Latest Thinking from IEG

Festival Sponsors Get Creative With Activation

Festivals are going from strength to strength, especially in Europe. Just one indication of their prominence is the special limited edition jeans Diesel produced for Denmark’s Roskilde Festival. The run of 1,000 jeans are specially treated to deal with mud, wind, rain and other surprises that you might come across during the course of a festival. 

More >

Filed under: beverage, digital media, events, festivals, international, music, new media, social media, activation

Kick Ass(et) Sponsorship – BP Crosstown Cup

I’ve got nothing but big ups to send out to BP, the Cubbies and the Sox today on their announcement of the BP Crosstown Cup. In a phrase, this kicks ass. The annual Chi-town Crosstown Shoot Out is one of those experiences of legend and lore – every year passions flare, lines are drawn, Old Styles are drunk and if you’re anywhere in the city of Chicago you’re “calling in sick.” In short, it’s the equivalent of an unofficially sanctioned city-wide holiday.

More >

Filed under: assets, selling, sports, activation

How Social Media Is Impacting Sponsorship, Part 3

The opportunity presented by digital is huge in terms of access to new markets and audiences, deeper fan experiences through leveraging digital technologies and longer event access through distributing new content in fresh ways.

Social media plus sponsorship gives people a reason to share brand messages. For example, Colgate’s Facebook application called Smiles languished for months, until Colgate recast the tool, offering donations each time users shared Smiles. The result: The widget was shared 500,000 times in five weeks.

More >

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

How Social Media Is Profoundly Impacting Sponsorship, Part Two

Greetings from London, where I’m leading a discussion on social media and sponsorship for a workshop hosted by IEG and Burson Marsteller.

More >

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

This Little Partnership Went to Market. . .and Became a Really Big Deal

Chris Mann wrote a post earlier this week, directed at sponsoring brands, on how to make nonprofit partnerships successful for all parties. He asked what some of us thought via Twitter, and in commenting on his post, I realized there was more to share than a comment.

More >

Filed under: cause marketing, nonprofit, sponsorship ROI, activation

The Doctor Is In: Advice for Blissful Sponsorship Unions

In the past 24 hours I’ve had two conversations that revolved around romantic entanglements and what one should do when they find themselves in one of two conundrums (keep reading, I swear this takes a sponsorship turn):

More >

Filed under: selling, activation

Shelley’s Number One Lesson from IEG 2010: You Are Not an Island

For a long time I’ve prided myself on being an independent gal, a true “Single Lady” that even Beyonce would give a head nod to in the club. Not surprisingly, I value this quality in others. I like the ballsy, brashness it takes to pack up your car, drive cross country with no idea what awaits you, or to start your own business on a whim and a prayer. However, as I reach the ripe old age of thirty, I’ve learned that this independence does not serve one well in all situations. In fact, if anything, it can be downright detrimental to tapping in to a greatness that you have to offer that lies on the other side of independent bad-ass-itude.

More >

Filed under: IEG 2010, IEG conference, selling, activation

Triscuit Takes a Different Approach to Hunger-Relief and Leverages its Partnership with Urban Farming through a Comprehensive Program

Triscuit crackers has partnered with Urban Farming – a non-profit organization that helps provide food for people in need by planting farms on unused land – to create 50 community-based farms in 2010. The first garden was planted on March 11, 2009 in Los Angeles, CA.

Last July, I wrote a blog about the gardening/home farming industry and its sponsorship potential. My thoughts were that gardening is an upward trending industry and I wanted to see more sponsorship activity from gardening related products and companies. My point was that a gardening company could use sponsorship as a platform to educate people about home farming, provide much needed information and of course demonstrate its products/services.

More >

Filed under: nonprofit, research, activation

How Social Media Is Profoundly Impacting Sponsorship

I will be conducting a workshop at IEG’s Unbound conference on how sponsors and rightsholders are effectively using social media to engage and connect with fans. And on April 15, I will be in London for a similar session with Burson Marsteller on the topic.

In preparing for those discussions, I have come across a great many examples that demonstrate the depth and breadth of these extensions. Here are a few:

More >

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

Not Sold on Lewis Hamilton’s Secret Life

Formula 1 driver, Lewis Hamilton, and Reebok unveiled an alternate reality game (ARG) yesterday called Lewis Hamilton: Secret Life. Hamilton is the central character in this game, which allows its users to experience a facet of Hamilton’s “life” beyond being a Formula 1 driver. The overall goal of the game is to help Lewis train and prepare to recover priceless artworks, sculptures and manuscripts from thieves. Apparently (or as Reebok would like you to believe), Hamilton is a big “The Thomas Crown Affair” fan and bypassing museum security/stealing priceless artifacts is his secret passion.

More >

Filed under: branded content, motorsports, new media, non-traditional categories, social media, sports, activation