'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.

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