Sponsorship is in the news, but it’s getting poor press.
If you work in or use events, you’ll be familiar with the concept.
You’ve either pitched some “opportunities” or received an offer to buy one or more.
Businesses can be the Headline Sponsor of a trade or consumer show for a tidy sum.
More modest fees will secure branding rights for seminar rooms or signage around the event.
All are designed to boost visibility with an audience.
Some event sponsorship listings cover pages of a sales brochure.
But this is just one small part of the sponsorship story.
Anyone who follows football will be familiar with shirt sponsorship.
It’s a business that generates £’s millions.
With so many matches televised nationally or locally, being a shirt sponsor can net many thousands and, in some cases, millions of views of a brand or company name.
Sports, arts and charity events are also excellent opportunities to showcase your name and brand.
More recently, suits, glasses and holidays have come to the fore.
Those items have been newsmakers this past week or so (though it seems much longer).
The key to sponsorship success is hitting the right note with the audience you seek to influence.
You might be surprised to learn that some football supporters club actively campaign against their team wearing the logo of a gambling business.
They don’t want their club and team tarnished by association with what they see as a destructive and ubiquitous force.
Online gambling businesses seem to be everywhere supporters go, physically or digitally.
They know their clubs need money; they would just like them to get it elsewhere if possible.
It’s a good lesson.
It’s best to associate with things that resonate with your audience rather than alienate them.
For more on effective sponsorship, see this training.
Very best,