Latest Thinking from IEG

Keep Your Eye On Online Gaming As Potential Blockbuster Sponsor Category
Just a little over two years ago, the Internet gambling industry in the U.S. was under siege from the federal government. It was declared illegal and the operators of its largest concerns were the targets of criminal and civil lawsuits.

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Filed under: prospecting, selling, spending, non-traditional categories

11 Basics Of Successful Sponsorship Sales
Back in the early ’80s, when sponsorship was new to pretty much everyone, IEG traveled the world teaching sponsorship acquisition and sponsorship sales. The industry has incorporated those learnings and sponsorship “mavens” from near and far have incorporated those ideas into their books, blogs and practices.

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Filed under: media sponsorship, packaging, prospecting, selling, sponsorship valuation, how to get sponsorship

Revving up Sponsorship: Lessons from Motorcycle Properties

If you’re like me you’ve never been to a biker rally, but your head is full of preconceived notions of what a rally entails. For the purposes of my blog, erase from your mind those images of biker bar fights and think of motorcycle rallies as festivals that can be mined for sponsorship ideas just like any other property. Any festival, from Taste of Chicago to the small town county fair, can learn a few things from a biker rally.

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Filed under: events, how to get sponsorship, packaging, prospecting, selling, assets

Sponsorship Potential From New Caribbean Brew

For those properties with room in the beer category, a new player has entered the U.S. market and is looking for opportunities to create buzz and interact with consumers on the grassroots level. Presidente Beer from the Dominican Republic wants to establish itself as a leader among imported Latin beers, according to the marketing agency it has hired to help in that effort, Miami-based ViVA Partnership.

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Filed under: beverage, international, prospecting, beer

Half A Million On A Web Site To Sell Sponsorship?

The folks that run the business side of Roush Fenway Racing have built a great organization and have done some very smart and innovative things when it comes to sponsorship.

But if the stories out of Concord, N.C. are accurate, I have to question the team’s latest move. In short, news accounts say the team is spending close to $500,000 on redesigning its Web site, with the intention of using the site as a way to attract more corporate marketing dollars through sales videos, upgraded case studies and display of available inventory.

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Filed under: motorsports, NASCAR, prospecting, selling, trends, how to get sponsorship

2010 Could Be The Year Of The CPG In Sponsorship

(This blog post originally appeared as an opinion column in IEG Sponsorship Report on Feb. 19, 2010)

I know the Chinese lunar calendar says it is the Year of the Tiger, but my more prosaic outlook says properties should be paying attention to packaged goods marketers these next few months, as they are primed to step up sponsorship and activation spending.

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Filed under: prospecting

Your Parents Were Right. Do Your Homework Before Going to Bed.

Last week I was able to get out of the office for a few days and attend the National Sports Forum in Baltimore. I’ve attended the conference for three years straight and always come away with multiple takeaways. This year was no different.

One of the sessions I attended was a sponsor panel hosted by Bill Sutton with John Cordova (Coca-Cola), David Palmer (P&G), Matt Lederer (Comcast), Marke Dickinson (AAA) and Drew Hiddings (Hershey’s). A focus of this discussion was that properties need to do their homework (e.g., research, understand a prospective sponsor’s business model/objectives) before reaching out to a company with a sponsorship opportunity.

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Filed under: prospecting, how to get sponsorship

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

When Prospecting For Sponsors, Avoid Conventional Wisdom

As the tennis season winds down, one sponsorship stands out in my mind as particularly interesting.

Video game maker EA Sports partnered with the Olympus U.S. Open Series for the first time to promote its Grand Slam Tennis title.

I find this sponsorship intriguing because despite the game’s subject matter, the tennis crowd is not normally the demographic that game makers covet. However, I took a closer look and some important details came to light that reveal it would be a mistake for tennis properties to scratch gaming completely off their prospective sponsor category list.

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Filed under: non-traditional categories, pro sports, prospecting, selling, sports, activation

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sponsorships Deliver Grown-up Value

IEG chairman Lesa Ukman’s latest blog post (read it here) put me in mind of a phrase she coined about seven years ago to describe cosponsorships and cross-promotions conducted by complementary brands not under the same ownership: peanut butter and jelly partners. Like PB&J, they go together, but also stand apart.

In her blog, Lesa cites the example of a property with a spirits sponsor targeting a maker of mixers as a potential cosponsor. Based on actual sponsorships we have tracked the past few years, there are many additional PB&J partnerships that properties can consider.

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Filed under: assets, non-traditional categories, prospecting, selling, activation