Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an indispensable tool for brands looking to set themselves apart from the competition. Consumers today expect companies to contribute to the collective wellbeing by reducing the environmental impact of their activities and by doing their part to alleviate social problems.
A recent study conducted by the CROP research firm notes how such an approach influences the consumer perception of companies.
By David Tokarczyk, Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada
Safety was a key concern in my decision to visit Brazil given the constant media reports about the dangers of visiting the country. With the Zika virus spreading, the SC Johnson insect repellent brand Off! took the savvy step of becoming the official insect repellent supplier of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, a move that reportedly had sales soaring over the same period last year. What is interesting is that SC Johnson is a competitor of Olympic Global Sponsor Procter & Gamble.
By Samantha Phelan, Manager, Sales and Service, St. John's IceCaps.
Two years ago, in the lead-up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Beats by Dre—a popular headphones brand—took to the internet with a uniquely crafted “Game Before the Game” video featuring famous soccer athletes, Neymar and Sturridge, emulating what their pre-game rituals looked like.
Baby boomers, who have left their mark on pretty much every corner of society, are now reaching retirement age, are living longer and are in better health than their predecessors. This demographic evolution means that the number of people over 65 will double in the next 25 years. In turn, this will lead to significant economic changes and will also represent a huge challenge to event promoters, who will have to adapt their offering to attract new visitors or spectators on site and appeal to new television audiences.
Data measurement. We talk about it so much that it almost registers as a trending topic. And yet, despite all of our chatter, the truth is that sponsorship initiatives often go largely if not completely unmeasured, and, when we do attempt to quantify success, we often go about it wrong.
There are three gaps that undermine most attempts to measure sponsorships....
For a sports property looking for sponsorship, finding companies that are willing and able to enter into partnerships is no mean feat. But before plunging into a deal, what are some of the considerations the sports property should consider about to ensure success? There are plenty of risks and pitfalls which could harm the property’s prosperity and brand. Taking time to assess risks before making a sponsorship agreement ensures that the property can mitigate some of these potential issues in the planning stage.
In 2014, the Canada Sponsorship Landscape Study noted a 6.7% decrease in sponsorship spending in the country after years of steady increase. This sector is once again seeing growth—IEG predicts a 4.5% increase in 2016—in large part due to the arrival of new players and the increase in activation budgets (which is often taken from the amount paid in rights). As a result, several properties are facing a cap on their sponsorship revenues, especially in high-level professional sports and important music festivals.
Because anything can be sponsored—or almost anything—you’d think that companies would be busy transforming their sponsorship portfolio every time a new trend hit the market. Instead, they tend to focus on their existing partnerships because long-term relationships have a way of paying off.
We are seeing a stabilization of partnerships in the major sponsorship categories, which suggests that brands are adopting a more strategic approach. The average duration of a partnership has also gone up. There is less movement in the marketplace overall, with the exception of brands pulling out during more difficult economic periods.
Relevent15 conference review
By Joey Franco
It's no wonder that the sponsorship veteran refers to himself as "The Captain" at FishBait Marketing. Over the course of his outstanding three-decade career, he has sold sponsorship packages for some of the top sports and entertainment properties in the world: Wimbledon, the PGA Tour, the Goodwill Games and the Cricket World Cup—to name a few.
Relevent15 conference review
Interview by Joey Franco
JF: You specialize in sponsorship marketing. There are many marketing areas that you could have chosen; why this one?
IM: I was an athlete, skiing at a pretty competitive level. So, I was always interested in the connection between sports and fan passion and how brands could leverage that connection and be part of it. In my very late twenties, I determined that after working for a period of time in radio and having some exposure in the news department at a couple of stations I worked with in sports, that I wanted to activate that passion.
The presentation centred around the misguided practice of organizations spending "big money" to establish platforms such as magazines, blogs and video channels and then obsessively force-feeding them content, simply because the platforms exist.
Lee described how some businesses are the masters of their own misery, creating content-guzzling monsters that—in a vicious circle—"keep growing and thereby require more and more input." Ironically, efforts to beef up platforms leave in their wake ever-expanding monsters bloated full of token content.
Relevent15 conference review
By Joey Franco
In a world where the dissemination of brand communications is dictated by a mysterious and constantly-evolving media landscape, companies like French need to be at the top of their game and on top of the many mechanisms that make up today’s connected world.
Noel makes it clear that the ever-changing media space has made sponsorships more challenging. Brands are looking for more return on their investment, and every dollar counts.
In short, a good content partnership follows the same basic principles as a good sponsorship: the brand and the content producers should share a purpose and a common goal, the brand should never draw too much attention to itself and brand integration should never alienate fans.
Relevent15 conference review
By Joey Franco
The terms “pioneer” and “trailblazer” come to mind when describing Tom Moser’s career in the entertainment/sports sponsorship marketing field. Moser, a mastermind marketer for British American Tobacco, including its Canadian subsidiary Imperial Tobacco Company Canada has run the gamut in high profile tobacco sponsorships; from IndyCar racing to jazz festivals and of course, Formula One.
Due to tobacco legislation restricting more traditional forms of advertising and promotion; sponsorships became one of the only communications vehicles for marketers at tobacco companies. “It was actually a benefit in some ways,” says Moser as he describes those transformative years.
Relevent15 conference review
by Loretta Di Vita
He may exhibit a direct manner and the super-charged energy of the Tasmanian Devil on a sugar rush, but Pierre Ladouceur also has a sensitive side that doesn't take long to surface. Beneath the callous of drive and experience, he is somewhat of a—softie.
Hearing him speak easily of "emotional resonance," "a better world for all," and "developing sustainable environments," it quickly becomes apparent that he truly cares about everything that is worth caring about these days. So it's no surprise that even his marketing company has—as he puts it—"heart."
Indeed it was this social conscience, coupled with entrepreneurial flair that led him ten years ago to set up Turbo Marketing to "help companies define and communicate their social and environmental commitments."
Relevent15 conference review
by Loretta Di Vita
Louis-Félix Binette, President and Co-Founder of f. & co, a Montreal-based creative agency, is a diplomat—not only of the capital "D" variety, having had a career in politics and the Canadian foreign service, but also a self-described natural-born diplomat.
Binette is what we call by popular vernacular, a “people person.” "I have a strong innate political sense, allowing me to bring people together, and manage expectations and sensibilities," he reveals.
Within the world of sponsorship marketing, Dr. T. Bettina Cornwell, Professor of Marketing at the University of Oregon’s Lundquist School of Business, is a force of good. A self-professed number cruncher, she applies science and empiricism to keep things real, ensuring objectivity, transparency, and ethics in corporate sponsorship analysis in the areas of sports, arts and charity.
It's only fitting then that someone so principled speak of the ideal of "greatness", as she did in her presentation.
Cornwell believes that many marketers are shooting themselves in the foot—sacrificing greatness—by amassing too many messages and losing focus. "Often times brands have several ideas and audiences and attempt to accomplish too much at the same time. In sponsorship, this can lead to a thin treatment of each component message or worse, confusion," she explains.
Changes in the media landscape in recent years have been dizzying. Never before has the public exercised so much control over what they hear and see.
Audiences are increasingly moving away from conventional channels, traditionally supported by advertising revenue, and turning to ad-free content they can consume at their leisure.
But people’s behaviour differs according to the type of content. For example, we are seeing a movement that’s bucking the trend in the world of sports, with 95% of content still being consumed live.
While this magazine can’t possibly do justice to all of the insight and effervescence that speakers and participants alike brought to the three-day event, we hope it will give you a little taste of the amazing discoveries we shared during this first edition. Hopefully it will also whet your appetite to join us next year for the opportunity to get even better at what you already do so well.
The success of a sponsorship depends on a number of key ingredients that unfortunately don’t always make it into the mix. The best sponsorship programs are the ones that manage to achieve clear, pre-set objectives, are capable of measuring results and have a strategic vision that stays in focus over time.
O2’s sponsorship program, though not new, remains one of my all-time favourite examples of how to get it right. As well as being incredibly well designed, the winning program developed by this Telefonica-owned mobile company became a core driver of the firm’s corporate marketing strategy. In this case study, we take a look at the context, the program, the strategy and the performance metrics behind O2’s outside-the-box approach to sponsorship.
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