In March, the BA of Malaysia (BAM) secured a multi-million ringgit, three-year sponsorship deal, with Petronas.
The national body is not about to rest on its laurels. In fact, BAM believes there must be a sustained effort in securing more sponsors – or partners, a term preferred by the national body’s treasurer Datuk Michael Tang Vee Mun – to ensure continuity for its plans and programmes.
Tang is also BAM’s sponsorship and marketing committee chairman.
A trained lawyer who is a familiar face in the corporate world, Tang spoke to Twentytwo13 about attracting more partners to join BAM’s push to further promote and develop the sport.
“I’ve got three boys, two of whom are state swimmers, and they are all badminton fans, as well. Badminton has so much potential. So many people are ‘in’ the sport, either as athletes, or selling badminton products, or enjoying the sport over the weekends,” said Tang.
He added that BAM would always need help as it is a sports body, and funding is always an issue. However, Tang stressed that it made plenty of commercial sense to invest in badminton in Malaysia.
”Obviously, people will want to invest in a sport where its players are doing well. After all, corporations do not operate on the basis of charity, and they need a return on their investments to justify their investment to their board members.
”They need the eyeballs. Because of that, we need our players out there. It’s not always about the elite athletes. There are companies that want to focus on younger shuttlers as they fit their brand’s demographics. As such, they want to concentrate on the junior levels, instead.”
Tang said there were companies that preferred to concentrate on major tournaments, as they wanted to enjoy the mileage beyond our shores.
”As such, we need to have players playing at various levels.
”We are thankful to Petronas for coming in. It is, after all, a global brand. It is a challenge to get partners, as some businesses prefer to go to the shuttlers directly. In the past, the athletes can only be seen or heard via the media, television and radio.
“Today, athletes are on social media and they interact and engage with fans directly,” said Tang, who added that he preferred the term ”partners” for those who invested in BAM, and not ”sponsors”.
”When brands go directly to the athletes, it disrupts the ecosystem, as every investment pumped into BAM is also spent on developing young players. Every sen we receive goes back to the sport.
He added the Covid-19 pandemic wrecked BAM’s plans.
“While business was down, our athletes were involved in 70 international tournaments at the height of the pandemic. The cost to prepare the athletes for these tournaments went up due to quarantine rules. The cost went up, but revenue was down.
“We struggled for two years.”
Moving forward, Tang said the key is to attract more fans. And to do so, BAM
needs to inject some element of entertainment.
”It’s great that players these days can do videos of their antics and blast them on BAM’s social media platforms to show their lighter side, in a bid to attract more people to the sport.
”Badminton is for the masses. It always has been. All of us grew up playing the sport. In fact, some of us will remember playing it over the fence at our homes. It brings the community together.
”Of course, we are continuously looking for partners to join us. Investing in us will mean investing in sports science, nutrition, and data analytics, among others.
”We are also doing as much as we can to create as many opportunities as possible for our partners to achieve their objectives.”
”We must have activation programmes at our academy that will enable members of the public to come and see the players and set-up in person. It’s like having holiday camps that promote badminton.”
Commercially, this will mean activities that will bring people together and create awareness about the sport and the brands associated with it.
”We also plan to work with schools, and help design and obtain approvals for badminton courts for local communities.
”In any business, it’s always the people that are the greatest asset. The players are our asset. The management team is our asset. Our president (Tan Sri Norza Zakaria) has taken the sport to a new level. My colleagues and I have been motivated, and we are constantly thinking outside of the box, to be as creative as we can.
”I would like to see our tournaments be more like a carnival, where people come earlier and have fun. It becomes a family affair and can generate revenue for many, like the food truck guys.
”It has to have a proper business model that promises revenue and profits. We need the revenue, as the profits will be pumped back into the sport,” Tang added.
