A while back, I was forwarded a link to a video showcasing how Chelsea Football Club went about replacing their principal partner. The link was accompanied by the message, “I bet this will make you sick.” He wasn’t wrong. I will say that Chelsea FC was successful in gaining a… Read More
“Lower Back Jersey Partner” Those were the only four words on an ad featured in an industry newsletter. This is where we’re going to put your logo, with the added benefit of time travel back to 1993. Ugh. We’re talking about a professional sports team that people LOVE 365 days… Read More
If your company sponsors a major event or professional sporting organisation, there is every chance that they will require you to submit your leverage plan for their approval, well in advance of the event or season. This seems reasonable enough. They are ensuring that sponsors are actually going to do… Read More
“If you can’t explain it to your grandmother, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein I love that quote, and it is so appropriate for our industry. We so often overcomplicate what we do, but in my experience, the people only overcomplicate sponsorship when they don’t really understand… 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
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
A while back, I wrote a similar blog for corporate sponsors, giving them the hallmarks of each generation of sponsorship, how that is affecting their results, and what to do about it. Just like sponsors, a rightsholder’s generation can have a profound effect on how much sponsorship you raise and… Read More