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Sponsorship Getting to Know You Questions

Posted: 11/4/2009 11:15:12 AM by Carrie Urban Kapraun | with 6 comments

Since I do most of the talking (writing) in this blog, I thought it might be nice to give everyone else a chance to do some writing.

Every so often, either via email or on Facebook, I receive one of those getting to know you questionnaires. Where it asks questions like “What is your favorite color?”, “Who was your first boyfriend/girlfriend?” or “What annoys you the most?” I don’t know why, but I always end up filling it out and forwarding it on. So in that spirit, I thought I would create a few sponsorship getting to know you questions. There are no correct answers; I am just looking for your opinions, thoughts and perspectives. It is mostly just for fun, kind of an experiment. It is obviously not a hard hitting sponsorship blog. Anyway, I hope someone will respond, otherwise this will be a pretty boring blog post. Feel free to add your own question if it relates to sponsorship.

What advice would you give to someone new in the sponsorship industry or if you are new to the industry, what type of advice do you wish people would share?
What was your most memorable personal experience with sponsorship?
What are your thoughts on the current state of the sponsorship industry?
If you had to summarize your thoughts on sponsorship in one word, what word would you use?
What sponsorship question or challenge keeps you up at night?
How do you see the sponsorship industry changing in the next 10 years?
What sponsor or property is your sponsorship idol?
What role do you see technology playing in sponsorship’s future?
What do you wish sponsors (or properties) would do more often?
What is the best sponsorship or marketing book (or other resource) that you have read lately?

Note: I would suggest copying the questions into a Word document and then adding your comments. Once you have finished, copy the entire text and paste it into the comment box below the blog. The blog comment box is a little hard to work in if you are typing more then a few sentences. Also, you have to be logged in to post comments. My answers are below. Enjoy!

Comments

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	Angie Zigrossi
	1. What advice would you give to someone new in the sponsorship industry or if you are new to the industry, what type of advice do you wish people would share? - Besides network, read as much sponsorship news as you can through publications such as the IEGSR, blogs, twitter folks, etc. This will help you learn and spark your own creativity. 2. What was your most memorable personal experience with sponsorship? - I tweeted about this earlier this year but I loved how the folks at Virgin Mobile Festival recognized the state of the economy and decided to make the festival free. When they had an overflow of demand for tickets they then asked people to volunteer in the community in exchange for the tickets (genius). 3. What are your thoughts on the current state of the sponsorship industry? - Agree with a previous post, it’s forcing sponsors to streamline and be more selective. 4. If you had to summarize your thoughts on sponsorship in one word, what word would you use? - I have two words - I view the sales process as “COURTSHIP” and the closed deal or start of the relationship as “MARRIAGE” 5. What sponsorship question or challenge keeps you up at night? - Ensuring that properties stay relevant to sponsors and that sponsors recognize the value of their partnerships 6. How do you see the sponsorship industry changing in the next 10 years? - Carrie, you are right, this is a tough one. I hope the industry will evolve further into measuring sponsorship as common practice. Far too often I have seen puzzled looks or heard sarcastic laughs when I ask both sponsors and properties how they measure their sponsorship activity to ensure it is relevant to marketing objectives. I also agree with some of the other posts in that sponsors will start doing more of their own events because they will be able to customize the events to their exact needs and control their own metrics better. 7. What sponsor or property is your sponsorship idol? - Sponsor – I really like Target because they are so strategic their sponsorships. I also loved their social networking Facebook campaign, “Bullseye Gives.” Property – I’m going to go with an association, the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), because they activate their relationships very well. They integrate the sponsor so nicely that the activation feels organic and truly enhances their members' experiences. 8. What role do you see technology playing in sponsorship’s future? - I am a huge fan of technology and I believe it will propel us into the future. We already are seeing sites like Twitter and Facebook act as a “virtual word of mouth” and encourage users to participate in some way with the campaign or sponsorship. 9. What do you wish sponsors (or properties) would do more often? Agree with other posts – communicate more to share best practices and learn from one another. 10. What is the best sponsorship or marketing book (or other resource) that you have read lately? - I am currently reading Buyology by Martin Lindstrom. It’s a lot of theory but it is interesting to see how the brain interprets information and leads a consumer to select one brand over another.
	11/7/2009 10:36:19 AM

	Mike Mahoney
	1. What advice would you give to someone new in the sponsorship industry or if you are new to the industry, what type of advice do you wish people would share? • Build the network with social media and by talking on the phone with your counterparts 2. What was your most memorable personal experience with sponsorship? • My most memorable sponsorship experiences are seeing activation come to life after the deal is closed. The Panthers logo on the Lay’s bags in the grocery store, the fans on the fan travel trip, people eating doughnuts and sampling kool kreme at the Krispy Kreme store in the stadium. 3. What are your thoughts on the current state of the sponsorship industry? • Industry folks that I interact with in sponsorship are doing a great job with lots of new tools and really focusing on delivering ROI for clients. 4. If you had to summarize your thoughts on sponsorship in one word, what word would you use? • Emotion 5. What sponsorship question or challenge keeps you up at night? • Finding sponsors for some great assets we have where the investment might seem larger but the returns might even larger if executed correctly. 6. How do you see the sponsorship industry changing in the next 10 years? • Activation will continue to evolve and get deeper with fans but branding at some point will play a role again. 7. What sponsor or property is your sponsorship idol? • Bank of America as a sponsor measures and monitors its sponsorship activity and its benefits as good as anyone in the space today. Augusta National is a great property and is a role model for integrating a small number of sponsors who play a large role in the event. 8. What role do you see technology playing in sponsorship’s future? • Technology will be able to blend all of the elements of sponsorship, all types of inventory with customer information to provide better information about the return on investment sponsors are receiving. 9. What do you wish sponsors (or properties) would do more often? • It would be great if we as properties would be better at sharing best practices with other like properties more often and in greater detail. 10. What is the best sponsorship or marketing book (or other resource) that you have read lately? • I love The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team. We go back to that as a book to make sure that we are trusting each other, debating the issues then moving forward as one with accountability to each other. It guides our organization.
	11/4/2009 7:15:35 PM

	Guilherme Guimarães
	1 - What advice would you give to someone new in the sponsorship industry or if you are new to the industry, what type of advice do you wish people would share? If you have a chance, get some experience on the sponsor side aswel. 2 - What was your most memorable personal experience with sponsorship? Making a support deal by Nestlé being perceived as a major sponsorship in the Brazilian Surf Championship 3 - What are your thoughts on the current state of the sponsorship industry? Companies are being a lot more selective on their sponsorship deals. 4 - If you had to summarize your thoughts on sponsorship in one word, what word would you use? Fit 5 - What sponsorship question or challenge keeps you up at night? The enormous amount of possibilities. 6 - How do you see the sponsorship industry changing in the next 10 years? The co-construction of properties by the use of social media 7 - What sponsor or property is your sponsorship idol? Red Bull 8 - What role do you see technology playing in sponsorship’s future? Small properties are going to be able to get more dollars due to even bigger increased segmentation 9 - What do you wish sponsors (or properties) would do more often? Share good experiences and best practices 10 - What is the best sponsorship or marketing book (or other resource) that you have read lately? The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less (great way to understand consumers)
	11/4/2009 4:08:37 PM

	Wade Leaphart
	What advice would you give to someone new in the sponsorship industry or if you are new to the industry, what type of advice do you wish people would share? NETWORK. TIGHTEN UP YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE. ESTABLISH SOME SORT OF MUTUAL CONNECTION AND WARMTH BEFORE REACHING OUT. What was your most memorable personal experience with sponsorship? 2006 ECHL ALL-STAR GAME. SECURING TITLE SPONSORSHIP AND ALL OF THE MOVING PARTS. What are your thoughts on the current state of the sponsorship industry? STAY FOCUSED. UNDERSTAND THE CLIENT AND FIND WAYS TO MAKE THEM MONEY. If you had to summarize your thoughts on sponsorship in one word, what word would you use? ENGAGE What sponsorship question or challenge keeps you up at night? TIMING How do you see the sponsorship industry changing in the next 10 years? FOCUS WILL BE LASER-LIKE ON FEWER MARKETING VEHICLES. What sponsor or property is your sponsorship idol? RED BULL What role do you see technology playing in sponsorship’s future? THE KEY FACTOR IN REACHING THE MILLENNIAL What do you wish sponsors (or properties) would do more often? CALL ME What is the best sponsorship or marketing book (or other resource) that you have read lately? SUN TZU - STRATEGIES FOR SELLING BY MICHAELSON & MICHAELSON
	11/4/2009 3:47:47 PM

	Jon Kander
	1. Think outside of the box. Don't just do something because that is what's always been done. Think about the sponsorship opportunity and cater the activation around what the sponsor's objectives. Also, put in some sort of metrics to measure the success of every sponsorship. 2. Making my first sponsorship "sale" as a student at Ohio University. Getting Brehon's Bagels to provide the breakfast and coffee and serve as title sponsor to the Brehon's Bagels with the Big Shots Forum during the Ohio University Fall Speaker Series. 3. Information is power. The more you can justify a sponsor's spend the better you have of signing them and/or renewing them to a deal. 4. Interaction (though I like Carrie's word better) 5. Sponsorship tends to not haunt my dreams, but I constantly wonder about "what's next" in sponsorship and if I am always keeping up with the latest trends. 6. Agree with sponsorships being more targeted. I also see sponsors owning there own events to ensure greater control (similar to Red Bull) 7. Gatorade. VP of Sponsorship is an OU grad and the company has made themselves endemic to every sporting event that takes place 8. Social networking will advance sponsorship and endorsement dollars 9. Agree with Carrie - meaningful research 10. IEG's Guide to Sponsorship
	11/4/2009 1:48:29 PM

	Carrie Urban
	1. What advice would you give to someone new in the sponsorship industry or if you are new to the industry, what type of advice do you wish people would share? The advice I would give is to interact with as many people in the industry as possible without an agenda, simply for the sake of learning. 2. What was your most memorable personal experience with sponsorship? Pre-IEG was my experience with Biore Pore Perfect Strips which I referenced in an earlier blog. It was the right product, right activation, right place, right audience. Post-IEG was my experience at the US Open, another blog post. It was interesting to see how sponsors were approaching a major sporting event given the current economic conditions. 3. What are your thoughts on the current state of the sponsorship industry? Everyone is taking a much harder look at all their marketing spending and they are even more focused on measurement. Properties have to respond accordingly 4. If you had to summarize your thoughts on sponsorship in one word, what word would you use? Connection 5. What sponsorship question or challenge keeps you up at night? Making sure sponsorship stays relevant and innovation in sponsorship. 6. How do you see the sponsorship industry changing in the next 10 years? This is a tough one; I see the trend towards greater consumer control continuing and sponsors interacting with smaller or more targeted audiences, but in a more meaningful way. 7. What sponsor or property is your sponsorship idol? I like the types of sponsorships that Suburu does. I like their focus on the environment and their sponsorship of sports and events that fit with their brand identity. On the property side, I think you really have to respect what Susan G. Komen has been able to accomplish. 8. What role do you see technology playing in sponsorship’s future? Referencing my response above, I think technology will help us better directly connect with consumers and enable us to understand consumer behavior and measure that behavior. 9. What do you wish sponsors (or properties) would do more often? Meaningful research, 10. What is the best sponsorship or marketing book (or other resource) that you have read lately? I revisited a text book called Marketing Research Essentials. Good to get a refresher.
	11/4/2009 11:44:04 AM

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