Media is a tough business, and it’s getting tougher every day. With declining revenues and, in so many cases, staff reductions, fewer people are expected to do a good job covering more subjects and more stories. Books and blogs about getting media coverage are always telling marketers to take advantage… Read More
After almost seven years, over 137,000 views, and a lot of amazing feedback, I’ve fully updated my most popular video tutorial, “Sponsorship Proposal Basics in About 10 Minutes”. The new version, “Sponsorship Proposal Basics in About 15 Minutes” is longer (obviously), and fully up-to-date with best practice advice and strategies.… Read More
There is a “Coke ad” that did the rounds a few years ago Facebook and Twitter. It’s a collaboration between a few people, including mystery artist, Banksy. The language is rude, but if you can handle the f-word, you should stop and take a look at that “ad” now. If this… Read More
I’ve written blog after blog after article after book about the collaborative nature of sponsorship; how it requires both broad buy-in and a commitment to leverage from a range of stakeholders; and that brand managers are generally the ones who approve sponsorship spend. So, if sponsorship decisions and leverage are… Read More
Selling sponsorship is hard. Even if you do it perfectly, you’ll still hear “no” more than “yes”, and if your skills are less than best practice, you’re probably not hearing “yes” very often. If you’re struggling, you probably want some way to demonstrate what great value for money you’re going… Read More
Organisations with charitable status often have enormous commercial potential, but more often than not, that potential goes unrealised. Instead, most charitable organisations make one big mistake after another, with the result being sponsorship income that is a fraction of what it could be. So, I’m going to go through some… Read More
Back in 2010, soccer fans were gripped with anticipation over the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Also in that year, Valentine’s Day happened to fall on a match day. Puma seized on that to create a viral campaign that captured both the passion and the imagination of soccer fans.… Read More
Sponsors are becoming more and more strategic in how they make new investments. They’re embarking on strong relationships that are negotiated and leveraged so they benefit the rightsholder and the fans, as well as the sponsor. Mutuality rules the day, as sponsors see that when their partners do better, so… Read More
I’m asked all the time what separates truly amazing, best practice sponsors from the also-rans. And although the specific strategies and techniques could fill a book – specifically, The Corporate Sponsorship Toolkit – I’ve distilled the basic differences between great sponsors and also-rans down to nine. View 9 Secrets of… Read More
OMG, I get a lot of sponsorship spam. I bet I average a dozen or more spamsorship emails a day, and they all say virtually the same thing: Greetings! (No name, because that would mean they’d have to do some actual work.) We need money for blah-blah-blah (usually with a… Read More
A while back, I saw the following, excellent question on Twitter and was asked to put in my two-cent’s worth: What is the greatest sports marketing innovation of modern times? While most of the respondents addressed innovations in the sports themselves – the games, the coverage, the technology and analytics… Read More
I was recently involved in a debate about whether multi-year contracts are preferable to year-to-year deals. I make no bones about my preference for multi-year deals (in most cases), but there was a compromise suggestion put forward that had me, frankly, gobsmacked. One rightsholder said that their standard contract was… Read More