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.