Practical Events

ManagementLecture Seven: Event

Sponsorship and Branding

Defining Sponsorship

“In it’s simplest terms, sponsorship is the purchase of exploitable rights and

marketing benefits that arise from direct involvement with a personality/player,

special events, programme, club or agency”

(Bowdin et al, 2006:228)

Why Sponsorship?

Sponsorship is a form of integrated marketing communication

Growth in popularity of events Ability to tap into niche markets

Sponsorship is concerned with the creation of market awareness

Local markets National markets International markets

Suitability of Sponsorship

Don’t assume that sponsorship is an appropriate source of income!

Gerald and Sinclair (2003) identify a number of questions that you should ask before seeking sponsorship as a revenue stream:

Does the event have sufficient rights or benefits that can be offered to sponsors?

Are the event’s stakeholders likely to approve of commercial sponsorship?

Are there some companies that are not suitable as sponsors?

Does the event have the resources to market and manage sponsorship?

Benefits of Sponsorship

Companies:

Customer goodwill Increase sales Increase brand

awareness Brand-lifestyle link Niche market Client entertainment Demonstration of product

capabilities Creation of

merchandising opportunities

Government agencies:

Economic Enhancing community Increasing social

interaction Sharing ideas Developing

community infrastructure

Winning popular support

Mutual Benefits of Sponsorship

Event Financial investment

In kind services

Marketing and media expertise

Event brand enhancement

Product and service offers for event goers

Business Increased brand

awareness

Brand image enhancement

Product trial/service exposure

Sales or hospitality opportunities

Market interactivity

Matching a Grant of Rights

Rights Holder identifies which rights they hold of interest and shared objectives to potential sponsors with shared values & markets

Research the potential commercial value of those rights to a prospective sponsor

Identify where (e.g.) media partnerships would also enhance these rights

Forge these (partner) relationships to up-weight their rights packages

Then identify how their overall rights could be appropriated into the most profitable (and most effectively ‘activated’) sponsorships..

These are drafted as the backbone to any sponsorship and represent the Grant of Rights which a Rights Holder is willing to sell or offer to a sponsor or partner in return for support of some kind (contra advertising, financial support, positioning support, broadcast support etc)

Identifying, Seeking, Researching and Securing Sponsorship

Some rights may be media focused, some CSR, some activation/experiential, some very high entry value, some low value.

A Rights Holder (and their agents) will review all rights, assets and benefits and ‘bundle’ them into the most effective, beneficial and profitable packages to support their needs/event/talent/artist

Examples of Sponsorships: Naming: Title, Headline, Founding Partner Sponsor: Endorsements, Unique IP Activation

Estates Branding: Partnerships, contra, advertising

Pitching Sponsorship

The Rights Holder (or Brand Owner) draft a proposal highlighting the potential SCOPE of a sponsored partnership and a Grant of Rights is presented

This is best presented within a bespoke pitch direct to the Brand Owner or Rights Holder to demonstrate why this proposed partnership has been identified as being mutually beneficial and sustainable

If the receiving party shows interest, a meeting will follow to negotiate the grant of rights (protection rights, rights extensions, rights restrictions, clause caveats, exclusivities etc)

From these negotiations, the Rights Holder (or their nominated agent) will then draft a Sponsorship Contract which is usually reviewed at the end of each sponsorship cycle/term and either renegotiated or exited

The Sponsorship Approach

A sponsorship proposal should address the following questions: What is the organisation being asked to sponsor? What will the organisation receive for its

sponsorship? What is it going to cost?

It should include: An overview of the event The sponsorship package on offer and associated cost The proposed duration of the contract Strategic fit between the proposal and the business

Maximising Event Sponsorship

360° activation of Rights and media for maximum brand exposure, placement and penetration before, during and after the festival, ultimately increasing market share, penetration and positioning for Tennent’s through groundbreaking activation

Positioning Tennent’s at the heart of the event and of the overall consumer experience through optimisation of the brand’s contractual sponsorship rights

Drive and inspire real emotional connections between the consumer/audience and the Tennent’s brand both at the event and through all media output

Why? Because consumers naturally feel passionately about the festival, but the association with Tennent’s needs constant and reinforcement year on year through highly creative and engaging brand activation

Creating powerful brand experiences through music to form an emotional bond between unique collective experiences (which “only Tennent’s can” deliver) such as…

Maximising Event Sponsorship

T in the Park Logo Re-brand (2008) – Consumer engagement primarily identifiable through media usage (from launch through to promotions), BBC broadcast/TV footage including stage scrims and through Tennent’s Lager extensive onsite branding programHospitality Dressing – Extend brand identity and personality into back of house hospitality area, a modern take on the traditional pub theme

Be Chilled – Product activity in campsite. Implementation of onsite structure and provision of product for an exclusive pre-order service allowing campers to order cans of chilled lager online before the event and collect them at their convenience throughout their stay on the campsite, offering a superior product experience

The Collective – A bespoke area of the campsite for exclusive group competition winners inc. tents, communal area and daily Tennent’s Lager product drop

T Break – the real backbone of Tennent’s music portfolio; grassroots artist support and promotion through this wholly owned 9 month annual activation campaign

Helicopter Rides – for key media, editors, sponsor VIPs, political figures and consumer competition winners, providing another “only Tennent’s can” experience of T in the Park

Podcasts – amplifying Tennent’s exclusive contractual rights and access privileges to provide consumers with broadcast narratives of “life backstage” at T in the Park and “the T Break journey” for artists playing at the T Break stag

T in the Park PR & Media Campaign – achieving record number of front pages, 650% ROI on £20m+ AVE campaign, extensive BBC TV network broadcast and R1/NME partnership amplification

Sponsorship Management

To ensure positive and enduring relations:

Have one contact person Understand the sponsor Motivate your staff about the sponsorship Use of celebrities associated with the event Acknowledge sponsorship at every point Sponsorship launch Media monitoring Undersell and over deliver

Monitoring and Evaluating

Evaluate the effectiveness of the partnership and how the sponsor and event have contributed to it

Measure the success of marketing objectives set by the sponsor with regards to the consumer