Business and Sports
One of the most popular clichés in sports is how “business and sports are a perfect mix.” Yes, one can do business, score deals and bond with customers in sports, and we often see this on the court.
The most common phenomenon in this department is how top level CEO’s and company heads close deals and talk business over a round of golf at their favorite golf courses. A bottle of beer or dinner after a round of golf becomes the final icing on the cake of a business deal discussed over four hours of walking together in a CEO’s biggest “office,” the golf course.
While this may be true for business owners, CEO’s and company presidents, those of us in the lower echelons of the work force also have our own share of business deals struck while playing our favorite sport with customers, clients or partners. While this may not involve the millions of pesos that are the usual topics out in golf courses, the numbers are good enough to survive and support a family.
One of the most unique scenarios in this business and sports approach has been the Davies Cup basketball tournament organized by Davies Paints. It wasn’t a golf tournament and neither did it involve company owners or CEO’s. The tournament brought together under one roof a bunch of architects, painters and painting contractors for a friendly series of basketball games.
Basketball became the unique way for Davies Paints to touch base and bond with a wide group of clients who make the decisions in the painting industry. There were three teams of architects, the people who design the houses in which we live and the buildings where we hold office. There were two teams from the civil engineers or contractors field, the people who build our homes and buildings. And last but not least, there were five teams of painting contractors, the same people who do the actual painting of the buildings designed by architects and built by contractors.
The purpose of the whole tournament was pretty obvious. From a business standpoint, Davies Paints wanted to increase its sales in the competitive world of the paint industry. They then realized that they needed to “win” the hearts of their customers somehow, and one way was to have them play their favorite sport of basketball. It wasn’t difficult to gather ten teams of customers and potential clients since practically everyone in the industry plays hoops. The ten teams were then named after ten products of Davies Paints, and the schedule of games was designed to fit their working hours. Games were played only every weekend (Saturdays and Sundays).
From the looks of it, it sounds just like any other ordinary basketball tournament being played by weekend warriors, i.e. those who play for fun. While this is true, there’s an underlying message being sent to all those playing in the tournament. Davies Paints as a supplier, is giving its customers a unique opportunity to play a game that they love in an actual tournament. It isn’t that often that one gets to play in situations such as this.
The same is also true for other types of basketball leagues, but this one has a more focused and “zeroed in” purpose. It’s a paint manufacturer talking to those who make the decisions in the painting industry.
At the end of the day, the bottom line of the project will still be business. If Davies Paints can maintain at least a 50% patronage from the ten teams that played in the tournament, I’m sure they’ll be more than happy. If five contractors use Davies Paints for their next projects, then the tournament can be considered a success. If even only one of the three teams of architects recommend Davies Paints for their next houses, office buildings or factories that are about to be constructed, then the Davies Cup worked.
The Davies Cup isn’t anything new or unique. We see this being repeated when pharmaceutical companies sponsor golf tournaments for doctors. We also have situations where top companies bankroll the tournaments of their favored clients. On a younger scale, we have a beverage like
That’s what business and sports is all about. Athletes are also customers and the products that they patronize can easily find a common ground where they can all converge: sports.
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