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Before we go any further, it’s probably a good idea to be able to define exactly what is meant by Sponsorship.  Now there are numerous different ways of defining Sponsorship, however, my preferred definition is as follows:-

“An investment, in cash or in kind, in an activity, in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with this activity.”1

What are the five steps towards identifying the right opportunity?

• What would be the objective of sponsorship?
• Which audiences’ essential to the organisation’s success would be reached through sponsorship?
• What activity or event is of most interest or concern to those audiences?
• Which geographical territories need to be covered?
• What is the desired image of the company, its products or brands?2

What would be the objective of sponsorship?

Above all there has to be a reasonable fit between what your company actually produces and the event that you are wishing to sponsor.

A few examples here would be:-

• A petrol company sponsoring a Formula 1 Team
• An IT company sponsoring a British Touring Car Team
• A Sporting Goods company sponsoring an Athletics Event
• A Consumer Electronics company sponsoring a Football Team

In the case of the first three, there is very clear, rational for the sponsoring company make the investment in that particular event.  Formula 1 cars wouldn’t go very far without the fuel they need to run on; a British Touring Car Team ultimately realise on IT to get the cars going in the first place; whilst there is a clear association between an Athletics Goods and sporting events what may not be so easy to understand is why a Consumer Electrics company would be sponsoring a football team?

The answer is simple if you think about it; how do most football fans keep up to date with the results of the favourite club other than by watching the television at home, or by using the internet for latest news or by listening to what’s happened through their mobile phone.

Which audiences are essential to the organisation’s success would be reached through sponsorship?

So having established what makes a good fit or match between the two companies involved in the sponsorship proposal, it is now time to address how to maximise the potential sales opportunity that a high profile sponsorship activity should create. 

Firstly and perhaps most importantly it is necessary to decide upon the objectives of any sponsorship campaign.  Here in my own opinion, the art of a good sponsorship deal should result in an increase in sales, otherwise why bother!

And to do this any good sponsorship proposal must satisfy the following:-

• Increase in Brand Awareness.
• Change the way you advertise.
• Improvement in Corporate Hospitality.
• Increase in Public Relations Activity.
• Increase in Web Exposure.

Quite clearly, just having your name on the side of a car or on a football shirt is not going to produce the results you will be hoping for.  However, by increasing the other elements of the marketing mix, you ought to start seeing not only brand awareness rising but also ultimately a rise in sales. 

By making all of your advertising fit in with the sponsorship deal that you’ve been working on will definitely assist; by not only advertising that you are actively involved in teams/players/performance but also that by promoting them in either print or media broadcast that it allows the general public to know what you are doing.

Next there should be some form of corporate hospitality associated with the sponsorship.  For example:  10 seats at every home game that Chelsea plays, or 50 seats at Wimbledon.  However, most companies seeking organisations seeking sponsorship can be persuaded to give a little memento or keepsake of the event that your guests have been attending; generally anything from nice pens, to a disposable camera or even a watch.It is important to differentiate what constitutes a sponsorship budget and a purely hospitality budget.  A sponsorship budget must have some clearly defined objectives that you wish to achieve in the long-term.  Whereas a hospitality budget can be used to achieve your short-term goals of winning/closing some deals.

Fourthly, you should make reference to your involvement with the sponsorship in every press statement put out by your company.  Naturally, you’ll want to put out a press release surrounding the signing of the sponsorship deal; then details of any of your products that they are using, be that TV’s, mobile phones, computers and the like.  It’s also worth remembering that to expand out from your normal publication list; so if it was a Fujitsu notebook that the team were using, you might like to try and get some publicity in non-traditional areas.  Think outside the box!

Finally, think off ways in which you can bring your web presence into play.  One way would be to have every match that Chelsea (Samsung) or LG (Fulham) play reported on or every BTCC race meeting reported on.  Again this would heighten the sense of involvement of your company with the sponsorship deals that you have struck.  Why not even create your own fantasy football team of the back of it and reward clients/customers with tickets to a match.

What activity or event is of most interest or concern to those audiences?

Providing that you actually know who your customers are and what they like to do, this shouldn’t be too hard!  A little telephone or web based research can really pay dividends here.  For example the first company that I worked for – a major IT company – had a sponsorship policy that entailed the sponsoring of one of the major orchestras operating out of the south bank.  This seemed to us a complete waste of money, since we – as salesmen – were forced to try to entice our customers to attend one of the concerts with us.

We failed miserable to get anyone to go along to the concerts; with cries of “if only it was a football or rugby match”!  So the end result was a wasted sponsorship deal which they’d been tied into for a 3 year period.  Now if they had come to the salesmen and asked who they thought we should be sponsoring, they would have got a very different answer!

Which geographical territories need to be covered?

Well this really down to your company and what areas it is operating in.  If it’s a truly global brand, then obviously, you need to go for events that are truly global in scale, such as the Olympics, The World Cup or Formula One.  Since all of these events are operating on a global scale the “opportunity to see costs” is greatly reduced. 

However, if you are only interested in the European market, then activities that are directly related to that area should be considered.  So the Heineken Cup, The European Athletics Championship or the Booker prize can all be seen as worthy sponsorship opportunities. 

Then if you come down to the UK level, there are lots of different activities that your company can get involved in.  Sponsoring a football team, rugby team, BTCC team, a Hockey team, a music festival, the list is virtually endless.  But the one thing you should do above all other things is relate it back to the objectives.

What is the desired image of the company, its products or brands?2

Again this comes back down to basics; does your company wish to be associated with a certain type of image?  If you are involved in the banking side of life it’s likely that you will be examining different types of sponsorship deals to the ones being considered by the likes of Samsung and LG. 

In the field of merchant banking then sponsoring the arts probably makes good sense; the reason being that generally speaking it provides a good fit with the type of person they are trying to attract.  Which might in turn lead to increasing sales which is what it’s all about in the long run after all? 

Whereas Consumer Electronic Companies, Computer Companies, ISP providers are almost certainly looking for a more action based sponsorship deal, where their products can really be shown off to the full!

What should you do to make sure that any sponsorship deal goes with a bang?

Firstly, make sure that the sponsorship deal in question fits with your mid to long term marketing objectives.

Secondly, make reference to the sponsorship that your company has entered into at every point in the marketing mix.

Thirdly, make sure that you have someone in charge of the overall sponsorship budget, who can relay your comments back to the team or event that you are sponsoring.

Fourthly, it’s important to remember that sponsorship alone is not the entire answer to raise the awareness of your products.

Fifthly and finally, it’s important to always evaluate any sponsorship deal at certain points throughout its tenure; and make sure that it’s adding real value to your marketing effort in the terms of bottom line increases in sales.

– Meenaghan, J.A.: “The role of Sponsorship in the Marketing Communications Mix”, International Journal of Advertising, 10 (1) (1991), pp 237-265.
– Ladousse, C.: “How Lenovo Deploys Powerful Creative Sponsorship Activation Techniques For A Global Brand”, Journal of Sponsorship, Volume 2 Number 3 pp 199-205
– The Effective Use of Sponsorship, David Wragg, Marketing In Action Series.
– The Sponsorship Seeker’s Toolkit (3rd Ed), Skildum-Reid, Kim-Grey, Anne-Marie