Forex and Sports - match made in heaven or vanity marketing?

Forex broker/dealers have recently been sponsoring major sport teams to have their logo displayed in front of millions of fans. Their primary goal is to promote their brand as well as legitimize the industry as a whole. FXPro sponsors Fulham and Aston Villa, well-established English soccer teams, as well as AS Monace, one of France’s leading clubs. MIG is a sponsor of the Mercedes F1 team with Michael Schumacher as one of their drivers, FXDD sponsors the Red Bull F1 team, Alpari sponsors the New York Knicks basketball team and New York Ranger hockey team, Saxo Bank sponsors cycling tournaments, FXOpen sponsors Drift challenges and the list goes on.

Car racing, in particular, Formula 1, seems to be the current trend for Forex brokers. There are some good synergies with Forex and F1: fast paced, risky, technical and there is an element of nationalism (like the World Cup) via the competition between drivers and teams of different nationalities – like Euro vs Yen. The demographics of the average Formula 1 fan are predominantly male aged 35-55 years old and upper-middle class. F1 sponsorships are expensive and the messages that these companies are trying to deliver are ‘we are a big company because we sponsor a F1 team’ and that Forex Trading is akin to car racing.

Do you want to see what they spent on these sponsorships? Was it money well spent or just vanity marketing? Click here to read the full article in the Q2 2011 Forex Magnates Quarterly Retail Forex Report.

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