Back to Basics, the Next Big Thing
Posted: 6/24/2009 9:32:03 AM by
Carrie Urban Kapraun | with 5 comments
We all focus a lot on the next big thing, the newest, the most unique, the thing with the most buzz. Sometimes the next big thing doesn’t pan out or live up to the hype, or it gets lost with the introduction of something bigger and better. I have to admit that I am always on the look out for what is new and hot on both a personal and professional level. However, the danger of keeping up with the next big thing is that we can lose focus on the basics.
As a Valuation Analyst, I am privy to thousands of sponsorships. I’ve valued sponsorships at all levels and I guess you could say I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly of sponsorship. So what do I mean by “the basics”? By basics, I mean “standard practices” that are part of a healthy sponsor partnership, such as comprehensive fulfillment reports or sponsors that leverage their partnership. The basics aren’t glamorous and I doubt a sponsor decides to partner with a property because they have a great PR report, but the combination of the basics can be really powerful.
These basics can be hard to quantify. From a Valuation perspective, these basics generally live within the intangibles of a property. We generally look at ten intangible categories:
- Prestige of Property
- Recognizability/Awareness
- Category Exclusivity
- Level of Audience Interest and Loyalty
- Ability to Activate
- Limited Degree of Sponsor Clutter
- Non-Ambushability of Property
- Networking Opportunities
- Media Coverage Potential
- Established Track Record
The combined ranking of these intangibles, usually falling between the upper 60s to the low 90s on a 100-point scale, greatly impacts the value of a sponsorship. The higher the intangible ranking, the more valuable a sponsorship becomes. You might think that the most prestigious or largest properties receive the highest rankings, however that is often not the case. The most prestigious and well-known property can falter when it comes to servicing its sponsors or providing protection from ambush. Sometimes, the smallest properties, because they can’t depend on their prestige, will excel in areas such as networking opportunities or ability to activate.
I am always amazed that basics are often ignored and it happens more than most properties would like to admit. Simple things like property surveys that include questions about sponsors; a third-party report that quantifies broadcast exposure; a property provided activation platform; customized fulfillment reports; a full-time staff member dedicated to servicing sponsors; a PR report that quantifies press coverage or formal sponsor networking opportunities. I’ve even heard of cases where sponsors have expressed their unhappiness to a property or requested some of these “basics” and were ignored. In these times and actually in any times, how is this acceptable?
On the sponsor side, I don’t understand why a sponsor would pay a sponsorship rights fee and then not activate the partnership on any level, as if having logo recognition on a few signs and email newsletters is really going to have the type of impact the sponsor desires. I’ve heard of properties that did their due diligence and provided a sponsor with a targeted, turn-key activation platform and the sponsor couldn’t get it together to take advantage of the opportunity.
I think it is great that properties and sponsors alike are interested in extending their partnership through the next big thing such as social media or by incorporating green practices into their sponsorship, just not at the expense of basic good partnership practices.
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Filed under: selling, servicing, valuation, activation