Tag: rights holder sponsorship

Can too many Sponsors Dilute a Rights-Holder’s Brand? 22nd August, 2013

In sports leagues around the world, success on the field is ultimately driven by commercial revenue. As a consequence, their response has been to bring in sponsors to help facilitate the gap in funding. But this growing emphasis upon sponsorship has left many people asking – are too many sponsors diluting the right-holder’s brand?

Sponsors make the brand more vibrant

When discussing the ever increasing number of sponsors in sport, it would be hard not to mention Manchester United, having just signed another spread of partners across the globe. The club has recently signed the Indonesian tyre producer bringing the club’s sponsorship total to 33. It begs to ask the question – are these sponsors devaluing the Manchester United brand?

Jonathan Rigby CM for MU, has rejected that the club has anywhere near reached its limit. He states that by implementing a local model amongst the 77 countries they have sponsors in currently, they are appealing to each fan individually, making the brand more vibrant and producing a follow on effect which will ultimately benefit all sponsors involved.

This certainly seems to be the case when you look at their operating profit, which has increased this year by 13.7%. The club has also just signed a new shirt deal worth nearly £500 million over 8 years, increasing their commercial sponsorship revenue to £118 million annually.

More value lies in fewer partners

In comparison, Juventus believe going the other way is more rewarding. The club believes that having valuable relationships with fewer brands will bring you more credibility amongst your following, and as a result will lead to greater financial weight behind the deals. This is the case for Jeep who is currently their headline sponsor, and one of 15 corporate partners. In a public image driven market, and where it is only public interest which governs your reach; keeping it close to home can be seen as vital.

It’s the end product that matters

Brands enter into sponsorship for a multitude of reasons, but generally speaking, brands sponsor rights-holders for the audience, exposure, association and to fulfill their own brand objectives. For rights-holders, one of the main things they rely upon, aside from funding, is the fans/ their audience. As a platform, sponsorship allows both the rights-holder and brand to connect to their audience in a wholly tailored way.

The focus, therefore, shouldn’t be based on the amount of sponsors, but upon the end product – what the partnership has created for the fan, the overall experience and the club. MU’s model works because it has such a wide fan base and global sponsorship platform that allows them to associate with their following in all corners of the world. Juventus, on the other hand, has had success through its emphasis upon a few partners that have a strong affiliation to the club, keeping it close to home allows them to stay true to both the sponsor and the rights-holder’s objectives.

The Outcome

So long as the sponsorship is delivered and is aligned to the brand’s objectives and these objectives align with those of the rights-holder, the end product should ultimately benefit both club and sponsor. Dilution of the brand will come when parties lose sight of their overall objective.

Driving the Future of the Sponsorship Industry – ESA Appoints one of its Youngest ever Board Directors 29th May, 2013

Jackie Fast, Managing Director, Slingshot Sponsorship, was announced this morning as one of the youngest ever individuals to be elected as a Board Director of the European Sponsorship Association. Jackie will now sit alongside fourteen other Directors; setting the standard for the sponsorship industry for coming years.

In the wake of the success of this year’s ESA Sponsorship Summit, which addressed significant shifts within the industry, ESA is set to further develop itself alongside its new Board Directors. Jackie’s appointment highlights ESA’s continued drive to enhance the industry – seeking to challenge the ethos and make significant contribition to its progression.

ESA was formed ten years ago with the premise to unify, strengthen and advance the business of sponsorship throughout Europe. The industry itself, once predominantly focused upon sport and large corporates, has profoundly shifted in this time. The body’s appointment of Jackie Fast to the Board conveys its recognition of the changing market, and the need for the industry to adapt with it – further promoting its role to inspire and innovate.

With the sponsorship industry worth €26.5 billion, the European Sponsorship Association will have a vital role in its growth and development into the future. The key issues identified by ESA include:

Proving Sponsorship’s Business Value
Providing value to members
Creating stronger links with brands and rights holders
Technology – the way in which sponsorship can best icnorporate its benefits
Thought-leadership

Jackie commented, “It is an honour to have been elected to the Board of ESA. I have admired ESA as an organisation since its creation; to have the opportunity to develop and contribute to its decision making process is a humbling prospect for me. I am looking forward to really developing ESA into a body that is not only vital and leading the entire sponsorship industry, but reflective and influential in the marketing industry.”

At the age of only 29, Jackie is forging a path for aspiring young sponsorship professionals to follow.

What Can I Sell? Top 5 Tips to Uncover Sponsorship Assets 10th August, 2011

We have been doing a lot of Slingshot Sponsorship Boot Camps recently to gear up for the start of September. As such, I thought I’d start a blog series following what we discuss and some tips to think about when constructing your own sponsorship proposals.

Assets are typically a problem area for rights holders. Being submersed in their own product, sometimes it’s difficult to uncover something that you see on a daily basis, so these top tips and questions should help you uncover opportunities you haven’t thought of yet!

1. What communication tools do I have?

Although I am not a fan of badging (plastering logos on any and everything you have), communication to your audience is what the sponsor is after so you need to look at all opportunities to integrate sponsors within those communications, although bearing in mind that engaging communications are better than logos. Communication can include everything from:

Email newsletters (to read more on how, check out my blog post on the DMA Email Blog: Email Sponsorship: How to do it and why?)
Printed communications
Promotional advertisements
Online display
Events

2. Who are your super stars?

Do you have anyone within your company or anyone your company works with that could potentially be an asset to a brand? If so, and they are willing, you could work with these leaders to provide benefits to your sponsor by speaking at their events or promoting their brand. Some ideas of unusual super stars could be:

Talent or brand ambassadors
Politicians
Highly successful CEOs who could act as mentors/speakers
Musicians/artists

3. Social media

If you are using social media and have a regular engagement with your audience, this is a great platform for brands to run competitions or promotions. Typically the audience is younger and more technology friendly so keep the audience in mind when including social media assets within your sponsorship offering. Social media is a great way for you to add value to a sponsor without much cost, but don’t underestimate the importance of having a ‘working’ social network. Just tweeting or posting competitions is not enough – you must have a social media strategy which is engaging, both for your property and also for your sponsors. More about how to integrate sponsorship with social media, read my guest blog post on Content and Motion’s Blog Social Media & Sponsorship: Can Facebook & YouTube Ever Become Co-brandable Assets for Brands?

4. Partnerships: are there other partnerships that you can leverage for your sponsors?

Media partnerships can be great opportunities to provide content for promotion. When this works well and everyone is working together these partnerships can be extremely successful. Integrating these opportunities for your sponsors can add significant value and should be considered, especially if your property does not yet have a large audience.

5. Extras

Any additional events that you could include, not only add value to the sponsor, but also to your property. Extras can include providing a Sponsors Lunch or Sponsor’s VIP Reception. These types of events allow sponsors to network with each other and often uncover other partnership opportunities that can be built around your property through brainstorming synergies. Especially if these extra events are timed so they coincide with a lull in your marketing schedule, they provide an added opportunity for you to continue building your relationship with your sponsor throughout the year.