If you’re not leveraging, you shouldn’t be sponsoring. That’s the advice of sponsorship experts from across the country.
The first step is choosing partners wisely, says Ian Howard, president of Leverage, The Sponsorship Company in Vancouver.
Number one: does the association enhance the image of the product? Howard cites Buick’s association with Tiger Woods. ‘Buick is mature, not known as very exciting. By associating with the hottest name in golf and every mother’s dream of a fine young man, it adds some Tiger Woods excitement to the product itself.’ The goal is ‘image rub.’ In this scenario, the sponsor needs to be a perfect match, and the public needs to know all about it. Events sponsors can create advertising that promotes the event along with their brand, or send contest winners to the show.
Number two: can the sponsorship actually enhance the product? ‘American Express is a good example.’ Their ‘Front of the Line’ program allows American Express card holders access to a reserved pool of events tickets. Customers wind up with less waiting at the box office, and events pre-sell a large number of tickets to their shows. In essence, the association works as a selling tool that is communicated to customers as an incentive to sign up for the card.
The third consideration is media coverage. ‘Sponsor-seekers have to think carefully about this and present in detail their media support because the sponsor is going to measure it.’
Fourth are business-to-business opportunities. Howard cites Ducks Unlimited as an example because of the strong sway the group has over its one million-plus membership. A sponsorship with them, such as the Duck Unlimited Mastercard from MBNA bank, promises an immediate boost to business.
Finally, hospitality is a major goal. ‘Banks support golf tournaments because they like to entertain clients. IBM used to be very active in the broad sponsorship business. They would sponsor things because it was good for the community. In the last few years they seem to be cutting that back and by their own admission are looking for corporate hosting opportunities, where it’s a high-profile event where they can provide corporate hospitality of a sufficient standard that they can take their clients there.’
Whatever the goals of a sponsorship, Howard observes that ‘Probably 80% of sponsorships in Canada are sold without thought as to what will happen after it’s sold,’ he says. ‘People have to ask themselves: How will they deliver? How will this be managed?’
And the big question: how to leverage the deal to the max?
Michael Soy, senior counsel, Fusion Alliance Marketing, Vancouver, B.C.
‘The term ‘leveraging’ and the term ‘activation’ are becoming more prevalent in what people are doing.
‘[Arts and entertainment] organizations are becoming more proactive in delivering marketing value back to their corporate sponsors, who are demanding it. The focus is on building hospitality events.
‘This year we did an artist meet and greet with RBC at the Vancouver Jazz Festival. Other clients are building unique hospitality that incorporates the artist or director to provide some inside, behind-the-scenes perspective to our customers. [Creating experiences] is everyone’s goal. Just handing someone a ticket is not enough.’
Sue Griffen, chief passion pusher, Event & Venue Marketing, Vancouver, B.C.
‘Key to leveraging anything, the company has got to have the financial resources for leveraging,’ says Griffen. ‘It’s not good enough just to have $50,000 or $5 million for the rights. You have to have the dollars to support the relationship, whether it’s sports, entertainment, etc.’
It doesn’t have to be expensive. Griffen suggests a minimum of 25 cents per dollar spent be allocated to promote and support the sponsorship.
In addition to considering the marketing value of a deal up front, she says that long-term planning is the key.
‘I’m very impressed with HSBC [now title sponsor of the Celebration of Lights in Vancouver, formerly Benson and Hedges’ Symphony of Fire]. They have a global sponsorship strategy that all of the respective countries nationally and locally fall into. Then there’s the local flexibility to ensure they’re meeting cultural nuances, which is what this is all about.
‘All of the senior executives buy into it. They integrate the sponsorship initiatives into their internal infrastructure. The key tactics are long-term planning, looking at what’s in the sponsorship portfolio, and looking at key business objectives.’
Mark Sabourin, editor, The Sponsorship Report, Campbellford, Ont.
‘My fundamental opinion is that the business community doesn’t want to leverage sponsorships too heavily because it feels that there will be a public backlash. They bill it as philanthropy when that’s not what it is.
‘I suspect that part of it is that both sides aren’t yet fully aware of the benefits they can offer each other. Also, there is probably a fear within the arts community itself that a greater corporate presence will lead to some sort of interference in the art itself, although there’s no evidence of this.
‘Outside of Canada, companies are going beyond standard benefits and recognizing that the arts have much more to offer business. The arts and business council in the U.K. mounted a program for Lever Brothers, which brought the creative marketing department together with the artistic director of the London Jazz Festival to learn about how music in commercials can be used to reach specific ethnic communities. I thought that was brilliant. They also brought Lever staffers to the Royal Court to do a playwriting exercise to learn to introduce story to commercial scripts.
‘In Canada, Dupont has just entered into a sponsorship deal with the Ontario Science Centre’s redevelopment project. They’re contributing more than $2 million to it. A large chunk of what Dupont is using that for is to work with the Science Centre curators – not to influence what the exhibits will be, but in fact to learn how they communicate science to their consumers. Dupont wants part of its business to focus on communication, and understanding public needs. They don’t have a lot of expertise in that and the Ontario Science Centre has a great deal of expertise. Part of the deal is understanding and learning how the exhibits communicate scientific principles to the public.
‘There’s a goldmine of expertise in the arts and culture community that the sponsoring group can use to create commercial benefit; they just haven’t thought of it yet.’
