“Activation” – the key to any successful sponsorship marketing program

This past spring we conducted research on about 150 sponsorship properties from around the world to identify the types of benefits that are offered to sponsors in different environments and to no great surprise, there is little earth-shattering innovation as far as the range and nature of benefits offered.  However, one thing that became very clear is that an  activation plan that connects the brand in a meaningful way with the property or “audience experience” is essential for effective sponsorship marketing.

A properly planned and executed Activation Strategy can transform everyday benefits (i.e. visibility elements) into a dynamic cooperative marketing program. Here are some examples from Canada and around the world:

• Whitby, Ontario – Scotiabank’s Naming Rights of Iroquois Park is supported by a Free Skate Day on Family Day and sponsorship of the Backyard Rink Program for children under 7.

• UK – National Trust – Cadbury Trebor Bassett helped deliver over 200 Easter Egg Trails at NT park properties this Easter. The activities focused on encouraging ‘family togetherness’ and bringing a little magic back to the Easter occasion. The Trails were advertised on over 20 million Cadbury Easter eggs as well as through a dedicated website – www.eastereggtrail.com – where participants could search to find their nearest participating property. All children received a Cadbury ‘Egghead’ Easter Egg on completion of the trail and at some of the larger properties, Cadbury provided extra fun and games including space hoppers, egg and spoon races and face painters.

• SickKids Hospital = Costco Wholesale is a strong supporter of SickKids through the Children’s Miracle Network. Costco has inspired their staff to encourage customers and vendors to give in support of their Miracle Campaign – a program that runs throughout the month of May. They have executed one of the most successful “paper icon campaigns”. Costco customers are invited to purchase a CMN paper balloon that they sign and staff display prominently in the warehouse – ultimately making a donation to SickKids.

• South African National Park – Hi-Tee sponsors the footwear for the Hoerikwaggo Guides. Each graduate receives one pair of boots and one pair of shoes and the guides acknowledge the performance of the gear in their tours.

• US National Parks Services – National Trust = Olympus is the sole sponsor of the “Share the Experience” Photo Contest. The contest encourages people to experience the nation’s parks and federal recreation lands and take only photos, leaving the parks’ majestic beauty untouched for future generations to enjoy. Olympus is also supporting the National Park Service’s “Air Web Camera” initiative, which tracks and analyzes air quality at 16 national park locations. Images are captured every 15 minutes throughout each and every day at the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, the Great Smokey Mountains, and the Washington and Lincoln Memorials in Washington D.C.

• New South Wales – Foundation for Parks and Wildlife – Dymocks has the naming rights to Golden Paw Award, an annual children’s drawing competition and rewards all entries with a donation to the foundation.

• Vancouver 2010 – Canadian citizens could apply to RBC or Coca-Cola to be part of the Olympic Torch Relay and carry the Olympic flame throughout Canada as part of the 106-day, 45,000 km Torch Relay leading up to Vancouver 2010.

The bottom line is that sponsorship activation can be as simple or complex as you want as long as it demonstrates brand relevance and/or provides value to the intentded audience.  Therefore, if you want to create more compelling sponsorship packages and ensure that sponsors reveive maximum return on objectives for their investment, you should ensure that every proposal includes a strong activation element that goes beyond visibility benefits to active engagement.

Later,

BC

We need to get more innovative with the “Gold, Silver, Bronze” thing

Anyone who’s attended one of my workshops or conference lectures will know that I’m not a big fan of the Gold, Silver, Bronze (or Platinum, Titanium, etc.) method of selling sponsorships. The first reason is that they are totally over-used. The second reason is that they generally imply “cookie-cutter” benefits that really don’t excite sponsors. The third reason is that company needs are constantly evolving (i.e. new product launch, PR disaster, new competitor in the market) and these generic packages usually don’t do anything to address their needs.

While there’s nothing wrong with showing levels of sponsorship investment in an event or multi-sponsor initiative, I prefer using the levels as a means of recognizing sponsors as a value-added benefit for their combined investment with an organization. For example, if a sponsor invests in an event sponsorship opportunity, purchases exhibit space and buys advertising in a year-round publication, they should be recognized as a gold, silver or bronze partner based on their total spend with your organization and receive additional benefits based on their level of spend. From your side, do you really care how they spend their money, as long as they spend it with you?  I talk about this concept in my workshops where I demonstrate how you can set this type of program up and the types of “value-added” benefits you can offer for the different levels.

Getting back to the gold, silver, bronze thing; if you are going to use these hierarchal method of recognizing sponsors, the least you should do is create levels that fit with your brand. The Gold. Silver, Bronze things in my view, works well with sporting competitions, but not with other organizations. With a little imagination, your sponsorship levels can reflect what you are all about as an organization or industry. As a shining example, I recently came across some sponsorship materials for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and they had “Prime, AAA and AA” Partner levels that supported their brand. I immediately understood the levels and applaud them for their creativity in this area.

So, the next time you’re building levels of sponsorship recognition, I challenge you to see if you can come up with something that everyone in your industry understands and reflects your organization’s brand. If you’ve seen any other great examples, please comment on this post.

Later,

BC

Note to public sector organizations: Companies aren’t lined up to give you their money.

All too often, government departments or agencies ask us to find them corporate dollars to support a specific initiative. Usually, we respond with the question “why do you think a company should invest in this initiative”? And too often, there is not a response that inspires confidence.  The predominant thinking that companies have “pots of money” to throw at government campaigns could not be further from the truth, especially in today’s tight economy where a company’s bottom line is the main focus.

If government organizations are looking to for companies to invest in their marketing, communications or program / service delivery initiatives, they have to be prepared to give something back in the way of meaningful value. And unfortunately, in today’s economic environment, value is not measured by the “soft” benefits that usually accompany a government value proposition.

I recently read an article where Canada’s top media sales executives were discussing the current state of the marketing and advertising industry. The message was clear – to get dollars from a company today, you have to understand their business and offer something that they perceive as real value. That usually means offering creative solutions that help them break through the advertising “clutter”, helping them connect in an authentic way with their customers and helping to drive sales.

So, what’s a government organization to do that’s looking for financial support from a corporation for a particular initiative? Here are some initial points to ponder:

You need to manage expectations – Everyone in the organization especially senior management, has to realize is that companies are not lined up to finance government programs; they think they provide enough support through taxes and other employment obligations. Simply stated, you will have to earn your opportunity to receive financial support. Before making bold predictions on the money that can be raised, it will be critical to conduct an unbiased assessment to determine if you have an opportunity that companies would be willing to pay for and if you have the internal culture in place to recruit and retain these types of partners.

If you want to be in the game, you need to play by the rules – Companies need to see real value before investing scarce resources. It’s important to note that most major companies can receive up to 100 proposals a week and so yours needs to present a real value proposition that positions the opportunity above all of the others. This goes beyond offering recognition on a “Contributor” page on a web site (which by the way, no one looks at).

Start with companies with the right “fit” – This is half the battle. If you start with companies that want to reach the same audiences as yours, you have a legitimate reason for talking to them. Agreement on common audience can at least get you through to the next level of engagement;

Look for creative solutions to their marketing challenges – We managed to raise $4 million dollars for one program working within the federal government guidelines (limitations) on corporate partnerships by approaching companies that had the most to win through the initiative and offering creative solutions to their marketing challenges. The first and most important step was to listen before proposing.

As an entry point, focus on in-kind partnering arrangements – Companies (just like government organizations) are skeptical and need to have a positive experience before taking the plunge. Negotiating in-kind value is a great “low risk” way of collaborating as an initial starting point. Often, once companies see the value of the partnering arrangement, they are more willing to invest financially in a government program or initiative.

The bottom line – if you are not prepared to offer something of real value in return for financial assistance, brace yourself for minimal results. You are likely better off to focus on other areas such as in-kind marketing where you will have a greater chance for success.

Later,

BC

Why the Right Sponsor “Fit” is so Important

Do you want to increase your chances of a prospect calling you back or your success rate with potential sponsors? Try focusing on the fit. Too often, we see organizations approaching the same companies over and over, with no compelling reason why they are even approaching these companies. This half-hearted approach will get you what you deserve – a half-hearted response (if one at all).

It’s important to remember that a company will only be responsive to you if they have a good reason to listen to your pitch. That means demonstrating to them that there is a distinct reason why you are approaching them in the first place.

There are a few ways to identify prospects with the right “fit”. They include:

Audience – Is your audience their audience? This is the most fundamental of all fit criteria and the easiest method of getting to the next level of discussion with a prospect, because it establishes an initial common ground from which to base discussions.

Time of Year – The fit criteria is useful if you have a specific activity that reaches their audience at a specific time of the year such as promoting financial planning services in the fall, retail stores or products during the Christmas buying season, targeting purchasing officers around budget time, etc.

Nature of the Property – This fit criteria is based on your property’s ability to address a specific issue that is of interest to certain companies. An example of this is if you have a property that is focused on an environmental issue, you will want to seek out companies that want to be seen as contributing in a positive way to that particular initiative.

Company Need of “Pain” – While this ultimately needs to be addressed in every sponsorship proposal, if you can identify a specific “pain” that your sponsorship can address (i.e. a company suffering an image problem), you can make the connection between their challenge and your opportunity.

While there are several other fit considerations, the bottom line is that you want to research companies that can truly benefit from your sponsorship property and approach them with a specific reason why they should listen to you. If they agree with your assessment, you are 75% on your way to moving to a more advanced level of discussion.

Later,

BC

Announcing CMG’s Fall Line-up of Workshops

I’m pleased to announce my Fall line-up of workshops – all aimed at maximizing results through  Sponsorships and other forms of Corporate Partnerships.

Now in our 5th year, these workshops are unique from any others in the Canadian marketplace in so much that they focus on a step-by-step process (how to do it) rather than the usual “show and tell” that doesn’t really tell you how to apply lessons learned to your own environment.  Every workshop includes a Workbook that participants use to develop their own Action Plan that they can implement once they return to the office.

A central theme at all workshops this Fall will be how the changing dynamics of marketing are impacting our strategic approach towards sponsorships and partnerships. Core topics will include how we adapt our programs in a tight economy and the shift to using sponsorship activation strategies to deliver value to the customer.  We’ll also introduce new ways to determine the value of web-based visibility benefits.

Our Fall Line-up includes:

• Designing and Selling Your Sponsorship Program – A two-day workshop ideal for anyone that wants to take a professional, structured approach towards implementing a successful sponsorship program.
• Advanced Sponsorship Planning - Designed for professionals with a minimum of 3 years experience, this workshop focuses on more advanced concepts of sponsorship marketing.
• Revenue Generation Boot Camp – This workshop is ideal for member-based organizations that want to maximize revenues from various corporate streams such Sponsorships, Affiliate Programs, Web and Print Advertising and provides a strategic approach towards overall revenue development.
• Taking a Strategic Approach to Corporate Engagement as an Integral Part of Your Marketing Communications- Designed for public sector professionals that want to leverage corporate partnerships as a means of reaching and influencing audiences.

Seating is limited for each workshop to allow for maximum face time with participants. Every workshop includes a 30-minute follow-up consultation where you can receive feedback on your specific challenges. For full information on each of the above workshops, please visit CMG Canada.

I look forward to seeing you this Fall!

Later,

BC

3 Big Lessons Learned from MARCOM 2009

OK, I’m a little late with this post…but for those of you who were not able to attend MARCOM in June, you missed a stellar line-up of speakers – the best I can remember from my 7 years involvement with this annual conference focused on marketing in the government and not-for-profit sectors. Here are a few key messages that came out of the two-day conference that should be immediately applied to any marketing environment which of course, serves as the basis for any effective sponsorship or partnership program:

Strategy comes before Tactics – A common theme from almost every speaker was that marketing is about being strategic in everything we do. All too often, people want to get right to tactics (i.e. advertising, social media, media relations, exhibits/events, etc.) before first defining what they want to achieve. If you don’t know what your objectives are, how can you possibly know what tactics are most suited to achieving your goals? This not only applies to your own marketing programs, but also when you approach potential sponsors or other partners. You want to approach potential partners with a clear idea of what you want from the collaborative arrangement and need to understand what they want to achieve (and how they will measure success) through a partnering arrangement with your organization.

Social Media is changing the face of marketing – We heard from numerous speakers about the impact that a properly executed social media program can have from a marketing or fundraising perspective. With the shift from one-way communication to customer (audience) engagement, social media has the potential to harness audiences like no other medium.  It’s becoming more and more obvious that social media is rapidly changing the marketing landscape, but it was also made perfectly clear that your need a strategy to execute an effective social media marketing campaign. It’s not enough to just “be out there”, you need to integrate your social media activities with your other marketing tactics so that a consistent brand is presented to the marketplace.

We need to do A better job at demonstrating the impact of our marketing efforts – For marketing to get the respect and senior-level buy-in (and financial resources) it deserves, we have move away from showing the “number of brochures distributed” to demonstrating how the marketing program has had a direct impact on achieving the organization’s business objectives. Once again, it comes down to understanding the organization’s goals and developing marketing strategies that show how our efforts are moving audiences along the decision-making chain to action, reinforcing our brand or positioning, leading to increased take-up on our services, generating new revenue, etc.

Mark the dates June 10-11 in your calendar now for MARCOM 2010 which will be held at the Hilton Lac Leamy in Gatineau, Quebec.  I guarantee that you won’t be dissappointed with the incredible content that is delivered at this annual conference.

Later,

BC

How’s the economy affecting your sponsorship program?

We’ve been hearing from a lot of organizations that are facing sponsorship revenue generation challenges in this tight economy. Some of the more common challenges include: long-time sponsors pulling out, struggles finding new sponsors and not being able to get through to prospects.

I’d like to hear from you. What are the biggest challenges you are facing these days from a sponsorship or partnership perspective? Better yet, what challenge did you face and what did you do to overcome it? I’ll keep track of responses and dedicate time in upcoming blogs to respond to some of these issues.

Later,

BC

Update on Another Word for “Sponsorship”

On my blog post “Anyone Know Another Word for “Sponsorship”, I sounded off about the fact that the word sponsorship may no longer reflect the growing sophistication of the medium. Since that post, I’ve been speaking to a lot of people about the issue, conducting some research and doing some navel gazing of my own to come up with a better alternative. Here’s where I am on the issue:

• The principle behind sponsorship is still very legitimate in so much that the word implies a commercial (and equal) exchange of value between the property (sponsee) and the company (sponsor).

• The goal of sponsorship is unchanged – that is to provide opportunities for companies to make meaningful connections (make friends) with their audience by supporting a cause, event or other activity that the audience sees as worthwhile.

• The value of a well-executed sponsorship is significant, especially in today’s competitive environment where companies are most concerned about differentiation in the marketplace.

So, while the concepts and key attributes of an effective sponsorship program are clear, it’s perhaps the “brand” known as sponsorship that has to change in order for this marketing medium to get the respect it deserves at both the organizational (property) and company level. And as we all know, branding has to begin on the inside to be effective externally.

A number of years ago, I read a book by Sergio Zyman, former CMO of Coca Cola that got me originally thinking out of the box about the word sponsorship. His suggestion was to call it “Marketing Property Utilization” because from a corporate perspective, the three words described the business activity (marketing) source of the opportunity (property) and purpose of a company’s involvement (utilization). My thinking is that while “MPU” could be used to describe a company’s intention, it doesn’t do anything to position the medium at a more collaborative level (two-way).

Based on the above and countless hours analyzing the issue, I’m now down to the words that I think best describe what today’s sponsorship is all about and those words are Strategic Cooperative Marketing (SCM). Here’s why:

Strategic – every good plan starts with a logical reason for doing it and a clear, measurable outcome. If you are a property looking for a sponsor (or partner) you want to approach a company with a good reason why it makes sense for you to be talking with them. If you are a company, you want to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve through the relationship. Both of you hopefully want it to be a long-term relationship and more than a “one-off” investment and both of you should be thinking beyond tactics as the main driver of the agreement.

Cooperative – An effective sponsorship is really a cooperative arrangement to achieve each party’s objectives. It’s no longer about a property extracting as much money from a sponsor as possible and giving little back in return. It’s about understanding the goals of each partner and leveraging each other’s resources (financial or otherwise) to their fullest extent.

Marketing – This is the basis for why a company will invest with you, whether its co-branding, joint promotion, customer acquisition or retention or any other marketing objective. Effective sponsorships go beyond traditional notions of cash in exchange for visibility. Today it’s about the organization helping the company achieving their specific business objectives by adding value to the customer (or audience) experience, because we all know that people don’t buy from you unless they like and trust you.

So there you have it. I’m still not sure that Strategic Cooperative Marketing fully describes all the complexities of an effective SCM program, but at least the words set the tone as far as approach and intended results for both the property and the company.

I’d love to hear your feedback on the above, so let me know what you think!

Later,

BC

The Countdown to MARCOM is on – and You Can Win a Free Registration

Just a quick reminder that MARCOM 2009 will be held June 3-4 at the Pearson Convention Center in Brampton, Ontario.  If you are in the sponsorship business, MARCOM has lots of learning content to help you be more effective at recruiting and retaining sponsors including intensive workshops, conference sessions and roundtable discussions on:

• Advanced Sponsorship Planning (Pre-Conference Workshop)
  
• Branding (Conference Session)
  
• Municipal Sponsorships (Roundtable)
• Promoting Your Organization on a Limited Budget (Conference Session)
  
• Social Media Marketing (Pre-Conference Workshop and Conference Sessions)
• Industry Best Practices on Sponsorship (Conference Session)

If you are not in the sponsorship business, but want to work smarter and get better results from your marketing communications initiatives, MARCOM offers a wide range of targeted content covering almost every major facet of marketing.

Plus, you’ll be able to share ideas and best practices with like-minded colleagues from across Canada.

Win a Complimentary Registration to MARCOM 2009!
To celebrate MARCOM’s first-ever launch in the GTA, I am pleased to announce that I will give away One Complimentary Registration (min. value: $825.00) to the event. Here are the details:

The Prize: One Complimentary Registration to MARCOM 2009, June 2-4 at the Pearson Convention Center in Brampton

The Rules: Leave a comment on this blog post on “Why Marketing is Important to an Organization’s Health”.  It can be one sentence or a novel.

The Deadline: May 27, 2009 (midnight)

How will I pick the winner? I will write down the name of each person that leaves a comment, put it in a hat, and pick a winner. I will announce this individual in a blog post on May 28, 2009.

To learm more about all the great content at this year’s MARCOM, click here.

Good Luck. I hope to see you at MARCOM 2009!

Later

BC

Anyone Know Another Word for Sponsorship?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about dropping the word sponsorship from my vocabulary. When I tell people this, they say, ” Bernie, are you out of your mind?  You’ve developed a successful business helping 100’s of organizations generate revenue from sponsorships!”

That may be true, but the problem I have with the word sponsorship is that there’s too much baggage around a word that simply doesn’t correspond with today’s definition of what good sponsorship marketing practices are really about.

For the federal government, there’s still a hangover from the “sponsorship scandal “– which wasn’t really about the medium as much as it was a scandal about process,  greed and inexperienced people dishing out money for signs.  For other levels of government, the word invokes fears of over-commercialism, selling out and the unthinkable damage that a corporate logo will do to every man, woman or child – as if TV, the Internet and rap music are acceptable alternatives…For non-profits and associations, the word sponsorship is synonymous with an endless variety of logos, signs and generic gold, silver, bronze packages (of which the only sign of innovation is the introduction of the platinum or titanium levels).

The problem is that all of these perceptions are really outdated notions of sponsorship that are giving this totally legitimate and increasingly popular marketing medium a bad rap.

Today’s sponsorships are about connecting companies with audiences in ways that enhance the audience experience, not detract from it. Effective sponsorships are about creating value in ways that the audience feels good about corporate involvement – in fact, welcomes it. When effective sponsorships are in place, logos, signs and other interruptive messaging tactics become secondary. And because the audience experience is enhanced, no one complains. In the new world of sponsorships, public-driven organizations don’t need to be concerned about the over-commercialism of parks, facilities, programs etc. because a company’s involvement is seamlessly integrated in ways that complement the environment and the public’s experience.

Just think about it – if you are a company and want to make friends with an audience, do you really want to peeve them off by interrupting their experience with in-your-face corporate propaganda? If you really want to build relationships, you want to add value to your audience’s experience – you want your brand to be a welcome memory. We’ve just completed a major study of successful corporate engagement activities and the trend is clear – successful sponsorships integrate brands in ways that are meaningful to the organization (sponsee), the sponsor and most importantly, the customer.

And as organizations looking for sponsorship revenue, we’re largly to blame – we’re the ones that keep presenting these sponsorship packages that contradict the exact opposite of what we are trying to achieve with our audiences.

In my Pre-Conference Advanced Sponsorship Planning workshop on June 2^nd, part of  MARCOM 2009 in Brampton, we’re going to move beyond the traditional model of sponsorships to discuss how the medium has evolved from intrusive messaging into a more advanced level of relationship building. We’ll explore intelligent sponsorship marketing best practices and how you can make the shift from “logo soup” to integrated brand storytelling.

At  MARCOM 2009, you’ll also hear from  the Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada on what industry views as best practices in sponsorship marketing from a corporate perspective.  In other sessions you’ll hear how corporate engagement can be leveraged to help promote government programs and services or affect social change or even check your sponsorship Vital Signs to see if you have the right culture and processes in place to attract and keep companies engaged during tough economic times.

So now, all I need to do is find another word or set of words that describe the notion of organizations and companies working together to deliver more value to the customer or end user.  If you have any bright ideas, post your comments on this blog.

Let’s change the industry, one sponsorship at a time!

Later,

BC