This Little Partnership Went to Market. . .and Became a Really Big Deal
Posted: 4/8/2010 4:34:58 PM by
Diane Knoepke | with 0 comments
Chris Mann wrote a post earlier this week, directed at sponsoring brands, on how to make nonprofit partnerships successful for all parties. He asked what some of us thought via Twitter, and in commenting on his post, I realized there was more to share than a comment.
One concrete way to build deeper understanding and take ownership of the partnership is to sit down and map out each partner’s route to market (RTM): how the sponsoring company gets its products/services in the hands of customers and how the nonprofit organization delivers its mission/message to its stakeholders. You might be thinking, “Well, sure, that’s what cause marketing campaigns are all about. The cause rides along on the product or service and gets a cut. Yawn.”
That’s not what I’m talking about, although the original campaigns in the space, e.g., American Express and Statue of Liberty, were acutely aware of AmEx’s RTM in planning that promotion and paving the way for twenty year’s worth of campaigns.
What I am talking about is taking into account both partners’ RTM (not just the company’s), seeing where they can boost the other, and finding authentic ways to help both organizations reach more goals. Authenticity begets trust. Trust begets ROI.
Don’t just talk about it, get into it.
This RTM session, or sessions, should not just be a conversation. It should involve whiteboards or flipcharts, charts and graphs, models and strategic plans. There should be a lot of animated hand gestures and a table full of papers and brainstorming aids.
Each partner’s RTM may be a factual, highly intentional process. But understanding it should be a creative, active and questioning experience. Picking it apart is the only way it can come together.
Look at the whole chain, not just the end.
It’s not just media, packaging, point-of-sale, or retail that the company is bringing to the party. And the cause is bringing more than its name, its social networks and its events. We’re looking for all the steps in the sponsor’s chain—design, R&D, distribution, vendor and supplier relationships, sales, and much more. And we want to overlay the cause’s programs, people and places where corporate sponsors can get in and make a positive change.
In an era where campaigns are still successful but fatiguing to some consumers, partnerships are gaining traction by going beyond the transaction.
Timberland is an obvious example. They are working with Yele Haiti and mobilizing their logistics teams in the Dominican Republic to deliver food to earthquake victims. Their European team is donating old computers to Computers 4 Africa. Looking back a few years, Target used its St. Jude relationship to enhance its vendor relationships, and in turn used its vendor relationships to fund and build Target House. And some oft-celebrated corporate partnerships outside the cause world, like Motorola and Burton Snowboards, illustrate the idea equally as well.
Whichever side you’re on, just go on and blink already.
We’ve long described objective-setting in partnerships as a staring contest where the seller blinks first. And to get a partnership started, the need for sellers to demonstrate an advanced understanding of the sponsor’s needs (before the sponsor tells them what they are) is still overwhelmingly the way it is. But in these types of partnerships, whether during the negotiation, planning or implementation/activation phase, just go on and blink already no matter which side you’re on. If this partnership is worth attaching your name to, it’s worth getting right.
So schedule the meeting, get on a plane, and sit across from your partner and figure each other out.
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Filed under: cause marketing, nonprofit, sponsorship ROI, activation