that sports marketing should be developed in Belarus and Russia. She spoke about it at the conference in Minsk.

"I think that in modern sports marketing we need to trust young people more. At CSKA we try to attract young people with new creative ideas. Today we talked a lot about the development of marketing in sports clubs," Elina Magomedova said.

Nikolai Osipov, founder of the Media Football League, shared his opinion on what a modern sports marketing expert needs and also took stock of the conference.

"A modern marketing expert needs to share experience, give advice, talk about new areas. Then both your product and our product will be in better demand. We should not be afraid of experiments in marketing," he said.

Nikolai Osipov shared his personal experience of creating a now well-known football league from scratch. Over a period of two years it has attracted millions of online viewers and tens of thousands of stadiums. According to the speaker, the league has already started to earn money and attract partners. He also cited the example of tennis and wrestling to explain how to organize matches featuring famous media personalities. Secretary General of the Belarusian Wrestling Federation Mirza Abdullabekov was one of the most active participants, asking the speakers about the possibilities of popularizing the sport and attracting modern media opportunities.

Director of the Minsk cycling club Aleksei Ivanov spoke about the development of the Viva Rovar and Pershy Rovar projects. He shared his ideas for attracting sponsors and partners in the Belarusian market.

The guests praised the event and expressed their wishes to expand the topic and invite business representatives next time.

The educational project of the National Olympic Committee of Belarus "Conference on Sports Marketing" attracted more than 150 participants. Among the experts were specialists in sports marketing from Belarus and the Russian Federation.

Press service of the NOC of Belarus
Photos of the NOC of Belarus