Objective
The What Car? Awards is the largest and most prestigious award show for new cars. Held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane each year, the event attracts the leading manufacturers and industry leaders. However, despite some high profile sponsorships, What Car? was not satisfied that it was reaching the event’s potential.
Slingshot Sponsorship was appointed as What Car?’s exclusive agency to implement a new sponsorship strategy for the 2011 event with the objective to forge sustainable, long-lasting brand relationships that would increase sponsorship revenue for the long-term.
Solution
The sponsorship strategy included:
- Streamlining the offering providing a tiered sponsorship structure
- Updating the communications strategy and promotion to include more engagement for sponsors and promotion for the event throughout the year
- Involvement with a media partner to increase national presence
- Introducing a long list
- Additional events to build stronger relationships with new sponsors
- Building activations around and leading up to the event
Results
This innovative approach was an unprecedented success – increasing the What Car? Award’s sponsorship revenue by 1532% in the first two years.
In addition, the 2012 and 2013 Awards secured ten sponsors, which included:
As an organisation with a large in-house sales team, it was a big leap of faith for Haymarket to turn to an agency for the selling of sponsorship around the What Car? Awards. However, Slingshot has proved that acquiring and managing sponsors is a specialist skill that needs an expert approach. In our first year we have gone from having one sponsor to nine. Not only has it been a commercial success, but we have sponsors who are driving real value out of their partnerships with What Car? and we are creating meaningful relationships with businesses who we have not previously worked with.
We have been absolutely delighted with Slingshot Sponsorship!
Andrew Golby, Publishing Director of What Car?, Haymarket Consumer Media