Fresh Insights from IEG

“As Seen On TV:” Sponsorship Lessons From Snuggie and Friends

There’s an aisle in just about every Walgreen’s and CVS in the US that my friends and I like to call the “Cheesy TV Aisle.” It’s that awesome aisle where you can learn everything from how to “set and forget” your way to a perfect roast, “bump it” to give your hair that sexy volume and “sham-wow” yourself out of a mess. To date, I’ve used this aisle primarily for two reasons: to kill time while my prescriptions are being filled and/or as a great place to pick up gag gifts for care packages for friends. Here’s the really funny part about all of this: three of these said, “Cheesy TV Aisle” products either have posted or are on target to rake in sales of $300 million or more. (And that is the sound of my jaw hitting the floor followed by the sound of me slopping down a serving of humble pie). 

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Filed under: branded entertainment, digital media, entertainment, new media, product placement, retail, selling, activation

For Better or Worse, Sprint Gets “Real” on the Product Placement Front

I have no problem admitting I love partaking in some Real Housewives of Orange County viewing (or Atlanta, New Jersey, New York City, hell, it could be The Real Housewives of Des Moines and I’d probably watch). However, it is definitely not the first thing I bring up as conversational fodder when attempting to convey my personality and what I stand for. So, when I read today that Sprint is signed on as a sponsor of Bravo’s fifth season of The Real Housewives of Orange County,I was a bit… well, stunned I guess.

For starters, here are the deets of the deal; Sprint will receive:

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Filed under: branded entertainment, digital media, entertainment, new media, product placement, selling, telecommunications, activation

Cleveland Cavs Go One-and-One from the Promotion Line

While cruising through the status updates of my peeps on Facebook I saw the Cleveland Cavaliers had posted this offer: “Talk about a slam dunk! We want to share one of our best perks with you! Our friends at Quicken Loans give us a great discount on home loans as part of their exclusive benefit program, The Mortgage Insiders. But you can get it too! Just ask about adding the Mortgage Insiders Benefit Program to your workplace benefits.... Be part of the winning team by participating with the Cavs, Cleveland Clinic, UPS, Microsoft, Dell and others and become a Mortgage Insider today!”

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Filed under: digital media, entertainment, new media, selling, sports, activation

7-Eleven Makes Moves – What Could It Mean For YOU?

I remember when I first started working for IEG I began learning all these “obvious” tips from my colleagues. I emphasize “obvious” because they were common sense things that it had NEVER occurred to me to do when I was on the other side, selling sponsorship for a property.  One of those things was monitoring the local and national news outlets and trade/industry publications for sponsorship targets and trends. I was green, what can I say?

To that end, I always pass this tip along to my clients. Most of them are smarter than I was, and already doing this. But it’s not just a matter of monitoring these sources – it’s also knowing what to look for. So who have I had my eye on this week? Thank heaven, it’s 7-Eleven! Just this week 7-Eleven has made two announcements:

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Filed under: selling, activation

Power to the People: Democratic Sponsorship

If you read my posts often enough, you know I’m constantly waxing poetic about how important integrating the consumer into the sponsorship experience is. So it should be no surprise that upon hearing about Stephen Colbert’s, “Colbert Nation” top sponsorship of the U.S. Speed Skating team (if you haven’t already, check out my colleague Rob Campbell’s blog post here) and FanCar’s unique sponsorship opportunities around Sprint NASCAR cars; that I am ready to hand out two big, fat gold stars for fan integration. 

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Filed under: digital media, entertainment, new media, selling, sports, activation

Big Leaps, Big Returns: Watchmaker Hublot’s Approach To Sponsorship
I was in Switzerland last week meeting with Jean-Claude Biver about his keynote at Leap, IEG’s 2012 Sponsorship Conference next month.

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Filed under: cause marketing, endorsements, IEG conference, international, motorsports, sports, activation

Komen Controversy's Lessons For Sponsors
Having enjoyed many years of a productive partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the organization’s corporate partners are no doubt feeling blindsided by this week’s firestorm over SGK’s decision to no longer provide funding to Planned Parenthood.

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Filed under: cause marketing, nonprofit, social media, backlash

Sponsorship and Return on Innovation
Speakers at IEG’s 2012 Sponsorship Conference are bringing unprecedented levels of innovation to the sponsorship space.

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Filed under: arts, events, festivals, IEG conference, non-traditional categories, activation

Paterno’s Legacy And The Big Question For Sports And Sports Marketers
My family and I moved to the suburbs of Pittsburgh when I was nine and Joe Paterno was already many years into becoming a football and Pennsylvania legend.

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Filed under: college sports, pro sports, sports, backlash

Despite Many Questions, Tebow Is A Prime Sponsorship Candidate
It may seem odd that I wrote the headline to this post during the third quarter of Saturday’s night playoff game, at the exact moment Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow was getting sacked with his team down 42-7 to Tom Brady and the Patriots.

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Filed under: pro sports, endorsements

Procter & Gamble Understands The Value Of Cause Marketing Better Than Anyone
Jerry Welsh introduced the term cause related marketing—a strategy he created while EVP of worldwide marketing at American Express—at the second annual IEG Sponsorship Conference in 1985.

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Filed under: IEG conference, trends, cause marketing

Will Short-term And Shared Deals Be The Death Of Sponsorship?
In the beginning, stadium naming rights agreements were largely 20-year commitments, with a few 10-year exceptions. The bulk of NASCAR team sponsorships were for a full season, and marketers signed on to sponsor every stop of a concert tour.

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Filed under: what is sponsorship, sponsorship measurement

Measuring TV Exposure Does Not Capture Sponsorship ROI
There is much more to measuring the ROI of a sponsorship than accounting for the value of brand exposure during TV broadcasts, yet I continue to hear stories of sponsors that put nearly all of their measurement emphasis on that

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Filed under: sponsorship measurement, sponsorship ROI, international

Heineken’s Smart Approach To Sponsorship Activation
While in Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago, I dropped in on Hans Erik Tuijt, global manager of activation for Heineken and a speaker at IEG’s 2012 sponsorship conference.

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Filed under: beer, branded content, digital media, events, festivals, IEG conference, international, music, new media, research, sponsored content, sponsorship measurement, sponsorship ROI, activation

What Does Pujols Deal Mean For L.A. Angels’ Sponsorship Revenue?
While Angels fans start planning World Series celebrations and Cardinals fans assess their club’s fortunes in the wake of Albert Pujols’ departing St. Louis for Anaheim, others are looking at the impact the slugger’s arrival will have on his new team’s bottom line.

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Filed under: pro sports, selling, endorsements