Opinion
Adopt And Adapt: Still Plenty Of Opportunities For Sponsorship Pros To Learn From Each Other
9/7/10: For someone who has spent 20-plus years showcasing the commonalities in sponsorship programs across sports, arts, causes, entertainment, events, etc.—as a way to promote best practices and inspire creative thinking—the not-so-sudden realization that the sponsorship marketplace is vastly different than it once was could be a depressing thought.
As the results of IEG’s 2010
property survey show, the influx of new types of sponsorship opportunities has fragmented the property landscape. Gone are the days when eight out of 10 properties had either Coke or Pepsi products as a sponsor. Not because those companies are sponsoring less, but because there are now so many opportunities where having a soft drink partner—or any consumer good for that matter—is just not relevant.
At first glance, such diversity might appear to render cross-industry idea sharing pointless. But that is not the case.
Yes, there are vast differences between a pro sports property and a professional trade association. It would be foolish to think you could duplicate the prospecting, packaging, sales and servicing practices of one and apply them to the other.
However, there is still a great deal that all properties (and sponsors, for that matter) can learn from each other despite their many differences. Take the recent example in our
article on the Int’l Society of Automation, a property about as far away from sport teams such as the NFL Chicago Bears, NBA Minnesota Timberwolves and NHL Carolina Hurricanes.
ISA followed the lead of those properties in using digital technology to provide online resources for helping partners manage their sponsorships. Did the association have to adapt the idea to fit the needs of its sponsors and account for the resources it could put behind it? Of course. But by paying attention to new thinking and trends from across the sponsorship spectrum, it has taken a major step forward in growing its own program, complete with sponsors that will probably never appear on any other property’s target list.
Similarly, properties of all types can learn from associations who are developing new ways to deliver value to B2B partners by providing them with comprehensive information on the contacts they will be reaching through their partnerships. No reason why a museum or any other property could not follow a similar path and provide purchasing-power information on the businesses their sponsors can network with.
As in other aspects of life and work, the right approach in sponsorship is not to avoid the “other” because of the many differences that may exist, but to open our eyes and minds and look for the new ideas that can be found anywhere.
Cast Your Vote For Sponsorship
The new NASCAR Hall of Fame is including fan votes as part of its process for selecting the next class of inductees for 2011. This is of interest to sponsorship professionals not because there is a corporate partner attached to the effort (there isn’t) but because one of the nominees is a sports marketing pioneer, Reynolds Tobacco’s T. Wayne Robertson.
Whether you are a NASCAR fan or not, and no matter what your thoughts are on cigarette marketing, if you are in the sponsorship game you should consider taking a few seconds to visit
NASCAR’s Web site to vote for Robertson in recognition of the foundation he helped to lay nearly 40 years ago, upon which many current careers, programs and partnerships have been built.
As a leading force behind the creation of the Winston Cup sponsorship, Robertson’s work over two-plus decades (he died in a boating accident in 1998) established the viability of so many aspects of sponsorship that we now take for granted, including naming rights, retail promotions and activation elements that benefit consumers through relevant rewards that speak to their passion.
Given the critical role that sponsorship has played in NASCAR’s growth and development, the contributions of its founding sponsor should be recognized in its hall of fame, and those of us in the industry that in many ways sprang from that partnership can help to see that it happens.