Zalgiris wins Silver Devotion Marketing Award 2

Following the example of their club’s superstars on the court, Anadolu Efes Istanbul’s off-the-court team have become title-winners, too, taking the Golden Devotion Award at this year’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Marketing Directors Workshop on Tuesday. Efes was rewarded for its #TakeAction project, an initiative against environmental degradation.

The project saw Efes launch a significant reforestation program, involving the club’s players, supporters and partner +1 . A number of activities included the team wearing special playing uniforms depicting the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with the club committing to planting trees in line with the team’s success on the court under the motto ‘Each Point Means +1Tree’.

New attendance records in the post-pandemic period, especially during the playoffs, allowed Efes to reach even more fans with the project, boosted by online and offline activations to further increase engagement.

The Silver Devotion Award was taken by Zalgiris Kaunas, for its project: ‘Brand Monetization: Zalgiris Kaunas Licensed Product Family’.

Recognizing the significance of a business area that can generate additional income, Zalgiris developed a form of partnership that allows a manufacturer to add exclusive Zalgiris branding to its product range.

The business plan generates three-way income for the club: for the license, with a fixed monthly fee for the right to use the trademark; through sales, with a monthly success fee per product sold; and through advertisement, with revenue coming via sales arising from promotional campaigns.

The initiative included a wide range of Zalgiris licensed products, such as mineral water, cookies, chocolate, bread, detergent, watches, milk products, sandwiches, beer, nuts, potato chips, ice cream and cosmetics, along with a non-conventional product: Zalgiris Electricity.

The project objective, to find ways for the team logo to contribute to sales, proved a resounding success, with more than 31 million units of licensed products sold, providing 2.46% of the team’s budget.

The Bronze Devotion Award was won by Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade for its ‘We Are Growing Together’ project.