Authored by Greg Ayers, President and CEO, Discover Kalamazoo

November 2, 2012

Sponsorships are extremely important to the success of sports events, whether it is the Super Bowl or a local youth soccer tournament.  Sports events provide great opportunities for exposure for brands and financial resources for events.  Successful sponsorships benefit both parties – the sponsor and the event.

Gone are the days where companies are willing to sponsor sports events of any type and not expect some type of a return on their investment.  For the most part, many companies simply have fewer dollars to invest in sponsorships.  Companies are also much more intelligent and sometimes sophisticated on their analysis of the return on the sponsorship investment.

As a result of this change in tide over the past decade or so, never has it been more important for events to completely understand the amenities which can be offered to potential sponsors before meeting with them and to best understand what is important to them when determining investment in sports event sponsorships.  This meeting should include an understanding of each other’s desires and to determine opportunities of mutual benefit to all involved.

Sponsorship activation is a term which has been used for quite some time by very large sports events who are selling sponsorships of significant proportions to national and international companies having the propensity to invest in these events.  The Detroit Regional Chamber defines sponsorship activation as “the money a sponsor invests, in addition to the sponsorship rights fee, to enhance their presence and attendee experience at events.”  In order to successfully accomplish this, it is imperative for the parties involved to truly understand the opportunities to create a win-win situation.

Please join me for a webinar on the topic of Sponsorship Activation on Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 2:00 pm EST.  If you have any ideas and/or specific questions you would like me to address in the webinar, then please send them to me at gayers@discoverkalamazoo.com.  Sponsorship activation is here to stay and can be extremely important to the success of your events and the relationships you have with sponsors who invest their valuable resources with you.  I hope you will join us!