Yes, I know one of the main objectives of Badminton is to get a small piece of cork with some feathers attached to hit the ground, but I think we need to give the game of Badminton some “wings”.
By this I am referring to the recent sponsorship announcement that Red Bull China will be the official energy drink supplier to the Badminton World Championships 2011 at Wembley Arena this month.
Red Bull China already have a sponsorship deal in place with the Chinese National Team with small logos appearing on their shorts and Chinese Superstar Lin Dan appearing in several promo videos for the company.
This is quite an interesting idea for Badminton certainly over here in the UK and Europe. Red Bull are known for their “extreme” sports such as skydiving, x-fighters display team and most of all their very successful F1 team. This is the sort of sponsorship deals the BWF and Badminton England need to be getting involved with if they want to raise the image of Badminton and increase participation in the sport, certainly here in the UK anyway.
Imagine a world wide series of events, maybe only 5 events throughout the year, where by Badminton’s Superstars battle it out in extreme and unusual places like on the top of skyscrapers or underneath a famous landmark? (Atmospheric conditions like wind may be a problem, but that can be sorted out later...) That would be fantastic to raise the profile of Badminton, this would fit in well with Red Bull’s “extreme” image and it will be great for the sport of Badminton.
What I am saying is Red Bull know how to market things, it will be interesting to see what happens to this partnership.....
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