The sportsman
Martin Platzer and his MPM Sponsoring Consulting, based in Vienna and Zurich, are ready for the kick-off of Euro 08.
Martin Platzer and his MPM Sponsoring Consulting, based in Vienna and Zurich, are ready for the kick-off of Euro 08.
The Swiss eleven is "flagging somewhat at a high level", and the Austrian national team is "on the upswing at a lower level", Martin Platzer is tempted to make a forecast for Euro 08. A diplomatically well-chosen answer for someone who, with offices in Vienna and Zurich, advises companies that want to play a role in some form of sponsorship or ambush marketing at the European Football Championship. In about 400 days the European Championship will start with venues in both countries at the same time. Back in 2004, Martin Platzer took this as an opportunity to set up a branch office in Zurich in addition to his regular office with nine permanent employees in Vienna. This is managed by the managing director Christian Müller and three employees. The boss from Vienna drops by for a few days at least every two weeks. "With the first plane, I can be in the office on Limmatstrasse as early as half past eight," says Platzer, who as a former professional ice hockey player is used to living out of a suitcase.
Platzer has competed for the puck as a national player for Austria four times at a World Championship and twice at an Olympics. During this time, he also completed a degree in business administration on the side. In his thesis on the economics of ice hockey, he compared American ice hockey clubs with European ones. This gave him the idea for a sponsoring company.
Martin Platzer Management MPM is a below-the-line agency. "We advise companies to the effect that we develop a sponsorship strategy from their communications strategy," explains Platzer. MPM relies on the help of extensive studies of its own: What does the population think about sponsoring? How does image transfer take place? Which industries are suitable for which type of sponsoring? MPM regularly conducts such analyses in a wide variety of markets. Then a sponsoring strategy is developed and finally the entire business is handled, from the drafting of the contract with the sponsoring partner, through creation and implementation, to success monitoring with agencies, which collect the clippings for evaluation.
Sports, culture, social issues and science can be sponsored at MPM. In recent years, the portfolio has been expanded to include corporate events, trade fairs, TV productions in connection with sponsoring and TV commercials. Well-known in Zurich, for example, is the fun sports event Freestyle.ch, where MPM produces the entire appearance, including TV spots, for the client Nokia. In a similar segment, MPM launched the music show "Lautstark" on Star TV for Nokia and Sunrise. In addition to Euro 08, it was major clients such as these that brought MPM to Zurich three years ago, in order to be able to serve the entire Alpine region "comprehensively and with natives" from here.
In the area of culture, MPM also launched the Zurich Film Festival and "invented" the Movie Mobile Award for Nokia, which this year will be further expanded into a continuing audience competition in the run-up to the festival.
In Austria, MPM was founded 15 years ago in Villach. In 1995, Platzer moved to Vienna, where he also met his life and business partner Ute Riermeier, with whom he now has two children. Among the first big customers were T-Mobile, Bank Austria, Austria Tabak or Heraklith. For this manufacturer of refractory building materials, MPM launched a sponsorship of sports clubs in the vicinity of the Heraklith plants in its first case, similar to what Bayer does with FC Leverkusen, for example. If someone wins among these top tennis, athletics, soccer or ice hockey clubs, the employees can also "feel like winners" with the sponsor, Platzer explains the psychology of this commitment.
Also in MPM's kitchen, the T-Mobile Bundesliga was conceived, realized and communicated in Austria back in 1995. For this first league name sponsoring in Europe, MPM won the International Sponsoring Award for "the best networked sponsoring". The concept later became the model for the Axpo League in Switzerland.
In his work in Zurich, Platzer appreciates that people in Switzerland are already more receptive to strategic approaches to sponsorship. "In Austria, the social network is often still decisive." But, "To do successful sponsorship, you need a strategic lean." Sponsoring golf just because the CEO likes to play golf doesn't help. Brand values must be at the forefront of the decision.
For Platzer, sponsorship in the sports sector, for example, can raise awareness many times over in a very short time. One can make image corrections and also position oneself vis-à-vis competitors.
A study conducted by MPM in Switzerland in 2005 shows that sponsorship is "the most likeable type of advertising". Wherever you consume the advertising in an environment where you feel comfortable and it's fun, the advertising doesn't bother you. "But if the advertising is thrust in your face - for example, as an annoying insert in a magazine, then it's no longer likeable for the recipient."
Platzer can also prove higher recall values for sponsorship on TV than for classic commercials. "But you have to be more creative for that." However, sponsorship also has a limited effect, because "with sponsorship, I can't explain a product, only present a name and logo and transfer an image."
In Austria, MPM has now managed 15 of the top 20 sponsors. This was another reason why Martin Platzer was looking for a new playground. In Zurich, they now want to position themselves as the "local heroes" in order to be able to serve international companies on the local market.
Planning for Euro 08 has been underway since last spring. The biggest project is a public viewing road show. Trucks are to travel to 15 cities in Switzerland and Austria to show the games on a big screen. In Switzerland, these are towns that are not among the 17 cities served by the official Uefa sponsor UBS. MPM wants to eventually have these trucks run without the official Euro 08 logo, giving a chance to companies that can't afford an official Uefa sponsorship. "We are looking for creative opportunities in ambush marketing," Platzer reveals. And he doesn't hide the fact that he finds certain Uefa rules "bullshit." "But we have very good contacts with those responsible for marketing, who think differently than certain lawyers." In general, he hopes that Uefa "doesn't do too much negative PR for this football festival" in the run-up.
How can a company legally use the Euro for itself if it is not a Euro sponsor? For MPM, this is "a great challenge and also fun, because you have to be much more creative than in the troop of official sponsors. And that's where we have a lot of know-how to offer," says Platzer, who is otherwise co-founder and still vice president of the one-hockey club Vienna Capitals, which became Austrian champion two years ago. Another hobby he has turned into his profession is social commitment. Here Platzer is proud of his project "henkel-smile.com," where donations are generated around major events, for example for children who are blind or suffering from diabetes. But not in a snivelling way, but in a fully sporting and sponsoringly professional way.
Andreas Panzeri
The Swiss eleven is "flagging somewhat at a high level", and the Austrian national team is "on the upswing at a lower level", Martin Platzer is tempted to make a forecast for Euro 08. A diplomatically well-chosen answer for someone who, with offices in Vienna and Zurich, advises companies that want to play a role in some form of sponsorship or ambush marketing at the European Football Championship. In about 400 days the European Championship will start with venues in both countries at the same time. Back in 2004, Martin Platzer took this as an opportunity to set up a branch office in Zurich in addition to his regular office with nine permanent employees in Vienna. This is managed by the managing director Christian Müller and three employees. The boss from Vienna drops by for a few days at least every two weeks. "With the first plane, I can be in the office on Limmatstrasse as early as half past eight," says Platzer, who as a former professional ice hockey player is used to living out of a suitcase.
Platzer has competed for the puck as a national player for Austria four times at a World Championship and twice at an Olympics. During this time, he also completed a degree in business administration on the side. In his thesis on the economics of ice hockey, he compared American ice hockey clubs with European ones. This gave him the idea for a sponsoring company.
Martin Platzer Management MPM is a below-the-line agency. "We advise companies to the effect that we develop a sponsorship strategy from their communications strategy," explains Platzer. MPM relies on the help of extensive studies of its own: What does the population think about sponsoring? How does image transfer take place? Which industries are suitable for which type of sponsoring? MPM regularly conducts such analyses in a wide variety of markets. Then a sponsoring strategy is developed and finally the entire business is handled, from the drafting of the contract with the sponsoring partner, through creation and implementation, to success monitoring with agencies, which collect the clippings for evaluation.
Sports, culture, social issues and science can be sponsored at MPM. In recent years, the portfolio has been expanded to include corporate events, trade fairs, TV productions in connection with sponsoring and TV commercials. Well-known in Zurich, for example, is the fun sports event Freestyle.ch, where MPM produces the entire appearance, including TV spots, for the client Nokia. In a similar segment, MPM launched the music show "Lautstark" on Star TV for Nokia and Sunrise. In addition to Euro 08, it was major clients such as these that brought MPM to Zurich three years ago, in order to be able to serve the entire Alpine region "comprehensively and with natives" from here.
In the area of culture, MPM also launched the Zurich Film Festival and "invented" the Movie Mobile Award for Nokia, which this year will be further expanded into a continuing audience competition in the run-up to the festival.
In Austria, MPM was founded 15 years ago in Villach. In 1995, Platzer moved to Vienna, where he also met his life and business partner Ute Riermeier, with whom he now has two children. Among the first big customers were T-Mobile, Bank Austria, Austria Tabak or Heraklith. For this manufacturer of refractory building materials, MPM launched a sponsorship of sports clubs in the vicinity of the Heraklith plants in its first case, similar to what Bayer does with FC Leverkusen, for example. If someone wins among these top tennis, athletics, soccer or ice hockey clubs, the employees can also "feel like winners" with the sponsor, Platzer explains the psychology of this commitment.
Also in MPM's kitchen, the T-Mobile Bundesliga was conceived, realized and communicated in Austria back in 1995. For this first league name sponsoring in Europe, MPM won the International Sponsoring Award for "the best networked sponsoring". The concept later became the model for the Axpo League in Switzerland.
In his work in Zurich, Platzer appreciates that people in Switzerland are already more receptive to strategic approaches to sponsorship. "In Austria, the social network is often still decisive." But, "To do successful sponsorship, you need a strategic lean." Sponsoring golf just because the CEO likes to play golf doesn't help. Brand values must be at the forefront of the decision.
For Platzer, sponsorship in the sports sector, for example, can raise awareness many times over in a very short time. One can make image corrections and also position oneself vis-à-vis competitors.
A study conducted by MPM in Switzerland in 2005 shows that sponsorship is "the most likeable type of advertising". Wherever you consume the advertising in an environment where you feel comfortable and it's fun, the advertising doesn't bother you. "But if the advertising is thrust in your face - for example, as an annoying insert in a magazine, then it's no longer likeable for the recipient."
Platzer can also prove higher recall values for sponsorship on TV than for classic commercials. "But you have to be more creative for that." However, sponsorship also has a limited effect, because "with sponsorship, I can't explain a product, only present a name and logo and transfer an image."
In Austria, MPM has now managed 15 of the top 20 sponsors. This was another reason why Martin Platzer was looking for a new playground. In Zurich, they now want to position themselves as the "local heroes" in order to be able to serve international companies on the local market.
Planning for Euro 08 has been underway since last spring. The biggest project is a public viewing road show. Trucks are to travel to 15 cities in Switzerland and Austria to show the games on a big screen. In Switzerland, these are towns that are not among the 17 cities served by the official Uefa sponsor UBS. MPM wants to eventually have these trucks run without the official Euro 08 logo, giving a chance to companies that can't afford an official Uefa sponsorship. "We are looking for creative opportunities in ambush marketing," Platzer reveals. And he doesn't hide the fact that he finds certain Uefa rules "bullshit." "But we have very good contacts with those responsible for marketing, who think differently than certain lawyers." In general, he hopes that Uefa "doesn't do too much negative PR for this football festival" in the run-up.
How can a company legally use the Euro for itself if it is not a Euro sponsor? For MPM, this is "a great challenge and also fun, because you have to be much more creative than in the troop of official sponsors. And that's where we have a lot of know-how to offer," says Platzer, who is otherwise co-founder and still vice president of the one-hockey club Vienna Capitals, which became Austrian champion two years ago. Another hobby he has turned into his profession is social commitment. Here Platzer is proud of his project "henkel-smile.com," where donations are generated around major events, for example for children who are blind or suffering from diabetes. But not in a snivelling way, but in a fully sporting and sponsoringly professional way.
Andreas Panzeri
