Three Trends in Corporate Sponsorship and What They Mean For You

By Gail S. Bower, Bower & Co. Consulting
www.gailbower.com

Undoubtedly, the last 18 to 24 months have been a challenge for your organization and events. Congratulations; you made it through.

Now, it's a new year, and time for a new perspective. While the economic conditions are gradually improving - and let's choose to remain optimistic - I'd like to draw your attention to conditions in the marketplace you may have missed.

If you represent an important cause with a strong corporate sponsorship program, now is an excellent time to partner with the corporate sector. Yes, you read me correctly; I said 'an excellent time.'

Thanks to the recession, the bailouts, the bloodletting, and a barrage of other bad news, consumers have grown weary of the corporate sector. Trust has decreased, and reprioritizing has, well, become the priority. Consequently, corporations, especially in the financial sector, have their work cut out for them to rebuild trust and brand loyalty.

Consumer research shows that sponsorship of a nonprofit organization or cause, vs. sports or even the arts and culture, would contribute positively to consumers' increased approval of corporations.

Businesses are getting the message. Did you know that Pepsi pulled its Superbowl ad dollars and instead launched a cause and social marketing campaign?

Disney's in on the action. So is Seventh Generation. And a blogger with Fast Company wonders whether philanthropy is the new marketing. So, are you taking advantage of this and other opportunities?

Considering numerous economic and cultural conditions, I've spotted a few other corporate sponsorship trends, and here's what they mean for you:

1. Generic is out. So is superficial. If you're peddling a typical Gold/Silver/Bronze or other generic proposal as a form of marketing-driven corporate sponsorship, you're off the mark. Your sales pitch will sound increasingly irrelevant.

You're doing a disservice to your organization by offering low value to your corporate partner and failing to build leverage for your cause. You're also losing out on significant dollars.

Social media has changed the way we interact and engage with audiences. The proliferation of media over the last 35 years has had a broad effect, including contributing to increasingly niche audiences. We are not a monolithic mass audience. We don't market that way to consumers, and it doesn't work that way in a B2B setting either.

Sending out generic proposals to people and businesses you don't know sends a signal that you and your organization are inexperienced and unsophisticated. It's the quickest way for your materials to wind up in the trash.

Industries are all different, and businesses within those industries have unique needs. Your job is to learn more about them and develop your offerings specifically for that prospective partner.

ACTION: Do your research. Learn more about your partners' and prospective partners' businesses and industries so you have something meaningful to them to talk about. Develop programs for your partners that provide value in support of their specific business goals.

2. Be clear: marketing or philanthropic support? Are you interested in partnering in support of business goals or are you asking for a donation?

In the last 5 to 10 years, you've no doubt noticed shifts and changes in your work with the for-profit sector. More corporations have been asking for "benefits" in exchange for their "gifts," which changes the whole dynamic of the corporate giving model. You may have tried to respond to these sorts of requests but felt confused nonetheless. Philanthropy offices don't reduce that confusion.

Here's some clarity. Marketing-driven corporate sponsorship is a different model than the corporate giving model. It's a marketing medium designed to address business or marketing goals of the corporation. If you are in a discussion about corporate sponsorship dollars, you need to be asking questions about the company's business goals, marketing goals, and the ROI the company seeks.

The recession caused everyone - businesses, nonprofits, state and local governments, individuals - to question expenditures. (Everyone, it seems, but the federal government!) With uncertainty, we all want to know that how we spend our money will have a return and be meaningful in our businesses and lives. This trend is unlikely to stop in 2010. Your partners will want to know that an investment in your organization will move the needle for them.

If you're really seeking a donation, consider whether you really need to offer the kind of marketing value your marketing partners want, but that corporate foundations may not need or be interested in. Find out what's important.
Conversely, perhaps some combination of marketing and philanthropic dollars could be leveraged to meet multiple strategic interests. Think big. How can you really engage the corporation from both angles? How will that engagement propel your own strategic interests?

ACTION: Develop a clear strategy with each prospective corporation you're working with. How do you envision your partnership? How are you trying to engage with them? What is the business case you need to make? What's in it for both of you?

3. Corporate philanthropy offices will face increased pressure to show a measurable return and support of corporate strategic goals. As mentioned above, budgets have been placed under microscopes, and ROI, return on investment, is of utmost importance. Corporate leaders want to know that their limited dollars are invested wisely. Philanthropic dollars may contribute to corporations' reputation management, community quality of life issues, workforce development goals, as well as to other corporate social responsibility initiatives, both short- and long-term.

ACTiON: Make a business case about how the investment in your organization, perhaps coupled with dollars from other departments or initiatives, such as human resources, PR, marketing, corporate social responsibility, etc., can help fulfill broader strategic goals. The more departments you can integrate, the better. Why? Because your partner will be more engaged; you'll generate more dollars; and, together, your plans will yield a greater impact in the world.

Most events and nonprofit organizations have a great deal to offer the right marketers. If you're not taking advantage of these trends, of heightened consciousness to support social causes, you're missing important opportunities to galvanize support for your mission, your cause, your passion, and your constituency. You're also leaving money on the table.

To learn about other sponsorship trends and what they mean for you, check out the 1-hour long mp3 recording, 10 Trends in Sponsorship. Also, to learn more about the effects of the last year on sponsorship and what steps you can take now to improve your program, operation, and approach with new and existing sponsors, pick up a copy of Gail Bower's guidebook, How to Jump-start Your Sponsorship Strategy in Tough Times, called "the Bible for anyone securing sponsorships" by a reader who signed a five-figure title sponsorship for a new event by applying what she learned in the book.

So what are green events anyway?

For at least two years, event planners have likely been asked, "what are you doing to make your event more green?" And the answer to that question is all over the board - from simple recycyling and composting programs to event-owned venues producing their own bio-fuels from event waste.

As events work toward eco-friendly solutions to lessening their impact, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. How do I measure my event's impact? Are we truly becomming greener, or doing things just for the sake of doing things?

According to ClimatePath.com, a company that specializes in carbon neutral planning, as much as 90 percent of an event's carbon footprint is realized in attendee travel getting to the gathering. For events with a more local or regional audience, this percentage is likely smaller, but remains the largest impact. In Texas, where mass transit is not common, this may be a difficult factor to mitigate.

ClimatePath offers the following summary of how an event can measure its environmental impact so that a plan can be created for reduction.

Scope 1 emissions are those directly occurring "from sources that are owned or controlled", such as work vehicles.

Scope 2 emissions are emissions generated in the production of electricity consumed by the event organizer's activity. This also includes energy generated at the event location.

Scope 3 emissions are all the other indirect emissions that are a consequence of the activities of the event, but occur from sources not owned or controlled event organizer. These include air and ground travel, hotel stays, emissions of the production and transportation of purchased goods; outsourced activities; and so forth.