Latest Thinking from IEG

Dirty Category Goes Green with Sponsorship

Earlier this week, Waste Management and Live Nation announced a multi-year agreement allowing Waste Management to become the ‘Official Waste Services and Recycling Sponsor’ of all Live Nation venues.

Although inherently unsexy and seemingly incredibly mundane (someone has to pick up the waste produced at concerts), this sponsorship offers far more than meets the eye.

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Filed under: digital media, packaging, trends, venues, activation

NHL Finds Way To Include Teams In League Sponsorship Deal

The recent sponsorship deal forged on behalf of Enterprise Rent A Car by the NHL is noteworthy in that it includes rights and benefits with all 30 of the league’s teams.

Anyone who has ever tried to construct an agreement where a sponsor fee is paid to a “parent” organization and then divided among constituent bodies—be they teams, chapters, etc.—knows how difficult it can be to please everyone involved.

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Filed under: pro sports, selling, packaging

GlaxoSmithKline Provides Valuable Service as Olympic Sponsor

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline recently signed on as the 25th sponsor of the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

As part of the three-year, estimated $15 million deal GlaxoSmithKline will assume the designation ‘Official Laboratory Services Provider.’

Perhaps the most important part of this deal is that as the Official Laboratory Services Provider, GlaxoSmithKline will provide the laboratories and equipment to test Olympic athletes for illegal and performance-enhancing drugs as they compete in London.

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Filed under: international, packaging, spending, contracts

Sales Tips From Billboard Touring Conference

Below, four takeaways that emanated from the sponsorship panel I moderated at last week’s Billboard Touring Conference and Awards.

Start the sales process early. Properties should hit the street with sponsorship opportunities at least six to nine months prior to an event.

The length of time extends dramatically when pitching packaged goods and other types of companies that sell through retail channels. Case in point: Drew McGowan, senior group manager of public relations & sponsorships with The Clorox Co., is currently putting together programs for ’11.

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Filed under: events, how to get sponsorship, music, packaging, entertainment

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

Sponsoring a Rivalry

This weekend’s rivalry matchup between my alma mater, Northwestern University, and their in-state rivals, the University of Illinois, reminded my sponsorship-geared brain of an interesting deal signed by another Illinois institution, State Farm Insurance.

Last month, State Farm signed a multi-year deal to present a rivalry series between Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.

Although seemingly unremarkable (sponsors already present football and basketball rivalry games and weeks on television networks), this relationship is deceptive in its breadth and depth.

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Filed under: college sports, naming rights, packaging, 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

When Does Official Not Mean Exclusive?

“Are we talking the official or an official?” is a question I’ve heard, and asked, more than a couple of times upon seeing “official sponsor” as a designation. And I usually accompany the “an official” part with sarcastic air quotes or an eye roll (or both) because if we’re asking the question, it probably means we’re looking at a situation where exclusivity is either (a) de facto, (b) split/shared, or (c) non-existent. And the feeling is that, without true exclusivity, nine times out of ten we should go ahead and choose a different designation.

And then Cabela’s walks in. I was reading about how Cabela’s (the outdoor retailer and lifestyle brand) had seen great results this year, beating its own projections for profitability and revenue. I was tooling around the Cabela’s web site to read more and came across its Corporate Partners section.

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Filed under: non-traditional categories, packaging, what is sponsorship, how to get sponsorship

What Makes A Peak-performing Property? State Farm Weighs In

What makes a great property to work with? What are they doing that other properties are not? I recently posed that question to Todd Fischer, manager of national sponsorships for State Farm.

Fischer identified three attributes that help properties stand apart from the pack:

Properties that understand a sponsor’s business.  Properties need to understand a prospect’s business—including their brand messaging and positioning—and build packages around those needs.

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Filed under: how to get sponsorship, packaging, pro sports, selling, servicing, activation

Whoever Wins The Games Needs To Reinvent Olympic Sponsorship

Having just hung up with the latest reporter doing their homework for post-Copenhagen-announcement stories, it occurs to me that I should share with readers of this blog first the ideas that may make it into general media publications later this week.

Most of the interviewers calling IEG are from stateside media wanting to know if Chicago 2016’s sponsorship revenue projections of $1.8 billion are achievable should the IOC award the games to the Windy City.

My response has been that although Chicago faces the largest challenge because it set its sponsorship goals much higher than the other bid cities, whichever contender ends up as the 2016 host (and I do hope it is my city) will have to change the way we think about Olympic Games sponsorship.

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Filed under: international, olympics, packaging, selling, servicing, assets