Latest Thinking from IEG

Local Fairs and Festivals Lend Themselves to Partnerships

Recently I had the opportunity to speak at and attend the annual convention of the Michigan Festivals & Events Association. With an audience of local events—most operating on shoestring budgets and almost exclusively volunteer-run—I expected to find a predominance of cookie-cutter sponsorships, mass-mail proposals etc.

While I came across several sponsorship don’ts, I was overwhelmed by the interest and enthusiasm for building genuine partnerships with local businesses. For the most part, these events are designed to draw tourism business to small towns throughout the state; so their success has a direct impact on local businesses, whether they are sponsors or not. While cash is still king, these events are also looking for ways to build buzz and drive attendance—objectives that don’t always demand cash. Such events would certainly seem ideal opportunities for events and businesses to collaborate.

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Filed under: events, in-kind, local, packaging, selling, assets

“As Seen On TV:” Sponsorship Lessons From Snuggie and Friends

There’s an aisle in just about every Walgreen’s and CVS in the US that my friends and I like to call the “Cheesy TV Aisle.” It’s that awesome aisle where you can learn everything from how to “set and forget” your way to a perfect roast, “bump it” to give your hair that sexy volume and “sham-wow” yourself out of a mess. To date, I’ve used this aisle primarily for two reasons: to kill time while my prescriptions are being filled and/or as a great place to pick up gag gifts for care packages for friends. Here’s the really funny part about all of this: three of these said, “Cheesy TV Aisle” products either have posted or are on target to rake in sales of $300 million or more. (And that is the sound of my jaw hitting the floor followed by the sound of me slopping down a serving of humble pie). 

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Filed under: branded entertainment, digital media, entertainment, new media, product placement, retail, selling, activation

From the AFP Conference–Customer Lifetime Value, Customer Retention and Value Segments

I attended the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Midwest Conference on Philanthropy yesterday and although the content of the conference was not sponsorship focused, there were some insights that were very relevant to sponsorship.

The opening session was led by Adrian Sargeant, the Robert F. Hartsook Professor of Fundraising at Indiana University. Even though the content of the session was focused on driving donor loyalty, there were several topics covered that are pertinent, and three that I would like to highlight. The concepts of retention and defection, lifetime value, and value segments all have a place in sponsorship. Because of the limited information available on some of these topics within fundraising, during his research Sargeant turned to insights developed on the consumer side.

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Filed under: nonprofit, research, selling, sponsorship ROI, activation

For Better or Worse, Sprint Gets “Real” on the Product Placement Front

I have no problem admitting I love partaking in some Real Housewives of Orange County viewing (or Atlanta, New Jersey, New York City, hell, it could be The Real Housewives of Des Moines and I’d probably watch). However, it is definitely not the first thing I bring up as conversational fodder when attempting to convey my personality and what I stand for. So, when I read today that Sprint is signed on as a sponsor of Bravo’s fifth season of The Real Housewives of Orange County,I was a bit… well, stunned I guess.

For starters, here are the deets of the deal; Sprint will receive:

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Filed under: branded entertainment, digital media, entertainment, new media, product placement, selling, telecommunications, activation

Don’t Rip the Gatekeeper’s Arms Off

If you have ever been nervous about giving a speech or presentation, you’ve probably heard that you should picture the audience members in their underwear. If you’ve ever tried it, chances are you know how bad that advice is.

In that spirit, play this 12-second video for some bad advice on how to get past the gatekeeper in your next sales effort.

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Filed under: entertainment, evaluation, how to get sponsorship, nonprofit, selling, sports, agency

Carrie’s Top Ten (Mostly Sponsorship Related) List

There were some pretty big sponsorship news stories during the past week or two and since everyone else seems to have a top ten list, I wanted to do one too. Plus, doing a top ten list pretty much guarantees at least some people will be interested. Personally, I always turn to the top ten lists in magazines first and click on any news stories that say “Top Ten”. Maybe this will be the beginning of a series…hmm…enjoy!

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Filed under: entertainment, events, music, nonprofit, research, selling, activation

Cleveland Cavs Go One-and-One from the Promotion Line

While cruising through the status updates of my peeps on Facebook I saw the Cleveland Cavaliers had posted this offer: “Talk about a slam dunk! We want to share one of our best perks with you! Our friends at Quicken Loans give us a great discount on home loans as part of their exclusive benefit program, The Mortgage Insiders. But you can get it too! Just ask about adding the Mortgage Insiders Benefit Program to your workplace benefits.... Be part of the winning team by participating with the Cavs, Cleveland Clinic, UPS, Microsoft, Dell and others and become a Mortgage Insider today!”

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Filed under: digital media, entertainment, new media, selling, sports, activation

7-Eleven Makes Moves – What Could It Mean For YOU?

I remember when I first started working for IEG I began learning all these “obvious” tips from my colleagues. I emphasize “obvious” because they were common sense things that it had NEVER occurred to me to do when I was on the other side, selling sponsorship for a property.  One of those things was monitoring the local and national news outlets and trade/industry publications for sponsorship targets and trends. I was green, what can I say?

To that end, I always pass this tip along to my clients. Most of them are smarter than I was, and already doing this. But it’s not just a matter of monitoring these sources – it’s also knowing what to look for. So who have I had my eye on this week? Thank heaven, it’s 7-Eleven! Just this week 7-Eleven has made two announcements:

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Filed under: selling, activation

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

Power to the People: Democratic Sponsorship

If you read my posts often enough, you know I’m constantly waxing poetic about how important integrating the consumer into the sponsorship experience is. So it should be no surprise that upon hearing about Stephen Colbert’s, “Colbert Nation” top sponsorship of the U.S. Speed Skating team (if you haven’t already, check out my colleague Rob Campbell’s blog post here) and FanCar’s unique sponsorship opportunities around Sprint NASCAR cars; that I am ready to hand out two big, fat gold stars for fan integration. 

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Filed under: digital media, entertainment, new media, selling, sports, activation