Have you ever read 15 pages of a book and then suddenly stopped and realized you don’t remember a thing you read because your brain was spinning on another topic?  Or have you listened to a speaker, (maybe right after lunch) who rambled on and on who inspired nothing but a sudden desire to grab a pillow? Have you ever been to a concert where you weren’t allowed to stand up and clap or dance or basically express your elation in the experience?  Have you ever heard a speaker tell a story that moved you to write a check, or sign up to volunteer?  Seen a movie that made you cry, laugh, get scared, inspire you? 

Our experiences incite something in us.  There is a cause and effect in the activities we take action in, and I can think of nothing this concept doesn’t apply to.  Whether it’s good or bad, intentional or unintentional, our experiences drive us to react in some way.  So, as a sponsorship opportunity representative, when you are planning out your sponsorship opportunities for a sponsor to take part in, realize that you’re providing an experience for their consumer (your audience) to react to.  Sponsors realize that experiences are valuable, people take their memories and interactions away with them for a lifetime; so if the experience you’re asking them to affiliate with is interactive, memorable, and their audience is going to easily affiliate them with it, you’re on to something. 

One question you have to ask before you start approaching sponsors is, “what do I want to incite in my audience?”  Do you want them to take an action?  Do you want them to have a great day with their family?  Do you want to inspire them to take pictures and participate in games or activities?  Do you want them to exercise more or eat healthier?  Do you want them to talk about what they just did that day with 10 peers, or sign up to volunteer at your charity?  People like to be entertained and people like to feel inspired – providing that warm and fuzzy incites a reaction that opens mouths to tell their friends, offer loyalty to your sponsors, and come back or stay involved.  Whatever the action step or reaction that you want to provide might be, this will greatly impact what kind of sponsors you are going to pursue, because clearly you want your goals to be complementary, and you want their impact and involvement to support that which you want to incite in your audience.  On the flip side, you also have to keep in mind that what you want to incite in your audience MUST resonate with your sponsor.  How is their brand going to benefit by playing into this experience?  And what’s more is, if you’re inciting something in your audience, how are you tying your sponsors into that reaction?  That’s great if your audience loves you, but do they even remember what sponsors supported you in order to deliver that experience?  The mark of a great activation effort is an audience that was positively incited, and the brands are remembers and directly impacted as a result. 

I spoke to a client a few days ago who said they watched some of the activation efforts of their sponsor, and they had so many ideas for how to capitalize on the effort, but didn’t say anything because they didn’t think the sponsor would want their toes stepped on.  His final comment was: “well, I guess as long as he’s signing the check he can do whatever he wants, even if it could be better…”  I almost died.  That’s not a real partnership, that’s using a company to get what you need and ultimately, if the sponsor wises up and realizes they aren’t capitalizing the way they should be, they’re going to be out the door anyway – so help yourself and help your sponsor, and open up the lines of communication so that you are making the most of an experience. 

On the flip side, I heard of a particular property who, at their sponsor summits, would provide a vision casting session, where sponsors were able to talk about how their activation efforts worked, what their new focus is, and then network among one another in order to discuss how perhaps their collaborating efforts might improve the experience of the audience and

incite a wanted behavior that directly impacted the sponsors.  Brilliant.  You not only provide a catalyst event for sponsors to collaborate, get inspired and make the most of their efforts, but you’re using multiple minds with incentive to make an experience better than if you were trying to activate by yourself. 

So if you have stories, tell them – we love to hear about people that incite behaviors – sponsorship is truly a marketing experience and your ability to drive action is a powerful thing.

Last Friday we hurriedly completed the work at hand by noon in order to head down to the COX Classic.  We spent 7 hours in the hot sun with some friends who are BIG golf fans.  Unexpectedly, they knew someone on the tour who we then spent following around the course offering our support.  After throwing my hair up in a ponytail and grabbing my 4th bottled water (yes, water…  I’m pregnant), I started to make some mental sponsorship notes.  Now, the COX Classic isn’t quite on the PGA tour, but it’s still taken pretty seriously, as noted by the energetic volunteers with the “quiet” signs (apparently some of us need to practice our “quiet voices”), and the golfers throwing golf balls out to the fans who were thoroughly grateful for the gesture.  Also note that the winner, Martin Piller did secure for himself a spot on the PGA TOUR in 2011 as a result of his win.

What I observed is that, like almost always, there were a few sponsors right on with their established presence, and others that probably could have capitalized more effectively.  Now, with an event like this, there are probably hundreds of sponsors involved, for which there is a huge “sponsor board” that allows for this tremendous group to be featured as spectators march past.  This isn’t a bad thing, especially if you’re just sponsoring enough to really just enjoy some of the perks and benefits, but I must say that it took a more aggressive package/investment, or a highly customized partnership to truly make a splash and stand out among so many other sponsors. 

A couple of days after our attendance I asked my good friend, who is the avid fan of golf and with us for the entire 7 hours who he remembered as sponsors of the event.  He stammered a few seconds as he pondered the question and then rattled off two names; the presenting sponsor – Lexus, and then someone who was not actually a sponsor.  He quickly corrected himself and recognized their competitor as the one who was actually the sponsor – he was right.  Interesting… Happily, the sponsor that we helped them connect with, was smart enough to actually brainstorm a highly customizable package that established a clear goal, and both parties were quite happy with the partnership at the end of the day.  They stood out to those in their target market who had a direct interest in the information they provided.  Well done. 

Lexus did a great job with the wow factor, and offered interactive physical presence with their cars and the benefits they provided their car owners.  There were Lexus vehicles scattered in highly visible places throughout the course and at entrances and exits to the event.  I can’t tell you how many oohs and ahhs I got from the ritzy crowd of onlookers; I heard two women point out their dream vehicles to their husbands and sweetly establish how the so adored the car and would do anything to have it.  The cars were a big hit.  Lexus also had an exclusive tent for their vehicle owners, and what went on in the tent I’ll never know for sure, but from the sounds of the laughter from within and the smiles pouring out, I think they did their jobs well.  It made onlookers want to have a Lexus just to get into that exclusive party and feel important.

My personal favorite was Office Depot.  They sponsored the Legacy Club where much of the corporate hospitality originated.  This was the air conditioned room complete with free beverages and a fantastic buffet – which I thoroughly took advantage of!  We plopped down at one of the tables on the outer edge of the room, chatted, and enjoyed our food.  The table had a bright centerpiece highlighting the Office Depot name and logo – you couldn’t miss it.  The room was full of big picture windows overlooking the city where you had a direct view of the closest Office Depot store; it was almost like the store itself was in attendance and waving at you from the widow beyond.  Brilliant… The only thing I was skeptical of was most of the marketing they used scattered throughout the room.  You would have to walk up to it to see and read it, and I didn’t see one person actually take that kind of initiative, just wasn’t’ the priority when you walked into that room.  I would imagine a quick one liner with a direct message easily read across the room might have been more beneficial; or even scattered coupons on the tables which linked directly back to the event (measurable ROI) might have been more effective. 

All in all it was a fun experience; I learned a bit more about golf and you just can’t go wrong ending up on a golf course with thousands of happy fans on a Friday afternoon!  Just thought I’d share the highlights with you.

As a way to draw increased awareness and attention to some of the standup sponsorship opportunities on our site, we have decided to set apart one blog per month to put the “Spotlight on Sponsorship”! If you have a premium level listing on SponsorPark, and would like to have your event featured, please contact Stephanie.Lochmiller@SponsorPark.com to submit your event.  This month our spotlight shines on RacingIn.com.

What is RacingIn.com all about?

RacingIn.com is the first socially themed motorsports website exclusively devoted to connecting race fans to any racer, anywhere as well as 1,600 race tracks throughout the US. Every week fans view the profiles of more than 1,000 races tracks and nearly 1,000 racers who make RacingIn.com their online home with personal Racing Pages.

What makes this property unique?

In just 8 short months RacingIn.com has developed widely successful social media followings on Facebook and Twitter.  Their networks extend farther than many major motorsports venues, teams and entities.  RacingIn.com keeps their fans and followers engaged by regularly updating their social media outlets with the latest racer and race track updates and gives fans a chance to interact with both the content and current advertisers.

Surviving Sponsorship in a Heated Economy

According to RacingIn.com Founder, Scott Kosak, the “Primary Partnership” model of RacingIn.com was developed to combat several major challenges facing motorsports sponsors.

According to Kosak, “There is a current perception of motorsports sponsorship as being a highly cluttered arena from the perspective of the sheer number of sponsors involved.  The ‘Primary Partnership’ model of RacingIn.com addresses this challenge by offering the ability of a single sponsor/brand and their associated key vendors to be integrated into virtually every engagement between RacingIn.com and it’s visitors.”
 
In addition, as major motorsports have seen decreases in attendance and TV ratings, sponsors have also been challenged to find a new way to connect with as many race fans as possible in highly efficient and cost effective ways.  RacingIn.com solves this problem by building a model that ensures that their Primary Partner will ultimately be guaranteed a minimum of 8 and up to 16 combined message and brand impressions with every visitor to RacingIn.com.  RacingIn.com also adds the concept of geographic targetability to an on-line based partnership.  All content on RacingIn.com is tagged ‘by state’, and message serving on RacingIn.com can be focused in either a national way or by providing sponsors the ability to target different messages alongside content specific to different states.
 
Finally, while integrating B2B interaction has always been a tenet of Motorsports Sponsorship, there is an increased need for motorsports sponsors to also show a B2C impact on their business, especially in an economic downturn.  The Primary Partnership Model of RacingIn.com addresses this issue by providing a model that allows focus on both the B2B AND B2C needs of our primary partner in one, all-inclusive, marketing partnership.

Preferred Partners?

According to Kosak, their ideal partners would come from one of two categories.

1)  A national brand, or group of brands, can use the Primary Partnership model of RacingIn.com to not only promote it’s individual brands, but also it’s key on-line and off-line retailers around the nation.  A major consumer brand could choose to promote different products in different states depending on the regional messages that are important to them at any given time.  Such a partner could also highlight different key vendors in different states to help leverage additional sell-through of additional product.
 
2)  A national ‘service’ like an insurer or financial service provider can use the Primary Partnership with RacingIn.com to showcase it’s brand while also showcasing agents who are local to the state of the content being viewed.

More on RacingIn.com can be found at their SponsorPark.com listing. Or you can follow them on Facebook and Twitter and see for yourself some of what makes this opportunity so unique.