IEG’s Sponsorship Blogs

Shaking Hands, Kissing Babies and Sponsoring NASCAR?

Posted: 2/8/2010 3:25:55 PM by Rob Campbell | with 2 comments

Although yet to officially begin, the 2010 NASCAR season has seen a flurry of sponsorship activity.

Perhaps the most interesting deal came last week when U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Florida’s open U.S. Senate seat, announced his one-race primary sponsorship of JD Motorsports’ No. 01 entry in this Saturday’s Nationwide Series opening race at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

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Filed under: sports, non-traditional categories

Ziploc's Latest Brand Integration in The Biggest Loser is a Big Loser – Success is in the Details

Posted: 2/5/2010 3:12:59 PM by Carrie Urban Kapraun | with 0 comments

There are several reasons why Ziploc's latest brand integration in The Biggest Loser was a bust. Somehow the :45 brand integration managed to leave me confused and conveyed nothing of value about a product that is actually useful. I have to wonder if anyone watched the integration before it aired. I actually debated whether the feature should be considered branded entertainment, product placement or brand integration. Technically, it is integrated in to the show, but it just feels like a bad infomercial. Beyond the less than stellar actual integration, it appears Ziploc needs to step-up its activation around The Biggest Loser to make it pay off.

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Filed under: branded entertainment, activation

Leading with Activation

Posted: 2/5/2010 8:56:27 AM by Carrie Urban Kapraun | with 2 comments

A property’s typical, linear approach to developing a sponsorship program is to gather assets, allocate those assets, create packages at various levels, solicit sponsors that seem to fit with the property and then hopefully sign a few sponsors at each level. Ultimately, the package may be slightly tweaked to offer benefits that are a better fit for the sponsor, but overall, it is still a pretty standard package. The activation of the sponsorship is left to the sponsor, possibly with some assistance from the property. There isn’t really anything wrong with this process, it makes sense, it follows a well-worn path and it has often proved successful. It makes allocating assets easier, it is easier to price and manage, and initially it is a lot easier and quicker to take to market.

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Filed under: selling, activation

State Farm Moving In Smart Sponsorship Direction

Posted: 2/4/2010 4:20:43 PM by Jim Andrews | with 0 comments

As subscribers to IEG Sponsorship Report read earlier this week in our In Depth look at sponsorship from the property/casualty insurance category, State Farm Insurance is undertaking a review of its sponsorship portfolio with an eye toward reducing the total number of properties it is involved with.

The purpose of the move is to focus on doing “some things very well, versus doing a lot of things ineffectively,” according to Todd Fischer, the company’s manager of national sponsorships.

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Filed under: IEG conference

What I’m Reading

Posted: 2/4/2010 4:04:19 PM by Lesa Ukman | with 0 comments

I read everything Cory Doctorow writes, and when I got his newest book, Makers, I suspected it would be a binge read, i.e., an all-nighter.

It was. Set in the near future—the U.S. is a third-world country, drugs have eradicated obesity and a tanking Disneyland is catering to Goths—the book's heroes are a pair of indie, open source creators who mine garbage dumps for the electronics in the trashed products and empower squatters and homeless with tools to be self-sustaining. Funny, insightful and alarmingly close to reality.

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Filed under: cause marketing

How Dumb Does Dish Network Think We Are?

Posted: 2/2/2010 8:59:21 AM by Jim Andrews | with 2 comments

As a cable TV subscriber primarily satisfied with my current service, I have viewed the “satellite wars” between DirecTV and Dish Network with cool detachment. But while watching the GRAMMYs broadcast on CBS last night—marking the rare occasion when I watch any non-sports or non-news programming live—I was stopped short by Dish Network’s new ad taking on the competition.

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Filed under: endorsements

Should Sponsors Be Obligated To Promote Property Values: A Debate

Posted: 2/1/2010 3:54:35 PM by Lesa Ukman | with 0 comments

The following is an email exchange between Victory Sports Marketing’s Gordon Kane and me. I thought our divergent points of view regarding the responsibilities sponsors have to properties—in particular Olympic partners—would make for interesting reading. (I have made just a few slight edits of some extraneous material to improve readability.)

I welcome your thoughts on the subject.

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Filed under: trends, what is sponsorship, olympics

Extent of Sponsorship Category Exclusivity

Posted: 1/29/2010 2:41:24 PM by Carrie Urban Kapraun | with 0 comments

Category exclusivity can be a major aspect of a sponsorship negotiation and partnership. First there is the question of whether or not category exclusivity is part of the sponsorship, then there is the matter of what categories are going to be included and finally there is the issue of what is the extent of the exclusivity. Take two major organizations like the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). A TOP sponsor of the IOC has category exclusivity that extends throughout the structure of the organization, whereas category exclusivity for a FIFA Partner doesn’t have quite the same reach. The organizations are very different and not directly comparable, but we can look at how this difference in extent of category exclusivity might affect a sponsor.

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Filed under: olympics

Help a Seller Out: Four Ways to Make the Case for More Sponsorship Staff

Posted: 1/29/2010 12:23:29 PM by Diane Knoepke | with 0 comments

Most of you don’t have enough staff for sponsorship sales, account management and fulfillment right now. And a lot of you are spending too many lunches with friends talking about the situation when you could be talking about something more fun (like root canals, which seem to be a popular topic this week). The next time you are looking for the nearest bellyache buddy to share your aggravation about your organization’s lack of resources (as a former association seller, I’m speaking from considerable experience), spend that time building a case for more help.

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Filed under: selling, servicing, how to get sponsorship

The Line Between Ambush and Smart Marketing: Part I, the Winter Olympics

Posted: 1/28/2010 11:32:37 AM by Vinu Joseph | with 0 comments

Among sponsorship pros—particularly properties—the thought of ambush marketing inspires a lot of dirty looks.

So things might get downright ugly over the next few weeks with the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics taking the world stage. Promotions featuring tickets to the “American football championship” and ads with generic winter athletes abound; it must be a veritable IP law Super—actually, let’s just say it’s a big deal.

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Filed under: contracts, endorsements, olympics, sports, ambush marketing