Defending Cause Marketing

Assistant Professor Angela Eikenberry has written a thoughtful and provocative article for the Stanford Social Innovation Review entitled The Hidden Costs of Cause Marketing. In it, Professsor Eikenberry makes her case against cause marketing or “consumption philanthropy,” as she calls it. Consumption philanthropy individualizes solutions to collective social problems, distracting our attentio...

Sponsorship: Bothersome Neighbor or Favorite Uncle?

The other day someone asked me what the difference was between "Sponsorship" … and "Advertising"? A great question – and truth be told, sponsorship is really nothing more than a "kind" of advertising. After all, they both involve trading cash and/or in-kind "value" in exchange for commercial access to your customers and prospects. In that regard, a sponsorship isn't really all that different f...

How are We Doing? Have a Look!

So, this is a nice indicator that we are making some progress in our goal of empowering and engaging the sponsorship marketplace. BUT we tend to prefer this type of indicator even more: LoftLife Magazine Announces Sponsorship with Loft Tour '09 In this case, the sponsor overcame typical constraints (geographic differences, budgetary, etc.) to connect with their perfect thematic fit. Informa...

11 Ways to Kick Ass in Your Next Presentation

Powerful presentations are the backbone of most successful cause marketing pitches. Whether you’re talking to one person or a hundred, the ability to speak compellingly, sincerely and briefly can be a deciding factors in earning a company’s cause business. I have no doubt that speaking well has made a huge difference in my success. Representing a small, relatively unknown hospital in Boston re...

The Ebayification of Sponsorship Assets

Using sponsorships to drive existing loyalty programs is nothing new. However, using sponsorship to drive competitive bidding among your most loyal customers is relatively uncommon. Continental Airlines, with over one hundred official affiliations (see below), uses their One Pass auction site to allow One Pass users to bid on exclusive experiences for the events they sponsor. The auction site ...

SponsorPitch Blog Comments

A quick note about comments. This weekend, we had a couple properties pitching their sponsorship opportunity in blog comments. We want your pitch - heck, that's what this site is here for - but, the best way to get attention for your sponsorship opportunity through the blog is to sign-up/sign-in to a property account, create a profile and then make a quality "on topic" comment based on your sp...

Social Media Helps Mobilize Against Eagles' Sponsors

Deafening silence. That's the response thus far from Eagles sponsors to the Michael Vick signing last Thursday. Unfortunately for them, however, protesters, particularly of the online nature, are making plenty of noise. Here's a smattering of what we're seeing. There's SackVick.Net which has a list of sponsor emails and training camp protests planned for the next few weeks. There's also a...

Tom Murphy, SVP of Marketing at Sprint Dies in Rock Fall

The Denver Post reports that Tom Murphy, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Sprint Communications, died late yesterday while on vacation with his family in Colorado. Murphy had been at Sprint since 1996 heading up the company's marketing and sponsorship strategy and was credited for many of the firm's major deals including Sprint's groundbreaking affiliations with NASCAR and the NFL. We...

Eagles Take Down Sponsor Section, Back Up Now

Yesterday, we wondered openly about how tolerant the Philadelphia Eagles and Louisville Cardinals sponsors would be to recent events that have put a glaring, but perhaps not ideal, spotlight on their association with the teams. This morning, it appears we may have our answer. Darren Rovell at CNBC reports by Twitter that the Philadelphia Eagles have deleted their sponsor page, which linked to...

Deal Flow 8-14-2009

Bacardi USA will $300,000 for naming rights to a gin-themed, neon-blue lounge at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami. Cash4Gold is sponsoring Cris Cyborg in the first title fight in the history of women's mixed martial arts. StopRepairBills.com has extended sponsorship of the #40 Key Motorsports NASCAR Nationwide Series team by five races for the 2009 season. Betfair t...