Corporate Sportainment and its effect on your Brand

Building a strong employer brand

Is there a link between sportainment and the employer brand? How can HR

managers and marketers in your organization use sport and entertainment as a

way to give a positive impression of your company as a place to work?

This document will demonstrate how corporate sportainment has a direct

positive effect on employer and company branding. In today’s war on talent,

acquisition professionals realize how a strong employer brand can have a real

impact on whether or not potential candidates are interested in working in your

organization.

Corporate sportainment as a means to express your culture, environment,

values and strategic vision helps your company to build a strong and

differentiated employer brand and will help you attract and retain top tier

talent around the globe.

At Herculean, the holding company

of all Hercules Trophies worldwide,

we tend to believe in all modesty that we invented Corporate

Sportainment back in 1999. That’s

the year when we organized the first

edition of the Hercules Trophy in

Belgium.

Back in 1999 we had no idea that

Hercules Trophy was going to be a

raving success in Belgium – and

most definitely not all over the

world. At first, we thought the

reason for this success was to be

found in the amazing team building

effect. After further investigation, we

came up with our theory on emotional resonance.

To be honest: we never had the

intention to design an event with a

huge corporate impact. We just

wanted to have fun while organizing

a fabulous sports day with other

business professionals.

And that’s what we are still doing,

but it became so much more…

Sportainment. Entertainment. Festivals

The origins of Sportainment

Sportainment obviously derives from a fusion of the 2

words Sports and Entertainment. Uniting both terms

isn’t new as the word was first used about 15 years ago

describing the “razzmatazz” typically used in American

sport events with e.g. rock bands at major events like the

Super-Bowl. Using active sportainment however as a way

to unite business professionals is rather new and is a

very interesting trend to watch. It seamlessly integrates in

the new corporate wellness programs elaborated by a lot

of companies.

Role of festivals

Let’s have a closer look at Festivals and their role in social

life. Festivals, of many types, serve to meet specific

needs (in our case team sport), as well as to provide

entertainment. These times of celebration offer a sense

of belonging for specific groups, in casu business

professionals. Modern festivals that focus on cultural or

ethnic topics seek to inform members of their traditions.

In past times, festivals were times when the elderly

shared stories and transferred certain knowledge to the

next generation. Historic feasts often provided a means

for unity among families and for people to find mates.

Festivals: the 4 drivers

Scientists who studied the social aspect of music

Festivals have identified 4 drivers to participate in a

festival:

Escape

Socialization

Togetherness

Novelty

(summary from Harry van Vliet -“Festivalbeleving” University

Utrecht, The Netherlands)

If festivals manage to combine those drivers with the

specific DNA of a Festival, they become successful.

The FestivalDNA is the unique combination of all its

components. And that’s why it’s impossible to copy

festivals. You can try to copy, but people will always

say that every festival is “different”. Rock Werchter

is different from Glastonbury. Both are successful,

but different. If you ask the fans why, they would

mainly talk about the “vibes”, the atmosphere, not

about the features.

Hercules Trophy is also a unique kind of festival. A

festival of (team) sports, networking, competition,

music and entertainment for participants, spectators

and families. Everyone who has been at Hercules

Trophy goes back with a lot of positive energy and

lifetime stories to tell.

People who laugh together work together

Investing in entertainment (or in this

case more specifically sportainment)

for employees has a direct impact on

employee satisfaction within an

organization. Recently, in the aftermath

of the recent financial and economic

recession, employee satisfaction has

received more attention from decision

makers.

When we talk to CEO’s, Marketing

Directors and HR professionals from all

over the world, we experience that the

overall business mentality has shifted

from the classic “shareholders first” to

an “employees first” attitude.

As Robert Reich points out: “Your most

precious possession is not your

financial assets. Your most precious

possession is the people you have

working there, and what they carry

around in their heads, and their ability

to work together.”

More than one hundred years ago,

consumers demanded standardized

products. The products were produced

by unskilled laborers performing

repetitive tasks. Thus the impact of an

employee leaving the company wasn’t

high. It was more a matter of body

replacement.

As a result, any investment going into

employees was capital that wasn’t

allocated to investors.

That has changed dramatically, hasn’t

it?

A 2010 report by Hewitt Associates

found that companies with high levels

of engagement (65% or greater)

outperformed the total stock market

index and posted shareholder returns

19% higher than the average in 2009.

Companies with disinterested

employees on the other hand (40% or

less engagement), had a total

shareholder return that was 44%(!)

lower than the broader market.

Our beliefs

There is a “natural” order in priorities

When new trends occur, we take a step back and look at it from a broader

perspective. Why does this all of a sudden become so important and what else

stays important? We believe you should always start from the company

stakeholders when looking at company decisions. It’s about finding the right

balance and order between all stakeholders. At Herculean, we believe in the following stakeholder order when it comes to running a successful business:

1.Happy employees believing in the company

2.Produce awesome customer experiences, that generate profit

3.Of which part should be given back to society

4.And all this will eventually create shareholder value in the long run.

LinkedIn study: key

findings

A strong overall company brand

certainly helps with attracting

talent. It stands to reason that if

people admire your brand, they’re

more likely to be aware of your

company as an employer and

potentially think it would be a

good place to work.

Overall brand impacts job

consideration, though not as much

as you might think. Thinking

favorably of a company isn’t the

same as genuinely wanting to work

there.

A strong employer brand – as

indicated by an individual having a

positive impression of your

company as a place to work – is

twice as likely to be linked to job

consideration as a strong company

brand.

A strong employer brand is especially critical for attracting

more junior employees,

candidates from younger

demographics, and those outside

the country.

(Study performed in March 2012 by

LinkedIn’s Hiring Solutions Insight

Team amongst 7,250 members

worldwide.)

A 2010 report by Hewitt Associates

found that companies with high

levels of engagement (65% or

greater) outperformed the total

stock market index and posted

shareholder returns 19% higher

than the average in 2009.

Companies with disinterested

employees on the other hand (40%

or less engagement), had a total

shareholder return that was 44%(!)

lower than the broader market.

Festival of Corporate Sports

Emotional Resonance

When people are all on the same

frequency, they can surpass their

wildest dreams. In physics this is

described as “resonance” (Galileo Galilei).

The resonance between Hercules

Trophy participants enables

unique bonding experiences.

That’s why people experience an explosion of emotions during and

after the event. They go back with

the feeling that they did something

extraordinary that day and that

they found new soul mates.

To understand how Hercules Trophy

became an authority in the subject of

Employer Branding and organizational

behavior, we need to elaborate a little

on how our brand evolved.

Since we started the Hercules Trophy

in 1999, we gradually came to the

conclusion that companies didn’t only

participate for the teambuilding effect,

but used our event for other purposes.

At Hercules Trophy we offer business

people a platform, where they can be

the Star of the day, whatever their

cultural background or level of fitness.

From the continuous feedback we

learnt that the main drivers for

organizations to join the Hercules

Trophy were the following:

Corporate Branding

Employer Branding

do some good in the world

informal networking with

other market players

have fun with like-minded

people, families and spectators

included.

Our customers started using our

platform as a Festival of Corporate

Sport – as Corporate Sportainment. We

listened to what our audience wanted

and never stopped innovating the

platform. Isn’t that how great

companies grow: by responding to

their employees and their customers?

We certainly think so!

Employer brand equation: strikingly simple

A strong employer brand = more highly engaged employees =

better service to clients = more satisfied clients = more business

and more referrals = bigger bottom line.

Make no mistake: your performance is only as good as your people. We

believe that before the economic recession, a lot of companies had other

priorities. To put it bluntly:

1. Shareholders need short term, unrealistic returns.

2. Therefor companies tried to sell as much as possible, quarter after

quarter, in order to show growth and please shareholders. Regardless

of quality. No matter what the effect is on customer relationships.

3. To maximize profits further, cost cuts are crucial. Employees and

suppliers are the biggest costs, so let’s cut there.

4. “Giving back to society is an interesting way to avoid taxes and to do

cheap marketing”.

We all know how that turned out, right? You don’t need a degree in rocket

science to understand why employer brand has become strategic: after the

recession most companies have realized that employees come first, not

shareholders. They had forgotten that during the crazy years.

Let’s not forget that ever again – ever.

Ceci n’est pas un

teambuilding

When we created Hercules

Trophy, we never thought of using

it as an organizational tool. Even

though it wasn’t our initial

intention, we must conclude that

Hercules Trophy supports

organizations in all aspects

mentioned in this document.

Employees experience the best

day of the year. Their happiness

factor increases by doing sports

with colleagues. They are grateful

towards their employer for getting

this opportunity. They represent

their company with pride against

other market players and

customers. Stronger inter-personal

relationships are created.

Some companies take it one step

further and become sponsor of the

event. They consider it to be the

most efficient way to connect the

brand to business people.

Spectators join the event and

involve the family with the

corporate brand.

Last but not least: the participants

give back through the Herculix

Foundation to charity which makes

them proud again.

And all this on just one day, that’s

Sportainment of the future.

Herculean cvba

www.herculestrophy.com

info@herculestrophy.com All rights reserved, 2013