Chapter 9 Sponsorship, Corporate

9

Sponsorship, Corporate Sponsorship, Corporate Partnerships, and the Partnerships, and the

Role of ActivationRole of Activation

C H A P T E R

Sponsorship Defined

• The acquisition of rights to affiliate or directly associate with a product or event for the purpose of deriving benefits related to that affiliation or association.

• Sponsors use their relationship to achieve promotional objectives or to facilitate and support their broader marketing objectives.

Table 9.1

Sponsorship

• The rights derived from the sponsor relationship may include the following: – Retail opportunities

– Purchase of media time

– Entitlement

– Contests or sweepstakes

– Endorsements

– Logo placement on uniforms or apparel

– Hospitality

– Website access

Activation Defined

• The marketing activities that a company conducts to promote its sponsorship.

• Activation is commonly referred to as leveraging or bringing a brand to life by creating a variety of means to interact with a target market.

• Money spent on activation is over and above the rights fees paid to the sponsored property.

Reasons for Growthin Sport Partnership

• Shift in marketing spends by tobacco and alcohol manufacturers

• Decreased effectiveness of advertising in print and television

• Lower cost and increased exposure compared with traditional advertising

(continued)

Reasons for Growthin Sport Partnership (continued)

• Commercial success of 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games

• Increasing number of television channels devoted to sport programming

• Technological developments leading to the portability of sport through mobile devices

(continued)

Reasons for Growthin Sport Partnership (continued)

• Emergence of new sport offerings and the importing of programming from other countries

• Popularity of sport-themed video gaming and fantasy sports

• Globalization of sport

Common Sponsor Objectives

• Increase public awareness of the company, the product, or both

• Alter or reinforce public perception of the company

• Identify the company with particular market segments

• Involve the company in the community

• Build goodwill among decision makers

• Generate media benefits(continued)

Table 9.5

Sponsor Activation: Creating Interactive Marketing Platforms

• Sponsors and properties face the challenge of developing better activation strategies to help consumers build the link between the property and the sponsor.

• Social media is quickly becoming a top activation outlet for sponsors:

(continued)

Selling the Sponsorship

• Make comprehensive list of inventory.

• Establish list price for items in inventory.

• Conduct research of sponsorships sold in the market and identify prospects that would be likely to have an interest.

• Establish packaging discount policies.

• Determine or recognize real costs of items.

(continued)

Selling the Sponsorship (continued)

• Establish sales strategy.

• Initiate sales process.

• Work from larger sponsorship proposals (major corporations) to smaller proposals and corporations.

• Pit competitors to create bidding environment.

Eight-Step Processof Sponsorship Sales

• Research category and prospect within that category.

• Schedule meeting with sponsorship decision maker.

• Hold preliminary meeting; listen more than talk.

• Arrange follow-up meeting.

(continued)

Eight-Step Process of Sponsorship Sales (continued)

• Create a marketing partnership proposal.

• Present proposal in draft form to allow negotiation.

• Negotiate final deal.

• Introduce client to activation team.

Co-Op Sponsorship Agreements• The joining together of two or more entities to

capitalize on a sponsorship or licensing opportunity

– Allow companies to share the total cost of the sponsorship

– Allow promotion of several product lines within the same corporate structure

– Enable corporations to use existing business relationships

(continued)

Ethical Issues in Sponsorship

• Questionable athlete behavior and its effect on endorsements

• Potentially inappropriate sponsors for sport organizations

– Commercial gambling providers

– Alcohol manufacturers

– Junk food manufacturers