Latest Thinking from IEG

Is Social Media The Greatest Ambush Marketing Technique Ever?
A recent blog post on valuing social media as a sponsorship benefit prompted a thought-provoking response from my old pal Dan Schorr of Start2Finish Marketing.

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Filed under: ambush marketing, social media, activation

Sponsors Activate Nonprofit Partnerships With Social Games
I’ve delivered several presentations recently at sponsor summits and international conferences on using social media to increase the value of nonprofit and cause-related sponsorships.

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Filed under: cause marketing, digital media, new media, nonprofit, trends, activation

Big Shift: IEG Paper Explores New and Better Way to Think About Sponsorship

Looking across all of the brands that IEG would define as “leaders” in sponsorship—companies such as IBM, Gatorade, Aon, Xerox, GE and others—we see a major trend: an alignment of  sponsorships and partnerships with the larger goals of the business, to ensure they are driving growth and having an impact across the entire enterprise.

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Filed under: evaluation, sponsorship measurement, sponsorship ROI, trends, what is sponsorship, activation

Sponsorship Activation Meets Gamification

Combine geolocation, image recognition and augmented reality technologies with smartphone adoption—31 percent of mobile users have one, according to eMarketer—add in massive gaming participation (183 million Americans report playing a game for an hour per day, according to author Jane McGonigal), and it is no surprise that we are seeing more sponsors use games to activate their sponsorships.

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

Adidas’ London 2012 Activation: The Not-so-fine (But Important) Print
In my last post, I praised the multi-dimensional activation program adidas has created around its London 2012 partnership, but mentioned that it’s a shame that there has to be so much legal language as part of the adiStars Web site.

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Filed under: contracts, digital media, London 2012, new media, olympics, social media, activation

Sponsorship Success Depends on Activation
Sponsorship can build brand equity, sales and shareholder value, but it is mostly the activation of sponsorship that does those things.

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Filed under: international, London 2012, olympics, activation

New Developments in Sponsorship and Social Media Come Fast and Furious

Although it was only last December that I presented an IEG Webinar on the topic of sponsorship and social media, preparing for this Thursday’s live webinar on the topic illuminated how quickly social media is changing and how deeply these changes are affecting sponsorship. Indeed, rather than update the presentation, I scrapped it and started over.

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Filed under: assets, digital media, IEG, international, new media, social media, trends, activation

Activation Watch: Praiseworthy Programs from Budweiser and Spanish Insurer

When you’ve been tracking the sponsorship industry for nearly a quarter of a century (yikes!) it can be a challenge to find partnerships that stand out or break new ground.

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Filed under: beer, branded content, international, pro sports, social media, trends, activation

Orange You Glad It’s Glastonbury Sponsorship Time? (And A Personal Note)

My colleague Julie Kimball passed around the latest in a long line of cool Orange ideas that get us geeking out not only over the smart technology but also the smart use of sponsorship.

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Filed under: entertainment, fashion, festivals, green, telecommunications, activation

A Reasonable Solution To The Indy 500 Sponsorship Row

I have been holding my breath for a week now, but I think it’s time to let it out.

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Filed under: backlash, motorsports, servicing, soft drink, activation