Rogers Scores a Touchdown at the Uteck Bowl by Angie Lynch

If you were brave enough to endure the cold night air for the 2011 Uteck Bowl you probably noticed several things. First, Moncton has a great stadium conducive to hosting large scale football games and second, the Rogers Red Zone was the place to be that night. With the live music, heated tent and food and beverages flowing, not to mention the best seats in the house, it was completely sold out before the game even started. And while not the presenting partner, Rogers was able to be the brand that was on everyone’s mind.

What Rogers did so well, was owning the tailgate experience. By creating an atmosphere that provided fans with exactly what they looking for, they made the Rogers Red Zone the only place to be to watch the game.

In an article written Nov 2010 in the Marketing Group[1], it was noted that the sponsorship game has indeed changed, logo recognition and standard sponsorship packages are no longer sufficient.  Sponsors require measurable ROI and customer engagement. Determining a concrete plan soon after initializing partnership discussions, Rogers and Sports & Entertainment Atlantic successfully navigated that through this year’s partnership with the Uteck Bowl. They had a plan going in and were able to expertly execute on their vision for what the football fan was looking for.

It is also important to note that investment in sponsorship activation will soon equal and likely surpass rights fees.  Since 2006, activation spending has increased by 85%, reaching $0.76 for every dollar of right fees invested.[2] As companies get more strategic in their sponsorship partnerships, this ratio is expected to reach 1:1 if not higher.

Sponsors have begun to realize the importance of planning their sponsorship strategy and making the activation part of the sponsorship package. Just like Rogers did with the Rogers Red Zone, this activation plan should be known prior to negotiation. By developing your plan in advance, you can negotiate all the necessary assets into the deal. If you don’t develop your plan until after the deal is signed, there’s a very good chance you won’t have the right assets to implement your ideas. As you can imagine, it’s difficult to know what assets to negotiate for if you have no idea what your plans are for the sponsorship.

It was this planning that enabled Rogers to set themselves apart from other sponsors at the Uteck Bowl. They knew what they wanted going into negotiations and ensured all those assets were in place so that the Rogers Red Zone was the only place to be to watch the game.

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[1]http://www.cfmarketinginc.com/sponsorship-activation-%E2%80%93-the-holy-grail-of-marketing-sponsorships/

[2] Ibid.

Activation, Activation, Activation

This post on activation is from the President of Sports and Entertainment Atlantic: Derek Martin

Having an office on the Halifax Waterfront certainly has its benefits and for the past couple of weeks, as I walk to and from meetings I have been able to take in the sights and sounds of the annual Buskers Festival.  The weather has been great and there always seemed to be a steady stream of people taking in a performance or cooling off with an ice cream.  As I walked by day after day what really struck me however was what a great opportunity there was for a sponsor to really leverage this event to engage their customers.  Here we were on the one of the most beautiful harbourfront’s in the world with a FREE festival that was attracting thousands and thousands of people and yet the only sponsor I can honestly say that made an impression on me was WestJet.

I am sure there were other sponsors and as I really try to think back I can remember a branded vehicle here or a logo on a banner there but what consumer will ever sit down on Tuesday morning and try to remember that…I’d venture to say I may be the only one doing that today.  What consumers do remember are experiences that engage them and WestJet was head and shoulders above their closest competition.  WestJet took advantage of their sponsorship opportunity by choosing a premier, central location on the waterfront, set-up a large display space, provided a unique photo opportunity for the public to get their picture taken waving in a plane with those bright orange sticks that would be emailed to them once they got home, they gave anyone willing to stand in a relatively short line the chance to win a free flight on WestJet and most importantly of all they had WestJet staff engaging everyone that walked by in the fun and friendly manner displaying the brand attributes that WestJet has hung their hat on.

Now this is making a sponsorship work.  Sponsorship is an effective arm of marketing when you can accomplish several objectives through a single investment.  In this particular case WestJet not only had brand awareness through their impressive and strategic onsite presence, they collected thousands of email addresses for future promotions, sent email photos that they know will be forwarded on to family and friends further extending the sponsorship to those that weren’t even at the event site, gave flights or flight discounts to consumers who perhaps have never experienced a WestJet flight and may now be converted in to lifelong WestJet customers, and most importantly further cemented the greatest brand attribute that WestJet has…their fun and friendly staff.

With traditional print, television or radio advertising there is a one-way conversation where the marketer is speaking to the consumer and trying to cause an action.  Usually that call to action is buying their product or it could be to enter a contest or visit a website that ultimately will lead to buying their product but at the end of the day the consumer simply reads, watches or listens and then goes on their merry way.  The advantages of sponsorship over advertising is a blog for another day but in this case the real story is how through what I would have to imagine was not a huge investment, WestJet was able to successfully engage thousands of customers who may or may not have experienced the WestJet brand before and ultimately gain a few new customers in the process.