Tag: Sponsorship Proposal

Price Follows Prestige: Brand Asset Valuations 22nd September, 2011

Do you know how much your sponsorship proposal is truly worth? We do.

One of the key causes of poor sponsorship sales is over-priced fees. This is often down to a methodology which focuses on covering the production costs of a property, rather than looking into the actual market value of the assets offered. Although making a property available for sponsorship can be a lucrative revenue stream, key factors such as the quality and quantity of rights and benefits, establishment of the property and brand exposure are all highly influential in determining the degree of investment a sponsor will be willing to make for association.

Therefore despite an event potentially carrying high production and running costs, rights holders need to be realistic ensuring that sponsorship fees rise in correlation with the calibre of the assets offered. The concept of price following prestige can also be seen by other rights holders within their respective industries, such as a start-up magazine, with the initial focus on publishing quality content and building circulation figures in order to then attract advertising revenue.

In order to create a fair and realistically priced sponsorship proposal, each of the following factors need to be taken into account:

Tangible Assets

These are benefits of a sponsorship package that can be measured and in turn given a specific monetary value, including such factors as signage, media collateral and tickets. Tangible assets are useful in giving the sponsor a direct insight into where a percentage of their investment will be spent.

Intangible Assets

These are qualitative factors that cannot be given an exact value but are also of significant benefit to the sponsor, such as audience engagement, branding prominence, property establishment etc. Intangible assets can only be measured by the opinion of the audience and therefore their value will alter from person to person, depending on perception. However, by conducting research such as surveys, which offer structured and quantitative feedback, a qualitative benefit can be given an estimated market worth.

Exposure and Reach

Whether a brand is looking to reinforce or alter its image via association with a sponsorship platform, this will only be worthwhile if a sizeable audience is going to be reached. Therefore the PR reach and geographical exposure of a brand’s association is a key factor in determining the overall value of a sponsorship package.

Lead-time

Approaching prospective sponsorship leads can be a time intensive process and therefore properties with short lead times (from commencing of sales approaches to execution) should be prepared to lower their fees if wanting to secure any sponsor investment at all. Corporate sponsorship responsibles have a strong knowledge of the properties within their market along with the value of the assets offered. Therefore by reducing fees, companies will be much more likely to invest when presented with a good deal, much more so than paying full price for something that they know the rights holder is in fact desperate to sell.

How can a sponsorship agency help?

Hiring an agency will bring experience and expertise in the area of optimising and valuating existing brand assets as well as discovering new beneficial aspects of a property that the rights holder may not have even thought of. With unjustifiable valuations being one of the key reasons behind unsuccessful sponsorship sales, an agency will help improve a rights holder’s understanding of the assets they are selling plus create additional benefits to offer, instilling confidence in the salesperson whilst providing a significantly more attractive proposition for prospective sponsors to invest in.

For further information on how Slingshot can provide professional advice on brand asset valuations, plus additional insight into your sponsorship potential, see the Slingshot Sponsorship Boot Camp.

Do Social Media Benefits Really Benefit Sponsors? 15th September, 2011

Social media has not only changed the way an audience can interact with a sponsorship property, but also with how they can interact with the sponsors of that property and vice versa. Without fully understanding social media for the organisation in question, it would be impossible to try and deliver value to a sponsor associated.

Here are some top tips and questions to ask yourself before you consider integrating sponsorship benefits within your sponsorship proposal.

Do You Have an Online Audience?

Many sponsorship proposals include social media activation with their audience for prospective sponsors; however, this is typically even before they’ve even set up the account. Many rights owners do not realise that it can take a significant amount of resource to develop and manage social networks so make time to do your research before you promise brands something you aren’t able to deliver at the point of signing the contract.

The benefit of social media is that it is instantaneous, but if you haven’t developed your social network before you offer the rights over to a sponsor, you aren’t offering much of anything.

Is Your Social Network Engaged?

Once you’ve built your social network, you need to ensure that the users are engaged with your content. If you don’t have an engaged audience then there is no benefit to a sponsor of your property because their message will be falling on deaf ears.

5 Tips to Creating Engaging Content:

Be relevant
Provide insight
Offer competitions or money-can’t buy benefits for engaging with you
Provide exclusive content they can’t find anywhere else
If possible, try to be genuinely funny

Does Your Social Network Want to Hear From Your Sponsors?

Your network is important and needs to be treated with care. Do not sign them up and then bombard them with messages that they do not want to hear. This rings true for any and all communication, but especially with social media as it far easier to individuals to block messages online than it is through the post.

Make sure to listen to your audience and provide them content that they find valuable. As long as your sponsor’s messages fall in line with these guidelines you can ensure that you are truly delivering the benefits you are offering.

To connect with Slingshot’s social networks sign up to our Blog or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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.

Cobra to Sponsor 2012 What Car? Awards 28th June, 2011

Cobra, a leader in the provision of security and safety solutions for the automotive industry, has announced that is to once again sponsor the prestigious What Car? Awards. The company will be sponsoring the performance and luxury award categories at next year’s event, to be held at The Grosvenor House Hotel in London on January 12, 2012.

Cobra has over 35 years experience partnering many of the world’s most recognised vehicle manufacturers, developing bespoke solutions for both factory and after market installation on a global level.

Cobra offers a vast number of products and solutions and is at the forefront of electronic and telematics systems technology for the automotive industry. Cobra’s range includes alarms and immobilisers, parking sensors, in-car communications, entertainment solutions and GPS stolen vehicle tracking systems.

Managing director of Cobra UK, Andrew Smith, said: “With over 35 years experience working at the top level of this industry, we are proud to be teaming up with What Car? to sponsor the performance and luxury categories at the UK motoring Oscars.”

Through its CobraTrak and NavTrak brands, Cobra is the European market leader for Stolen Vehicle Tracking and the only approved supplier to: Audi, Bentley, Ferrari, Infiniti, Lamborghini, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Nissan, Porsche, Renault and Tesla. Cobra offers fully integrated stolen vehicle tracking services across 36 European countries, Russia and South Africa.

“Both award categories keep us front of mind with our existing and potential prestige car manufacturer partners, as a premium supplier of high end safety and security solutions to the automotive industry,” continues Smith.

Cobra also provides a range of telematics solutions to vehicle manufacturers, fleets, logistics providers and insurance companies.

Andrew Golby, What Car? publishing director, said: “We are delighted to be working with Cobra again, who return for a second year. Plans for next year’s event are well underway, and we are excited to have an opportunity to further develop the partnership.”

The What Car? Car of the Year Awards are acknowledged by many as the UK motoring Oscars. The event is the automotive industry’s best-known and most influential awards ceremony and the awards are coveted by car makers both in the UK and overseas. The event is attended by more than 1200 leading industry figureheads alongside many of the most influential motoring correspondents in the UK.

The sponsorship deal was secured by Slingshot Sponsorship.

ABOUT WHAT CAR?

The What Car? stable includes the long-established magazine, the award-winning website whatcar.com, What Car? TV, What Car? Mobile and What Car? Video – available online or as a video podcast.

Latest National Readership survey results indicate that 797,000 people read What Car? magazine every month, while two million consumers consult the What Car? website every month.

What Car? is owned by Haymarket Magazines, the UK’s largest independently owned publishing company with a portfolio of more than 150 titles, ranging from specialist consumer magazines to business titles and customer publications, published via wholly owned subsidiaries, joint ventures and under licence worldwide.

ABOUT COBRA

A leader in the provision of security and safety solutions for the automotive industry, Cobra is a Tier One partner to the main European and Asian car, commercial vehicle and motorcycle manufacturers, developing bespoke solutions for both factory and aftermarket installation. The company has a worldwide network of around 40 local commercial partners.

A pioneer of vehicle electronic solutions and at the forefront of vehicle security and safety technology, Cobra has been providing vehicle manufacturers with tried and tested products for line-fit since the 1970s.

Cobra’s products include Cobra Alarms and Immobilisers, Cobra Parking Sensors, CobraTrak Stolen Vehicle Tracking, In-car DVD systems, Rear View Reversing Cameras and Monitors, Bluetooth® Handsfree Systems, Cruise Control and Speed Limiters.

Cobra provides a range of telematics solutions to fleets, vehicle manufacturers, logistics providers and insurance companies. Cobra already provides the telematics technology for the Coverbox pay as you drive insurance policy, and the Co-Operative is using it to power its Young Driver Insurance.

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.

“We Have a Great Cause, Why Aren’t We Securing Sponsors?” 4th April, 2011

Charity Sponsorship: Top 3 Reasons Why You Aren’t Selling

I am often asked to provide consultancy to charities on how they can make their sponsorship propositions more attractive to brands. The charities are often well known and have great causes – with well-planned and well-attended events. Understandably, it’s difficult to understand why more brands aren’t getting involved.

After experience and investigation with a number of our charity clients, I’ve discovered that there are some very simple tips to help make charity sponsorship proposals more attractive to secure sales.

1. Is your sponsorship package worth what you are asking?

Just because you need a certain amount, that doesn’t mean that your package is worth that amount. Far too often I see sponsorship proposals that are clearly not valued based on their tangible benefits. Of course there is a certain amount of association with the charity that is ‘priceless’, but this is not the sole (or even usually the key) reason marketing directors will align their brand to your cause. However, the weight of sponsorship investment is assumed to be the majority of the charity association with media assets such as PR and print ads ‘thrown in’. This is definitely not the approach to take when putting together your sponsorship proposition. Marketing directors are a savvy bunch and they want to see tangible benefits to prove effectiveness. Which brings me to my second point…

2. Marketing directors are busy

Marketing directors receive thousands of proposals, opportunities, and ideas that they can choose from to promote their brand. Your sponsorship proposal is not only competing with other charity proposals, but also all the other available marketing platforms that the brand can align themself to. It is a cluttered market and you have to be clear and transparent. Although beautiful powerpoint presentations with great pictures tend to look great – they make for impractical sponsorship proposals.

Of course the sponsorship proposal will depend on your programme as this format can be effective for selling emotive campaigns. However, more often than not, it is rarely the most suitable option.

3. Make more time

Charities tend to work with limited resources and find it difficult to put all the plans in place well in advance. As such, they don’t start approaching sponsors until they have all of the event information confirmed – typically 3 months before the event takes place. This is typically the time they think it is appropriate to approach sponsors.

Although the event could be absolutely ideal for a brand’s positioning and objectives, very few brands have spare funds within their marketing budget or the additional resource to make use of the opportunity. Marketing budgets are typically planned at least 1 year in advance. Regardless of how much they may want to get involved, they will not have the budget to do so.

As such, charities need to either:

a) start working on the events plan earlier,

b) start approaching brands earlier, or

c) aim to only secure sponsorship for the annual events that have a clear direction and plan in place.

We have recently signed some great charity clients (such as Mencap) and will be blogging more charity sponsorship tips throughout the year. Make sure to check back often or subscribe to our newsletter so you don’t miss anything!

My 15 Minutes of Fame on the London Hotspots Blog 7th March, 2011

I recently was interviewed for the London Hotspots Blog with Executive Offices Group. The London Hotspots blog has the best of business advice, entertainment, travel, food and drink from across the capital so make sure to check it out.

My interview was a great experience and gave me an opportunity to talk more about the great things we are doing with Slingshot Sponsorship and our newest client campaigns.

They asked everything from the best piece of business advice I had ever received down to what we are planning for 2011 and beyond. I thought I’d give a little sneak peek on our blog with one of their questions on what our average week is like, but you can check out the entire interview here.

What is an average week like for the MD of Slingshot?
There is no average work week for me. Things change all the time and we constantly have to be flexible to meet the needs of our clients and our business. This is one of the best things about what we do. Some weeks involve attending a lot of client events – anything from black-tie balls at the Grosvenor House Hotel to high profile breakfast events in the City. Other weeks can involve white board strategy planning and briefing in creative work for new sponsorship proposals.

As we typically start working with clients at integration stage – with them having little experience in sponsorship – and then taking them to delivery, we can be at many different stages with different clients. This means that one day might be spent tweaking copy for benefits in a sponsorship proposal for one client and the next day spent on the phone setting up meetings to discuss how brands can get involved with our client’s media assets. The variety of our day to day work makes working at Slingshot Sponsorship exciting.

Haymarket Consumer Media appoints Slingshot Sponsorship as exclusive sponsorship agency for What Car? Car of the Year Awards 10th January, 2011

Slingsho t Sponsorship, the thriving new sponsorship agency run by Jackie Fast, has recently been appointed as the exclusive sponsorship agency for the popular consumer publication What Car? along with the What Car? Car of the Year Awards published by Haymarket Consumer Media.

The What Car? Car of the Year Awards are the most prestigious awards programme that every manufacturer wants to win. Through a rigorous judging process, winning manufacturers of the What Car? Car of the Year Award can prove the highest standards in their class. With over 900 of the automotive industry leaders in attendance, the upcoming event held on January 13^th will be the highlight in the automotive industry’s social calendar.

The What Car? Car of the Year Awards has chosen to work with Slingshot Sponsorship as their exclusive sponsorship agency in order to implement a strategic and sustainable sponsorship programme across this event and publication. The key objective will be to develop a sponsorship programme that is both attractive to brands that are looking to reach the automotive industry as well as initiate sponsorship relationships to build brand awareness of What Car?

Andrew Golby, Publishing Director of What Car? comments, “We’re very pleased to be working with Slingshot Sponsorship. The What Car? Awards are recognised as the automotive equivalent of the Oscars, and our ambition is to take the event to even greater heights. Through strategic sponsorship, we hope to offer an effective marketing opportunity, and share the power of the What Car? brand that winning car makers already enjoy.”

Jackie Fast, Managing Director, Slingshot Sponsorship commented: “For rights owners looking to develop sponsorship programmes that have longevity and growth, strategy and brand engagement are vital. We are looking forward to applying our expertise with rights owners to help What Car? integrate their many assets into a coherent sponsorship opportunity that help fulfil engagement with brands.”

Slingshot Sponsorship will work with the What Car? to create and develop sponsorship opportunities leading up to their event in January 2012.

If you are interested in finding out more information on being involved with the What Car? Car of the Year Awards as a sponsor, please contact Jackie Fast, e: [email protected], t: 0207 420 8217

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