Road Map for Successful Sponsorships

By Lorien Parry

I was recently charged with the task of organizing a Master Plan for a potential client that organized a year-long partnership with a state athletic association. The goals of the partnership were for the brand to be promoted as supporting active lifestyles, health and wellness; as well as, driving traffic to local restaurants. The question the potential client asked was, “How are you going to make this happen?” Our first response could have been: “How do you want us to make this happen?” However that answer would have lost us the business immediately.

The growing trend for sponsorships right now is to utilize the property to enhance the brand’s marketing mix and provide an outlet for specific fan engagement or support one aspect of the brand’s products and/or services. So, how do we do that? As property representatives, we must figure it out and supply viable solutions, examples, time lines for execution, and proof of performance. Three years ago it was good enough to say, “You can connect your brand with sports!” Now, the answer has to be; “You can connect your brand with sports, on a grass roots level, promoting this product/service during this event and receiving this return on your investment and here is a annual plan on how we will reach your target audience through a specific promotional/engagement technique while supporting your marketing efforts with these signs, PA announcements, program ads, online media presence, TV commercials, in-game features, direct mailings and mobile marketing initiatives.”

As property representatives, sponsorship master planning can create a high-level road map for how our current and potential clients can maximize the brand benefits they receive from sponsorships. The mission of sponsorship master planning is to define and prioritize the goals and objectives, outline how each element is going to be activated, and determine who is responsible for what. Most importantly it lets the current or potential client know exactly “how we are going to make this happen.”