Sponsorship Strategist

Scary, spooky sponsorship situations

Some sponsorship situations can be downright scary or spooky. Make sure you're not dressing up and taking on the behavior of these characters. Sponsorship Drillers. Some sponsorship sellers' and fundraisers' behavior is akin to slurping up dollars, like a giant vacuum, or natural gas drilling machinery. Sellers drill, insert piping, then frack the hard shale core of the corporate sector, pumping up all the dollars they can find in the pockets and spaces under the core before moving on to other sites. It seems exhausting, thankless, and only temporarily satisfying. The antidote is building meaningful relationships, based on trust, and... Read more →

Corporate sponsorship category alert: electric car charging stations

The idea of "charging it" at the King of Prussia mall - one of the largest and swankest shopping meccas in the nation - is about to take on a whole new meaning. via www.philly.com Brands launching new products have long taken advantage of corporate sponsorship to put them in the hands of hundreds of thousands of prospective customers rapidly, often creating an incentive to buy. Brands launching new industries might well consider sponsorship, too. If your event or program attracts environmentally concerned drivers (and frankly what driver isn't thinking about the environment these days?), you could spark interest (pun... Read more →

Respond or rebuff: what's your approach to customer input?

In a matter of months, Netflix went from beloved to beaten up. Netflix customers have long raved about how easy it is to use its streaming and DVD services, and business leaders view its operations as a great model of a customer-centric approach to operations. (A client of mine, for example, recently referrenced Netflix in describing how she needed me to help her design and create a new initiative for her organization.) This summer, however, Netflix made a series of missteps and bungled decisions, surely with all the best of intentions, that some (about a million) customers disliked. Really disliked.... Read more →

3 ways Steve Jobs may inspire you

We now live in a world without Steve Jobs, and an enormous void exists. He leaves a legacy that will inspire millions of us for many reasons for generations. I offer three ways Mr. Jobs may inspire you: Experience of the brand. If you've never been in an Apple store, visit one soon. It's more like an attraction than a retail experience. The feel, the vibe, the overall experience of an Apple store should be your inspiration for your sponsorship program. For businesses that sponsor events, your onsite component should be so compelling that it becomes an attraction or an... Read more →