Sponsorship Overload
Posted: 1/8/2010 9:15:15 AM by
Carrie Urban Kapraun | with 0 comments
My cooking philosophy is that more ingredients are better. I don't get the concept of simple cooking. If the recipe calls for five ingredients, I use ten. If the recipe includes onions, I also add shallots and garlic because those are ingredients that I like. I combine three recipes into one. I think if the recipe only takes 15 minutes to prepare, how good can it be? Of course, you can never have too much of a good thing, like cheese, right?
However, it doesn't always work out that more complex is better. If you add too many ingredients you can be overwhelmed with flavors or sometimes you are just adding ingredients that don't necessarily make the recipe better, just more complicated, time consuming and expensive. For example, good steaks or really fresh vegetables don't need a lot of extra flavors, they are best when prepared simply – maybe a little salt, pepper or a squirt of lemon. Some of the best recipes are simple, but have one unique ingredient that really makes an impression. You have to wonder if adding too many ingredients is an attempt to cover up something? Or, is it possible that the recipe wasn't that good to begin with.
The same can be said for corproate sponsorship or marketing in general. Complicated, complex or over analyzed sponsorship or marketing programs don't work. They can drain resources and add unnecessary expenses. The ideas of simplification, prioritization and editing are truisms that often get lost.
There was a posting, “Overthinking to Stinking: The Dangers of Overly Complicated Marketing,” written by Sarah O' Leary for the Huffington Post, posted on October 21, 2009, that captures a lot of my thinking.
Beyond my issues with cooking, let me give you some marketing related examples:
In media planning, media mix is important. An advertiser wants to be able to reach its target and extend its reach through multiple media, but there is a balance between reach – through use of multiple media and media vehicles – and frequency – the number exposures – and what is effective. A media plan could include a combination of TV, radio, online, print, outdoor, etc., but depending on the budget, that is probably not going to create the type of impact that is desired. The message is too dispersed to have much of an affect. The key here is to prioritize, to edit. Maybe a campaign that focuses on print and outdoor is best because the product has a visual appeal and doesn't need a lot of explanation. The simple combination of print and outdoor provides sufficient reach, adequate frequency and highlights the benefits of the product.
From a sponsor perspective, sponsorship overload could be a bloated portfolio of random sponsored properties or a single sponsored property that has been activated in a way that is not cohesive – an uncoordinated smattering of activities. It is not uncommon for a brand to sponsor multiple properties that when looked at holistically are not at all united.
In my last blog. I wrote about Garnier's activation programs. Although I like how Garnier leverages its partnerships, I can't say the same about its selection of properties. Garnier's sponsorships are all over the place, tennis, music festivals, branded entertainment and even NASCAR at one point. It isn't surprising that Garnier has dropped a number of its properties. With a little strategy, Garnier could really showcase its activation platform.
On a positive note, I do think that financial institutions are generally good at editing their corporate sponsorship programs. Their sponsorship programs usually have a strategy and a focus, whether it is arts, sports or causes. Their sponsored properties have a synergy. They know their audience, and they know how to reach them.
This idea is also very relevant for properties. A few weeks back, Jim Andrews' blog “What in the Name of Sponsorship?” showcased an extreme example of a property that did a terrible job of focusing its packaging. Because being one of 2,010 sponsors (not the year 2010, but number of sponsors) is a hard opportunity to pass up.
This isn't limited to lesser known properties, even major properties are guilty of sponsorship overload. Take Citi Field for example. Less would have been more.
In addition to overly complicated cooking, trust me when I say that it would serve me well if I took my own advice. Simple is not a concept that comes easy to me. Even my vacation itineraries are kind of frightening. I guess the fact that I have vacation itineraries is kind of scary as well. Anyway, maybe a good resolution for 2010.
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Filed under: cause marketing, sports, activation