Sponsorship Insights from Leading European Practitioners
Posted: 12/1/2011 10:18:06 AM by
Lesa Ukman | with 0 comments
I keynoted the European Sponsorship Assn.’s Future Sponsorship conference in Amsterdam last week. Some takeaways from other presentations:
Rory Sheridan, head of sponsorship for Diageo’s beer brands, said activation is less about driving awareness and more about building brand equity. “We need to drive deeper connections with customers, which will drive revenue.”
- Diageo activation around rugby included enriched experiences for consumers who didn’t know a lot about the sport, which got them more engaged with the games they were watching.
Chris Daniels, head of London 2012 activation at Lloyds, said the financial crisis was a good thing for the company’s Olympic sponsorship because it had signed without a plan for optimizing and the crisis prompted the media and others to ask, “Why is Lloyds doing this? It forced Lloyds to get creative and figure out ways to drive business. The B2B platform grew out of this and just from the B2B sector—new collaborations with government agencies and cosponsors—Lloyds has liquidated the cost of its sponsorship.”
Max van den Doel, head of global sports marketing operations, training & team sports, Adidas Int’l, said the company has built its brand on partnerships. It currently has 3,500 sponsorships worldwide.
- Adidas is sponsoring both the Olympics and Paralympics for London 2012 after research showed that the man on the street views the events as one and the same.
- In response to what the youth market is passionate about, van den Doel said, “sports, fashion and music.”
- He shared with the audience that given the choice between signing Kobe or LeBron, he’d opt out of both because, “it costs $100 million to rebrand a Nike athlete.”
- And if the choice was between Messi or Derrick Rose, he’d take both because, “Messi rules and Rose sells shoes in China.”
- “Sponsorship has to be communicated," van den Doel said. "The question is how loud?”
- He advised sponsors to “be precise with your objectives.”
- He said sponsorship is a long-term play whereas PR is used for short-term bumps.
Paul Samuels, senior vice president, AEG Global Partnerships, said that O2, title sponsor of London’s O2 Arena, is now viewed by bands as a sponsor that adds value. “Five years ago bands wanted nothing to do with O2 Rewards. Now when negotiating to appear at O2, first question is: “What’s O2 going to do for us?”
- While no money changes hands, having O2 promote the band’s appearance means the $75,000 or so that promoters typically deduct from the band’s take to market ticket sales isn’t deducted.
- “Sponsorship is now about creating unique experiences. No one cares that they get a logo on a poster,” Samuels said.
Chris Carroll, global media and communications at Heineken Int’l, said the brand no longer looks at sponsorship in terms of sports versus arts. “It’s all content.”
- Heineken is adding performance clauses into music sponsorship agreements, e.g., a bonus for hitting the number-one spot on charts.
Roger Hamelynck, global head of sponsorship for ING, also is using performance clauses in entertainment deals, including the company’s partnership with a classical orchestra, tied to chart position.
- “Arts is a very positive environment for a sponsor,” Hamelynck said. “It’s cheap, it’s cutting edge and it’s inspiring for our people and our clients.”
- Hamelynck said he is amazed that so few companies sponsor the arts. “It’s architecture, it’s fashion, it’s a small cost for a big impact.”
Joel Wolinsky of Cirque du Soleil said, regarding sports versus arts, "Winning is in the experience, not the scorecard."
Sandra Prins, global sponsorship manager of ING, said that activation “plays a huge role in creating emotional proximity.”
Christine Uphoff, head of marketing for Randstad Germany, said one of the ways the global marketer of HR and staffing solutions uses its sponsorship of the F1 AT&T Williams team is hosting recruiting events at the team’s factory. One of Randstad’s specialty verticals is engineering, and the team indexes high among engineers.
- For Randstad’s audience, the team’s technical director, race engineers and chief designer are as interesting as the driver.
- Randstad also promotes a Dream Job for a Weekend contest that awards a stint working with the AT&T Williams team.
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Filed under: arts, international, olympics, activation