Opinion
Assertions
6/22/09: It was
disappointing to see a steady stream of media reports this past week about local
governments cutting back funding of
community celebrations in response to budget crises and other concerns related to the economy. Given the
realities of the fiscal constraints they face, it is completely
understandable that public officials and the taxpayers who foot the bills would view Fourth of July
fireworks, civic
festivals and
parades as places to cut, especially if such savings could help spare critical services. But the issue here is
not so black and white. For starters, cutting spending on events is often a
lazy step taken by
politicians taking the easy way out instead of doing the hard work to get rid of the
real waste that exists in every municipal, county, state and just about every other government body budget. But beyond that, community celebrations should
not be viewed as an extravagance. They perform an entirely
relevant and
important function in society that is far too often
overlooked. Setting aside their role as crucial economic engines–spurring consumer spending, tourism, marketing expenditures, etc.–they play a fundamental part in
bringing people together,
reinforcing collective identity and fostering feelings of
pride,
belonging and
optimism. Such things cannot simply be
dismissed as “nice to haves.” Rather they are
essential, especially for those most impacted by the disastrous economy–the
poor, the
unemployed, the
disenfranchised. Of course they need jobs, food and other assistance, but they also need the
hope that communal celebration brings. Those of us fortunate enough to actually know what luxuries are would be wise to remember that hope is not one of them.
It’s nice to hear from
smart sponsorship sellers such as
Kirk Hendrix and
Dave Wilson of the
500 Festival in Indianapolis. Especially when we’ve been
barraged lately with what we call
sponsorship spam: property sales pitches from sellers who obviously have no idea how sponsorships should be marketed and relationships built. By spam, we don’t mean email messaging necessarily, but simply
unwanted messages that take a variety of forms. Most annoying is the
hijacking of
social media conversations to post sponsor solicitations–usually overstocked with screaming capital letters and a plethora of exclamation marks–under the
guise of starting a
topical sponsorship discussion. Although we are sympathetic to the idea that desperate times call for desperate measures, the sellers behind such notices fail to realize the
law of averages that fuels actual
mass-market email spam–send out enough messages and someone is bound to respond positively–
does not work when selling to a very
small,
targeted audience. Worse, they are obviously unaware that in such a small world as the sponsorship community their messages
won’t simply be ignored, they will earn them
bad will and
choke off any chances they had of forging partnerships.
We have had the opportunity to offer our
insights,
opinions and the occasional
rant (see above) for the past 27 years in this space–and will continue to do so. We think it’s high time that
you did the same. That’s why IEG is jumping into the
social media mix–to encourage all of you to share
your experiences,
challenges,
ideas and
successes with your colleagues and us and help
make us all smarter in the process. I invite you to check out the home page of
Sponsorship.com and “join the conversation” with us through our blogs, forums, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Jim Andrews