Furthering the industry - time to act!

I haven’t been keeping up with my social media presence lately. Well, it’s been almost a year. I considered it a study of weighing the use of time to engage in social media versus reconnect with the world by more tactile efforts – talking to people, shaking hands and more importantly, listening to people.

I’ve been keeping “in touch” with the news, colleagues on the move and the trends of our industry. Honestly, without the likes of Dan Beeman, Kris Mathis, Kim Skildum-Reid, Brent Barootes and even Lesa Ukman, there would be little to no cohesive news about the sponsorship industry at all.

Most of the conversation within the sponsorship industry hasn’t changed much in the past year. People are still looking for sponsors, looking for advice on how to obtain sponsors, discussing evaluations, valuation and return on investment/ engagement/ opportunity.

Are these topics enough to advance the sponsorship industry further? In the world of CMO’s and CFO’s, PR and Ad Agencies, discussions swirl around the power of social media platforms, the next social media darling, measuring social media and the new possibilities from interactive TV. Outside of an occasional big sports deal or music tour or two, barely a whimper is heard about the strengths associated with sponsorship marketing .

Local sponsorships like fairs and festivals tend to make up the majority of sponsorship deals and have an even greater impact on shaping the industry since they connect with infinitely more people. Most sponsorship sales professionals have difficulty relating to billion dollar deals between major sports leagues and Fortune 100 companies. While those deals provide somewhat of a blueprint for activating local programs, they don’t speak to creating great ideas around local sponsorship endeavors.

The people I mentioned in this blog understand and have been instrumental in inspiring many others, including me. As professionals in this fledgling industry, we need to be more proactive, learn from one another, band together in protecting and inspiring others about the benefits of sponsorship marketing. Not just in social media space, but in face-to-face conversations about the challenges facing our industry.

As my firm embarks on a new venture – I open the door to create time to work on recruiting colleagues in other markets to set up roundtable discussions, networking opportunities to connect sponsor professionals with one another. Through this effort, perhaps we can begin to build the framework of an association.

I look for your thoughts and interest in participating.