With such mixed opinions on whether the efficiency of a sponsorship campaign can truly be measured, this blog separates the more top line, easy-to-measure and less enlightening data from the true indicators of tangible sponsorship success.

Short-Sighted Sums

Q: Why do companies invest in sponsorship?

A: To alter brand perception and/or consumer buying behaviour.

So, why is it such common practice to measure the success of a sponsorship campaign by looking only at the positive or negative difference between sales directly linked to the campaign against the initial sponsorship investment? On the whole, sponsorship, along with any other marketing medium, is used with the overall aim of increasing revenue so it can be easy to only consider the revenue made from such sponsorship activities as promotions, merchandising or on-site sales. Albeit an indicator of success, direct sales are only a small part of a much bigger picture.

This also goes for generic figures e.g. logo impressions, attendance, the size of a newsletter distribution database etc. Whilst important, this is not actually indicating whether consumer behaviour or brand perceptions have been altered. In fact, the real proof lies within the more specific and objective data, providing a much more transparent account of how effective the campaign has actually been.

True Indicators

It is vital that all indicators are set with a strict focus on the short and long term marketing objectives of an organisation. Monetary factors could include new business along with average customer spend, whilst percentages would relate to brand credibility and customer loyalty. There are also additional figures that can act as key engagement indicators such as unique visitors to a dedicated web page or micro-site along with participation in customer promotions. It is important that this data is compared with previous figures and benchmarks as this will indicate change, rather than simply justifying the investment.

There are then the more individual factors such as relationships with key industry figures and institutions whose opinions are a highly influential driving force behind the economics of a particular market place. Whilst impossible to give such indicators a monetary value, these relationships are imperative when considering brand perception.

Be Proactive, Not Reactive

It is important to consider measurement early on, compiling a list of KPIs for each marketing objective before undertaking a sponsorship campaign. These indicators will provide a clear foundation for the sponsorship strategy as well as allow for streamlining throughout the course of the campaign in order to ensure that all activity is as beneficial and relevant to the marketing objectives as possible.

360˚ Analysis

Particularly for larger-scale sponsorships that affect all stakeholders throughout the sponsor’s organisation e.g. consumers, clients, employees etc., a KPI survey allows for feedback on such key criteria as brand profile, activation and overall partnership value.

When distributing the survey to a number of stakeholders with varying degrees of involvement with the campaign, a well-rounded evaluation can be pieced together, providing an overhead view of how the sponsorship is perceived from every angle possible.

This therefore allows for the sponsorship campaign to be executed at as close to maximum efficiency as possible, proving measurement to be an invaluable part of the sponsorship process.

The State of Measurement Today

From a rights holder’s perspective, measurement is unequivocally the key factor in creating strong case studies which in turn improves the likelihood of renewals along with additional sponsorship sales. However, due to a common perception that sponsorship is too much of a multi-faceted marketing medium to be measured, many sponsors have only a vague idea of how beneficial their partnerships actually are and have no real indication of where the room for improvement lies.

With sponsorship spend on the rise along with campaigns becoming increasingly integrated, transparency and ROI are proving to be ever more important in today’s challenging economic climate. This is where specialist sponsorship and marketing analysis agencies are able to demonstrate their true value, working with rights holders and sponsors to implement a structured approach to measurement, providing piece-of-mind in the knowledge that sponsorship is a truly effective marketing tool when executed correctly.

I wrote a Top Ten Sponsorship Blogs You Should Read article last year (to view the last list click here) and thought I’d revise the list for 2012.  There are some old favourites that have remained on our list, but also some new blogs that have launched which are fantastic reads and definitely worth subscribing to.

As the sponsorship industry changes so much and encompasses so many disciplines and mediums, blogs are just one of the ways that the Slingshot team continues to learn from others.  Here are our Top Ten (not in a particular order!):

1. Synergy Sponsorship Blog: Great overall sponsorship blog from both a sponsorship and brand perspective.  There are many different bloggers and so it provides a good perspective from different angles and the content is always excellent.
2. Mike Walsh/Tomorrow Blog: although not technically sponsorship, we discovered Mike at our client’s event the BBC Showcase.  Truly inspirational, we’ve been following his blog ever since.  A forward thinker in terms of brand innovation, partnerships and the future of marketing.
3. Generate Sponsorship Blog: Regularly updated and always worth a read.  It is great for sport sponsorship activations and opinions in the sponsorship industry.
4. Unofficial Partner – Richard Gillis provides insight on a variety of sponsorship related topics, not to mention he’s a great blogger so it always makes for a great read.
5. Ben Wells Blog: This is a fantastic blog – Ben thinks very much in line with us at Slingshot and so we wait with anticipation to receive his insight in our inbox.  His experience in the sponsorship industry makes him uniquely placed to provide great opinions into today’s sponsorship marketplace.
6. Power Sponsorship: Well known in the industry, Kim Skildum-Reid provides practical sponsorship knowledge and best practice tips.
7. Sponsor Park: A good blog, but more helpful in terms of what sponsorship rights are being purchased, where and by whom.  Sponsor Park highlight the sponsorship deals signed via Twitter so I’d recommend following them @SponsorPark if that’s a key thing you are interested in.
8. IEG Blog: Provides international insight on the brands that IEG works with – namely in reference to analysis and best practice.
9. Sports Marketing Frontiers: Another good blog to track newly signed sponsorship deals as well as new sponsorship opportunities that have recently become available.
10. Slingshot Sponsorship Blog: And of course, we couldn’t miss out our own blog featuring sponsorship insight, top sponsorship tips, and general sponsorship and brand partnership developments.  If you haven’t yet, you can sign up to receive our newsletter here.

Enjoy!

This weekend’s FA Cup Final was a fantastic platform for headline sponsors Budweiser with global media exposure and 80,000 loyal fans in attendance. Brand exposure at such a high level is not a new entity, but what stood out the most with Budweiser’s sponsorship campaign was the key focus on audience engagement and interaction – building a stronger personal relationship with their target demographic.

Budweiser launched various social media campaigns in order to build on their audience relationship and including:

1. A Mobile App – the “Bud” was created to make the players feel a part of the team (and part of the win!) by posing with replicas of the FA Cup trophy.  This was activated through the app by fans pointing their smartphone at a Budweiser beer mat, meaning fans could experience the sense of victory for themselves.
2. Man of the Match on Facebook – Budweiser utilised their strong social networks and created value to the fans that were already supporters by involving them with the Man of the Match.  Of the Facebook activation, Jason Warner, Global Vice President of Budweiser, said, “We’re looking forward to sharing our passion for the beautiful game, bringing The FA Cup closer to fans around the world through an exciting programme of activity. For example, in an FA Cup first, Budweiser will give football fans the opportunity to vote for the official ‘Man of the Match’, a role usually reserved for the broadcast commentating team.”

Events can be a hugely effective platform for brands to reach out to an audience. However, to simply place branding at an event with the assumption that it will have the intended effect on its participants is not necessarily the answer to a successful sponsorship campaign. It is vital that a brand takes into consideration factors such as their target audience, the message they want to get across and what exactly it is they want to achieve from a partnership with an event.

Budweiser’s sponsorship of the FA Cup is a great example of truly engaging fans to create brand advocates through the combination of social media, audience participation and innovative thinking.

Swiss Formula 1 team Sauber announced  yesterday 30/4/2012 a collaboration with Chelsea FC, which was hinted at with elusive messages ‘Out of the Blue’ and ‘True Blue’ that began to appear on the Sauber engine covers during the Bahrain and Chinese Grand Prix. In many ways such an innovative relationship between both sports has been long overdue.

It’s all about timing

Sauber, being a racing team, clearly know the importance of good timing. This agreement has been in the pipeline for at very least a fortnight now, before Chelsea bravely overcame Champions League favourites Barcelona last week. To further infuriate fans of both football and F1 in Barcelona, Sauber will be featuring the Chelsea FC logo (the same week of the Champions league final) for the first time at the Spanish Grand Prix which heralds the beginning of the European Leg of the Formula 1 season. Sauber’s logo will also feature at Chelsea FC on interview walls and advertisement boards at Stamford Bridge.

Some observers may argue that such a partnership endorsing two different teams in very different sports serves no real function, especially when coverage of both sports tend to overlap. West London football club Queens Park Rangers also has an affiliation to F1 in the form of club ownership. Malaysian entrepreneur and owner of Caterham F1 Tony Fernandes purchased his majority shares in the football club from Bernie Eccelstone’s  who in turn purchased his shares from former managing director of Renault F1 Flavio Briatore; however no direct aesthetic associations between the sports exist in such a form until now. So what are the reasons behind such a move?  Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn maintains that “the Sauber F1 Team and Chelsea FC are dealing with many of the same sporting and commercial topics and we want to strengthen each other in these areas. We are looking forward to exploiting these opportunities.”  In addition Chelsea mark their twentieth year in the premiership, as Sauber have made a promising start to this Formula One season, also their twentieth consecutive year as an F1team.

The Incentives

There are clear benefits to be found in striking a deal between these two European sporting institutions and by sharing notes on two of the world’s most lucrative sports. Firstly the science behind sports success is becoming increasingly sophisticated, where the importance of synergy between the backroom staff and the sportsmen in both sports is increasingly noticeable be it in the shape of a pitch-side physio, or a pit-stop mechanic. Secondly, from a commercial standpoint, the coming together of both these sports brands opens great marketing, merchandising and sponsorship opportunities. Both Chelsea and Sauber teams boast an international presence and know the importance of broadening a loyal support base. F1 much like football draws great support and sponsorship from the Middle East and Asia; Chelsea will therefore be looking to further engage with this market.

So in essence the fact that the Grand Prix will not return east until Japan in the middle of September means that the timing of this deal is a move to strengthen the global following of both sports and to increase general dissemination of both sporting brands as the European leg of the F1 season is about to get underway.

Caterham Cars has appointed Slingshot Sponsorship to activate all commercial opportunities outside the Caterham F1 Team activity.

Slingshot will implement an extensive sponsorship strategy, including brand marketing partnerships, endorsement deals, licensing, corporate experience days, and much more.

The aim of the partnership is to create unique properties that can leverage the Company’s profile, and enhance the brand’s global appeal, capitalising on the brand’s entry into Formula One earlier this year.

Ansar Ali, Chief Executive of Caterham Cars, said:

We are thrilled to be working with Slingshot Sponsorship as their unique services complement the ambitious objectives of our brand, particularly now we are part of the Caterham Group.

As a British sportscar brand with the iconic Seven at the heart of our business, I have always felt we have much to offer brand partners, particularly through our motorsport and drive experience operations.  Now, as part of the Caterham Group, we have so much more to offer in terms of value and brand awareness, and Slingshot Sponsorship is the right partner to deliver and leverage the commercial partnerships.

Motorsport is at the heart of Caterham Cars, with the Seven the original ‘race car for the road’; over 700 competitors racing the iconic model today in 11 countries around the world is testimony to this.

The acquisition of Caterham Cars by Tony Fernandes in 2011 and the Caterham F1 Team’s presence in Formula One has propelled the British brand to the forefront of a global audience.

With increased public and media attention from the Caterham brand’s first season in F1 and a recent track record of robust financial results, the company is now looking to further leverage its commercial activities.  Caterham plans to facilitate this through Slingshot Sponsorship’s expertise in building existing assets into commercially-sustainable sponsorship platforms.

Furthermore, Caterham Cars also continues to reinvent motorsport following the recent announcement of a Caterham Motorsport-run karting championship in 2013.

Caterham will design and develop its own F1-inspired kart and thus provide young drivers with the opportunity to take their first steps in a career, in which it will be possible to progress from grassroots racing to the pinnacle of global motorsport. In addition, the organisation of Caterham karting will benefit from the firm’s 26 years of experience in running low-cost, high-value one-make race championships.

Jackie Fast, Managing Director of Slingshot Sponsorship commented,

“Being able to work with a brand that is on the brink of such change and innovation is what we live for at Slingshot Sponsorship.  We cannot wait to begin delivering the creative concepts and brand partnerships that will help project Caterham Cars to a wider audience of new enthusiasts.  The Caterham brand creates exceptionally strong advocates, both in Britain and internationally and we hope to turn this passion for the brand into a more holistic and accessible commercial property that can deliver real value for brand partnerships.”

Sponsorship is undoubtedly an exciting industry to be a part of at the moment – and it’s not just due to all of the outside media attention surrounding the London Olympics and its various sponsors.  Granted that some of the individual sponsorship campaigns around London 2012 are fantastic in themselves; but what stands out, from a sponsorship agency’s perspective, is the universal shift in the way brands are approaching sponsorship and the remarkable levels of engagement that brands can create from such collaborations.  A wide range of companies, from British Airways to McDonald’s, have launched a series of highly interactive campaigns designed specifically to get the customer using, tasting, watching, listening and experiencing their products through the Olympic platform.

Have these campaigns only come about because the need for cut through and ROI is so vital due to the high investment of the Olympic sponsorship rights?  Are creative sponsorship campaigns only to be seen during this period before reverting back to the more ‘conventional’ strands of sponsorship, such as branding & hospitality?

Unlike naysayers in the industry, I believe that the sponsorship campaigns being created are the culmination of a growing trend of brands realising that well-positioned partnerships can offer far more engagement with a highly targeted audience across multiple media channels, than straight advertising or PR alone.

Cadbury’s activation of its Olympic sponsorship rights is a great illustration of this shift.  The ‘Spot vs Stripes’ competition encompasses all forms of marketing and engages with the public far more than an advertisement campaign ever could.  In fact, it all started with an advert – a 2 minute spectacle of animated marine-creatures, divided up into spots and stripes, participating in an underwater frenzy of Olympic-esque competition.   Viewers were then urged to logon (spotsvsstripes.com) to join a team and compete in online games and earn points for their given side.  Players could also earn points through taking part in physical competitions, like crazy golf, as well as downloading games to play offline.  Hundreds of thousands of people took up the challenge and interacted with the Cadbury’s brand, albeit without a chocolate bar in sight!

When the focus point of this campaign – the Cadbury’s Challenge Bar – hit the shelves everyone had already chosen sides and was fully familiarised with the concept, guaranteeing cut-through to an audience that otherwise may have been reluctant to try another new Cadbury’s product.  The bar itself, was divided up into 3 pieces; one piece each with spots or stripes on, with the middle piece tobe contested for via further games printed on the inside of the wrapper.  The winner of the game won the middle piece and was also able to claim points back for their given side online.

From start to finish, this sponsorship activation campaign was a huge success.  Cadbury’s capitalised on their partnership with the Olympics through interaction and competition – engaging with their audience through digital, social and physical.

This is the future of sponsorship.

Many companies feel that sales people are the face of the company and therefore are the only ones who need to foster relationships.  This could not be farther from the truth.  As the divide between marketing and sales grows thinner it becomes increasingly important for everyone to appreciate developing and growing working relationships – this includes the creative executive designing ads in an agency to the marketing manager in a brand.  Collaboration is not just necessary in smaller communities – it is everywhere.  It exists within your office as well as outside of your office – between departments and between agencies.

At Slingshot Sponsorship, building relationships is not just a service we provide; it’s the vital component to our business’s survival.  Fortunately, we are blessed with amazing, talented clients and sponsors so our job is not too difficult; however, there are some key tips we use to help us build lasting working relationships:

1.  TRANSPARENCY – Far too often there are too many secret squirrel discussions going on – between the agency, client, brand, creative team, etc.  But 99% of the time everyone is trying to achieve the same objective and so being transparent highlights where there are gaps in misunderstanding.  Sorting these gaps out early helps speed up the project.  Transparancy can also highlight where people have been given different information, which can also be the reason for delays.

In our sponsorship agency, we like to be transparent with everything – from the prices of our sponsorship proposals to the rates we charge our clients.  There is a value to everything we do and everything we sell; therefore the need to hide pricing is unnecessary.  For example, you wouldn’t pay £7 for a bag of Haribo because it’s not worth that (unless you were in a ski resort in the Alps).

2.  COMMUNICATE – This goes without saying, but communication is an obvious way to build relationships.  Furthermore, by communicating with your clients/sponsors/agencies you can find out changes within the business faster than by reading about it on the latest edition of Marketing Week.  This not only helps you build your relationship, but helps you deliver the best value.

For our rights owner clients, we try and help forge this communication with face-to-face interaction mid-way through a sponsorship programme.  For example, we sign sponsors to the What Car? Awards in May leaving a large gap of time between signing contracts and the awards ceremony (January).  In order to keep the communication maintained we have introduced a Sponsors Lunch in September to update sponsors and more importantly to build relationships – between both the rights owner and sponsor, but also between sponsors.

3.  CARE - True relationships are not built on the used-car salesman technique of faking it.  If you are like most people, you will be working in the same industry for the majority of your career – as will your peers.  People like to work with people they like and people tend to like people who are helpful, considerate, and knowledgeable.  If you don’t care about your job, you certainly won’t care about someone else’s – which is never a good starting point to fostering a relationship.

As a sponsorship agency, most of what we do is build relationships – however, the importance for building lasting relationships applies for every industry and every job you are in.

Outlook Festival – Winners of the ‘Best International Festival’ at the Festival Awards– have appointed Slingshot Sponsorship as their exclusive sponsorship agency.

Slingshot Sponsorship will work closely with the Croatian-based event to increase awareness and commercial revenue through the creation of sponsorship opportunities as well as creating new digital brand partnerships.  Keen to preserve the traditional values of the Outlook Festival, Slingshot Sponsorship will ensure sponsors are carefully incorporated into the fabric of the event, adding value to the 15,000 festival goers at the event and the millions of music lovers who engage with the Outlook brand online throughout the year.

Jackie Fast, Managing Director of Slingshot Sponsorship, commented:

We are thrilled to be working with Outlook Festival this year.  They epitomise how growing organically and being true to a brand can create advocates exponentially.  This is a fantastic opportunity for brands to be involved with an influential music festival in Croatia – not to mention UK brands building relationships prior to Croatia’s acceptance into the EU in 2013.  The potential for audience engagement is like no other festival currently in the market because of their digital capabilities, making it an amazing platform for brands to be involved with.

Only in its fifth year, Outlook is already regarded as the biggest bass music festival in Europe, featuring the most prestigious names in the most cutting-edge dances across the globe.  Acts already confirmed include Fat Freddy’s Drop, Skream, Digital Mystikz & Andy C with many more to follow, ensuring 2012 will top the incredibly high standards Outlook sets itself each year.

Johnny Scratchley, Founder of Outlook Festival commented:

I’m very excited to now be working with Slingshot Sponsorship, they have the perfect ethos for us as a festival and are expert inthe new areas of media we are currently focusing on.

We have been talking a lot about music sponsorship here at Slingshot.  Mainly because we are knee-deep in a couple of very exciting music projects, but also because everyone is gearing up for festival season.  Mostly I have been consumed with which festival to go to for our agency’s second birthday, but I have also been having some interesting conversations with both brands and rights holders on what is coming up this year and the current state of music festival sponsorship.

The Good

Festival sponsorship has always been a great platform for brand engagement – especially in the UK market with the English music lover’s ability to bare rain, sun, sleet, and a muddy tent with a smile on their face.  It not only provides the perfect atmosphere for a receptive audience, but also the space to really leverage brand experiences.  Festival-goers walk away with memories they cherish forever, which can provide a significant amount of brand recall for future years to come.  Consider V Festival – the name so synonymous with Virgin Media it surprises many when you find out they don’t actually own this festival, but just act as the Headline Sponsors.

The Bad

Because festival s has been such a great sponsorship platform, brands have flocked in droves – creating a cluttered market.  Instead of engaging with a couple brands, festival goers are often  bombarded by marketing messages,samples, activations, offers and more.  One festival had so many pre-sale sponsors that most people didn’t know where to purchase tickets and so opted to  not do it, which consequently saw the festival getting cancelled as they couldn’t underwrite the loss nor project the future sales of tickets for a show that saw a disjointed initial promotion.

The Ugly

Not only are festivals becoming more cluttered making it difficult for brands to ensure cut through, more festivals are entering the market and then being cancelled for a variety of reasons (see above).  This creates nervousness for Marketing Directors who really need to be confident that their marketing budget is safe and working for them.  Plans, resources, campaigns are in place well in advance and having a significant portion of their plans cancelled at the last minute is just not an option in the current economic climate where budgets are scrutinised and sometimes wrong decisions can place your job in jeopardy.  Last year alone saw 42 festivals cancelled and already this year many major festivals are also calling in the towel.

But all is not lost!

This is not to say that sponsoring music festivals is a bad idea – far from it.  But there needs to be careful consideration into which music festivals brands do choose to partner with and also a solid strategy in which to activate.  When both the brands and the rights owners work together amazing potentials can be created and tend to drive not only the experience for the muddied music lover, but also create brand advocates and sustain the festivals that can deliver these innovative types of sponsorship collaborations.

Having teamed up with TRACKER to manage their logistical requirements for the Commercial Vehicle Show, Slingshot Sponsorship are excited to announce the presence of the Red Bull RB6 Formula 1 on stand 3A10.  Stand visitors can also enter into a prize draw to win two tickets to the F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone, as well as a tour for two at the Red Bull factory, in Milton Keynes.

TRACKER, a leading telematics and vehicle tracking expert in the UK, will also be unveiling groundbreaking, patented technology and its fleet telematics used by Red Bull Racing to control their costs and focus on the safety of its team.

F1 World Champions Red Bull Racing combines its dedicated and passionate transport and logistics team with the expertise of TRACKER, its fleet telematics partner to ensure the Red Bull Racing team stays on the winner’s podium.

Red Bull Racing’s Formula One design and engineering team, Red Bull Technology, need to ensure the fleet is running as efficiently as possible in order to make vehicle, parts, equipment and team deliveries across Europe. But this all has to be balanced with a constant focus on safety and duty of care responsibilities, which is a challenge when time is in short supply.

With a fleet of 23 vehicles in the UK and across Europe, Red Bull Technology harnesses the power of TRACKER’s fleet telematics solution to deliver a detailed view of driver behaviour and fuel usage across each vehicle. This allows Transport Manager for Red Bull Technology, Ed Porter, to monitor speeds, journey routes and the general whereabouts of the fleet team.

Ed Porter, Transport Manager for Red Bull Technology explains:

I need to be able to manage a fleet that is spread across Europe, keeping in control of what is happening throughout the day without compromising the efficiency of the fleet. The nature of the Formula One industry is that we need everything yesterday, making time the most valuable commodity for me and my team.  If I could buy time, I would, but TRACKER’s fleet tracking system goes a long way in helping me make the best of the time I have

Stephen Doran, Managing Director for TRACKER adds:

This is an exciting opportunity for people to come and see the Red Bull Formula 1 car at the Commercial Vehicle Show. We are also giving visitors to the TRACKER stand a chance to walk away with an amazing prize. And of course, the TRACKER team will be on hand to demonstrate the potential benefits our fleet tracking solutions can provide commercial vehicle fleet managers.