Tag: Sponsorship

The What Car? Awards – a Sponsorship Agency Perspective 13th January, 2012

After a long anticipated year working with the What Car? Car of the Year Awards, the event has happened!

Held at the Grosvenor Hotel on Park Lane, the event was a fantastic culmination of the hard work that went into developing and launching the new cars of 2012. With a beautifully dressed room and entertainment from Chris Addison, the event was definitely one to remember.

In terms of sponsorship, we managed to increase the sponsorship revenue by 1032% and increased the number of sponsors from two to nine. To find out more on the strategy employed please visit our case study here.

2012 sponsors that were involved included Hankook, TRACKER, Metro, Mondial Assistance, Green Flag, Cobra, Thule, CNI, and Warranty Direct. For more information on this year’s sponsors please click here. For a full list of the What Car? 2012 winning manufacturers please click here.

If you missed it, we thought the Twitter action summed it up nicely:

Even the sponsors were getting involved…

Some of the wins…

And the big announcement…

And of course, no awards blog post would be complete without photos from the Photo Booth sponsored by Associate Sponsor TRACKER. Here is the Slingshot Team in action:

Slingshot Sponsorship Renews Partnership with Mencap for 2012 12th January, 2012

Slingshot Sponsorship secure contract renewal with Mencap for 2012

Mencap, the leading UK based charity helping people with a learning disability, has re-appointed Slingshot Sponsorship to continue to develop and implement a new sponsorship strategy across their high-profile events. After an extremely successful year together, the renewal will see a continuation of Slingshot’s work to increase awareness as well as increase the commercial value for the charity through creation of sponsorship opportunities.

Slingshot Sponsorship will assist Mencap with consulting and implementation for upcoming events including April Fools – a stand-up comedy night at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo; the Little Noise Sessions music festival – an acoustic and intimate, 6-night music event curated by Jo Wiley; the fantastic swimming event Mencap Mile held at the Olympic venue; and many more.

Leo Visconti, Head of Corporate Development at Mencap:

We’ve had a great first year working with Slingshot, who have delivered some excellent sponsorship deals for us in 2011. We are now looking forward to bigger and better for 2012 and some delivering amazing events with Slingshot’s help.

Jackie Fast, Managing Director of Slingshot Sponsorship:

We are pleased to be working with Mencap again in 2012. The Little Noise Sessions and April Fools are two events that we are always confident of attracting high profile sponsors for. We’ve really enjoyed working with all the staff at Mencap and look forward to helping them promote their brilliant cause in the year ahead.

If you are interested in finding out more about what Slingshot Sponsorship do, or want to get involved in one of Mencap’s events, please contact: press@slingshotsponsorship.com, or call us on +44 (0) 20 7226 5052

My Top 5 Sponsorship Campaigns 4th January, 2012

In the ever-busy world of brand marketing, using the strength of brand partnerships to forge new channels and platforms is essential to generating sales, showcasing the brand and in some cases uniting millions. Here are just five of my favourites:

1. Jay-Z & Bing – ‘Decoded’

With Jay-Z’s autobiography ‘Decoded’ due to be launched in November 2010, the rap mogul teamed up with Microsoft search-engine Bing to stir up some little needed hype.

Each of the book’s 320 pages was printed and placed in a different position across 13 major cities. Locations were selected based on the contents of each page – for example, a reference to Jay Z’s youth in Brooklyn could be placed on a Cadillac, a restaurant plate, a basketball net or even on the bottom of a swimming pool!

Utilising social media, clues were released via Facebook & Twitter revealing the location of the secret pages in a draw to compete to be the first to unlock each one of the 320 pages. Users were driven to Bing.com/Jay Z where they were directed to specific locations, while the first people on the scene texted a code to reveal the page to the whole community. Within a month of the campaign going live, users had unlocked every single page of the book before it was even available for sale.

Bing received an 11.7% increase of visitors while the campaign was live with an average player engagement of 11 minutes. Jay Z’s Facebook page received 1 million ‘likes’ in under a month and his autobiography reached 3^rd in the New York Times Best Seller list.

The level of detail that went into turning every single page of Jay Z’s book into a real life installation was staggering, completely integrating and engaging the content of the book with readers. Unlike most interactive campaigns where the user’s interaction ends at the computer screen, ‘Decode’ actively encouraged the consumer to venture out into the world and sample Jay Z’s life in person. All sections of media were used, giving the individual a rich and unique understanding of Jay Z’s life that a purely internet-based campaign couldn’t have done. Through Jay Z, Bing created the biggest online game the world has even seen.

2. Ralph Lauren & The New York Times

In September 2011, Ralph Lauren bought out a one-month, solo sponsorship of the New York Times iPad application. The app takeover included online shopping, videos, a letter from Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren’s car collection, poems, details of how Ralph Lauren jewellery is made and the principles of the brand’s craftsmanship. An online shopping bag, built directly into the app’s adverts, allowed consumers to shop straight away, rather than having to click through to a website – essentially making it easier than ever to buy Ralph Lauren.

This partnership highlights the failure of countless companies to fully utilise what’s available to them when they form a brand relationship. Amongst the online shopping the reader is drawn to the beautiful imagery, the highly detailed information about the production of the clothes, and interesting little known facts about Ralph Lauren himself. At no stage do you ever feel as though you are being led down the path to purchase. It is always a gentle stroll, past a wonderfully crafted tweed suit, before you reach the checkout.

3. McDonald’s & 2008 Beijing Olympics – ‘Cheer For China’

With large sections of the Chinese population finding the Games remote and out-of-reach McDonald’s developed united sponsorship initiatives under the slogan “Cheer for China”, which allowed the nation to become part of the Chinese Olympic dream. In-store cheering stations, viral videos, interactive/click through banners and celebrity blog partnerships were just some of the ways that the ‘everyman’ was encouraged to participate in this episode of people power.

Through the cheering stations and online entries, the 10 best cheerers were chosen to take part in ‘The Cheer For China Online Reality Show’ that attracted over 7 million unique visitors to its website. To conclude the show, the 10 best cheerers were whittled down to 5 winners who led 1,200 people at the Olympic Stadium to set a new Guinness World Record. Throughout the campaign the Cheer For China website had over 25 million unique visitors and 1.2 million cheering entries.

This campaign illustrates how a well-thought out and flawlessly executed brand partnership can quite literally change a nation. Faced with Olympic indifference millions of people, from Guangzhou to Changchun, were instilled with the Olympic spirit – no mean feat for an American fast-food chain.

The multi-pronged approach of the campaign also ensured that it didn’t fizzle out – once all the cheering entries were in, a fly on the wall documentary emerged, which preceded winners dancing in the Olympic stadium setting a new world record. Continuity was key and ensured that the entire nation not only cheered for China, but continued to do so long after the Games were finished.

4. The National Theatre & Phillips ‘Sense and Simplicity’

In 2007 The National Theatre teamed up with Phillips to help reduce the amount of electricity that the Southbank location used. This partnership saw Phillips replace and enhance the National Theatre’s internal lighting system with state of the art, energy-efficient design costing approximately £500,000. In addition to the immediate visual improvements in the theatre, the long term aims were to reduce the amount of energy of lighting up the iconic ‘fly towers’ by 70%, which in turn will save £100,000 a year.

While this campaign may not have everyone marvelling at its ingenuity, the simplicity allowed consumers to fully engage with the campaign and helped both organisations achieve more together. The National Theatre was able to produce more productions and Phillips utilised a highly targeted audience platform to showcase their exceptionally high-quality lighting. In addition, a substantial amount of energy will have been saved by the end of the 5 year deal, paving the way for other heavily lit buildings in the city to focus on their own energy consumption.

5. Emirates Airline & Transport For London

With Transport for London’s state-of-the-art cable car more than doubling its budget in a year (from £25 – £60 million), Fly Emirates intervened in what was one of the shrewdest sponsorship moves of 2011.

The 10-year deal costing Emirates £36 million provides the Dubai based airline naming rights on what is bound to be one of the focal points for the London Olympics. It will be the first urban cable car of its kind in the UK, connecting Greenwich Peninsular over the river with the Royal Docks. The new system could provide a crossing every 30 seconds carrying up to 2,500 passengers per hour in each direction, equivalent to the capacity of 50 buses. Users will be able to pay with oyster cards, as they travel at a minimum height of 52m over the Thames.

With the travel concerns high amongst visitors as well as residents, the Emirates Cable Car will not only be highly publicised, but also one of the few central transportation links. In addition, it will remain a prominent part of the capital’s skyline for decades. Greenwich has a constant stream of tourists, throughout the year, who will all want to take a ride and witness the panoramic views that the cable car offers. As a result, Emirates’ brand will be directly showcased to a large portion of the 30 million international visitors the capital attracts annually long after the London Olympics have left.

Top 10 Sales Tips for Sponsorship Rights Holders 12th December, 2011

With an increasing number of platforms available for corporate partnership, the selection process for brands is becoming more complex, with a wide range of factors influencing the allocation of marketing budgets. Therefore when approaching potential partners, it is important for rights holders to ensure that each of the following factors is taken into account:

1. Price

The fees asked by the rights holder play a key role in the decision-making process for a sponsor to come on board with a property. The price of association is often the first aspect of a proposal to be looked at and it is therefore imperative that rights owners understand how to value their sponsorship assets correctly.

2. Timing

Depending on the company and industry, budgeting can take place at different times of the year. However, as a rights holder, the important thing is to understand the general time of year that marketing budgets will be allocated by your prospects in order not to miss the boat.

Depending on the size of the investment relative to the prospective sponsor, opportunities with lower fees may be handled on a tactical basis. However generally, companies will be much less open to new partnerships once budgets have been set and it is therefore crucial to get in there early.

Typically planning periods are September/October and March/April.

3. Prospects

It is important that rights holders understand the key demographic of their property’s audience as misunderstanding this can lead to approaching an inappropriate market and wasting valuable time.

Once understanding the relevant brands to approach, the next step is to understand their behavioural tendencies in terms of their general sponsorship partnerships and activations and how they have utilised these relationships in the past. This will highlight which assets are relevant to each sponsorship category and in turn allow for a more tailored approach.

4. Audience Resonance

Are the prospect’s consumers interested in the sponsorship? And furthermore, will the sponsorship audience be interested in the prospect’s products and services? A sponsor will always have their target audience in mind when activating a sponsorship and therefore you as a rights holder must also adopt the same thought process, ensuring that the needs and wants of your prospect’s consumer base align with the benefits of your property.

5. Attendance

In the case of an event-based platform, the attendance is always of high priority to prospective sponsors. Whether the focus is on engaging with a specific audience or allowing for key networking opportunities, the attendance must present the prospect of new business opportunities.

A common error in the sales approach of a rights holder is approaching all companies within their property’s industry rather than taking the time to break down it down by relevance. By evaluating the industry and which areas will be most relevant, sales teams can prioritise their approach, generally receiving more positive feedback and in turn taking less time to close new partnerships.

6. Reflection of Company Values

The more a company can see of itself in a property, the more willing they will be to forge a partnership as a key aspect of a sponsorship is to emphasise brand values. This again relates to audience resonance and the tailoring of a sales approach as different selling points will appeal to different brands depending on their relative markets.

7. Comparison of New Business Figures with Previous Sponsorships

Producing financial, attendance, or media value figures are one of the most effective ways in which to sell a property as they are cold hard facts that cannot be easily manipulated. Tangible figures and facts provide a clear indication of such highly influencing factors as ROI, media coverage, attendance and give the prospect an immediate understanding of the tangible benefits they would receive from their investment.

8. Prioritisation of Company Goals

Each sponsorship platform caters to different aims and objectives of sponsors, this being a huge factor in the prospect’s decision making process. What is the largest benefit of sponsoring your property? There may be more than one but at least one of them should align with the core objective of the brand.

9. Cross Marketing Opportunities

Sponsorship platforms can attract brands from different industries with similar audiences. These rare opportunities can create cross marketing benefits that add substantial value to a sponsorship. This tends to occur with Media Sponsor rights and we’d highly recommend considering bringing on board something like this to strengthen your event or program.

10. Data Provision

Another advantage of sponsorship is the opportunity to carry out research amongst a captive sample of a brand’s target audience. If you are able to offer behavioural data to your sponsor helping them streamline their products and services, this brings a whole new level of value to the sponsorship – gaining important exposure whilst receiving precious qualitative feedback.

By putting in the time and research to evaluate each of the above factors before pitching to prospective sponsors, rights holders are able to carry out a truly time and cost effective sales approach. This will in turn allow for a more streamlined prospect list, resulting in fewer knock-backs and improved close-ratios.

Furthermore, adopting a more methodical approach will significantly increase sales staff motivation, driving the property forward in terms of investment and the opportunities for expansion that come with it.

What Car? Awards Become Carbon-Neutral with CNI 7th December, 2011

The What Car? Car of the Year Awards will become 100% carbon-neutral in January 2012. Continuing its’ partnership with Carbon Neutral Investments (CNI), What Car? has committed to offset the entire carbon footprint of the ceremony.

The emissions reductions come from a CNI-supported hydro project in India, which will neutralise all carbon emissions from the event, all travel to the venue, as well as the setting up of the evening. What Car?’s support of the project will harness renewable energy usage in the country, support the creation of much-needed jobs in the region, and help the local community.

CNI co-chairman James Brown said: CNI co-chairman James Brown said

What Car? is renowned for defining industry benchmarks, and in making its awards 100% carbon neutral this year, continues to lead the way by focusing attention further on sustainability. CNI is proud to again work alongside What Car?, to support the sector’s most prestigious awards and to help promote further environmental responsibility across the automotive industry.

CNI is a leading provider in the carbon-offset market, working alongside industry leaders to help them achieve carbon neutrality. As a sponsor of the What Car? Awards SUV category, CNI will offset the carbon emissions of not only the event itself, but also all journeys to and from the ceremony by guests and the set-up team.

What Car? publishing director Andrew Golby said: “We are delighted to be working with CNI in making the awards carbon-neutral. The project in India looks to benefit substantially from the arrangement and I am very much looking forward to learning how it will progress. As a business we take our environmentally responsibilities very seriously, and with CNI’s help all of our activities in 2012 will be carbon-offset.”

The What Car? Car of the Year Awards is the automotive industry’s best-known and most influential awards ceremony and success is coveted by car makers both in the UK and overseas.

The event is to be held at the Grosvenor House in London on January 11 with top-class entertainment yet to be announced. Previous headline acts have included Jo Brand, Jimmy Carr, Al Murray and Jonathan Ross.

This deal was brokered by Slingshot Sponsorship

Women's Sport Draws Fraction of Sponsorship Investment, But Not for Long 18th November, 2011

Having read the recent articles from our most successful Paralympian ever, Baroness Grey-Thompson, I was saddened with how little revenue is generated through sponsorship in women’s sport in the UK. With some very successful elite teams based in the United Kingdom including football, hockey, and netball, I wrongly assumed this would also draw large sponsorship funding to the sport and players.

Perhaps I have been tainted. I have always gone out with women who play sport and whether it’s been pretending to understand the rules of netball or be enthralled with a sublime left foot penalty, female sport has been nearly as big a part of my life as their male counterparts.

So why is it that the rate of interest has gone up but sponsorship hasn’t? Between January 2010 and August 2011 sponsorship of women’s elite sport in the UK contributed just 0.5% of the total market. Shocked? If not, you should be when you compare it to the 61.1% for men’s sport. It is clearly time for a change.

A contributing factor for the significant difference in sponsorship investment is the amount of media coverage that women’s sport receives. As audience awareness is a key benefit for sponsorship rights, this decreased media attention in women’s sport significantly affects the total sponsorship able to be retained.

However, it is possible that this is changing around – if even ever so slowly. On a recent trip to Marrakesh, I was elated to be able to watch the women’s World Cup quarter final live! (albeit via the red button). Also to note that this was due to an unprecendented 700,000 people who had watched England’s final group game.

When looking at the situation from a different angle, it becomes apparent that women’s sport is offering the rare opportunity for brands to associate with sporting athletes, teams and associations without having to compete with a plethora of additional sponsors and advertisers.

These opportunities also come at a heavily discounted price in comparison to the fees generally associated with sports sponsorship. With the London 2012 Olympics on the horizon, there has never been a better time to get involved with this relatively untapped marketing resource.

It seems to me that as long as the general public continue to be attracted to women’s sport in greater numbers, sponsors would be foolish to miss out on an ever growing opportunity as the cost of investment is sure to grow!

Slingshot Sponsorship wins Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2011 28th October, 2011

Jackie Fast managing director of Slingshot Sponsorship has won the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the Camden & Islington Business Awards. The category was open to business owners who have shown exceptional business acumen and achieved consistent business growth since launching.

Slingshot Sponsorship delivers and develops long-term brand strategies that engage targeted audiences through sponsorship rights. Integrated and tailored in each approach, Slingshot Sponsorship diversifies across a range of industries with clients based in publishing, sports, entertainment, media and charities.

Jackie Fast was absolutely ecstatic to win this award, commenting:

It is an absolute pleasure to be nominated, let alone win this category. Since launching Slingshot Sponsorship last year, our business has grown exponentially – which truly shows how valuable our unique business proposition is. And hopefully how it challenges and drives forward the sponsorship industry. It’s fantastic to be recognised by the community for all the hard work put in to developing and launching this agency!

The strict criteria set out for the Camden & Islington Business Awards indicated that only the strongest candidates within the area would be shortlisted for the award. Slingshot’s successful nominations illustrate its capabilities in creating successful partnerships that generate ROI through sponsorship.

The winners of the Camden & Islington Business Awards were announced at the awards ceremony in London on Thursday, 27^th October 2011.

ABOUT SLINGSHOT SPONSORSHIP

Slingshot Sponsorship is a strategic sponsorship agency based in Central London. The sponsorship agency works with brands such as Haymarket, London Irish Rugby Club, the BBC, Mencap and more to manage and develop sponsorship rights. The main focus is on creating long term partnerships with a common goal.

ABOUT THE CAMDEN & ISLINGTON BUSINESS AWARDS (CIBAs)

The purpose of the CIBAs is to recognise and celebrate those business owners in Camden and Islington who have successfully grown and maintained their business positioning throughout 2010 and 2011.

Winning this award is a superb opportunity to raise a company’s business profile and increase PR exposure across London. As the first of its kind in Camden and Islington, it is a great opportunity to meet fellow entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals.

CIBAs’ objectives:

To celebrate the work and efforts of businesses across Islington and Camden.
To encourage and champion enterprising behaviour across the 2 neighbouring boroughs
To boost the awareness of SME business success across London and the UK.
To increase the exposure of the local businesses within the Camden and Islington Area.

Make Money with your Blog – Monetising Social Media through Sponsorship 25th October, 2011

Monetising social media is a tricky business. Although we are not experts in this (for social media experts, get in touch and we can pass on some recommendations!), we are however experts at sponsorship and utilising sponsorship to reap financial rewards for our clients.

These sponsorship tips can be utilised on a number of social media platforms, but more commonly can be found and developed on a blog. Freely available (see WordPress), blogs can not only drive conversations and showcase expertise, but can also provide the perfect platform to integrate new sponsorship revenues.

A great example of integrating sponsorship with social media can be seen with the DMA Email Marketing Blog. A fantastic source for everything email marketing and written by industry gurus, this blog is read globally and has become one of the prime resources for email marketers.

Here are some of our tips for integration:

Audience

Sponsorship is only possible if there is an audience. Fortunately, the DMA Email Blog had been going for some time and had a significant number of registrants already. This not only proved that there was appetite for the content, but also that any sponsors involved with the blog would be guaranteed to reach an audience.

Do not try and sell anything until you have a proven audience.

Assets

A number of integrated benefits were provided within the DMA Email Blog sponsorship proposal. These assets were tailored to reach the prospective sponsor’s objectives – the two most important included:

Opportunity to write guest blogs – providing industry expert positioning
Online display advertising – to promote the services or run competitions

Always think about your prospective sponsors before you look to build the assets into your sponsorship proposal. What might be something key for you may not be of value to a brand.

Cost

Pricing for sponsorship can vary, but should always have a value attributed to the tangible benefits you can offer. Tangible benefits typically include media rights, physical space (events), access to a database, etc. As the DMA already provided online advertising on their homepage and throughout the site, there was a base CPM rate for the audience. The sponsorship of the DMA Email Marketing Blog was based on this precedent.

In the case where you do not have anything to base your pricing on, refer to other advertising costs for online display in similar fields bearing in mind that your reach with a blog will be far less than with an online publication.

Measurement

Ensure that you have analytics to back up the cost and show the value to the sponsors you are aligning with. Without measurement in place, sponsorship will have no value and you will not be able to attribute ROI to the brand.

For more information on social media and sponsorship, make sure to check out the presentation Property Rights Owners Make Money with Social Media on SlideShare.

Slingshot Sponsorship Shortlisted for CIBAs 11th October, 2011

Slingshot Sponsorship has been shortlisted for three categories at the Camden & Islington Business Awards for their innovative approach regarding the Equifax and Direct Marketing Association UK sponsorship campaign, led by Slingshot’s Managing Director, Jackie Fast. Categories shortlisted include Best Creative Business and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, as well as the People’s Choice Award.

Slingshot Sponsorship delivers and develops long-term brand strategies that engage targeted audiences through sponsorshiprights. Integrated and tailored in each approach, Slingshot diversifies across a range of industries with clients based in publishing, sports, entertainment, media and charities.

Jackie Fast, Managing Director of Slingshot Sponsorship, is thrilled to be shortlisted:

It is such an achievement to be nominated for three categories alongside some very high profile campaigns. Since launching the agency in 2010, nomination of our work is real recognition of the growing strength of our agency and underlines the measurable positive impact that our work and insight had on both the sponsor’s and the rights owner’s businesses.

The winners of the Camden & Islington Business Awards will be announced at the awards ceremony in London on Thursday, 27^th October 2011.

ABOUT THE CAMDEN & ISLINGTON BUSINESS AWARDS (CIBAs)

The purpose of the CIBAs is to recognise and celebrate those business owners in Camden and Islington who have successfully grown and maintained their business positioning throughout 2010 and 2011.

CIBAs’ objectives:

To celebrate the work and efforts of businesses across Islington and Camden.
To encourage and champion enterprising behaviour across the 2 neighbouring boroughs
To boost the awareness of SME business success across London and the UK.
To increase the exposure of the local businesses within the Camden and Islington Area.

Click here to vote for Slingshot Sponsorship to win the People’s Choice Award!

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