Fresh Insights from IEG

Three Things Properties Should Be Thankful For

What would Thanksgiving be without dry turkey, family arguments and lame lists of things to be thankful for? Arbor Day, that’s what.

Far be it from me to deprive you of a proper Thanksgiving. So without further ado, three things every property should be thankful for:

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Filed under: servicing, selling

Should Health Cause Marketers Get Involved in Health Care Debates?

Earlier this week a government-funded task force released new guidelines regarding mammography in the diagnosis and prevention of breast cancer. The announcement seemed to stir up everyone connected to the issue of breast cancer: the general public, the healthcare community and—most relevant for you—breast cancer causes.

While the causes came out with their respective positions on the guidelines, I didn’t see anything from the companies who just a couple weeks ago were falling all over each other to promote their support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. That said, I don’t know that I would want a department store or shoe company telling people how to handle major health decisions without a lot of due diligence to support their views.

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Filed under: cause marketing, legislation, backlash

Local Fairs and Festivals Lend Themselves to Partnerships

Recently I had the opportunity to speak at and attend the annual convention of the Michigan Festivals & Events Association. With an audience of local events—most operating on shoestring budgets and almost exclusively volunteer-run—I expected to find a predominance of cookie-cutter sponsorships, mass-mail proposals etc.

While I came across several sponsorship don’ts, I was overwhelmed by the interest and enthusiasm for building genuine partnerships with local businesses. For the most part, these events are designed to draw tourism business to small towns throughout the state; so their success has a direct impact on local businesses, whether they are sponsors or not. While cash is still king, these events are also looking for ways to build buzz and drive attendance—objectives that don’t always demand cash. Such events would certainly seem ideal opportunities for events and businesses to collaborate.

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Filed under: events, in-kind, local, packaging, selling, assets

Should Art Have Brand Attributes?

According to this article from the Vancouver Sun, Absolut is holding a $120,000 competition for an artist to develop a work of art or project for the city of Vancouver. The effort seems like a natural fit, considering Absolut’s history of collaboration with artists.

Still the program highlights the continuing tension between artistic freedom and corporate patronage. As the Sun article points out, the artists’ proposals are expected to reflect Absolut’s brand values and to incorporate Absolut in some meaningful—though not overtly commercial—way.

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Filed under: branded content, sponsored content, arts

CIT Bankruptcy Provides a Reason for Properties to Reach Out to Sponsors

CIT Group—one of the largest financiers of independent retailers and retailer franchisees—filed for bankruptcy over the weekend. Companies like CIT provide the short-term financing necessary for retailers to stock their shelves; CIT represents 70% of a market estimated at upwards of $60 billion. The bankruptcy had been expected, so retailers have been prepared, particularly with the all-important holiday season coming up.

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Filed under: local, servicing, 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