Archive for the ‘Sponsorship’ Category

The term ‘glocal’ in the business world is where a company is able to think globally and act locally, as a matter of importance for the growth of status, and to maximise ones return of investment.

We have seen it with Bill Roedy’s MTV empire over several generations, the circus of sports that is Formula 1, and now… Manchester United.

Yesterday’s FT brought an intelligent insight to the Premier League’s most profitable club. A forward-thinking commercial strategy seems to be the key to United’s success, in knowing that despite the advancements of the game becoming more of a business, and not just a sport, the way to respond is not slow down, but ironically speed up.

Innovative and smart campaigns ensure that the clock keeps ticking for the 19 time champions. United boast a global fan base of over 300m people, have 20m Facebook friends, and annually welcomes a three-way-split commercial revenue that totalled £331m pounds in 2011, a 19% increase since 2009.

Other clubs may place excuse upon the current climate difficulties, and have one eye perhaps on the UEFA financial fair play rules which are set to be imposed in 2013. But for United? Well… they’re asking: Recession? What Recession?

Understanding who your consumers are will inevitably open the door to a larger audience, and United have proved this through a ‘glocal’ business plan; their approach to seek new and better commercial deals, rather than cut costs and slow down their process of revenue and ROI.

In the last year United have sealed a deal with Turkish Airlines, attracted DHL to sponsor their training kit for £40m over a period of 4 years, and have also partnered with Beeline, a Vietnamese mobile phone company which will allow them to engage with their ‘consumers’ in the far-east in a more efficient way.

United understand the game, which is now a commodity rather than a ‘once was’ social day out. They acknowledge that Football is becoming bigger and better, and clubs will need to spend to maintain their status. By responding to local cultures, on a global basis, the prominence for success is far higher as opposed to restricting their abilities and ambitions.   

As they reach out for a 20th title, United are succeeding on and pitch, and certainly off it.

Nik Naidoo

Generate Sponsorship’s Director Andy Muggleton believes it’s still remarkable how the word that describes the sponsorship industry is also the word that appears to cause more uncertainty than any other part of the mix.

The mention of sponsorship appears to conjure thoughts of immeasurable activity, a nice to do whim or a budget line that sits separately and is therefore an isolated consideration. Despite this, the sponsorship industry is growing but at what cost?

We talk about partnerships but is that really how parties, particularly rights holders, genuinely approach sponsor relationships? Whilst there are some excellent examples of genuine partnerships, sponsorship is still largely transactional; a fee changing hands in return for a set of rights such as brand visibility, hospitality, logo usage and association. This only scratches the surface of what can be achieved through the medium.

If we look at what effective sponsorships can deliver, what business wouldn’t be interested in:

• Accessing targeted and engaged audiences
• Brand building; be it awareness, reflection, reinforcement, perception etc
• Product placement or service integration showcase  in an emotive environment
• Exclusive assets – access to tickets, tours, celebrities and priority offers to be used for unique experiences for customers and staff
• Content! Compelling, unique and exclusive that can be syndicated through your channels
• Commercial opportunities – direct or otherwise
• B2B relationship building opportunities through more traditional hospitality but also through behind the scenes / unique experiences

However, mention the word sponsorship and the dynamic alters? So what can we do to make this great business tool more interesting and appealing, without causing decision making impotence?

 As we move full speed into the digital era, we can’t ignore the increasing importance of content. What we do now is more about utilising and distributing content to engage with audiences through the most appropriate channels. Is it about creating more opportunities for audiences to find, engage and ‘like’ brands?

We live in a world of savvy consumers – a ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘how does this enhance my experience’ generation? We need savvy sponsors and rights owners who understand their own strengths but most importantly their weaknesses and how partnerships can help them get where they want to go and importantly work together to deliver what ‘fans’ (consumers) want.

 The challenge for us as an industry is to continue to educate and highlight the many benefits of sponsorship as a business tool and to embrace it strategically, to eliminate the remaining perceptions that sponsorship sits in isolation from other parts of a business. 

What do you think?  Join the debate here…

Generate Sponsorship’s Managing Director, Rupert Pratt applauds London 2012 sponsors for taking the big step away from media justification but questions the lack of creativity and cut through in their activation

Olympic sponsorship, a big ask

Much has been said about this once in a life time sponsorship opportunity. As a sceptic, I have often wondered how the IOC and LOCOG managed to get so many businesses to invest huge sums of money for what could be considered so little (no tangible assets included in the rights fee e.g. branding, tickets, hospitality, not to mention a considerable VIK commitment).   Add that London 2012 is a ‘one-off event’ with a high degree of clutter it’s an incredible challenge to deliver a return on investment.

Taking sponsorship back to its roots

But the beauty of the Olympics is that it takes sponsorship back to its roots. The value is in the association not its tangible assets.  You can buy media awareness and hospitality but you can’t buy an association without sponsoring. For too long, equivalent media value has been the favoured benchmark for return on investment and whilst often combined with other methodology, it has resulted in an output, not an impact orientated approach.

The lack of branding within an Olympic sponsorship is an excellent opportunity for the UK market to reconsider how it evaluates sponsorship. As Sally Hancock of Lloyds TSB said at our recent iSportconnect Directors’ Club, ‘even if we had branded media inventory, we would place a very low value on it.’

Sponsorship’s opportunity to change its perception

London 2012 is an opportunity for the sponsorship industry to move away from its reliance on justification via equivalent media spend and towards impact orientated evaluation. By distancing itself from advertising (as opposed to justifying itself via it) sponsorship can stand up and be evaluated for what it does best.

This is why it’s such a shame that there hasn’t been more meaningful and creative activation from sponsors to differentiate themselves and cut through.

Olympic sponsors’ perspective on value is to be applauded but their activation has to be questioned

London 2012 has also prioritised the requirement to invest in activation and leverage.  Given this, it’s been disappointing to see so many official sponsors revert to what ultimately looks like an ABC of sponsorship leverage – a ‘carpet bombing technique’ (badging and above-the-line support) with little emotive engagement for the end consumer and like for like ambassador PR led campaigns.  This surely must be impacting the battle for consumer’s hearts and minds? Current research shows a  lack of recall and cut-through with three in five (59%) respondents not being able to name any corporate sponsors at all (Ipsos MORI) and only 1% spontaneously able to mention Panasonic or Samsung (despite both companies being long-standing TOP Sponsors). On the positive side, the survey does show positive shifts in brand perception, in particular in London.

In a mature advertising and sponsorship market, it is harder for sponsorship to cut through. A lack of differentiation leaves the sponsors open to ‘ambush’ especially legitimate ambush (where brands such as Nike, Aviva, BUPA and Sky for example have long standing credible partnerships) and/or act creatively  and without constraint. For example Virgin Media has (in my opinion) quickly and cleverly cut through BT’s category with a funny, high profile and heavily leveraged creative using Usain Bolt and by supplying Wi-Fi on the tube network (a key Olympic media buying territory).

Again current research supports this. In a Marketing Week survey by Lightspeed Research last month, a raft of non-London 2012 sponsors all get named e.g. MasterCard, Nike, Sony, HSBC, Pepsi and Dell. As Ralph Risk, Lightspeed’s EMEA Marketing Director says, ‘the public’s false perceptions of non-Olympic sponsor brands are forgivable because of the “halo effects” of big brand activities. People automatically assume big brands are involved in big events.’  Prompted recall is much better but this is limited to the big above the line spenders such as Coke and McDonalds who benefit from their non-sponsorship spend.

One step at a time

However with Glasgow 2014, Rugby World Cup 2015, World Athletics Championship 2017 plus many major events across individual sports to come I predict a bright future for the industry. Let’s build on our success and learn from our mistakes. In the meantime, those that invested so much in so little should be applauded.

Join the debate…

We are looking for a Sponsorship Account Manager to work across a number of Generate’s key clients.

The role needs someone with at least 4 years’ experience working with sports brands and a strong PR, digital and social media background. 

Requirements

• Sport and entertainment activation experience for consumer brands
• Highly creative thinker
• Strong PR background and range of media contacts
• At least 2 years working on a digital  / social media campaign including development & delivery of concepts and campaigns, social media activation, content development, app development and blogger outreach

Responsibilities will include

• Account Management of key clients reporting into the Account Directors
• Management of junior account team
• Leading on digital social media strategies
• Leading client meetings
• Event management
• Development of creative ideas and concepts
• Proposal and evaluation writing
• New Business and Marketing for Generate

Salary and package on application

If you are interested in applying for the role please send your CV and a covering letter to bi@generatesponsorship.com

The latest protest against BPs sponsorship of the Tate is nothing if not creative (http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/art380628). In case you’ve missed it, an anti-BP lobby group have developed a trio of aural installations that discuss the impact the oil firm is having on a number of environmental issues across the globe. These guides can be listened to either at the Tate Britain, Tate Modern or on the ferry that shuttles between them. While I understand the theory behind campaigning against BP, it got me wondering what impact the withdrawal of BPs sponsorship would actually have. As funding of The Arts continues to be cut, is BPs investment a vital part of the Tate’s existence? After 20 years and multi-millions of Pounds, where would they be without BP?

Now, after publicly announcing they would review BPs sponsorship at the end of its current term (which ends this year), Sir Nicholas Serota and his team will be frantically calculating whether they can survive without it. Which bears the obvious question, would these protestors prefer no BP at the Tate, or no Tate at all?

One things for sure, the Tate needs BP more than the BP needs the Tate.  

Richard Aldridge