Category: Blog

Closing the Gap 25th May, 2017

Women’s sports accounts for 5.4% of the value of all sponsorship deals and just 0.4% in the UK.

This percentage is mirrored in the number of women CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies: 5.4%, and though not one is a sports company, women are rising through the corporate ranks to become decision-makers. The underlying cultural attitudes around women and women’s sports are slowly changing and organisations such as Women in Sport and This Girl Can are just two examples of movements working to change perceptions.

Effective communication is the key for athletes to promote themselves and their sport and to increase their share of the sponsorship pie. By becoming part of the conversation in social media and thus becoming more relevant, potential sponsors can see the value of the athlete to their brand and the business plan becomes clear. Ultimately, they need to know they will get a return on their money as well as activation avenues. Sponsoring female athletes creates a potential new audience and revenue stream as women today have huge buying power.

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has been able to translate the popularity of the sport into large sponsorship and media deals. Last year, it signed a 10-year, $525 million media rights deal with PERFORM, the largest media rights and production deal in the history of women’s sports. Tennis is leading the way for gender equality with equal prize money for the four Grand Slams. Only a few female stars outside of Tennis such as Mia Hamm & Ronda Rousey attract the huge deals that the men so easily do.

Creating sponsorship for female athletes is no different to men: athletes need to be ambassadors for the brand and communicate well the brand’s culture. By using female athletes, brands could not only access a wider audience but also create opportunities to activate in new and creative ways. Sponsors who integrate into women centric platforms showcase their support for gender equality and diversity.

Keeping up momentum in sponsorship sales is like watching the London Marathon on your sofa 5th May, 2017

If like me, you spent Sunday morning and much of the afternoon sat on the sofa with leftover pizza and a chocolate bar saying to yourself (for the fourth year in a row), “this is going to be the year I do the London Marathon” then you know exactly how influential ‘being in the moment’ is for making decisions. If I don’t register for the London Marathon within 4 weeks of watching, it’s unlikely that I ever will consider registering for the rest of the year – until that annual ritual of watching it sat on the sofa again next year.

Unbelievably, this is no different to sponsorship sales, especially sponsorship of annual events. As a sponsor, sponsoring annual events is a bit like the London Marathon – you get excited about confirming your sponsorship/registration, but then months go by and it seems all but forgotten until the actual day. However, upon passing the finish line after a number of hours of slog throughout Greater London, you remember why you signed up in the first place and quite likely think it was the best decision you ever made.

Understanding and keeping up momentum is absolutely critical within sponsorship sales. Like the London Marathon, there is a limited time-frame from which a sponsor remembers all the great times, the finite details that may exist beyond the assets list. Memories of the sponsorship are always viewed with a ‘glass half full’ and sponsors are more likely to de-brief with you, grab drinks with you and generally more likely to want to discuss plans for the following year. However, go past 4 weeks and memories fade fast – leaving only hard numbers. I should clarify that hard numbers are not necessarily a bad thing as sponsorship is only as good as the measurement and ROI behind it, but when combined with the very distinct memory of how great it was, it’s incomparable.

One of my biggest sponsorship sales tricks is ensuring that we keep up momentum as well as truly understanding the time-frame for commitment from a buyer’s point of view.My top three ‘keeping up momentum’ sponsorship sales tips include:

Renew all sponsors within 4 weeks of the event. If you are unable to do this in this time-frame, you run the risk of starting all over again in terms of the sales process you need to go through.
Include renewal clauses within the contract at the outset. First right of refusal is a benefit and as such should be used as an asset. Not only does this help within the sales process it also provides a clear and communicated deadline to your sponsor well in advance.
Don’t just sign a sponsor and never speak to them again until just before the event (or worse yet, when you need something). If your sponsor signs well in advance providing a very long lead time, create reasons to catch up and talk about the event in the run up. If you have a large number of sponsors, creating bespoke sponsor communications to update them on the event progress is a great benefit and keeps everyone in the loop.

In the meantime, I shall keep you posted on my London Marathon musings. Maybe 2018 is the year I finally get off the sofa…

How Much Revenue Could My Project Earn Through Sponsorship? 9th March, 2018

One of the most common questions people looking for sponsorship ask us is, ‘what could my property be worth?’

It’s an obvious question to ask, but without knowing exactly what’s being offered to a sponsor it’s almost impossible to answer. Therefore, before you approach a brand or agency about sponsorship, it’s worth taking a bit of time to consider exactly what you have to offer.

When creating a sponsorship package and working out sponsorship value here are three key things to take into account.

How is a sponsorship package valued?

To be able to value a platform correctly, all the sponsorship assets – such as inclusion in newsletters, social media posts, logo integration and hospitality tickets – need to have been considered and packages created detailing the frequency an asset can be used. These details are measured against the reach your project will have – how many people are going to see it and, more importantly, how valuable is that audience to a brand. The value of each asset can then be calculated to provide an overall price.

Nail down the details

We often find that people coming to us with a new venture have a good grasp on the fundamentals of their projects, such as where and when it’s going to be, but they may not have the specifics nailed down – and the specifics are everything when it comes to the value.

For example, claiming an event will be shown on TV is not enough to be able to value an opportunity and, likewise, probably won’t be enough for a brand to sponsor. Instead, make sure you know the specifics, including what channel it will be shown on and how often the sponsor can be featured – the latter is where the real value lies. The same goes for any media partner whether it be TV, radio, magazines or blogs. You need to be sure that agreements have been finalised before approaching sponsors.

Don’t approach sponsors too early

Sponsorship deals can take many months to get across the line so it can be tempting to approach potential sponsors before you have the complete sponsorship toolkit confirmed. It may seem like a good idea to get the ball rolling as soon as possible but it can lead to you coming unstuck in the boardroom as the brand can’t justify the value of the deal without knowing exactly what they’re going to get. This can lead to delays or even end the hope of any potential agreement.

Therefore, to understand the sponsorship revenue your project could receive you need to turn your ideas into serious realities by confirming the specifics of your offering. You may be pleasantly surprised by the value at your fingertips.

Why More Brands Should Sponsor Grassroots Sport 24th April, 2017

Grassroots initiatives and participation in sport has grown hugely over the past two decades, yet the majority of marketers still see it as a naff “if we still have budget” thing. They think it lacks the sexiness or media value delivered by huge global events but a number of projects over the last few years have proved otherwise.

Take Barclays for instance, one of the biggest employers in the UK with over 1,600 branches in the UK. Back in 2004 they committed to investing £30million in a community initiative to create sustainable sports facilities across the UK – the single largest injection of cash into grassroots sport by a company in the UK.

Over the following decade Barclays invested many more millions in creating twenty-six flagship sites in partnership with professional football clubs alongside a number of local sites offering a range of sports including basketball, netball and tennis through to skateboard and BMX tracks. This generous investment has been a huge success and contributed to the health and well-being of individuals across all ages in the local areas where Barclays invested.

More interestingly though, is the abundance of positive press Barclays have received as they have become known over the years as the biggest corporate investor in grassroots sports. In terms of the Barclays brand and image, they are now seen as an ethical brand and part of the community in such a way that that is unachievable with regular sponsorship which is key to creating the pursued “trust and loyalty” of customers.

It may seem cynical, but this is a way to get to the hearts of people that common advertising and sponsorship does not allow so it is surprising to see the lack of brands involved in grassroots sponsorship. That said, it absolutely has to be conducted in the right manner and be a genuine investment in the community otherwise the many benefits of grassroots sponsorship risk being overlooked as an awkward branding exercise.

Why it’s important (not necessary) to be brutally honest in sponsorship 31st March, 2017

I love the sponsorship industry and all the people that work in it. However, I have always found that unlike the marketing or television industries, everyone in sponsorship seems to walk on eggshells with confrontation or disagreements. In my limited experience (Slingshot is only 7 years old), very few in the sponsorship industry speak what’s on their mind. Conversely they tend to say what most people want to hear. Whilst being diplomatic has never been my strong suit, I also feel that frantically nodding in agreement actually erodes an existing problem within the sponsorship industry for a number of reasons:

1. Growth: everyone seems to continually pat each other on the back with the quality of work produced. Ironically, the same people will also tell you that a lot of the work produced in sponsorship is actually not that inspirational. Certainly much of the industry does not seem interested in raising the bar for itself, and therefore gripes when other industries start taking a piece of “their pie”. However, if PR, digital, social, VR and other agencies are better equipped to articulate and cultivate partnerships because they understand the potential of the medium, and traditional sponsorship agencies stick with what they know with broadcast consumption, then the industry continues to create a rod for its own back.

2. Stand for something: I was recently commented in the Financial Times regarding the decline in sponsors with this year’s popular Chelsea Flower Show (read article here). Having both consulted for clients who secured sponsorship for their own garden as well as shopping sponsorship opportunities against Chelsea Flower Show sponsors, I am pretty familiar with the opportunity (full disclosure, I have never worked with the Chelsea Flower Show directly). From a business point of view, it is not wise to disparage what might in the future be a great client; however, I do fundamentally believe that the value proposition is not in line with the assets they currently deliver. This is not to say that the Chelsea Flower Show is not a good sponsorship opportunity, but I believe the current way it is pitched it is overpriced, and unsubstantiated. While saying this in a newspaper may mean Slingshot Sponsorship will never work with the Chelsea Flower Show, it’s important to have a true reflection on why it’s happening rather than assuming an economic blip. Assuming an economic blip means that every other rights holder who has struggled this year will attest their lack of funds through the general economy, rather than reflect on a changing marketplace and whether they are driving real value to brands. If you drive value, can articulate and measure it – securing sponsors is no harder today than it was yesterday.

3. False hope: sponsorship is driven by passion projects. It is very hard to tell someone who is passionate and truly believes in a project that their idea isn’t going to work, or at the very least, isn’t going to work the way they expect it to. Especially when saying it will work comes with a pay cheque. No one wants to crush anyone’s dreams, however without being truthful, you are actually providing a disservice to the passionate person who then continues to chase their tail and ends up nowhere. My route has always been to pull the bandage off quickly. It’s terrible, but at least they can start investing time and resource into a project that they can be both passionate about and make money from.

So speak up, be heard, and try to implement change into an industry that could be so much greater than the sum of its parts. And isn’t that what sponsorship is all about anyways?

The Extreme Tech Challenge 2018 launches with style in Oslo 30th March, 2017

After a hugely successful XTC 2017 competition, which included some amazing sponsors, XTC 2018 has officially launched with a bang in Oslo.

The world’s largest technology start up competition, backed by Sir Richard Branson, hosted an intimate launch at SALT, Oslo with multiple budding start-ups, accelerators, athletes and the XTC team. Not only will this year be bigger and better than ever, there is also a new look website, new brand and, of course, new start-ups ensuring the best of the best can achieve greatness with their game changing ideas.

After a grand opening from XTC’s CEO Bill Tai, we were treated to some insight in to the success behind some of the world’s greatest technology companies, a look in to the future and how to keep ahead of the game. Here is what I learned from the best:

The 3 P’s of successful start-ups

Paul Herz (Apple and Facebook) gave the start-ups in the room invaluable tips on ensuring scalability and success. The three key areas are platform, partners and processes. Apple for example has iTunes as its main platform which is simple, easy to use and designed for the consumer. They have over 70 partners that produce different parts of their products better and cheaper than they could, which ensures the product quality and profit margins remain high. Finally, Apple’s processes are simple, streamlined and set to ensure everything is delivered on time. All start-ups should emulate this simplicity, over complicating everything and getting expensive partners on board wont attract VC’s or investors and will erode the profit margins.

Arnold Schwarzenegger might have got it right

Isabelle Ringnes, tech-evangelist, took us all through the exciting, and slightly daunting future of tech. It was incredibly interesting to hear about the realistic possibilities to connect our brains directly with devices and robots that have been designed to emulate feelings and facial expressions. Now, I’m not against robots or AI for that matter, but as long as there are restrictions in place to stop Arnie popping back and the Terminator films coming true!

Sport and start-ups are one and the same

To top it all off, legendary Olympic Nordic Skiier (and tech enthusiast) Axel Lund Svindal explained the need to overcome adversity, not just in sport, but in the similar competitive landscape of the start-up world. There are many attributes that cross-over between sport and start-ups; determination to succeed, competitiveness, hard-work and professionalism to name a few. Axel talked us through his incredible career and the mind-set in takes to be the best, some amazing advice for budding global disruptors.

In fine XTC form, it was all finished with a party integrating round table tech discussion. With XTC applications for 2018 now open, it is the perfect time for sponsors to integrate in to this exciting and growing industry with the next global organisations. Get in touch to find out more – [email protected] or 020 7226 5052.

3 Common Mistakes everyone can make when Hiring Sponsorship Sales People – and how you can Avoid Them 29th May, 2018

Over the years, Slingshot Sponsorship has done its fair share of hiring and working alongside many different kinds of sponsorship sales professionals. Indeed, given this is our day-to-day, we are highly experienced with the entire hiring process which provides us with a level of expertise few other companies can provide.

We understand and appreciate the difficulties many encounter when looking to hire new sponsorship sales agencies, consultants or employees – particularly when expecting interested parties to work on a commission-only basis.

With this in mind, we’re sharing our top three common mistakes everyone can make when hiring sponsorship sales people, plus our tips for avoiding these issues altogether.

We hope this gives you a better grip of the often tricky hiring process, so you no longer expect something for nothing or suffer the frustration of being let down by candidates after investing time, money and effort into making unicorns happen!

So let’s get started…

1) Don’t hire on the basis of their black book

“So I’ve spoken to this brand already because we go way back and I know they’d be very interested in your event / charity / music festival / art exhibition / conference / awards programme / start-up [delete as appropriate], but obviously we couldn’t make that happen without being retained and hired by you first.”

Are you familiar with monologues like this? Whenever you hear something like it, you should be warned for three good reasons.

Firstly, those who are capable in sponsorship sales should know at least someone in every industry sector. Ergo, solid contacts should be a basic requirement for any role within sponsorship sales, rather than an essential reason for hiring.

Secondly, those within the industry who genuinely want to create opportunities for clients should do so without needing to leverage employment or a contract out of it. Indeed, a better way of candidates phrasing their true potential leads would be: “I actually know a great brand and would be happy to make this happen regardless of whether we got the job. I’d be happy to try and organise this for an introducer’s fee?”

Finally, it isn’t prudent for sponsorship sales people to be discussing properties they don’t represent to brands as it could easily produce a negative impact on them – just imagine if they didn’t win the business after all, for example.

Key takeaway: Keep the potential negatives of candidates’ black book in mind when they bring it up during the hiring process.

2) Be wary when they agree with everything you say

It is common to lose out on pitches when you are open and honest about discussing the fact their property is overpriced and that you wouldn’t be able to sell it for the amount quoted – simply because nobody would purchase it at that fee. Unfortunately, either sales people don’t realise this, or they just agree with you because they think that’s what you want to hear.

Without actually doing any strategic or valuation work – which almost never happens at pitch stage – the salesperson you are trying to hire wouldn’t know the real value and therefore shouldn’t be agreeing with you on how much it is worth.

Key takeaway: If they appear to be just trying to give you what you want, it’s likely you’ll hit a roadblock when it comes to properly taking your sponsorship proposal to market.

3) It’s not always positive when they talk about big brands

Many potential agencies and candidates within the sponsorship industry will have experience of working with “sexy” brands. However, should you be representing a choir in Leeds for example, it’s very unlikely clients such as Red Bull would stump up £1million in sponsorship – regardless of how good they may be!

Candidates who regularly bring up big brands that have nothing to do with your property may be using this as smoke and mirrors. Just because they’ve worked with and know of big brands does not mean that these brands would be remotely interested in your property.

Key takeaway: Be aware that any kind of discussion of big brand experience in this way is often irrelevant.

How to do it the right way: the top three questions to ask a potential hire

With the above in mind, it’s more important than ever to ask the right questions to the right people. These are Slingshot Sponsorship’s top three key questions we’d ask anyone we’d be looking to hire to sell our sponsorship:

1) Where do you think we’ve been going wrong – and how do you propose you can fix it?

2) What is your process: how many people are required, both from the client and agency, to achieve the target?

3) What do you think the potential could be and how long will it take us to get there?

We also have to emphasise one more thing: people do not work for free. As much as commission-only operating may be enticing, it’s unrealistic – and ultimately you get what you pay for.

It’s worth investing time and money in the hiring process – so long as you invest it wisely. Achieve that and you’ll be amazed at the results.

Interested in learning more about how to get the most success in sponsorship? Follow our social media accounts for regular updates:

Slingshot Sponsorship – Facebook

Slingshot Sponsorship – Twitter

Slingshot Sponsorship – LinkedIn

My Year as a Placement Student at Slingshot 23rd March, 2017

The novelty of graduating university has decreased substantially this last decade. As the number of millennials attending university increases, the value of being a university graduate has dwarfed. If a post-graduate walked into an interview claiming they deserved the job role because he or she had a degree, employers would laugh and say ‘you and a million others’.

The only thing that’s increased from university are the expenses of attending the education system and the level of competition in finding a job post-graduation. 10 years ago, It was almost a guaranteed deal in finding a job after University – those graduates didn’t find themselves with their backs up against the wall like this contemporary generation does today.

As an undergraduate I’ve learnt that a degree simply doesn’t cut it anymore.

The real value lies within acquiring hands on, tangible experience through embarking on a placement year. Students need to be able to provide employers with sufficient evidence that both supports and reassures, you can get the job done.

One way or another, acquiring work experience is critical in the process of becoming employable; and I drew the most benefit is working in a smaller organisation.

I cannot stress enough how working in a smaller firm has affected my professional development for the better. My understanding on how the entire agency operates strengthened as I was an integral part of the team. In a big company, you become a cog in a piece of machinery and never truly achieve full awareness to your impact – having that lack of insight to your progression indefinitely detriments your experience as an intern.

The Key Thing I’ve learnt:

Passion over credential. I had zero experience prior to working with Slingshot and minimal knowledge on sponsorship, yet my passion to learn allowed me to develop quickly and become a valuable asset to the agency – drive can’t be bought, but knowledge can be taught.

The Top 3 Favourite Things about My Job:

Numerous role opportunities. Operating within a small team provided me with the chance to perform every job role which offered me and understanding for what career I’d want to specialise in for the future.

Creating relationships. Focusing on sales allowed me to build rapport with various clients and individuals both nationally and internationally that has not only helped me grow in confidence but has opened my world up to potential opportunity.

Unrivalled insight. Working with a sponsorship agency that taps into all sectors meant that I’ve had the pleasure of working across various industries, which kept my experience interesting and refreshing. This allowed me to harness a much broader understanding of the realm of business.

What I Thought Before Work And Now:

I never expected to love work. It wasn’t until I began to see results that the obsession grew. From a sporting background myself, I was always competitive and those characteristics are easily transferable – the office is my new playground and my highs are found from achieving above and beyond from what is expected.

What I’ll miss the most:

Being pushed from my comfort zone. It wasn’t until Slingshot I realised my true potential. Being in an environment where I’m constantly motivated and expected to deliver helped me understand how vital it is to stay clear of what’s familiar or easy because you’ll never grow as an individual.

Although a degree certifies your knowledge in the field, applying your knowledge whilst earning a wealth of experience and building a vast network of contacts is critical to the early stages of your career. It’s ultimately what you do now that affects your future and Slingshot was my stepping stone.

OLDER POSTS

NEWER POSTS