Sponsorship Strategist

What Wells Fargo support could be saying about your organization

Is your organization sponsored by or receiving funding from Wells Fargo? As the news about Wells Fargo employees sales tactics plays out and repercussions before the Senate Banking Committee and in the media unfold, you have a decision to make. Will you keep those dollars or return them? Read more →

Measuring sponsorship ROI: when the wrong people buy corporate sponsorship on your behalf

Find out what happens when the wrong metrics are used to evaluate and measure sponsorship ROI and how marketers and brand managers may be at risk. Read more →

What you can learn from Jay Z and Barney’s about choosing your partners

You may have heard about the sticky situation Jay Z found himself in just before the holidays. About to launch his line of branded merchandise, Jay Z’s retail partner Barney’s became embroiled in controversy, accused of racial profiling. According to reports, in separate incidents, police stopped and questioned two black customers who’d just purchased items at the luxury retailer and left the store. Barney’s conducted an investigation and found that no employees were involved in the police officers’ actions. Jay Z refused to back out of his deal with the retailer — though he gave himself an out pending the... Read more →

The Banished 13: Corporate sponsorship practices we could do without in 2013

It's a new year and an excellent time to consider your sponsorship operation anew. Here are 13 practices by both corporations and sponsorship sellers that are a good place to start. Time to let these dated, ineffective behaviors or operations go. Suggestions for corporate sponsors. Online forms. The conundrum is that you receive tons of proposals that don't begin to meet your objectives. I get it. My company receives enough off-the-mark sponsorship proposals to make the extrapolation easy. But here's the thing: you're turning away good opportunities and the potential for meaningful relationships with organizations that won't waste their time.... Read more →

More on your role as sponsorship seller

Early in February, at an event I partnered on with the Boston Business Journal, Ray Hoefling, Senior Vice President, Commercial Banking, at Webster Bank was our special guest. Audiences had an opportunity to hear some of the creative ways Webster Bank, a well-known Connecticut brand, is engaging sponsorship, particularly with the nonprofit sector, to introduce its brand and build relationships in a competitive market. When we opened it up to the audience for questions, the first one was a familiar refrain. A gentleman wanted to know how he could reach Hoefling or the proper decision maker, something that he was... Read more →

Big is not a sponsorship strategy

If you had a brainstorm to take one of your products, make a really really big fabricated replica of it, maybe even with a slogan on it, and then set that up on display and call it sponsorship, rethink that idea. Big is not a strategy. If you drove through Philadelphia during the holidays, you'd likely have seen this: (It says, "You know you love it.") Yes, it's a giant noodle at a park in a prime location adjacent to an outdoor Christmas market. As far as I can tell, no sampling, no couponing, no interaction with the noodle makers.... 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 →

Experiencing your brand through communications and actions

Like you, I've got electronic gadgets. Sometimes they work great; other times, it's a big mystery why they don't. The other night our Netflix account was completely inaccessible. We were unable to access it through Apple TV, by phone (busy signal), online (web page wouldn't load), and through an iPad app. We were shut out. In the scheme of life, of course, this is a very minor inconvenience, and whenever technology fails to work, I think about Louis CK's observation that everything's amazing and nobody's happy. So, life rolled along. I put the technological hiccup out of my mind, until... Read more →

Sheetz and the Greatest Movie Ever Sold

On my drive out to work with a client in Central Pennsylvania, I popped into this Sheetz gas station/convenience store in Carlisle, Pa., to see if and how they took advantage of their movie sponsorship for POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. See what you think. At the self-serve soda and beverage dispenser counter, you'll find the famous collectors' cups ("first time ever in a documentary," director Morgan Spurlock notes in the film) that Sheetz President and CEO Stan Sheetz enthusiastically snapped up. ("We're going to be on that like a wet t-shirt," he says in the film... Read more →