Sponsors mean money, so it makes perfect sense to try to retain all of the sponsors you possibly can. Honestly, though, there are times when you will be better off without a sponsor – even if that means you need to do the hard work to replace them. In other… Read More
A few years ago, I started using a new word around sponsorship – “privilege”. At one point, I was trying to convey the critical importance of putting your target markets first when developing a leverage plan, when I blurted out something like this: Sponsorship provides you with the privilege to… Read More
This now fully updated blog has been the most popular blog on this website since it was first posted. Meeting with, and getting your offer to, the right person is a combination of knowing what roles to target, and finding their contact information. This blog is a starting point. Do… Read More
I’m often asked by clients to assist in writing the job description for hiring and managing sponsorship staff. What I come up with is invariably different than they thought it would be, with less emphasis on experience and more on their intrinsic traits. Let’s face it, corporate sponsorship is an… Read More
For most sponsors, decisions to invest in or renew a sponsorship are based primarily on analysis against a set of criteria. This may seem sensible, and bean counters love this approach, but it doesn’t actually work very well with sponsorship. I’ll go so far as to say that using analysis… Read More
A few years back, I read an article entitled, “The Impact of Sponsorship on Share Price Brand Value”. The main assertion is that companies that sponsor have better performing share prices than companies that don’t. While that was the first time I’d seen anyone make that contention in any serious… Read More
We’ve all been there. You start negotiating a sponsorship that you thought was a dead cert to renew, and it’s suddenly looking like a lost cause. You hadn’t seen the warning signs they were planning to exit, but to be honest, you weren’t really looking, and now you’ve got a… Read More
First right of refusal is a valuable defensive benefit for a sponsor, guaranteeing them the opportunity to review and take up a new sponsorship at the end of the contract, before it’s offered to a competitor. The parties involved often assume that means it needs to be a similar offer… Read More
The first meeting with a sponsor is both the most important, and the easiest to screw up. Sponsors know what they want to hear, they know the red flags, and if you get it wrong, you could foul a potential deal, and not even know why. This is a complete… Read More
When you hear that, what do you think? Some rightsholders are delighted that they’ve been asked to submit a proposal. The more astute rightsholders are frustrated because the sponsor hasn’t provided the information they need to create a good offer. First off, you need to know that a lot of… Read More
The normal role of a sponsorship consultant is to offer expert strategic advice, generally based on a reasonably long history of doing good work for good clients. That’s certainly what I do most of the time. There are, however, other reasons you may want a sponsorship consultant – reasons that… Read More
Sponsors all over the world are embracing best practice sponsorship – adding value to the fan experience, aligning with fan and customer passions, and favouring meaning and creativity over volume or visibility. This is fantastic, and as the gulf between great sponsors and old-school sponsors widens, more see the light… Read More