The Best Kept Secrets In Sponsorship Marketing

Secret #4 The definition of sponsorship

First of all, thank you to Dan Beeman for linking this post from the Sponsorship Insights Group. Be sure to read the other three secrets as well to get a perspective of where I'm taking this post. Part serious, part tongue and cheek. But I always welcome your feedback and ideas.

It's amazing how many times I need to start conversation by defining the use of the word "sponsorship." Because the practice is fragmented so differently among companies - the idea varies from company to company. Is it a donation? Is it really a marketing or a PR initiative? Would it be a part of media planning , public affairs or even investor relations?

Perhaps all sponsorship consultants and property rights-holders need to take the initiative to define "sponsorship." In the 90's, the wireless phone community decided to redefine themselves from being about cell phones to being about wireless communication and transformed the way people connect to each other and their world. While it took new technology to do that, it took an industry to verbalize it first.

Europe's Sponsorship Association defines sponsorship as "any commercial agreement by which a sponsor contractually provides financing or other support to establish an association between the sponsor’s image, brands or products and property in return for rights to promote this association and granting of certain agreed to benefits."

I like this as a starting point as this defines how a company can market itself to a specific audience through a mutually beneficial relationship. But is that any different than how we can define traditional advertising on TV or radio, or reaching out to newspaper or magazine readers?

The secret definition may be that defining sponsorship is not about the property or the sponsor - but the way in which consumers are reached. So, what is sponsorship? Sponsorship is a way to touch, move and inspire audiences toward purchase, a purposeful two-way communication method with consumers.

"Hi, can I speak with your consumer inspiration department, please?" Perhaps it's time we let the secret out of the bag.

The Best Kept Secrets In Sponsorship Marketing

Secret #3: Activation matters

A good partnership requires buyer and seller due diligence and a strong understanding of how the relationship is to be integrated before the sale is made. Insuring that everyone is involved in understanding their roles in activating a successful sponsorship is key to success.

And, it’s just as important to connect with the right event as it is to try and attempt to activate the wrong one.

Gerard Prendergast and Derek Poon's study appearing in the International Journal of Advertising (Vol. 25, Issue 4) discovered the importance of product relevance with a sponsorship. How a company or product integrates with an event has a direct affect on consumer response. Little relevance equals little audience connection. So, your ROO is just as important as your ROI, if not more so.

A successful sponsorship requires three things:

1. The corporate partners internal buy-in so that all parties within an organization BELIEVE it's a good fit.

2. A level of creative engagement to insure that sponsor products/services can be intelligently activated with some relevance to attendees.

3. Corporate partners plan spending an additional $1.50 for every $1 spent on rights fees to activate the relationship in and out of the event. (This is the average according to IEG/Performance Research March 2008).

Sponsors and rights-holders focusing on each other's needs and objectives throughout their partnership insures greater returns and better yields for renewals.

Up next: Defining Sponsorship