👋 Hey, it’s Alex. Welcome back to Sponcon Sports, my weekly newsletter dedicated to sponsored content strategy in the sports industry!

Bowl season is here and it arrived with some controversy around the College Football Playoff committee’s selection of who will get to play for a National Championship. Speaking of Alabama…the Duke’s Mayo Bowl turned jeers into cheers with this hilarious, Bama Rush-themed video.

It’s a great case study on how brands can make the most of their event sponsorship - capturing attention and driving affinity - through digital content.

In Today’s Edition:

• Where To Put Partner Logos 🗺️ 

• TikTok Trend Turned Sponcon 👃 

• Must Try Creator Collab 📸 

🏊 DEEP DIVE
Where You Should Place Partner Logos in Sponcon

Almost every partner will pose the question, "Can you make the logo bigger?" However, a prevalent oversight in sports lies in ensuring logo clarity.

Have you ever posted sponsored content on social media only to realize that an icon is obstructing your partner's logo? Cue the metaphorical walk of shame.

• Flagging the issue to Partnerships Activation.

• Your partner reaching out in real-time after noticing the problem.

• The awkward conversation with the design team to adjust the sponsored content layout after the season has already commenced.

Every team should be proactive by creating mock-ups of sponsored content on each platform using private accounts. This ensures a clear understanding of how a post will appear after it’s published.

Nevertheless, social media platforms have become a minefield for logo placement, with each platform presenting its own unique game of Minesweeper.

Icons lack consistency across platforms and even within a platform, depending on the content type.

To guide you through the potential pitfalls, I've compiled the cheat sheet below, which serves as your roadmap to identify icons that may obstruct partner logos.

Share this resource organization-wide to help your team understand the no-fly zones for logo placement in social media content.

At the very least, distribute it to your partnerships team so they can provide the rationale for decisions regarding brand logo placement to partners. Share it with your design team as well, enabling them to save time by avoiding unnecessary edits.

Reply to this email if you'd like a PDF of the Logo Placement Cheat Sheet!

Facebook

Best Logo Placement

• Feed: Top-Left or Bottom-Left Corners.

• Reels: Top-Left corner, below the Back Arrow icon.

• Stories: Bottom-Right Corner.

Additional Notes

• Image: If you tag a partner in the copy instead of using the Branded Content Tool, a logo in the top-right corner will not be obstructed.

• Video: There will always be an icon in the top-right corner. Either the partnership info icon (when BCT is used) or the floating video icon (when BCT is not used).

• Reels: If logo inclusion is not possible through product integration or set design, placing it just below the icons at the top of the screen is best. If using a lower-third, be sure it enters the screen from left to right, rather than the traditional, right to left.

• Stories: While the bottom left starts unobstructed, any comments on the Story will appear in that area.

X/Twitter

Best Logo Placement

• All: Top-Left corner. There are other options based on content type, but if you want to standardize placement, the top-left corner is never obstructed by icons.

Additional Notes

• Image: The alt text icon will only appear when it’s utilized.

• Video: The total running time icon disappears on mobile after a few seconds. The closed captioning icon only appears in the top-right corner on a mobile device.

Instagram

Best Logo Placement

• Image + Carousel: Top-left corner.

• Reels: Top corners, below the icons. Example - Los Angeles Rams with Bud Light and Audi.

• Stories: Entire bottom bar.

Additional Notes

• Carousel: The card number icon in the top-right corner does not always appear for creative in a 16×9 aspect ratio.

• Reels: If the content is NOT in a 9×16 aspect ratio (e.g. 1'x1 or 16×9), the top-left corner will be open. If using a lower-third, be sure it enters the screen from left to right, rather than the traditional, right to left.

• Stories: If placing logos at the top, be aware that “Paid Partnership with [insert brand handle] will appear below your handle/avatar.

TikTok

Best Logo Placement

• Video: Top corners, below the icons.

• Stories: Top-left corner.

Additional Notes

• Video: Stay away from the bottom-left (above your handle). Location tagging, the repost icon, or closed captioning can appear there.

• All: If using a lower-third, be sure it enters the screen from left to right, rather than the traditional, right to left.

YouTube

Best Logo Placement

• Video: Top corners. The bottom-left corner is also open but is more likely to get in the way of the action in the video.

• Shorts: Top-left corner

Additional Notes

• Video: The total running time only appears in the bottom-right corner of the thumbnail.

• Shorts: In addition to your handle in the bottom left of Shorts, a recommended keyword search will appear in that area, above your handle.

Snapchat

Best Logo Placement

• Following + Discover: Bottom-left corner

• Spotlight: Top corners, below the icons.

Additional Notes

• Following + Discover: The add icon appears in the top-right corner if a user is not subscribed to your account. If a user is following your account a bell icon will appear in the top-right corner so they can set notifications for your content.

Threads

Best Logo Placement

• Video: Top corners. The bottom-left corner is also open. All things being equal, focus on the top of the creative in case users do not scroll down to see 100% of the creative in a post.

Additional Notes

• Overall: Because this is a new platform, the only icon as of December 2023 is the sound icon for videos. Given how many icons are used on the other Meta platforms, I assume more will be added as Threads matures.

💼 CASE STUDY
Sponsored Content of the Week

The Orlando Magic did a great job aligning their partner Take 5 Oil Change with a social-first concept for sponsored content.

Paolo Banchero and Cole Anthony faced off in a fantasy draft of the best smells. This format was popularized on TikTok earlier this year. The Magic ran this content piece across TikTok, Instagram Reels, X, Facebook, and YouTube Shorts.

Sponsored or otherwise, this is a strong way to help Magic fans get to learn more about their young stars off the court. Player personality shined here! I mean, “Have you ever been to a chocolate factory?”

I love the subtle connection between the game’s framework and the brand. Each player is essentially giving five takes in a Take 5 sponsored post.

Back to our dive into logo placement, the Take 5 branding is front and center - which as discussed may be best for vertical content - but out of the way enough where it doesn’t get in the way of what fans want to watch.

The Results
This sponcon generated 568.9K views and 40.3K engagements.

Instagram Reels had the top-performing channel in terms of reach and engagement, producing 61% of the views (346.0K), 62% of the engagement (25.0K), and a 7.2% engagement rate.

🔍 SPONCONSPIRATION
Steal These Ideas

The Seattle Seahawks celebrated their second throwback week collabing with @90s.talgic for 90’s-themed questions of the day presented by Microsoft Surface - the players were into it!

This collab from Fulham FC and Miles Myerscough-Harris (@ExpiredFilmClub) is best-in-class. I’m dying to see a team get a camera company, like Cannon, on a content series like this

Very clever solution from the Boston Celtics, optimizing for speed with time-sensitive injury information. Their New England Baptist Hospital injury report posts on X are text only.

Shout out to Manchester United and the Dallas Mavericks. Truly appreciate how they included their primary jersey partners, TeamViewer and Chime, in hand-drawn social content.

Someone at the Detroit Red Wings needs a raise. From the makers of the Gravy Zamboni, I present to you the Griddy-Head presented by Little Caesars.

🚨 ICYMI
What To Watch For

The Real Emerging Channels: It’s time to retire labeling TikTok as an emerging channel. TeamWorkOnline’s Davis Filippell provides three other emerging channels sports teams should be focusing on.

International Cricket Council Case Study: Proem Sports’ Kazi Ataharul Islam provides a great in-depth breakdown of the ICC’s massive fan engagement strategy from the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

2024 Digital Trends: IMG broke down the technologies and developments that they think will shape the digital landscape over the next year.

Must Listen: Bill Voth joined Neil Horowitz on the Digital and Social Media Sports Podcast for a conversation about content strategy development as well as the importance of having a digital partnerships specialist on staff.

Stat of the Week: Connecting with fans digitally and experientially is becoming even more important. 69% of fans, particularly from younger generations, now prefer watching sports outside the venue [Capgemini Research Institute].