Author: Laura Ronchi

Top 5 Reasons Why Your Sponsorship Proposal Isn't Converting Sales 31st May, 2011

We’ve been asked many times to give advice to brands concerned about their inability to source for sponsors.  No matter which sector the opportunity represents, it’s often the sponsorship proposal which is not translating how sponsorship benefits can add value and ROI.  There can be a number of reasons why the sponsorship proposal doesn’t work, but we’d like to highlight the most important:

1. Rambling proposal: bear in mind that Marketing Managers are bombarded almost every day by emails from brands looking for sponsorship funding so make sure that your proposal is attractive and concise to gather their attention quickly. As a rule of thumb, a 2 page proposal with engaging pictures and testimonials would be more than sufficient.

2.  Lack of clarity: make sure the proposal includes a brief description of the event and focuses on how the sponsorship benefits can help them achieve their objectives.  Be very transparent in identifying what you will provide and how much it will cost.

3. Lack of media assets: sponsorship provides brands with content and positioning to maximise their exposure –providing opportunities to shout about their involvement is key.  Ensure you are able to guarantee media and marketing exposure and be explicit about the audience the sponsor will be exposed to.

4. Standard approach: a common mistake that right holders make is to send over standard emails with the sponsorship proposal.  A value proposition will be different for each brand strategy.  Do your research and tailor your sponsorship proposal to focus on how sponsoring your property will help them achieve their objectives.

5.  The wrong contact: you might have the best opportunity in the world clearly illustrated by a concise sponsorship proposal, but if you are sending it to the wrong person, it won’t make a difference.  Depending on the opportunity, you typically would look to speak with the PR/Communications Director, Brand Manager or most often the Marketing Director.  Make sure you know who you are contacting and why, which supplements point 4.

These are some key things you can start fixing right away, but if you want a more tailored solution, we are now offering our Sponsorship Boot Camp, which will help you create sponsorship proposals that turn into revenue.  You can find out more information here.

We have also launched our eNewsletter so you can ensure you receive sponsorship tips throughout the year.  Register here.

McCain Foods to Partner with London Irish End of Season Party 21st April, 2011

McCain Foods & London Irish partner to encourage more families to get more active more often.

The last London Irish Big 5 game, End of Season Party, will kick off on April 23rd promising to be another wonderful day for families with activities and live entertainment alongside the last league game – London Irish vs. Northampton Saints.  To provide a unique experience for London Irish fans, The Big 5 event series combines activities and entertainment to support the exhilarating rugby games held throughout the year.  Many brands have been taking advantage of the opportunity, activating experiential campaigns and reaching an engaged audience of London Irish rugby fans and young families.

McCain Foods, principal partner of UK Athletics, has signed a partnership deal with the event and will be bringing its interactive McCain Track and Field road show experience to the London Irish End of Season Party. The McCain Track and Field roadshow will give youngsters the unique opportunity to try out the different basic elements of athletics in a fun environment. McCain ambassador and 400m hurdler Perri Shakes-Drayton, who won bronze at the European Championships last August and is a 2012 hopeful, will be on hand throughout the day to offer tips to youngsters taking part in the day.  

 The London Irish End of Season Party promises to be a great family day out and we are pleased to be bringing a taste of athletics to the event. As principal partner of UK Athletics we are committed to getting more families more active more often, and the McCain Track and Field Roadshow experience is an ideal introduction to the sport.

Bill Bartlett, Corporate Affairs Director at McCain

With an event expecting over 12,000 supporters in attendance, the last home Premiership rugby game is set to be a memorable one.  Additional brands involved with End of Season Party include Grosvenor Casinos, EA Sports, Equifax and Hilton Hotels.

The deal was secured through Slingshot Sponsorship.

End of Season Party tickets are selling fast, be sure to book your ticket today! 

Call the Ticket Hotline on 0844 249 1871 or click here to buy tickets.

Silverpop appoints Slingshot Sponsorship to manage events and sponsorship 14th April, 2011

Slingshot Sponsorship, the thriving new sponsorship agency, has recently signed new client Silverpop®, the only provider of a scalable, integrated email marketing and marketing automation platform.  Slingshot Sponsorship will assist Silverpop with their event management and sponsorship efforts.   

 As an industry thought leader, Silverpop has a strong presence at UK events and has chosen to work with Slingshot Sponsorship in order to optimise these opportunities.  Slingshot Sponsorship will be working with Silverpop across the top level digital marketing events they are sponsoring such as the Marketing Week Awards and Internet World London.

 We are delighted to be working with Slingshot Sponsorship in order to ensure that we are effectively connecting with marketers at key industry events in order to share with them our expertise in helping them take their marketing efforts to the next level.

Richard Evans, Director of Marketing – EMEA, Silverpop 

About Silverpop

Silverpop is the only marketing technology provider that offers a powerful marketing automation solution built atop a scalable email marketing platform. The company has more than a decade of experience empowering marketers to deliver highly relevant communications that efficiently drive revenue while also building brand loyalty. Companies rely on the Silverpop Engage platform to create and manage sophisticated multichannel marketing campaigns that nurture customer and prospect relationships from interest to conversion and beyond. Silverpop’s industry-leading thought capital, strategic counsel and customer service, combined with an extensive ecosystem of world class partners, allow its customers to quickly and cost-effectively automate even the most complex campaigns-improving marketing results and increasing ROI. With a presence in the United States, Europe and Australia, Silverpop is trusted by leading brands around the globe. Visit www.silverpop.com for more information.

Sponsorship Competitions: Hilton Hotels & London Irish Case Study 8th April, 2011

We recently put together a great sponsorship campaign utilising social media, print and events for official sponsor of premiership rugby Hilton Hotels within the London Irish Rugby Club’s Big 5 events.  By acting as a sponsor of the events, Hilton Hotels were able to access the London Irish fan base through their more engaged channels: the London Irish Facebook page, the St. Patrick’s Party, and local paper Reading Post.

The aim of the Hilton campaign was to promote the Hilton Hotel Spring Sale.  Working with London Irish, we created three different promotions through three different channels:

  • 2 tickets for the Fan Fair rugby game plus one nights accommodation at Hilton Reading promoted on Facebook
  • 2 tickets for the Fan Fair rugby game plus one nights accommodation at Hilton Reading promoted at the popular St. Patrick’s Party 
  • 4 tickets for the Fan Fair rugby game plus lunch with the players promoted through Reading Post

Facebook & Sponsorship

Social media can act as a sponsorship platform to reach an engaged online audience.  We promoted the competition as a free offer for fans of the London Irish Facebook page enabling users to share with their friends.  By positioning the offering within the social context of sharing Facebook provides, it added value to the user experience rather than becoming a disruptive advertisement.  The 5,000+ fans of the Facebook page loved it, achieving the main objective of promoting the Hilton sale, but also driving traffic and generating more Facebook friends for the London Irish Facebook page.

London Irish St. Patrick’s Party

The popular St. Patrick’s Partyattracts a sell out crowd each year.  With live entertainment and experiential campaigns run throughout the stadium, we wanted to ensure that any additional promotions could cut through and make an impact.  To win the Hilton prize, fans were put on stage for a ‘dance-off’ with the band while the Spring Sale information was displayed on screens.  By engaging the crowd through an audience vote, we ensured that the competition was impactful with the lively audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reader Offer with Reading Post

The local paper, Reading Post, providing a prime front page position to promote both the London Irish Big 5 games as well as the Hilton Hotels Spring Sale through a reader competition.  By working with this publication, we were able to compliment our earlier promotions of online and experiential by supplementing our reach to an older and local demographic.

 

 At Slingshot Sponsorship we aim to add value through partnerships ensuring that any sponsorship campaigns we create build brand engagement.  The combination of diverse channels and integrated sponsorship rights from both parties ensured a successful and engaging response from London Irish fans – creating value not only for the sponsor and the rights holder, but also for the fans.

 

Velti sponsors Mobile Category at the DMA Awards 2011 31st March, 2011

The Direct Marketing Association (UK) has signed Velti as the sponsor of the Mobile Category at the DMA Awards 2011.

Held in December at Old Billingsgate, the DMA Awards are the best known and most sought after awards in the marketing industry calendar.  Award winners and supporters enjoy extensive media attention and widespread industry recognition for their success. The DMA Awards are the only marketing awards to inspire and demand both clients and agencies to deliver on all aspects of their campaigns: Strategy, Creativity and Results.

Kelaine Olvera, Director of Marketing at Velti, commented: “The 2011 DMA Awards are a great showcase of talent within the UK marketing industry. Velti is proud to sponsor the Mobile Category as it demonstrates our continued commitment to developing truly innovative mobile marketing and advertising solutions.”

The deal with Velti, brokered by sponsorship agency Slingshot Sponsorship, also includes delivering marketing solutions to the DMA Awards campaign.  Jackie Fast, Managing Director of Slingshot Sponsorship, commented: “Velti’s sponsorship of the DMA Awards showcases their innovative mobile solutions to the niche audience of marketing agencies the DMA Awards engages. Integrating mobile within the awards marketing campaign is a first for the DMA Awards and is only made possible through Velti’s sponsorship.” 

About Velti

With ten years of experience in developing and implementing mobile marketing and advertising solutions and a huge platform for mobile researches, Velti is uniquely positioned to meet the mobile engagement needs of brands, advertising agencies, mobile operators, and media companies ensuring a constant evolution to remain leading edge. For more information visit: www.velti.com

About the DMA Awards

The DMA awards are the best know and most sought after awards in the marketing industry. The DMA Awards are celebrating the ideas that demonstrate your power to innovate and educate, create income and jobs, and enrich our culture and communities. For more information visit: www.dmaawards.org.uk

Sponsorship that Saves the Planet 27th March, 2011

It is common to associate sponsorship with commercial value, fundraising activity, experiential campaigns and brand engagement, but rarely in terms of the environment.  However, we managed to pull off a sponsorship campaign with our client London Irish that did just that!

Alongside the London Irish Rugby Club Big 5 games, Valentines’ Day and Festival of Rugby, the award-winning environmental charity Global Action Plan promoted its environmental youth initiative Climate Squad as a part of a brand experiential campaign through the support of Slingshot Sponsorship.

Climate Squad’s environmental initiatives at the London Irish Big 5 included Operations: Pump It Up and Bust a Flush.

Operation Pump It Up saw young volunteers pumping up fans car tyres in the Madejski Stadium’s parking lot.  It was an opportunity to engage drivers and save carbon by ensuring fan’s tyres were pumped to the correct levels.  The implementation was not only informative, but caught fans when they had time to spare to listen to how such a small activity can reduce their carbon footprint and save them money. 

The second initiative with Climate Squad, Bust a Flush, showed how simple water saving devices and tips to reduce water use could help protect the environment.  With human sized hippos approaching fans and providing free giveaways, this created significant engagement for both children and adults alike.  While children had their faces painted by giant hippos, adults learned how to create a more sustainable future for their families.

The Global Action Plan initiatives were a great way to raise awareness of water scarcity and to introduce simple ways to practically reduce a household’s impact on the environment.  Furthermore, it provided an informative and fun way to engage young people with London Irish before kick-off.

The astounding results through Global Action Plan’s activity during the London Irish Big 5 including:

  • 209 water saving devices over 2 days
  • 1.73 tonnes of carbon saved with Bust a Flush
  • 5.93 tonnes of carbon saved with the Pump it Up

This resulted in a total of 7.66 tonnes of carbon savings throughout the sponsorship programme.   

Jackie Fast, Managing Director of Slingshot Sponsorship commented: “Climate Squad’s Pump It Up campaign was extremely engaging with the London Irish rugby fans.  We had cars queuing up to have their tyres pumped by the young volunteers and get eco-driving tips.” 

Fast continued, “Bust a Flush was also a resounding success. The hippos were a really fun and effective way of getting a message across – and worked exceptionally well with our London Irish Rugby Club’s Big 5 event.  It was great to see so many young volunteers deeply engaging with the fans, giving out devices and tips on how to make simple changes in your home that make a big difference” 

London Irish fan, George Crone further commented, “Bust a Flush was a great way to raise awareness of water scarcity and to introduce simple ways to reduce individual household’s impacts!” 

We pride ourselves in ensuring that all of our sponsorship programmes at Slingshot create value for everyone involved – the sponsor, the audience and the property.  However, in this unique case we were also able to create value for the environment, making it one of the few sponsorship programmes that actually can save the planet!

For further information on Global Action Plan’s initiatives, please contact Louise Groom: 0207 420 4429; [email protected]

London Irish Rugby Experiential Campaigns with St. Patrick’s Party 22nd March, 2011

The highly anticipated London Irish St. Patrick’s Party, event 4 of the Big 5, will kick-off Saturday 26th March at the Madejski Stadium, Reading with a crowd of over 20,000 expected!

The legendary St. Patrick’s Party will include live entertainment and activities for London Irish supporters alongside the London Irish vs Exeter Chiefs game, which kicks off at 3pm.  Activities will include brand experiential campaigns, set up through the support of Slingshot Sponsorship, London Irish Rugby Club’s experiential/event sponsorship agency.  Brands supporting the event include EA Sports, Aviva, Highland Springs, Equifax, Hilton Hotels, Grosvenor Casinos and Pump Technology.

Jackie Fast, Managing Director of Slingshot Sponsorship commented, “By working with brands and the London Irish Rugby Club, we were able to support a series of events that fans can truly get engaged with.  Additional activities alongside the games provide families with a full day of entertainment, which is fun for the entire family.  This level of engagement is the perfect platform for brands to get involved with, ensuring that their positioning is reaching the audience at a time when it is sought.”

Brands involved had the opportunity to participate in sponsorship by providing an experience for London Irish supporters – an unrivalled opportunity to support London Irish Rugby Club as well as engage with supporters through experiential campaigns they were already running.  This provided a great sponsorship opportunity for everyone involved – the brands, London Irish Rugby Club, and most of all the supporters attending.

St. Patrick’s Party tickets are selling fast and with only a handful of seats left be sure to book your ticket today!

Call the Ticket Hotline on 0844 249 1871 or click here to buy tickets.

Charity Sponsorship: Top 5 Reasons Why Companies Get Involved 24th February, 2011

With the current economic downturn and the critical financial issues of the market, it is vital that companies find new ways to differentiate themselves against their competitors and increase brand awareness amongst their target audience.  There are a number of ways to do this, but one of the best ways to increase brand awareness is through sponsorship – specifically sponsorship in relation to charitable work and activities.

Brands have been involved with charities as part of their corporate social responsibility positioning for decades.  However, a recent occurrence that is increasing is linking brand support of charities through marketing campaigns and sponsorship activation.  Associating charitable support through sponsorship rights is an effective way to create an emotive response alongside the goodwill already built through their sponsorship activation.

But what are the reasons that drive a company to sponsor a charity? Although there are many reasons, here are our top 5:

1.  Increasing brand loyalty: sponsoring a charity is a business deal rather than a charitable donation. Companies choose to sponsor a charity in order to align their PR activity with a cause-related issue that enables them to build or increase their reputation amongst their target market.

2.  Brand differentiation: sponsoring a charity has the potential to differentiate their brand against other competitors who don’t support charities.

3.  Awareness and visibility: as charities typically rely on volunteers to run their business and have small marketing budgets, social media plays a vital role in their marketing strategy.  Brands who are involved with charitable work can typically work with the charities to utilise these social networks in order to promote their association providing a greater reach into a different audience.

4.  Highlighting corporate social responsibility: supporting a charity enhances a company’s credibility in a way that can spread a positive attitude amongst their audience and help them reach a new market.

5.  Client entertainment:  this can form a key part of a brands strategy, especially in regards to cultural or athletic events in which brands can activate their experiential marketing campaigns and/or meet with key individuals.

Global Action Plan supports London Irish Big 5 10th February, 2011

Global Action Plan has signed on to support London Irish Rugby Club alongside the London Irish Big 5, set up through the Slingshot Sponsorship agency. The legendary rugby club has this season expanded the annual St. Patrick’s Day Party into five big events with live entertainment and activities for supporters young and old. 

Global Action Plan is an award winning environmental charity that works with all kinds of groups, from school children to corporate employees, to bring about engagement and action on sustainability issues. For the London Irish Big 5 events, Global Action Plan will be promoting their youth volunteering project, Climate Squad, with its wide-reaching environmental initiatives; Operations Pump It Up and Bust-a-flush.

Some of the young volunteers will be based in the car park of the Madejski Stadium pumping car tyres and explaining to car owners how keeping your car tyre pressure at the recommended level can save you up to 8% on fuel costs and reduce emissions.

Felicity Greenland, London Irish Marketing and Events Director, comments: “We are very happy to have Global Action Plan involved in our Big 5 programme. We are excited about helping to showcase environmental issues as well as providing an engaging experience for our supporters.”

Through their support, Global Action Plan will be provided with a fantastic profile opportunity to get involved in sport sponsorship and to promote their cause to an engaged audience.

Trewin Restorick, Global Action Plan CEO, states: “We are looking forward to bringing our Pump it up Programme to London Irish and the Big 5.  We can’t wait to showcase how our charity works and how young volunteers can get involved.”

Global Action Plan has agreed involvement with the February 12th – Valentines vs Newscastle Falcons and the February 26th– Festival of Rugby vs Harlequins. 

More Information

London Irish Big 5: http://www.london-irish.com/Big5.ink

Global Action Plan: http://www.globalactionplan.org.uk/

Slingshot Sponsorship: localhost:8080/slingshotsponsorship.com