The END of Sponsorship Marketing?

This is the fourth posting in our "Key Learnings" blog series, which is a regular collection of insights and stories from thought-leaders within the sponsorship industry. Today's key learning comes from Kevin Hanft from Marketing Leverage LLC. Thankfully, we have seen the end of the populism trend of bashing every company that had a sponsorship, ran client hospitality or rewarded its employee...

Year-over-Year Activation Spending Poll

Admittedly, this is a limited sample size, but for what it's worth here are the results from our earlier poll. 5-1 votes for sponsors spending less on activation this year (with 3 votes saying sponsors maintained current spending). Is this because sponsors are finding more sophisticated, resourceful and efficient ways to accomplish more with less, because they are cutting back on activation e...

Confessions of a Sporting Goods CMO

Want to know what kind of questions CMO's are asking about sports sponsorship these days? Here's a quick sample. Now of course, sponsor loyalty is an inexact science, but for the sake of discussion... Are fans still as passionate and loyal to NASCAR and its' sponsors as they once were? Is NASCAR still dominating in terms of both sponsor awareness and loyalty as this study from polling l...

Activation: First-ever Times Square Pit Stop

Red Bull has long been a master of PR, historically with their proprietary events, but increasingly with sponsored properties and athlete endorsements like NFL stars like Devin Hester and Reggie Bush and NASCAR driver Brian Vickers. To celebrate their multiyear contract extension, Red Bull and Vickers pulled off the first ever "Times Square Pit Stop." Check it out!

GM Still Skating on Thin Ice!

What a week! GM's in bankruptcy, Stanley Cup's in Game 7, mainstream sports leagues are busting out the jersey ads and a hockey-style brawl broke out on our blog. Time to have some real fun. Sponsorship peeps are creatives, so we figured we'd give this a try! Here's how it works. Write in a clever caption in the comments or tell us whose proposed caption you like the best. Winner will g...

10 Commandments of (Sponsorship) Sales

Key Learnings is a regular weekly posting that covers insights and stories from thought-leaders within the sponsorship industry. This key learning comes from Jim Loria who has over 30 years of sports management experience and for the past 10 years as served as President of the USHL's Sioux Falls Stampede. THE 10 COMMANDMENTS OF SALES! Know thy Self (team). Know thy Guest (customer's business...

Hedging the Economy with Category Selection?

This weekend, we got a note that Phoenix International Raceway had secured title sponsorship for the Nationwide race in November from a company called Able Body Labor (ablebody.net). Who? Able Body is a leader in the temp staffing arena employing more than 125,000 workers each year while providing comprehensive staffing solutions for thousands of customers across many industries including con...

Will Anti-Smoking Bill Snuff Out Tobacco Sponsorships?

HR 1256, more commonly referred to as the "anti-smoking" bill, last week passed both the house and the senate and is set to go before the President, at which time he has said he intends to sign it. The bill aims to curb teenage smoking addiction by expanding warning labels, increased FDA regulation and severely limiting the possible venues for marketing tobacco-related products. One line th...

Selling Local Sponsorships for Nonprofits

A cause is often the cornerstone of many sports and entertainment sponsorship platforms. Very excited today to add Joe Waters to our list of "Key Learnings" experts. Joe is the Director of Cause Marketing for Boston Medical Center, an avid blogger at Selfishgiving.com and a rabid Boston Red Sox fan. Even though his entry did not win last Friday's caption contest, he has agreed to lend us his i...

When Official and Authentic Don't Mix

Kevin Mclean's art of conversation blog brings up a great question surrounding a recent outdoor Evian ad (seen to the right) supporting their 2009 Wimbledon sponsorship. Does "official" sponsorship equate to "authenticity?" The answer is no. You can most certainly be official, but not authentic (and conversely ambush marketers can appear more authentic than official sponsors themselves). Of...