Sponsorship: Getting it, keeping it

Moderator: Tom Schuler, Team Sports
Panelists:
Michael Aisner, Coors Classic
David Kutoff, Materials Processing Corporation
Stephanie Scott, Jelly Belly Candy Company
David Wilson, Wheaties


To David Kutoff: Tell us what your company does
MPC recycles electronic wastes, most notably computers and consumer wastes (e.g. TVs).

To Stephanie: Of all the sponsorship proposals that come to you, how do you sift through them and take ones to your decision makers.
Jelly Belly receives many more requests than she can fund. She advises anyone preparing a proposal to research the company; get the name of the right person you need to contact and find out what the marketing objectives are for the company

She signs about one property a year but gets about 1,000 proposals annually. The perception is that Jelly Belly Candy Company spends millions on sponsorships, but that’s not the case so she has to be very selective. Every dollar she spends on sponsorships and activation should come back to the company as a return on the investment

Brand awareness for Jelly Belly is already high, so that’s not her primary objective when considering sponsorships for that brand. One thing you should consider when developing a proposal for a mature brand is what your organization or event can do to drive more consumers to buy the product and increase the frequency with which they purchase

To David Wilson: Tell us the timeline that a large corporation like General Mills has with sponsorship requests.
Wheaties is unique in that it does a large number of sponsorships, so their timelines may be a little quicker than some other companies. Small sponsorships can turn around pretty quickly, but larger sponsorships need to start a year in advance.

To David Wilson: What is the quantity of sponsorships Wheaties does?
Wheaties has a lot of sponsorship of major league baseball and other big league sports with high visibility to the national audience. Also have some marathons, half marathons, triathlons in the mix for 07 and 08 and are looking to do more of those in the future.

To David Kutoff: We will see your company name on jerseys and such, but what don’t we see that’s important to you? What really makes a sponsorship work?
A way to get the MPC brand name out there on a national basis but in line with our company ideals of recycling. MPC is not into “hard core” sports that use a lot of fuel, but something that is in line with the earth. Cycling is a professional sport that doesn’t use a stadium or need a venue to be built or doesn’t harm the earth. Cycling fits with their corporation and they want to align with other companies that fit with health and wellness and the environment.

To David Kutoff: So it’s corporate values and sports that embody that. Tell us about the execution of that, and how the public might connect with the company through your sponsorship?
MPC doesn’t give things out at races but they like to have expo space to give out information about how to properly dispose of a computers or TVs. What we’re doing at the Nature Valley Grand Prix is to educate the public about what they do. They’ll have some displays to show how electronic waste is handled properly.

To David Kutoff: In what ways do you care whether your brand associations or direct relationships with other team sponsors?
MPC is interested in talking to other sponsors but most importantly, they want to align with other companies that share their goals.

To Stephanie: Same question about importance of other sponsors
Not so concerned with who else is at the events but that Jelly Belly is at events where people are having fun because the Jelly Belly brand message is about fun! She gets frustrated with promoters who sign category exclusive sponsors because having more exhibitors at an event or expo makes for a more exciting consumer experience—when there is more going on, it makes it more fun for the audience.

To David Wilson: Same question about the importance of who the other sponsors are.
One thing that may be unique at General Mills (which owns Wheaties and Nature Valley) is that, as a very large company, they want to be sure that they get the most out of our dollar, so they look for exclusivity.

To Michael: Same question about the importance of who the other sponsors are.
We need to remember to help the company to meet its mission. Good example; BMC came into the sport but they had one reason for being in cycling; they wanted to increase the visibility of their name in certain areas so that when kids were coming out of college they might consider coming to BMC Software to work. Think about the match you are making; what attributes does your event/team have that would be helpful for a company?

To Michael: How can we learn more about a company’s goals and target strategies with our proposals?
I go to the IEG conference every year; it helps me understand what the measurable items are of an event or sports property that might be sellable to a company. Ultimately, you have to provide value to your sponsor. It’s got to give a good return on the investment because Stephanie has to go to her boss at the end of the year and show how the sponsorship achieved its goal. It’s not the rider going across the line with his/her arm raised, but how did the sponsorship affect sales? Connect with people and the market?

Stephanie on developing sponsorship proposals
It helps to know a little bit about marketing. Jelly Belly is a 30 year old brand and Sport Beans is a new brand so our marketing objectives for the two brands are different. When we launched Sport Beans, our pro riders were the spokespeople for the brand. We sent them and continue to send them to trade shows to help us educate the trade (our sales representatives and their retailers). Our sales force is very knowledgeable on candy trends but needed an education on sports nutrition so we put our athletes in front of them to answer their questions and talk about how they use the product. We do a lot of sampling so that consumers can test the product under the conditions it was meant to be used and can then go into the stores to purchase it. When developing a pitch for a sponsorship, think about what you can do to help us capitalize on those trade opportunities. Bike races are held in some important markets, which present some great opportunities to reach out to the trade and consumers.

Michael on adding value to sponsorships
I went into GM Saturn, they’d been in business in cycling for 9 years and I asked “What is the goal that Schuler is achieving for you?” The answer: Sell cars. Aisner said “humm, he’s got a bike team. Let’s get to something achievable so that Tom had a measurable goal. We came up with test drives; get people into the store. So by helping the sponsor identify what it is you can accomplish for them is a critical piece for them.

Question from audience: How would each of these determine how their target market is?

David Kutoff: Specific to the Nature Valley Grand Prix, it’s branding in Minnesota because MPC is a Minnesota-based company and, while it’s nationwide, not a lot of people know them in Minnesota. The demographics of racers and enthusiasts are similar to those in companies that might use MPC’s services.

Stephanie: We’re looking at reaching the audience that is participating in the sport on some level. Bike racers and their fans and spectators are the same people I want to sample the product, so I have this opportunity to reach athletes in every major city.

Tom: As racers, we are the audience but we don’t have the media side.

David Wilson: We’re looking for active lifestyle folks who are looking to support the race or participate in the race, and that’s a great fit for Wheaties.

Michael: I get a phone call every month from someone looking for stats on cycling and I try to steer them away from that. I just got done announcing Philly for the 23rd time and I asked “how many people said they were enjoying their first bike race?” It was probably about 30% and they are there because of the excitement. So why are we pitching cycling stats? We need to expand the customer base into other demographics and grow their audience.

Question from audience: do you consider sponsoring local events? What do you recommend for local clubs that are trying to get sponsorship for their elite teams and events they host?

Tom: I get that question often and it’s the same equation as the national sponsorship requests, but localized. Your best target is local. It’s either the corporate parent that’s here, someone who does business in your town, etc.

Michael: come up with some gimmicks on how you can expand beyond the parameters of the team/club. Example of two kids who got sponsored to go to college and got sponsorship by a bank and got on 7 TV stations.

Question from audience: What are the strategies that Wheaties and Jelly Belly have for their sponsorships, since one is an event and the other is a team sponsorship.

Stephanie: A lot of our sponsorship programs developed from the interests of the family who owns the company. They have always felt that ambassador programs are more worthwhile than event sponsorships so event sponsorships are a tougher sell to them. They feel there is more benefit to the business through ambassador programs (i.e., teams or athletes who can speak on behalf of the company). We all agree that there is far more value to having a competitor at an event than there is to just sponsoring the event. It’s a lot more work to manage ambassador programs, but we feel it’s worth it to have people representing us who are well versed on our brand message.

David Wilson: At Wheaties, it boils down to what’s going to be the biggest return and it pays to do you homework. See how much you can learn about the brand and what you can do for it. These strategies will shift over time, so sometimes Wheaties will sponsor a team, other times it’s and event and that depends on the time of year.

Question from audience: how do you determine the return on investment? How do you determine the level of sponsorship?

David Wilson: I don’t think there’s a minimum investment or a minimum return, but whether we can “move the needle.”

Michael: There’s a lot of formulas out there, but a key part of it is how do you evaluate? Media exposure is something that you could do some calculations to determine a dollar value, but how do you evaluate school visits? That’s good will ambassadorship that can expand company visibility.

David LaPorte on whether event sponsorship provides only a short term benefit
The Nature Valley Grand Prix takes place over 5 days, but our marketing campaign starts in January and we spend the winter going to trade shows and swap meets, pod casts, video on the website, email newsletter, radio, TV, interviews, etc. through the broadcasts on TV after the event in August. The event may be five days, but the marketing return is spread over 8 months.

Question from Audience: What differentiates one pitch from another?

Stephanie: Last year, I signed a triathlon team that offered a well-written proposal with persistent (but not annoying) follow up by the team director. I was looking for national exposure in that sport and the proposal offered the right program at the right time at the right price. I’ll occasionally sponsor regional programs if they are in markets where we have an opportunity to grow the business.

Michael: I did a panel last year and I asked the question: what makes a proposal get past step one? Every corporation had a different answer. Many companies have sponsorship guidelines, but some places will take calls, others want emails, you have to find out what works for that company. Most seem to want a brief email; what are the benefits of sponsoring you/your event? (national exposure? Year long? TV? )

Your proposal has to cut through the clutter, has to be good and the companies want to bring someone into the fold who is an extension of their marketing efforts.

David LaPorte: Most of our sponsorships have come about because we knew someone who knew someone. Even an internal call/email from someone in the company that the marketing person didn’t know personally was more likely to get a response than if it came from an outside request.

Michael: I’m a Mac guy, and there’s something called iWeb where you can create websites on the spot. I’ve created proposals on the web specifically for companies that they can then share with others quickly. It had a q&a, video, photos, etc. I love q&a! iWeb comes free with Mac programs.