Opinion
Assertions
1/26/09: In addition to the
active categories mentioned in our
prospecting story, properties also should
consider the
following sectors that are doing relatively well and maintaining or increasing their sponsorship spend:
Quick service restaurants. Burger King,
McDonald’s and other fast-food chains continue to use sponsorship to connect with families and young adults, drive store traffic and engage employees. In one of the more recent deals in the category,
KFC late last year aligned with the
NFL, gaining official wing sponsor status of the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl.
Packaged goods. With more consumers opting for home meal solutions, sponsorship spending by
General Mills,
Kraft and other food purveyors is expected to at least remain steady as brands look for ways to build a point of differentiation on the supermarket shelf. Hot buttons include gaining marketing platforms for account-specific retail promotions and hospitality for trade partners.
Tribal casinos. As the fastest growing segment of the U.S. gaming industry, tribal casinos continue to use sponsorship to raise visibility, drive traffic, promote entertainment offerings and demonstrate community support. The MLB
Milwaukee Brewers recently upsold
Potawatomi Bingo Casino to presenting sponsor status.
While it seems most marketers agree they should have a presence on the major social networking sites,
some are investing big bucks to establish their presence while
others are content to post some content for
free and hope it becomes a viral phenomenon. The primary distinction between the two camps appears to be the
audience they are targeting. A brand such as General Mills’
Totino’s Pizza Rolls–with its target set squarely on teen and young adult males–sees the value in purchasing a YouTube channel for its Roll in the X Games promotion supporting its
Winter X Games sponsorship. On the other hand, the older-skewing
Aflac is willing to see what kind of buzz it can generate just by posting humorous clips of
Carl Edwards, the driver of the Aflac-titled NASCAR Sprint Cup Series No. 99 car, a practice it plans to expand in ’09.
While
sports and entertainment properties have been out front in
taking advantage of social networking,
nonprofits can find great value in that space as well.
Liz Cahill, vice president of marketing and communications at
Lee Jeans will address that topic in her session at IEG’s Singularity conference in March. Cahill will discuss how she merged
Lee National Denim Day–already one of the largest single-day fundraisers in the fight against breast cancer–with the
company’s extensive activity in
social networking, and will offer
best practices for gaining acceptance and monitoring response from online communities.
Speaking of the
conference, we are delighted to announce the addition of
Stanford Financial CMO Suzanne Hamm to our list of
featured presenters. The company’s
innovative approach to
managing philanthropic and marketing-driven expenditures together, on top of its
ability to track return on its investments in sponsorship, has enabled Stanford to separate itself from the pack when it comes to understanding how to make the most of involvements with causes, events and organizations. Hamm will address the company’s
mandate that
every sponsorship have a tie to a cause and that
philanthropy be approached in a highly
strategic manner that demonstrates a relationship to the bottom line.
Jim Andrews