Latest Thinking from IEG

Louis Vuitton Connects The Dots By Leveraging Artist Collaboration
The partnership between Louis Vuitton and Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama shows that the arts are every bit as exploitable as sport. It just takes creativity.

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Filed under: arts, digital media, fashion, international, museums/zoos/aquariums, retail, activation

Italian Cultural Partnerships Bear Watching
As oil is the Middle East’s natural resource, culture is Italy’s. The country is home to more UNESCO World Heritage sites, museums and archeological sites than any other in the world.

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Filed under: backlash, cause marketing, destination/tourism, fashion, government/municipal, international, museums/zoos/aquariums, arts

Soulful Selling: Morgan Spurlock and A Day at the Zoo

I spent Friday morning in Philly in meetings with an IEG Consulting client, the Philadelphia Zoo. Though I was really there to talk sponsorship, I admit the day’s highlights included excitedly waving at a black leopard and cooing to an adorable baby giraffe. Life is good.

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Filed under: branded content, branded entertainment, entertainment, how to get sponsorship, museums/zoos/aquariums, backlash

Selling Sponsorship is Different from Fundraising! (And Why That is Total Bunk.)

I had always thought of fundraising and selling sponsorship as dramatically different disciplines. Even when my title included the word “Development” at one point in my career, and even when I ran a small annual giving campaign for an association, I never considered myself a fundraiser. Instead, I “sold sponsorship and marketing relationships,” and I “marketed a [pin] campaign.” I never “asked;” I “sold.” It wasn’t a judgment on either profession; I just put myself in one bucket and stayed there. And I had a lot of company in seeing the nonprofit world as a bucketed, black-and-white place when it comes to corporate relationships.

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Filed under: associations, cause marketing, hospitals and healthcare, how to get sponsorship, museums/zoos/aquariums, nonprofit, selling, servicing, strategic philanthropy, arts

H1N1’s Silver Lining: Hand Sanitizer Sponsorships

Sometimes the identification of emerging sponsorship categories comes straight out of the headlines. For example, we are seeing more activity from the makers of hand sanitizers in the wake of growing concerns over the spread of the H1N1 virus.

Last month’s Tour of Missouri bike race was sponsored by Germ-X, which also has been the official hand sanitizer of the MLB St. Louis Cardinals, the Cincinnati-area’s Newport Aquarium and Branson, Mo.’s Silver Dollar City.

Vancouver-based ALDA Pharmaceuticals Corp. is the official antiseptic hand sanitizer, disinfectant and disinfectant cleaning products supplier to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Games’ speed skating venue—the Richmond Olympic Oval.

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Filed under: museums/zoos/aquariums, non-traditional categories, olympics, prospecting, selling, sports, theme parks, venues, associations

Sponsors, Arts and Choices

Sunday’s article in The New York Times on corporate involvement in art museum exhibitions raised a number of compelling questions about the purpose of corporate art collections, the role of museums in society and the intersection of the interests of business and arts institutions.

As an art lover, it is easy to say that I want to walk into a museum and see what the very best curatorial minds have pulled together, free from constraints of budget, outside influence, geography, censorship, etc. Especially for those of us fortunate enough to live near cultural bastions such as the Art Institute of Chicago or New York’s Museum of Modern Art, we are afforded that luxury and have come to expect it.

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Filed under: museums/zoos/aquariums, arts

The Grinch, the Whos in Whoville and Sponsorship

When was the last time you read How the Grinch Stole Christmas? Maybe last night to your child, maybe last Christmas, maybe 20 years ago when your mom read it to you, or—although I certainly hope not—maybe never. Whenever it may have been, most of us know the story line. The Grinch, with a heart “two sizes too small,” looks down upon the Whos in Whoville and is envious of all the fun they seem to be having. He heads down to town on Christmas Eve to steal all their presents and goodies from under their trees. What he ends up realizing is that theft did not ruin Christmas and he too would like to be as happy as the Whos. His heart grows three sizes, he ends up returning all their presents and is welcomed into the community.

So, you ask, what does this have to do with sponsorship? Recent developments may lead the federal government to apply UBIT more broadly to nonprofit sponsorship revenue (read more here). Sounds like the Grinch to me!

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Filed under: museums/zoos/aquariums, taxation, cause marketing