Octagon’s proprietary Passion Drivers® research helps marketers “think like a fan” when developing sponsorship activation strategies and programs. Passion Drivers® research yields quantified information and insights into the emotional connections consumers have with sports to explain for the first time “why fans are fans.”

Knowing why fans feel the way they do about a particular sport enables sponsors to develop strategies that connect their brands to this emotional relationship in ways that truly influence consumers. Knowing the “why” also reveals that distinct fan types, that go deeper than demographic distinctions, exist within the fan base of a particular sport and that these fans follow sport for different reasons.

Octagon has conducted Passion Drivers® studies in eight countries involving more than 20,000 passionate fans. The countries are the U.S., Canada, China, France, the U.K., Australia, South Africa and Germany. This research has produced profiles of fan types across numerous sports based upon 12 Passion Drivers® factors. One or a combination of these factors draws fans to their favorite sports.

The importance of these factors in terms of the degree to which they contribute to fan passion varies significantly from sport to sport. Also, Octagon has discovered that a sport’s fan base in a particular country can include fans that follow the sport for very different reasons.

More marketers are beginning to embrace the power of passion-based marketing as an effective engagement tool. Brands can show consumers they care and effectively engage them when they understand the passion target consumers have for the sport – the key emotional connections – and use this understanding to guide sponsorship strategy and activation.

When sponsors know the “why” of fan motivation, sponsorship programs can be created from the fans’ perspective. A more disciplined approach to sponsorship replaces developing strategic messages and programs based on gut instinct and what marketers believe to be true about the “typical” fan. There are many “typical” groups of fans whose passion for sport must be understood and embraced by marketers who want to maximize their sponsorships and differentiate their brands from other companies competing in the same sports space.