Sponsorship Strategist

17 Corporate Sponsorship Dos and Don'ts

Here are 17 hot tips to fire up your sponsorship development engine. Read more →

Up your game: improve your performance to succeed with sponsorship

High performing organizations and individuals have a competitive advantage over low performing ones. Considering the competition that your organization faces for sponsorship dollars — and not just from other nonprofits or associations — upping your game will make a difference between mediocre and meteoric results. Read more →

How to know if your event has too many sponsors

Thanks to The Onion, here's an easy way to decide if your event or festival is oversaturated with sponsors. Enjoy! Read more →

Time change

I don't know about you, but the Daylight Savings Time change has got me all mixed up. My sleep patterns are off, I feel groggy, and I'm racing to reestablish my circadian rhythm. Just like our bodies' biological rhythms, sponsorship development has a rhythm, too. Are you in the optimum rhythm? Or do you feel a little off? Here are few signs to help you recognize that you're off-beat. Stressed. You're feeling super-stressed about landing sponsors ASAP because your event is only a couple months away. Conflicted. You really should be tending to other tasks and activities to ensure that... Read more →

To Dave Brubeck and legacies

Last week's sad news about Dave Brubeck's passing reminded me of one of the most enduring lessons about sponsorship, events, and audience development, learned through my many years working on music festivals. George Wein, founder of the Newport Jazz Festival, grew concerned that we were losing so many jazz greats and committed himself to cultivating young jazz artists and audiences so jazz would continue. He created a second stage and, at the time, producer Art Edelstein programmed an adventurous line-up, beloved by critics and both new and existing festival audiences. Seeing an opportunity for our sponsor, also cultivating a younger... Read more →

Gail Bower interviewed for Association of National Advertisers' ANA Magazine, Part 1

If you're responsible for sponsorship decision-making and execution for a corporation, check out this two-part Q&A with writer Michael J. McDermott for his article on improving the effectiveness of event sponsorship for ANA Magazine, a publication of the Association of National Advertisers. Be sure to visit on Wednesday for part 2. Michael J. McDermott (MJMcD): What are the most important areas marketers need to focus on when considering whether a sports or event sponsorship opportunity is right for them? Gail S. Bower (GSB): Is the sponsorship medium appropriate for our strategy? Will this opportunity advance our strategy, and is it... Read more →

Think like a starving artist, and you won't starve

One day last week, I left a meeting with someone who is under a great deal of pressure because of current budget squeezes that impact her nonprofit organization's funding. The physical sensations of stress she described were indelible, and I felt a great deal of empathy as I walked through the City towards my office. I passed the Merriam Theatre in Philadelphia, and a crowd spilling out onto the sidewalk, hours before showtime, piqued my curiousity. Then I heard drumming. Stomp was in town, and at this very moment, they were conducting a masterclass for high school-aged – and very... Read more →

Sponsorship Realities: Gail Bower's Predictions for 2011

If you’ve been operating at a frenetic pace, trying to outsmart the economy, you may not have stopped to look around and notice what’s going on in the world around you, the sponsorship world, that is. This special report provides you with five observations I’ve made that absolutely will have an impact on organizations’ abilities to generate revenue through partnerships with the corporate sector. Consider this insider intelligence to help you plan your 2011 sponsorship strategy. Download Sponsorship Realities 2011 P.S. A day after I wrote the special report, I read this post. To me it's an indicator that my... Read more →

Announcing: 7 teleseminars for nonprofit and event leaders on corporate sponsorship, marketing communications, event topics

Would you benefit from enhancing your skills and knowledge working with corporate sponsors, conceptualizing and producing events, or communicating more powerfully with key audiences of your organization? Please join me for BowerPower Programs, a series of 6 teleseminars, plus a bonus session, on corporate sponsorship, event, and marketing communications topics, designed to improve your results in these areas for 2010. Check out the details of all 6 teleseminars. Be sure to register early, before June 25. You'll automatically be registered for the bonus teleseminar, Jump-Start Your 2010 Sponsorship Strategy, on July 7, which will provide an update on what's changed... Read more →

IFEA Book Reviewer Calls Gail's Corporate Sponsorship Guidebook a "Must-Read"

IFEA, the leading industry association for festival and event leaders worldwide, released its review by Ira L. Rosen, CFEE, of my guidebook, How to Jump-start Your Sponsorship Strategy in Tough Times, in the latest issue of ie magazine. See below and scroll to page 15 to read why he believes the book's ideas and recommendations are "incredibly valuable." As a special bonus, if you scroll to page 32 in the magazine, you can also read an article I wrote, entitled 5 Trends in Corporate Sponsorship and What They Mean for You. Read more →