Opinion
Assertions
9/21/09: Our story on
municipal marketing mentions the
City of Indianapolis’ nascent efforts in that area, including the
hiring of agency
Third Street Partners to develop a sponsorship plan and broker deals with prospective sponsors. The
five-month-old firm was able to beat out more established agencies for the business, and we’re guessing a
big reason for that–in addition to Third Street’s local roots–was its willingness to work
entirely on commission, with no retainer or expense coverage. According to the city’s Web site, the agency will take a
15 percent commission on deals it lands during the first
two years of the contract and
10 percent on sponsorships signed during the final
five months of the agreement, which expires at the end of ’11. The municipal marketing space
may see more of these types of arrangements because they give government and political leaders
cover to say they are testing the sponsorship waters at
no risk to
taxpayers. If an all-commission agency doesn’t land any deals, the government entity isn’t out
five or six figures in retainer and other fees, and avoids looking wasteful in a time of deep budget cutting. The
downside for cities and others choosing the
no-cost route is that it most likely
rules out working with a
larger agency with more experience, as
established sponsorship firms traditionally
do not work on a
commission-only basis unless the property is of such a stature that significant sales are almost guaranteed. Most municipal bodies won’t fall in that category for a large firm with
overhead and other costs to consider. That’s not because they don’t have compelling benefits to offer, but rather because their
deals usually take a long time to develop and more importantly, can face
numerous obstacles from public opinion to bureaucratic inertia that may prevent them from getting done in the end. A
smaller,
leaner agency is in a better position to work without a retainer/expense net because it may be able to make a
profit strictly off of the “low-hanging fruit” of city deals–pouring, vending and other
sales rights. It will be interesting to follow Third Street’s and Indy’s progress in this area and to see if some of the
other municipalities with current RFPs choose to
follow suit.
We received word of a sponsorship that
combines muni marketing and another topic covered in this issue:
green partnerships. It’s noteworthy because of the
variety of partners–some nontraditional–and its ability to
add value to the mundane process of on-site recycling. To mark the
Glass Packaging Institute’s current Recycle Glass Week, GPI teamed up with bottled water brand
Voss and
Tomra of North America–a manufacturer of recycling equipment–to sponsor daytime concerts last Saturday and this Saturday in New York City’s
Madison Square Park. The deal is activated through the use of three of Tomra’s
reverse vending machines and prizes offered to park visitors who use them to recycle glass, aluminum and plastic beverage containers. In addition, any
refund money collected from
for-deposit recycled bottles and cans will be
donated to the Madison Square Park Conservancy. The deal provides a
win for each party: GPI gets to
promote glass as
environmentally friendly; Tomra receives a
showcase for equipment that it would like to sell to other properties; Voss is able to
support its positioning as a carbon-neutral product; the park receives
recycling services and cash; and visitors are able to feel good about being green and supporting a city park.
Jim Andrews