Latest Thinking from IEG

What Twitter Lists Mean for Properties

Last week Twitter fully opened up its Lists function, adding yet another wrinkle to the social media site.

Lists containing any number of Twitter users can be created and followed, offering a great way to tailor the Twitter experience.

For properties using Twitter, there are a few immediate takeaways from this new feature that will allow you to both build the loyalty of your following and give your sponsors incremental value.

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Filed under: trends, social media

An Interesting Approach to Jersey Sponsorship

The Darlington Quakers, a British soccer club in the Coca-Cola Football League 2, is taking a different tack in selling sponsorship rights to the team’s jersey.

The club announced last week that it will raffle off the right to affix a corporate logo to its jersey in a £5,000-per-entry lottery.

Although the low entrance fee promises to be a boon for the winner, those who do not come out the shirt sponsor do not leave empty-handed. According to the Northern Echo, all bidders will receive stadium signage and one match sponsorship, among other recognition.

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Filed under: packaging, pro sports, selling, trends, assets

Big Sponsorships, Small Thinking

Those of you who don’t subscribe to IEG Sponsorship Report (and in my obviously biased opinion, if you work in sponsorship, I think you should) missed a terrific one-on-one interview a few weeks ago with sponsorship veteran Dockery Clark.

The former Bank of America and MillerCoors sponsorship exec took sponsors to task for what she perceives as a trend to use the medium strictly to drive short-term, product-focused results instead of to build passion for brands.

Her observation about the declining importance of exclusivity was very telling in that regard, not to mention that it has been echoed in recent comments by Anheuser-Busch marketers, who have referred to some of their deals as “half exclusive.” (While I understand they probably mean exclusivity restricted to certain property components, the phrase is as ludicrous as saying, “sort of unique.”)

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Filed under: sports, trends, valuation, negotiating

I Will Sponsor You Forever

Ah, the words every property yearns to hear. Or not.

I have been struggling with what to think about the announcement this week that Staples has renewed its naming rights deal for the Staples Center “in perpetuity.”

My first thought was that since we’re talking about a venue in Los Angeles, maybe both parties expect “The Big One” to come along sometime soon—so the concept of perpetuity isn’t quite the same as it would be in less quake-prone parts of the world.

I’m trying to understand the rationale behind a “forever sponsorship” and who it benefits the most. The frustrating thing, as always, is that it is impossible to truly analyze a deal without knowing its particulars. But that won’t stop me from trying.

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Filed under: naming rights, negotiating, trends, venues, contracts

Social Media and Sponsorship Join Forces for Marquette Basketball

This past week, Marquette University started posting from a Pepsi-sponsored Twitter account focusing on the home opener for its men’s basketball team.

This development is unique in that very few (successful) forays have been made into the world of sponsored social media.

So far, the only evidence of Pepsi involvement is a Pepsi logo and the text “Pepsi Season Opener” on the Twitter page. There have been no tweets or links posted regarding Pepsi or the sponsorship and the posts have largely focused on information aimed at building excitement around opening night.

If the user’s window is not maximized, the Pepsi logo and blurb receives little visibility, as it is mostly shrouded by text display.

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Filed under: digital media, new media, social media, sponsored content, sports, trends, activation

Micro-Sponsorship: Hyperlocal Marketing Could Become Sponsorship’s Laboratory

Hyperlocal involvement is a growing trend in the marketing world, and which could be readily applied to sponsorship as well.

Hyperlocal is, as the name suggests, the effort to focus on extremely local markets. For sponsorship, I apply the term micro-sponsorship to encapsulate both local market activity and sponsorship of small properties that may cover more than a single market.

Sponsorship has in essence always been hyperlocal. For years it has bankrolled local fairs, festivals, sporting events and other endeavors. However, for big name companies, these smaller sponsorships have taken the backseat to platforms that can be marketed nationwide.

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Filed under: events, local, sponsorship ROI, sports, trends, activation