Should I stay or should I go?

When a scandal breaks, keeping quiet can seem like the most appropriate course of action for a sponsor. But there are, in fact, many different tacks a sponsor can take when the time comes to distance itself from an important property.

Turn the scandal into a business move: the Festina Affair

Long before Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France already had a number of scandals under its belt (hence the nickname: the Tour of Doping). The most significant scandal was the Festina Affair in 1998. For the first time in the history of cycling, an entire team was excluded from the Tour de France after their soigneur was arrested at the border with large quantities of doping products in his car. It was tough for Festina—the luxury watch brand sponsoring the team—to distance itself from the scandal when its name was peppered all over the media. The Festina team put an end to its activities in 2001, and the brand redirected its involvement in the event: it became the official sponsor of timekeeping for the Tour de France and set up a foundation to prevent doping.

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Interview with Christiane Rochon, creator of the campaign

Q. – The Save Mai Duong campaign was anything but traditional. What were the objectives? C. R. – The objective was both simple and complex: to find a donor for Mai. The “collateral benefits” were to increase awareness of stem cell donation and to conduct a successful blood drive campaign. But the real objective—the only one—was to find a match for Mai in the Vietnamese community.

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Some marketing stunts become overnight successes. Some are easily forgotten, while others stick. Here are some of our team’s favourite partnership activations and celebrity endorsements.

10. Kmart and Joe Boxer: A match made in heaven

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What is ambush marketing?

Ambush tactics are used when a non-sponsor tries to associate itself with an event by using communication techniques that will lead consumers to believe the company acts as an official sponsor. There are many different sponsorship ambush tactics. The most notorious involves buying media during air-time of an event, or around it, with out-of-home advertising. Others involves promotion using a theme similar to the event’s or even sponsoring a similar event to create confusion. Has this morally disputable practice been diminishing due to the increasing legal protection granted to property and its sponsors (which is the case with the Olympics)? Somewhat, but the ambushers are finding even more creative ways to do so within the boundaries of the law. The upcoming Sochi Olympics will tell us if ambushing boundaries will be pushed once more.

10. 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games – Kodak (Actual sponsor: Fuji)

The Origins of Ambush Marketing

During the 1976 Montreal Olympics, there were 628 official sponsors, which meant the dilution of the Olympic brand: smaller impact for, and awareness of, official sponsors. The Los Angeles Olympic Games saw a complete overhaul of the sponsorship structure in order to increase private funding of the event. The restructuring of sponsorship rights and the implementation of exclusivity was indeed an overwhelming financial success with a surplus of more than US$250 million in sponsorship revenues, making it the first Olympics to be funded entirely privately. This new strategy saw many companies frustrated of being left out and it paved the way for marketers to try to associate their brand with the event, even illegitimately. In the camera sector, Fuji won the bid, leaving a frustrated Kodak sponsoring the US broadcast. The tactic worked as the public did consider that Kodak was an official Olympic sponsor.

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Sport transcends cultures and borders, it is a global language. It creates an emotional connection with audiences around the world, making it an ideal vehicle for the development of global brands. Formula 1 is a distinctive market when it comes to sponsorship, with the global reach of its 22 races and the colossal budgets that are at stake.

Multiple levels of sponsorship

Formula 1 is composed of different entities that can be sponsored (properties) and on different hierarchical levels. For example drivers, teams, circuits and the Championship itself.

Each level of sponsorship in Formula 1 has distinct characteristics that meet specific communication objectives.

Sponsorship of the driver will be influenced by the competition hazards. A driver with more on-track successes will be more popular and therefore, more visible. The nationality of the driver can also position him advantageously in his homeland. We need only think of the Santander bank following the driver Fernando Alonso from McLaren to Ferrari, to increase visibility in Spain.

The main advantage of sponsoring a team is the visibility on the car itself. Television cameras are pointed at the cars and races benefit from a worldwide broadcast. However, the large number of sponsors on the car can make brand recognition difficult. This type of sponsorship will allow a brand to publicize the relationship using the trademark of the team in various communications.

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What 20 years of experience can teach you. An Interview with Claude Savard, VP corporate partnerships at Tennis Canada

Sponsorship might seem like a gold rush, easy money for an organization. However, finding sponsors is an art and requires tedious work. Even more so today, as sponsors are more sophisticated than ever in setting their objectives upfront and systematically measuring results. Claude Savard has extensive expertise in terms of selling sponsorship, andhas learned the how-to’s in the field with many trials and errors. Today, he is delighted to share some of his hard-earned experience. We interviewed Claude during the Infopresse 2013 Sponsorship Rendez-vous.

Q: To anyone who experienced it first hand, selling sponsorship is a difficult endeavour, what is the best approach?

Selling sponsorship is a process. These days, you have to be relevant to the brand and tailor the proposal to the sponsor’s needs. To do so, you must know the company as much as you possibly can. In a nutshell, you can divide the selling process into 7 steps: selecting the right sponsor, doing a thorough research, setting a first meeting, drafting the proposal, holding an in-person presentation, following up and then proceed to negotiate or close the deal. Let’s examine the 7 ingredients of this sponsorship-selling recipe.

1) Sponsorship selection

Before going to prospective sponsors in a given category, you must first understand what your own objectives and communication challenges are: “You too can gain from an association with the right sponsor, in terms of reaching your own communication objectives”. Things to lookout for are the popularity of a brand and its (positive) image, which can reflect on your organization. For example, an association with a premium brand could provide a sense of prestige to your event and, therefore, engage other players.

Another key element is the right property-sponsor fit, be it with the company or the audience itself. Finally, Claude insists on the fact that a partnership can bring more to the table than money alone: “Look for specific assets that sponsors can bring, it can leapfrog your sponsor acquisition or tackle some challenges your own organization is facing.”

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