corporate sportainment
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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.TRANSCRIPT
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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
[email protected] All rights reserved, 2013