Brilliant Marketing

Sponsorship –

living close to

excitement

CHAPTER 9

How sponsorship works

Y

ou pay money to own (or co-own) the rights to a player,

car, horse, event, series or whatever. Theoretically you

could sponsor almost anything. And when you get spon-

sorship right it can work incredibly well for you. You get the

association of being linked to a winner and if you are lucky you

may have a wonderful brand ambassador. The John Player

Special Formula One Sponsorship was an example of rare bril-

liance where the car was the cigarette pack and Ayrton Senna,

the charismatic driver, was a winner.

What has changed?

Sponsorship is economy-dependent. It’s much more likely to be

used widely in the good times rather than the not so good times.

In Europe alone, the Financial Services business spent nearly

$7 billion in 2007 on sponsoring sport. Any guesses as to what

the spend will be in 2009 or 2010?

brilliant

tip

When and if you have decided to get involved in sponsorship, as a

rule of thumb expect to double the cost of getting sponsorship

rights on marketing the fact you are doing it. Unless you fully

exploit the rights you shouldn’t be involved in sponsorship.

102 brilliant marketing

Sponsorship is very big business. But some heavy hitters are

questioning the real value of big time sponsorship. Here’s

what Antonio Perez, CEO of Kodak, had to say about the

Olympics:

‘The Olympics has become too political and divisive for most major

brands to continue to support with large sponsorships.’

But not all sponsorship is hugely expensive – especially if it’s

local or niche.

Sometimes putting money into, say, a golf event and entertaining

your golf-loving customers can pay dividends. Getting to spend

hours of quality time with important customers for your product

and services may become a really sensible investment. So too

may an investment in a cause-related event in motivating young

talent in your business or younger customers whom you discover

are very concerned about certain issues. This is about knowing

your customers, what they think and targeting them.

In general avoid controversy. Avoid

people who are on a mission to

convert. Your job is to sell more of

your product at the lowest possible

cost, not to put your company’s

money to charitable ends.

But if you are going to sponsor a charity, check them out

through the Charity Commission, speak to other sponsors, meet

(insist on meeting) their CEO and Chair of Trustees. Judge

whether they could speak winningly, convincingly and amusingly

to your key customers. Study their accounts. Judge how

important you’d be to them.

your job is to sell more

of your product at the

lowest possible cost

Why some companies get into sponsorship

The trouble is too many sponsorship decisions are made at

Chairman or CEO level, leaving the poor marketing people to

sweep up the debris of a glamorous dinner party conversation

which led to a good-idea-at-the-time investment decision, but is

simply not properly thought through and evaluated. If this has

happened you have little choice but to make the best of it and

whatever you do, try to ensure you merchandise the sponsorship

brilliantly. And do the following:

● Make it look as though it’s thought through (sometimes

Sponsorship 103

brilliant

disaster

Beware the wrong association

I was driving through Brighton when I saw a sign for the Brighton Trades

and Labour Union set somewhat crookedly on a rundown building on the

A270. It was, I saw, endorsed, sponsored or at any rate the sign was paid

for by Foster’s Lager. Why? What on earth did they see themselves getting

from this?

brilliant

example

But seek the one that genuinely makes a difference

The dollars going into sponsorship says when it works. In Dubai the new

Dubai Metro is calling for sponsors. And why not? When sponsorship works

it works big time. So the Emirates stadium at Arsenal seems a great piece

of branding as does the O2 Stadium (aka ‘the Dome’). It’s now the most

successful entertainment venue in the world.