Tag: sponsorship agency

Sponsorship Agency Slingshot Sponsors Two Brothers and a Tuk Tuk Around the Seven Modern Wonders of the World as they Tuk the High Road 26th September, 2012

Innovative London-based sponsorship agency Slingshot just announced their sponsorship of brothers Kevan Pulfrey and Alex Saxon as they travel to the seven modern wonders of the world in a three-wheeled tuk tuk. The adventure will see the brothers cover 65,000 kilometres, four continents and 38 countries in an attempt to attain a Guinness world record for a journey they have been told by many is impossible.

The brothers expect to face extreme challenges throughout the voyage from severe weather to dangerous animals and for the most part they will camp leaving them exposed to difficult conditions. Kevan Pulfrey said: ‘We will face danger, overcome fears, break down in the worst places imaginable and have our eyes opened to the delights of planet earth.’ The tuk tuk is incredibly compact with no space for anything but the most necessary provisions and the pair will rely on basic road maps and a compass to navigate their journey around the world. Throughout the journey they will be raising money for their chosen charities the Alzheimer’s Society and War Child, two charities particularly close to their hearts. Donations can be made through the VirginMoney Giving Page on the Tuk the High Road website.

Jackie Fast managing director of Slingshot Sponsorship commented: ‘The journey is both incredibly unique and brave and we are thrilled to be involved.  Being involved as a sponsor helps us reinforce our own brand positioning as being challenging and innovative as well as showcasing our new international sponsorship services launched earlier this year. We are also happy to support the Alzheimer’s Society and War Child – making this part of our agency’s CSR initiatives.”

The pair drove the tuk tuk to Slingshot Sponsorship’s offices in Islington for photos with the Slingshot team before setting off on Saturday 15thSeptember towards Dover where they would leave English shores for the last time in over a year – they estimate the trip will take between 12 to 14 months. They will be keeping their followers up to date with their many adventures through their website www.tukthehighroad.com and on Facebook and Twitter.

Slingshot Sponsorship Win Two Golds at the Corporate Engagement Awards 20th September, 2012

Slingshot Sponsorship took home two Gold Awards at the 2012 Corporate Engagement Awards for their work with Haymarket Consumer Media publication What Car? magazine.

A London-based sponsorship agency, Slingshot Sponsorship has been championing an innovative approach to sponsorship since its launch three years ago with a focus on creating successful and lucrative corporate sponsorship programmes that amplify core organisational activity.  Being recognised at the Corporate Engagement Awards is a testament to the unique approach they take with their clients.

Held at the Victory Services Club in London, the evening featured some of the largest sponsorship campaigns focused on corporate partnerships – including Barclays Cycle Hire, Coca-Cola and London2012, as well as BT and Comic Relief.

Competition for the awards was fierce with Slingshot beating out Aviva and Barclays to take home the Gold in Best Execution of Corporate Sponsorship Activity and Best Relationship-building Sponsorship Programme.

Jackie Fast commented, “It is an incredible achievement for Slingshot Sponsorship to be recognised for a second consecutive year at the Corporate Engagement Awards.  We have been working with What Car? since we launched and these awards are the culmination of our hard work.  The sponsorship programme we have developed for What Car? has not only put in place a sustainable sponsorship revenue for the magazine, but has also  helped build stronger commercial relationships overall with their industry partners  – which is exactly what best practice sponsorship should do.”

The Corporate Engagement Awards, organised by Communicate Magazine, are the only European benchmark of best practice in all aspects of the corporate partnership & sponsorship process. They provide an opportunity for staff, companies, agencies and beneficiaries alike, to see their efforts recognised and to celebrate excellence in their collaborative projects.  Entries by contenders in each of the 16 categories were judged on the three criteria of strategy, execution and outcome.

Our own Jackie Fast announced in prestigious Media Week 30 Under 30 12th July, 2012

Managing Director of Slingshot Sponsorship, Jackie Fast, announced as part of the industry’s next generation of talent revealed at the prestigious Media Week’s 30 Under 30.


The competition is supported by The Mail on Sunday and the newspaper’s managing director Marcus Rich joined Jeremy King, editor of Media Week, on stage last night at the Cuckoo Club to reveal the names of those that made it onto the list.

Recognising the next generation of talent in the industry, this prestigious award showcases the emerging talent in the marketing and media industries.  Sought after by marketing and media agencies, Slingshot Sponsorship was the sole winner in the sponsorship industry to be recognised.

Jackie Fast commented, “It is absolutely fantastic to be recognised amongst this group of extremely bright and talented individuals.  I am especially proud to have our sponsorship work be recognised in such a marketing focused awards programme – truly showcasing how sponsorship is an important aspect in the marketing mix.  It is an unbelievable honour.”

Judged by a team of industry experts that included Marcus Rich, David Wilding, planning director at PHD; Tom Dunn, digital strategy director at Maxus; Karen Stacey, broadcast sales director for Bauer Media, Clare Rush, joint head of investment at MEC and Philip Smith, head of content solutions for the Brand Republic group, this year’s entrants were of a very high calibre.

To see the full Media Week 30 Under 30 list please click here.

'Terrible Twos' Slingshot Sponsorship has its Second Birthday 31st May, 2012

We have reached a fantastic milestone, today is Slingshot Sponsorship’s 2nd Birthday!

Last year I wrote about what we’ve learnt in the past year (see last year’s Birthday Blog here), whilst this year I thought I might compare our agency’s development to that of the notorious ‘Terrible Twos’.  And although I do hope that it won’t be following the same path as my friend’s toddlers, there are strangely some similarities…

“I Choose”

The ‘Terrible Twos’ is so named because it is a period of child development in which children initially begin to make their own choices – the toddler realises that (s)he can make their own mind up about things.

We’ve been very fortunate to work with amazing clients so this doesn’t exactly relate to our sponsorship agency, but we do now have the amazing staff on hand in order for us to fully start going after some clients we really believe we can help.  We are also able to take more risks now giving us more flexibility on who we are able to work with.

Earlier this year we secured the exclusive opportunity to work with an extremely iconic and forward-thinking brand – Caterham Cars.  Their innovative thinking coincides with our own and we can’t wait to start showcasing what we can do across all of the commercial areas we will be leveraging (more on our involvement with Caterham Cars can be found here).

“I Want That”

The ‘Terrible Twos’ are always wanting and if they scream loud enough, more likely than not they tend to get what they want.

Although ‘scream’ is probably not the best description for how we’d like to go about getting our own way, I do think that by constantly discussing, meeting new people, and communicating your proposition the more people will understand what you are trying to achieve and will help where they can.  After all, we are working in an industry which insists that two heads (or brands) are better than one, and we take this seriously throughout every interaction and relationship we have.

In terms of screaming about the benefits of sponsorship, one of the things we are very excited about is putting together a sponsorship module next semester to educate the technology industry in London about how sponsorship is beneficial, and more fundamentally what it is and what it can do.  As sponsorship reaches so many disciplines it is important to not only be at the forefront of digital technology, but it is also vital for us to impart knowledge of how sponsorship can work when applied to different industries – not just educating those within the marketing discipline.

Questions, Questions, Questions

The best thing I’ve heard recently is a question from a child to her mother, “Mummy, what if everyone in the world broke both their arms at one time?”

Although Slingshot may not be questioning exactly the same topics as a ‘Terrible Two’, I do think it’s important to question our industry, our work, and our objectives.  I truly and whole heartedly believe that sponsorship can be one of the most effective and unique forms of marketing (obviously depending on the objectives) and that every brand, rights owner, charity, small business owner and individual needs to consider working with sponsorship in some form.  Whether it is sponsoring your local community football team, integrating sponsorship on your foodie blog or spending millions on purchasing rights to a building – sponsorship works.  Because the parameters can be hugely varied, it does take some ingenuity to tailor the proposition, but when tailored correctly (and continually) it can create engaging experiences that are larger than the sum of its parts.

Make sure to keep track of our progress in Year 3, by signing up to our Blog & YouTube Channel.

How to Build Working Relationships 24th April, 2012

Many companies feel that sales people are the face of the company and therefore are the only ones who need to foster relationships.  This could not be farther from the truth.  As the divide between marketing and sales grows thinner it becomes increasingly important for everyone to appreciate developing and growing working relationships – this includes the creative executive designing ads in an agency to the marketing manager in a brand.  Collaboration is not just necessary in smaller communities – it is everywhere.  It exists within your office as well as outside of your office – between departments and between agencies.

At Slingshot Sponsorship, building relationships is not just a service we provide; it’s the vital component to our business’s survival.  Fortunately, we are blessed with amazing, talented clients and sponsors so our job is not too difficult; however, there are some key tips we use to help us build lasting working relationships:

1.  TRANSPARENCY – Far too often there are too many secret squirrel discussions going on – between the agency, client, brand, creative team, etc.  But 99% of the time everyone is trying to achieve the same objective and so being transparent highlights where there are gaps in misunderstanding.  Sorting these gaps out early helps speed up the project.  Transparancy can also highlight where people have been given different information, which can also be the reason for delays.

In our sponsorship agency, we like to be transparent with everything – from the prices of our sponsorship proposals to the rates we charge our clients.  There is a value to everything we do and everything we sell; therefore the need to hide pricing is unnecessary.  For example, you wouldn’t pay £7 for a bag of Haribo because it’s not worth that (unless you were in a ski resort in the Alps).

2.  COMMUNICATE – This goes without saying, but communication is an obvious way to build relationships.  Furthermore, by communicating with your clients/sponsors/agencies you can find out changes within the business faster than by reading about it on the latest edition of Marketing Week.  This not only helps you build your relationship, but helps you deliver the best value.

For our rights owner clients, we try and help forge this communication with face-to-face interaction mid-way through a sponsorship programme.  For example, we sign sponsors to the What Car? Awards in May leaving a large gap of time between signing contracts and the awards ceremony (January).  In order to keep the communication maintained we have introduced a Sponsors Lunch in September to update sponsors and more importantly to build relationships – between both the rights owner and sponsor, but also between sponsors.

3.  CARE – True relationships are not built on the used-car salesman technique of faking it.  If you are like most people, you will be working in the same industry for the majority of your career – as will your peers.  People like to work with people they like and people tend to like people who are helpful, considerate, and knowledgeable.  If you don’t care about your job, you certainly won’t care about someone else’s – which is never a good starting point to fostering a relationship.

As a sponsorship agency, most of what we do is build relationships – however, the importance for building lasting relationships applies for every industry and every job you are in.

The Evolution of Sponsorship: speaking at Bournemouth University 14th March, 2012

I was recently asked to present at the sixth annual Mike Warne Annual Marketing Communications Lecture at Bournemouth University in partnership with the CIM.  My presentation was titled The Evolution of Sponsorship: A Sponsorship Agency Perspective (view on SlideShare here).

Arriving at Bournemouth University, not only was I amazed at how crowded the lecture hall was, but more importantly amazed they managed to secure a sponsor for their event – an energy drink Little Miracles.  I was truly impressed by the whole evening!

My presentation provided a view of how sponsorship is shifting alongside the shift in marketing – how one way communications are now two way communications and what that means for the sponsorship industry.  How traditional forms of sponsorship are becoming integrated messages utilising multiple platforms and how this development in integration is creating loyalty and cut through amongst the many consumer brand messages we receive each day.  As a sponsorship agency, one of the areas we often discuss is how sponsorship is more than just signing off on the sponsorship proposal and ensuring that your logo is placed on the right billboard.  Although this does form part of sponsorship, it can be so much more – truly uncovering synergies between brands to create something truly unique.  For some examples of great sponsorship campaigns make sure to check out the Coca-Cola Polar Bowl and the JayZ & Bing collaboration.

The keynote of the evening was Jeff Dodds, Executive Marketing Director of Brand and Marketing Communications at Virgin Media, whose presentation showcased not only their sponsorship platforms, but more importantly uncovered the reasons behind why they chose to invest in those specific platforms.  Alongside my favourite answer of WWRD (what would Richard do?), Jeff explained how sponsorship was used to demonstrate how being a Virgin Media customer and leading the Virgin Media life is better than leading their competitors.  They activated this through the experiences that Virgin Media customers receive during their sponsored events – for example, Virgin Media customers receive VIP access and free stuff at V Festival just by being a customer.  This is an excellent example showcasing how sponsorship can be used to increase loyalty and develop brand experiences beyond logos.

To get a complete run through of the event and what was discussed make sure to read Rebecca Crafts Blog here.


Awards Programmes & Sponsorship: A Winning Combination 29th February, 2012

Awards programmes provide a unique opportunity to celebrate excellence across each and every area of a particular sector. Recognising those who are leading the way ensures the promotion of forward thinking, encouraging the overall progression of an industry.

In establishing a respected awards platform, an opportunity is naturally presented for organisations to sponsor the programme and be seen to support the leaders of their market place.

An association with those leading the way will always emphasise, and potentially enhance, an organisation’s reputation within their respective industry. Therefore awards platforms are often the first place to look when considering sponsorship opportunities, especially in the B2B arena.

Benefits of Awards Programme Sponsorship

  • Media institution association: Many major awards platforms are hosted by key publishers and media institutions within the industry e.g. Haymarket’s What Car? Car of the Year Awards, the most recognised awards programme within the UK automotive industry. Being recognised as the most respected publication for car reviews, the Car of the Year Awards was a natural progression in the acknowledgment of engineering innovation. Being the go-to brand for decision making on new car purchases, the awards not only provide the opportunity to partner with the automotive sector’s elite, but also allows for association with the authority on the industry.

  • Targeted sponsorship: Via category sponsorships, brands have the chance to associate with a specific area of the industry, whether it be a smaller brand aiming to gain brand awareness amongst the industry’s major players, or a larger organisation looking to highlight key performance areas. In doing so, brands also have the exclusive opportunity to network and establish a future relationship with both the winner and all shortlisted companies within their respective categories.

  • Networking: Award ceremonies provide the rare chance for all key brands within a particular market place to be in one place at the same time, therefore allowing for invaluable lobbying opportunities for all sponsors with the front runners of the industry.

Additional Revenue Streams

Although quite expensive to implement, awards platforms can prove to be a strong additional source of revenue when properly executed, offering an array of sponsorship assets and the opportunity for truly integrated partnerships. However, many organisers are yet to realise the full commercial potential of their awards programmes, simply sticking to the traditional revenue streams of ticket sales and basic sponsorship packages with partners only receiving the usual branding and standard PR presence around their involvement.

However, there are in fact a whole host of additional assets that can be added to the sponsorship offerings of an awards programme. The following are just a handful of ways in which value can be added:

  • Sponsored shortlist announcements: Being shortlisted for an award is still a major achievement and so the announcement is highly anticipated. This therefore presents an ideal opportunity for brands to get their name in the spotlight, as announcements are sure to be covered by all major industry media titles.

  • Ownership of on-site properties: In addition to headline and category sponsorships, there is the opportunity to break down the event by area e.g. VIP receptions and press lounges or even creating on-site brand experiences.

  • Luncheons: These events provide the opportunity to build hype leading up to the main event, whilst giving sponsors the chance to network with key awards stakeholders i.e. judges, comperes and major industry opinion formers.

  • Consumer promotions/competitions: Depending on the market place, sponsors can be given the opportunity to run sales promotions and competitions, presenting the opportunity for consumers to attend the awards and meet the stars of the industry.

  • Exclusive access: Awards shows are notoriously exclusive and sponsorship therefore provides the opportunity for brands to act as a gateway to exclusive content, including interviews, speeches, photos, performances and more.

With brands now adopting a much more integrated approach to sponsorship, it is crucial for rights holders to fully evaluate the assets offered to sponsors and allow brands to maximise their involvement with the platform as well as provide sufficient marketing channels for them to communicate their sponsorship activity.

By introducing new and innovative ways for brands to activate their association with an awards programme, the sponsorship can be developed from association with a single event to a year-round partnership, adding significant value at minimal expense either the rights holder or the brand.

Sponsorship: Pushing boundaries in an ever changing landscape 24th February, 2012

Sponsorship is a very unique industry, one that is both growing as well as dramatically shifting.  At the moment, there seems to be an inertia amongst sponsorship agencies and brands at one end of the scale, while at the other end there is an active driving force pushing the industry into a more ‘grown-up’ and sustainable form of marketing. I’d like to think Slingshot Sponsorship is the latter.

Put simply, sponsorship is a form of marketing.  And just like good old fashioned direct marketing campaigns, sponsorship needs to be measured, creative and deliver results for the client.  Somewhere along the line, sponsorship campaigns have stagnated, which has created an industry that bases success on logo views making it no different to advertising – except lacking the creativity.  This was caused by the reasons sponsorship was signed off initially – typically the CEO who was boosting his own ego and basing brand positioning on access to hospitality boxes and exclusive tickets, rather than marketing ROI.

However, sponsorship is so much more than that and for the brands and sponsorship agencies out there who are willing to work a bit smarter, the returns can be significant.

My favourite example of smarter thinking is with the Direct Marketing Association who dramatically shifted their involvement with sponsorship enabling them to provide more value to their members at no additional cost (view case study here).  Rather than just being an add on, this membership organisation now counts sponsorship revenue as core to their business processes and integral to their overall income.

Another smarter thinking client we have is the What Car? Awards, which saw an increase of 1032% on sponsorship revenue this year simply by shifting some of their current activities in order to create value for their sponsors (view case study here).  For example, instead of just having sponsors involved with the presentation ball itself, What Car? created new promotional channels including promotion of the shortlist through media sponsor The Metro; providing sponsors a significant amount of national exposure.  Neither additional resource nor expense was needed as the shortlist was always part of their programme, but by changing the promotion and involving partners, this dramatically changed the value derived for the What Car? Awards sponsors.

We like to think we are pushing boundaries  and making sponsorship work harder and smarter for our clients so if you are interested in pushing some with us, make sure to get in touch or sign up to our newsletter.

Slingshot Sponsorship Partner with Scandinavian-based BITE Agency 23rd January, 2012

Slingshot Sponsorship and BITE have formed a strategic alliance that will see a union of expertise from two of the biggest prospects in sponsorship and brand management respectively.  The innovative partnership will work with brands and rights owners to truly grasp building a brand and then creating commercial opportunities from that foundation.

Having launched in the UK in 2010, Slingshot Sponsorship has quickly gained significant market share within the rights owner community working with diverse organisations including Haymarket Consumer Media, Mencap, and the London Irish Rugby Club.  Unlike other sponsorship agencies, Slingshot helps organisations build up their assets in order to become viable marketing platforms for brands.  As such, branding and brand identity is vital to ensure success with creating a sustainable sponsorship programme.

Based in Scandinavia, specifically Oslo, Norway, BITE is a newly formed team of international brand innovators, facilitating strategic brand activation through non-traditional methods.  By working together, both agencies will be able to follow their customers through their brand building and exploitation journey and help them realise their full commercial potential.  The ability to also access two unique markets will provide Slingshot/BITE clients with data that has not been available previously.

Jackie Fast, managing director of Slingshot Sponsorship commented:

This is such an exciting development and a natural progression on what we do.  By ensuring we have experts identifying and developing the core brand proposition, we will be able to help our clients become more successful when integrating commercial opportunities.  This has been a gap within our current clients marketing mix and so we are delighted to be able to fill this gap.

Robert D B Leinders-Krog, managing director of BITE commented:

In recent years we have clearly seen a major shift in the international marketing and brand sphere, with companies and organizations needing to holistically approach their marketing and branding strategies. This unique partnership will ensure our clients competitive advantage internationally with a profound base in concrete brand strategy and in-depth commercial exploitation. Our international approach combines European expertise with renowned Scandinavian innovation practices and will give our clients unique platforms of activation. We are very excited!

The partnership will enable clients to reap the benefits of a single agency who can manage the entire journey of brand strategy, activation and commercialisation from a completely unique market position.  That both companies are experts in their own field guarantees clients are provided with a tailor-made service, comprising the best from sponsorship and brand-management.

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