Using Radio to Make Grasroot Sport Grow

THE PREPARATIONS

Prosport, centre for sports development was formed in the end of January 2001 as a non-governmental organization with an aim to promote and develop sports in Yugoslavia, to provide material, media and organizational support to various sport disciplines and in insufficiently promoted sport categories. One of our basic aims is to encourage young people, school children and University students to go in for sports, and to develop amateurish sport without any generation limit as well.

Prosport does not have the ambition to take over the role or functions which are in domain of state institutions, but it wants to help parents, teachers, and to anyone else who finds the education of children the first priority, in order to offer some events to the boys and girls in Yugoslavia which have in other European countries already become a part of everyday life. The experience gained worldwide shows that the best way to prevent adverse manifestations is to engage the young people in sports.

Our young generation with all its talents deserves that kind of chance, which it has already proved in various sport manifestations.

The Prosport works in two directions: creating the base, introducing young people in sports world and organization of actions which should animate middle and older generation providing them good conditions for sports, which are in our country far from European standards.

WINNING TACTICS
The Prosport is doing its best to improve a bit the momentarily bad conditions with its modest means, and at the same time to encourage as many people as possible to go in for sports. Involving into this action numerous producers and merchants of sports equipment, specialized schools and institutions, active and ex sportsmen and sport clubs, with the strong media support which we have already provided, we believe that our chances to succeed are big. Investing into sport, not only professional, but in the base from which the biggest sportsmen start, became a tradition in all the world, and with it do not deal only state institutions but big sport clubs, companies and media. We intend to promote that way of thinking and to include the biggest possible number of active participants into the process of giving support to sport.

It is also very significant that we have already made certain connections with the similar associations in Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovinaand the next step would be connecting the Southeastern Europe in sports which would be the best ground for connection and closeness into the region.

The first steps have already been made thanks to our friends of ISCA. There is, in our opinion, a good programme called "Sport is the better choice" and there is still hope that this programme, the idea of which started in Copenhagen in the beginning of this year, will some day be put into effect.

STRATEGY
The bad material conditions, the lack of means both for the development of amateurish sport and for starting of actions for young people, made us to reorganize ourselves in a different way.

Exactly for that reason the Prosport consists of people whose professions deal with media and marketing, so that the projects can be completed, with a certain help of experts in sports, in the way that we planned.

In fact the system is very simple and it unites nice and useful. First we founded the media sponsors pool which consists of TV, radio station and newspaper. One of our most significant contracts was signed with ANEM (association of independent electronic media) which unites 28 radio and 16 TV stations in Serbia and Montenegro. By this contract all media sponsors obliged to give a certain marketing space and to follow the actions organized or supported by Prosport. This implies announcements of events, regular reporting and a certain space in commercial terms.

Thus cooperating, media do not merely comply their social obligations to support the event concerning the public welfare, but they also get programme exclusivity having the promoters of these actions, sports stars, as special guests giving them exclusive interviews in their programmes. Doing this they enrich their programme making it more attractive for their viewers, listeners and readers.

This cooperation is not significant only because it promotes our actions but it is also the base for financing of all the works.

MEDIA, MARKETING AND PROJECT CONNECTION
The members of Prosport are journalists, marketing experts, sportsmen, etc. Thats how the idea of self-financing events that we organize began. Thanks to the contracts of media sponsorship we can offer to our potential financiers something more than simple donations.

We made our projects interesting for big advertising companies whose campaigns deal with sport.

Whenever there is a certain project, which should be accomplished, and when the board of directors of Prosport makes a decision to start the action, first comes the marketing team which makes the offer for a potential bearer of the campaign, according to the financial construction of the project.

WHAT DOES THE SPONSOR GET
Since Prosport media sponsors follow every project, a financing company of any project gets both the advertising space and well prepared marketing campaign.

Besides the announcements in the preparation phase and inviting the greatest possible number of people, press conferences before and after the event, having participants as guests in media, the events are reported by radio and if it is technically possible TV stations.

It gives us enough advertising space, which accounts for expenses of the company, which cooperates with us. Thus the company is not only a donator but it gets a commercial even more attractive than usual in return.

This way of advertising is even cheaper than standard buying of advertising time and the company besides the good marketing move gets an image of a supporter of non-profitable project of public welfare.

AN EXAMPLE
The easiest way for explaining the system is to give a practical example. We are in the middle of negotiations with a company, which is the exclusive importer of white goods FAGOR from Spain.

Our Yugoslav company got the exclusive rights not only in Serbia and Montenegro, bat in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia as well.

Since there is a possibility of organizing the marketing project in all the three countries, the company has got many reasons to cooperate with us.

First; What do we get?

There is a possibility of financing the project which would be synchronized in three countries of the region, which would help us when there arent any donations from international institutions, to start the projects which do not aim at the sports development only, but also at renewing of the broken connections in the countries of the southeastern Europe.
Thanks to the media campaigns we popularize sports and doing this we create ground for other bigger or smaller projects.

SPONSORSHIP OFFER
Since FAGOR is a new brand here the usual marketing campaign would be very expensive. Thats why me made the project that would enable FAGOR to get in through the back door, in a less expensive, and again in a more sophisticated way to its potential buyers.

We offered them a project " Night Basketball", which can be easily organized and the experiences from USA show that it can be very effective. It is also easy to include some popular sportsmen- promoters of the action. Basketball is very popular here and this project wants to attract the young people into gyms instead of their being in the street during the time when most crimes are happening.

There are also prizes for the most successful teams and the whole action are basketball oriented and are supposed to last 30 days.
FAGOR will provide money for this project and in return they will get their advertising material everywhere where it can be easily seen: on business letters, on banners in gyms, in press conferences, in radio jingles announcing the action, in TV spots, in newspapers, etc. The main sponsor of the project will be mentioned in every interview too. In this manner one entirely unknown brand on this location will succeed in something that would otherwise require a great sum of money.

As far as media are concerned, they will not suffer any loss, because their marketing services will have already have all arranged with the sponsor company and they will have agreement concerning further cooperation, that will be paid directly to the media.

This system has proved itself effective in our country. We havent had any opportunity since now to put into effect some bigger projects but it is almost certain that our next work will be this connection with FAGOR. Our reasons for not having done more of this is the lack of money. There must be some initial financial help in order to enable us to create a strong office which could support itself alone in the future, making bigger projects and putting them into effect.

I will be glad to inform you by e-mail in the beginning of the next year of I hope successfully done first bigger project of Prosport and similar organizations in our region.