Today, we turn our blog over to Gail Bower for her insights into the sponsorship world. Gail Bower is president of Bower & Co. Consulting LLC, a firm that specializes in dramatically raising the visibility, revenue, and impact of non-profit organizations. She’s a professional consultant, writer, and speaker, with more than 20 years of experience managing some of the country’s most important events, festivals and sponsorships and implementing marketing programs for clients. Launched in 1987, today Bower & Co. improves the effectiveness and results of clients’ marketing, events, and corporate sponsorship programs.

Read Gail's Blog, More on your role as a sponsorship seller.

After months of discussions and ideation to merge SponsorPark and Pinpoint, it’s been a very busy couple of weeks and I wanted to take a moment to convey what our goals are moving forward to support you and your passions. 

Sponsorship marketing is one of the most powerful methods of engaging consumers and research findings continue back this up. Connecting with people at the very core of their passions opens the opportunity for brands to meld with consumers, resulting in preference, intent to purchase and sales.  A 2009 Edelman PR study also proved sponsorship to be the most trustworthy form of advertising; and, in an age of consumer skepticism and major shifts in consumer values, sponsorship is poised to be a leading form of advertising over the next decade.

However, at the grassroots level, there’s room for improvement in how properties and brands activate their sponsorships.  Our focus is to reshape the landscape of  how brands and properties communicate their value propositions. We’re providing platforms for sponsors and properties to exchange best-practices and garner the greatest possible results. This can only be achieved by activating the real benefits of sponsorship and meeting sponsor expectations.

I know that sounds like a lot.  But, at SponsorPark, we assist properties in how to execute more efficiently and create greater results for sponsors through evidence-based practices.  Properties need to learn how to better manage their sponsor’s expectations and select benefits to accentuate their sponsors focus.  

Through Pinpoint SES, our sponsor software tool, we assist brands in shaping their strategy to create more effective sponsorships.  Understanding what types of sponsorships capture their audience’s hearts and minds and, how to communicate that relationship with stakeholders, and activate the relationship through their multiple platforms within their own organization is critical to the sponsorship success, for both the sponsor and the property.

Regional companies need to start using their sponsorship portfolio across multiple channels within their organization to garner greater results.  Sponsorship is not just a marketing function, or a PR function, or a sales function – sponsorship activations need to be a corporate-wide function flowing through the organization’s DNA.

By improving communication and fostering an understanding of the sponsorship discipline through the tools we’re making available, we can change the way properties view themselves and help brands see the true value of sponsorship marketing.

We’re excited for this next step and are looking forward to seeing what the future holds for us, our properties and their sponsors. Thank you for joining us in this journey.

We’re about to buy a minivan.  Ugh.  For various reasons finally decided it was probably the smartest decision for our family; clearly the practical side of me is winning out over image.  Or so I thought… We have test driven a couple of different models now, and the first experience was about what I expected it to be.  I left feeling very dutiful, informed, and let out a lengthy sigh over the “wheeling and dealing” process I knew was imminent before we could sign the papers and lug the thing home.  And then we went to our second car dealership and test drove the Toyota Sienna.  I’ll be honest, I’ve never owned a Toyota, but they’re currently in first place with me right now.  Their sales team was on fire.  We walked in rather late – they’d all be off in about half an hour.  My son was a bit tired and restless, and instead of being frustrated with our little distraction to their sales pitch, one of their staff came over to us with a big balloon and asked if it was OK with us for him to have it.  Uh… yes!!!  Their facility was impeccable.  Even the décor on the walls seemed to calm me, seduce me into “let’s do this” mode.  And then we saw the car.  I will tell you now that I’m in no way gaining from this promotion, but I have to say, I was really impressed.  These people know how to make you feel luxurious in a minivan.  So not only am I a practical driver, I’m VIP baby!  Now, I know that buying a car is way more than your experience; you have to get a good product, but I’d be lying if I said they didn’t make a really good impression.  And their marketing really resonates – they’ve really got their target audience down.  They’re not marketing the same way the Mercedes folks are; it’s sort of realistic in a funny way - hillarous videos (at least to you parents out there). I went to their website to look up the van and saw the “Daddy Like” slogan next to the vehicle which really did make me smile.  I liked their brand before I ever walked into the dealership.

Now, I’ve been talking for a long time about a car. About an experience that would seem to be really far from sponsorship.  But here’s the deal – Identifying with your target audience and impacting their experience with you is NOT rocket science.  You see it all over the world of sales, and you’d be out of touch with reality if you didn’t admit that an experience sets a mood.  You form typically strong opinions on brands, people, products, places, airlines, restaurants… the list goes on; based on your experience with them!  My Grandmother made a shrimp casserole for us when I was about 8 years old.  I hated it.  I told her… mistake.  I was told I had to eat it or no dessert – and it was a really good dessert.  I did the best I could; and despite my efforts, I ended up throwing it all up.  Yep, it was not a good experience.  I grew up assuming I hated shrimp, and never tried it again until I was on a date with my now husband; who was sort of a food snob and assured me EVERYONE liked good shrimp.  Turns out, he was right – it’s amazing.  But I had such a bad experience with it the first time; I lost a good 15 years or so of enjoying it.  This leads me to my next point – experience impacting is also important because it leaves a lasting impression.  Practically speaking we know that a lot of variables can affect our take on an experience, but our emotions tell us differently.  We have so many options for a good time, that if one experience doesn’t work, we won’t likely try it a second time.  So when as a sponsorship professional, you’re trying to impact an experience at say a program or event, you need to do a really good job – or your target audience WILL go somewhere else to do better. 

So, keep in mind, this is not a new thought – but it may be a new priority.   If your number one goal as a sponsor is not to impact your audience’s experience, you might consider changing your perspective on a successful effort/investment.