I’ve published a few sponsorship hacks over the years. Most of them have to do with a process shortcut – something to streamline or speed up a time-intensive part of your job. But this one is different. This is about a mindset shortcut – a way of thinking about sponsorship… Read More
Have you ever been blindsided by a sponsor exiting? Thought a renewal was a sure thing, or at least a strong probability, only to get a “no”? There were probably signs along the way, but as much as rightsholders read a myriad of motivations and probabilities into every stage of… Read More
I love Masterchef, and one of my favourite challenges is the invention test. If you’re not a cooking nerd, like I am, the invention test is when all of the competitors get the same main ingredient and are challenged to come up with the most innovative and delicious dish. It… Read More
I’ve lamented on a few occasions about the bad news I often have to give to rightsholders. A lot of it has to do with the quality of the sponsorship proposals they’re creating, so I’ve decided to do this little self-diagnostic to see if your sponsorship proposals suck. There are… Read More
This was a question I came across a while back. To be fair, the person who asked wasn’t that blunt, but had definitely seen a lot of headaches from sponsors who didn’t pay their fees, didn’t do what they had promised, and generally bullied the rightsholder. After a nightmare like… Read More
I love umbrella portfolios. I make no bones about it. They’re powerful, flexible, and super-efficient – what’s not to love?! They featured heavily in my previous post, “How to Structure a Sponsorship Portfolio”, but I think they’re an important enough element that it warranted addressing this portfolio management technique specifically.… Read More
While there are lots of ways to measure sponsorship, how to conduct sponsorship research is often the most vexing. The thing is, sponsorship research isn’t actually that complex, but the way it’s been done, for literally decades, is so entrenched that sponsors often can’t see past it. But to get… Read More
I’ve written at length about sponsorship measurement in books and blogs, but I’ve never really addressed why sponsorship measurement so often, and persistently, goes awry. It’s a little concept called “confirmation bias”. “Confirmation bias” is the tendency for people to seek out and interpret information in a way that confirms… Read More
“We sponsor a great little organisation, but their reach is so small, how do we make this work for our brand?” “Our event is smallish and local, but we really need sponsorship. How do we get big sponsors interested?” “Our music festival is great, but it’s just one day. Sponsors… Read More
A while back, I read a blog by Seth Godin. In it, he asked a question that has stuck in my head ever since: Do you measure it because it’s important, or is it important because it’s measured? Our industry is guiltier than most of the latter, and that is… Read More
How complicated can sponsorship proposal assessment be? I mean, you just look at the back page for the price, and if you don’t fall off your chair, maybe read the executive summary. If that blows you away, then maybe read the rest of it… right??? Wrong. Although a massive number… Read More
I speak at a lot of conferences, and one question that comes up in North America – and nowhere else – is whether sports uniforms should carry sponsor logos. The reason it comes up in North America is that most leagues there don’t allow branding on uniforms, besides a small… Read More