Savvy Sponsorships

How to create sponsorships that appeal to attendees, planners, and the sponsor

For the inaugural year of the Miami New Construction Show, event founder Anita Funtek knew sponsors would be essential to the show's success. But with no prior history, the three-day event, which brought together South Florida-based real-estate buyers and investors and included an extensive education program, was a hard sell -- even with guests that included Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

"For the first year of any show, there can be a lack of confidence from sponsors, and allocating money can be difficult," says Funtek. "I've seen some companies that have a policy where they will not sponsor an event unless it has been in operation for at least five years."

With that in mind, as she reached out to potential sponsors, Funtek avoided promoting specific avenues of revenue. Instead, she created a multi-faceted opportunity that would promote the sponsor, offer value to attendees, and help bolster the nascent conference. She found a partner in Macy's, which wanted to provide support for the event but shied away from "assigning money, which would have had to go through corporate channels for approval," according to Funtek.

Instead, Funtek and the department store chain worked out an arrangement by which Macy's provided gift bags, containing such items as certificates for complimentary facials (for women) and samples of Paco Rabanne cologne (for men), to be given out to attendees. "It enabled the show to start our relationship with our audience off on the right foot. The attendees received items they could use, and it was good exposure for Macy's," says Funtek. "But it came out of having conversations with the company, and being open and flexible about what would work for them and us."

Funtek's experience points to a complex consideration for meeting planners: Event sponsorships are a delicate balancing act of competing demands. Focus only on keeping sponsors happy, and the excessive promotional messaging may turn off attendees. Focus only on attendee needs, and opportunities to bring in valuable sponsorship support can fall through the cracks.

As demand for stronger meetings ROI has grown (a recent study from TCG Events found that 75 percent of executives are seeking greater return from corporate events than they have in previous years), meeting professionals are working to get smarter about how they leverage event sponsorships. They are finding it increasingly vital to work closely with their sponsors while also understanding their attendees, designing a creative sponsorship program that will benefit both.

"What planners ought to be doing is selling solutions," says Ron Seaver, founder and president of the San Diego-based Seaver Marketing Group, which specializes in sponsorship sales. For the past 20 years, Seaver has run the National Sports Forum, which brings together more than 1,000 sports business executives to talk sponsorship, marketing, and business development. He emphasizes that effective sponsorships are those that are developed with solutions for all three major event stakeholders -- sponsors, planners, and attendees -- in mind.

Make It Sponsor Friendly
Seaver says that for events today, selling "inventory" (e.g., lanyard, meal, or badge sponsorships) doesn't cut it. Instead, it's a question of "what can the planner create, package, or bundle within their existing program or event that will help the sponsor to accomplish 'X'?"

That "X" can mean very different things to different sponsors. While some companies may be seeking to make key introductions to corporate decision makers, others might want a platform to let prospective customers test out their new products or services. They may be looking to establish themselves as thought leaders in the industry, or just seeking to keep their brand awareness at its current level.

"It's a mistake to assume that every sponsor wants to accomplish the same thing," says Seaver. "So ask good questions -- and listen."

Seaver points to the example of next year's National Sports Forum (NSF). He sought a way to provide long-time sponsor Daktronics  (a major electronic signage and scoreboard company) with more bang for its sponsorship buck than a standard logo on a name badge might provide. Daktronics wanted to showcase its new portable scoreboards to attendees, and, as a company offering enterprise products that can run into multiple millions of dollars, it also wanted to be sure that NSF "keeps their brand center stage in front of our audience of senior team and sports property executives," according to Seaver.

So Seaver is literally putting his sponsor center stage -- the main stage of the conference will be transformed into the Daktronics Stage, with sponsor branding and the side screens being replaced by the sponsor's new portable scoreboards (one in HD and one in standard definition to make the difference obvious to audience members). This messaging extends to the event website as well, with a Daktronics-branded scoreboard clock counting down the months and days to the February 2015 event.

This type of sponsorship, tailored perfectly to the sponsor's needs, can only come about through a flexible attitude from planners.

"There is a demand for more customized sponsorship opportunities," notes Cassie Brown, chief experience officer for Charlotte, NC-based TCG Events, which runs numerous events that rely on sponsorship dollars. The bottom line, according to Brown, is "don't ever assume -- be open and first learn what they'd like to see happen and how they'd like to be involved rather than just throwing a package at them."