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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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This article outlines an effective approach to the problem of assessing the financial impact of sponsorship investment, which has a track record of successful implementation in the sponsorship industry. The approach is outlined as a five-step process.

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Companies are known to use sponsorship as a means to associate with a particular event as part of their marketing efforts. Many companies, whether their products or services have some association with a sport or not, are using sport sponsorship. Real Estate companies being prominent sponsors of sports in the country, a qualitative case study methodology has been used, based on documents of two Real Estate companies.

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Sponsorship is first and foremost a business relationship between two organizations with different goals. Aligning objectives to deliver greater value for both partners builds the relationship into a true alliance that can generate powerful results for both parties.

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In this industry, it is not uncommon to witness sponsorship portfolios growing organically, without a clear vision of which properties with which to align the brand. That approach might lead to exposing brands to unwanted risks. First and foremost, managers must know the amount of exposure of their portfolio, and the avenues to mitigate it. Risk can be multiple and varied.

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It may seem obvious but in an ever more competitive market, properties are under mounting pressures to gain revenues from sponsorship, and the task gets even harder during sluggish economic times. As it is true for the consumer market, attracting new business is a much costlier endeavor than retaining existing partners. That is why your sponsors are your greatest assets. I am a firm believer in the concept of shared value. Properties and sponsors might not always agree, but they do have common goals that can create added value for both partners once reached.

What are the things both partners value?

Besides the revenue gained from a sponsorship deal, properties will also seek objectives of their own like visibility, ticket sales, brand image and networking opportunities, to name a few. Sponsors will sign a sponsorship deal for various reasons like visibility, awareness, affinity with the target audience, brand image, sales or to mobilize their employees, for example.

Activation

It is a well-documented fact that sponsorship activation is a prerequisite for a sponsor to achieve its communication goals. Properties will largely benefit from a sponsor’s activation program, in various ways. It will generate both visibility and awareness: a great way of catching the interest a potential sponsor. Depending on the property’s industry, such publicity will also help in selling tickets or generating increased traffic.

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Fit between a sponsor and a property is a clear driver of sponsorship performance. In fact, the right fit will substantially improve brand awareness. This awareness is often needed to obtain a positive return on sponsorship investments and also to achieve more elaborate goals, like brand image transfer, affinity with a specific target market, better attitude toward the brand and a rise in purchase intents. High fit will increase a brand’s acceptance by the public, and its presence will be perceived as more altruistic.

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