C H A P T E R
9
Sponsorship, Corporate
Partnerships, and the
Role of Activation
Chapter 9
Sponsorship, Corporate
Sponsorship Defined
• The acquisition of rights to affiliate or
directly associate with a product or event
for the purpose of deriving benefits related
to that affiliation or association.
• Sponsors use their relationship to achieve
promotional objectives or to facilitate and
support their broader marketing objectives.
Table 9.1
Sponsorship
• The rights derived from the sponsor
relationship may include the following:
– Retail opportunities
– Purchase of media time
– Entitlement
– Contests or sweepstakes
– Endorsements
– Logo placement on uniforms or apparel
– Hospitality
– Website access
Activation Defined
• The marketing activities that a company
conducts to promote its sponsorship.
• Activation is commonly referred to as
leveraging or bringing a brand to life by
creating a variety of means to interact with a
target market.
• Money spent on activation is over and
above the rights fees paid to the sponsored
property.
Reasons for Growth
in Sport Partnership
• Shift in marketing spends by tobacco and
alcohol manufacturers
• Decreased effectiveness of advertising in
print and television
• Lower cost and increased exposure
compared with traditional advertising
(continued)
Reasons for Growth
in Sport Partnership (continued)
• Commercial success of 1984 Los Angeles
Olympic Games
• Increasing number of television channels
devoted to sport programming
• Technological developments leading to the
portability of sport through mobile devices
(continued)
Reasons for Growth
in Sport Partnership (continued)
• Emergence of new sport offerings and the
importing of programming from other
countries
• Popularity of sport-themed video gaming
and fantasy sports
• Globalization of sport
Common Sponsor Objectives
• Increase public awareness of the company,
the product, or both
• Alter or reinforce public perception of the
company
• Identify the company with particular market
segments
• Involve the company in the community
• Build goodwill among decision makers
• Generate media benefits
(continued)
Table 9.5
Sponsor Activation: Creating
Interactive Marketing Platforms
• Sponsors and properties face the challenge
of developing better activation strategies to
help consumers build the link between the
property and the sponsor.
• Social media is quickly becoming a top
activation outlet for sponsors:
(continued)
Selling the Sponsorship
• Make comprehensive list of inventory.
• Establish list price for items in inventory.
• Conduct research of sponsorships sold in
the market and identify prospects that
would be likely to have an interest.
• Establish packaging discount policies.
• Determine or recognize real costs of items.
(continued)
Selling the Sponsorship (continued)
• Establish sales strategy.
• Initiate sales process.
• Work from larger sponsorship proposals
(major corporations) to smaller proposals
and corporations.
• Pit competitors to create bidding
environment.
Eight-Step Process
of Sponsorship Sales
• Research category and prospect within that
category.
• Schedule meeting with sponsorship
decision maker.
• Hold preliminary meeting; listen more than
talk.
• Arrange follow-up meeting.
(continued)
Eight-Step Process of Sponsorship
Sales (continued)
• Create a marketing partnership proposal.
• Present proposal in draft form to allow
negotiation.
• Negotiate final deal.
• Introduce client to activation team.
Co-Op Sponsorship Agreements
• The joining together of two or more entities
to capitalize on a sponsorship or licensing
opportunity
– Allow companies to share the total cost of the
sponsorship
– Allow promotion of several product lines within
the same corporate structure
– Enable corporations to use existing business
relationships
(continued)
Ethical Issues in Sponsorship
• Questionable athlete behavior and its effect
on endorsements
• Potentially inappropriate sponsors for sport
organizations
– Commercial gambling providers
– Alcohol manufacturers
– Junk food manufacturers