The Modern Advertising Dilemma
These days, reaching people with ads feels way harder than it used to be. Everyone is all over the place online, jumping from one app to another. Old-school TV commercials just don’t hit the same anymore. A lot of folks stream everything now, fast-forward past the ads, or scroll on their phones while the game is on. Because of that, big companies keep pouring money into sports sponsorships. They know fans still show up for live games and actually watch them without skipping. The problem is, almost every brand does the same thing now. Stadiums are packed with logos. So how does any single company make its mark stick in people’s heads?
The Significance of Sports Sponsorship in a Fragmented Media Landscape
Sports remain one of the last places where millions of people sit down at the exact same moment to watch something together. Back in 2018, an amazing 88 of the 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in the United States were sports events. That number still blows my mind whenever I think about it. Globally, companies spent more than $62 billion on sports sponsorships that year, and the number keeps climbing faster than regular advertising money. Sports deals grew about 4.3 percent while normal ads only went up 2.6 percent.
People watch games live, often with friends or family, yelling at the screen together. That shared excitement creates feelings that regular commercials rarely touch. Brands love piggybacking on those emotions.
Visual Identity and Branding in Sports Sponsorships
For anyone handling a brand, getting the logo seen clearly during a fast-moving game matters a lot. The camera flashes past jerseys, boards, and cups for maybe half a second. You have to make that tiny moment count. Most companies stick to their usual colors year after year so people recognize them instantly. Yet a few brave ones started copying the team colors instead.
Bud Light, for example, has been doing this since 2016 with its NFL deals. Instead of the famous blue can, they print special cans in the exact colors of whichever team they sponsor that week. It looks strange at first if you’re used to the normal blue, but fans grab those cans like crazy at tailgates. Kaiser Permanente did something similar at Fenway Park; they turned their normal blue logo bright red to match the Boston Red Sox. The big question everyone asks is simple: does matching the team color actually help people remember and like the brand more, or does it just blend in too much?
The Debate: Is Color Matching a Winning Strategy?
People argue about this all the time. Some research says contrasting colors pop more and grab attention faster. Think bright yellow logo on a dark green jersey; your eye goes straight to it. Other studies say when the sponsor logo looks like it belongs to the team, fans feel the company really cares. It feels less like an ad and more like the brand is part of the family.
A group of researchers got curious and ran real experiments to see what actually happens inside fans’ heads when colors match or clash.
Methodology and Findings: Color Congruence in Action
Study 1: Real-World Sponsorship Evaluations in MLB Stadiums
The researchers went to actual Major League Baseball games and talked to 703 fans. Together those fans gave 15,289 separate opinions about different sponsors they saw around the ballpark. Whenever a sponsor’s logo used the same main color as the home team, fans liked that sponsor better. The feeling was clearly warmer. But the trick only worked well for regular attendees who already knew the brands a little. New fans or people with color blindness didn’t notice the difference much. Makes sense when you think about it; if you barely go to games, one more logo is just one more logo.
Study 2: Custom Packaging and Team Identity
Next, they looked at beer cans, pretty much copying what Bud Light does every football season. They showed fans two versions side by side: normal packaging and special team-color packaging. Almost everyone said the team-color can felt more like the brand truly supported their guys. Some fans even said they would pick that can over their usual drink when watching the game. Little change, big feeling of belonging.
Study 3: Digital Advertising and Brand Performance Metrics
For the third test, they moved online and watched NBA fans react to ads for the Golden State Warriors and their big sponsor Rakuten. When the digital banner or video ad used Warriors blue and yellow instead of Rakuten’s usual red, fans smiled more (well, at least they clicked more and said nicer things). Purchase intent went up, they remembered the brand longer, and they were more likely to talk about it with friends. Funny thing though; people who didn’t care about the Warriors at all barely noticed any difference. The magic only happens when the person already loves the team.
The Strategic Importance of Color in Sponsorships
Put all three studies together and the message is pretty clear. When a company takes the trouble to wear the team’s colors, even just for one campaign, passionate fans notice and reward them with warmer feelings. Sometimes those feelings turn into real sales at the store or clicks online. But if the person watching doesn’t care about the team, the whole effort is kind of wasted on them.
So the smart move isn’t to always change colors or never change colors. The smart move is to know your crowd. If your target is the die-hard supporter who paints their face every Sunday, go ahead and paint your logo their color too. They’ll love you for it. If you’re trying to reach everybody walking past the soda aisle, maybe stick to what people already know.
Sports sponsorship isn’t getting any cheaper, and stadiums aren’t getting any less crowded with ads. In a world where every brand fights for a couple of seconds of attention, borrowing the team’s colors can feel like putting on the home jersey yourself. Fans see you as one of them instead of just another company asking for their money. And honestly, in 2025 that small trick might be one of the cheapest ways left to win hearts during a three-hour game.
