Continuing with the video theme this week, I found a great sports business video on YouTube today courtesy of the Rice Sports Management program’s YouTube account. This clip shows several highlights of how Subway activated their sponsorship of the Subway Fresh Fit 500.

I particularly liked how they also involved Apolo Anton Ohno, a non-racing Subway endorser, and how found a fun way to show off the Subway Dunk Fresh game with Blake Griffin (you can read more about this campaign at the Blogs with Balls blog).

I was watching a hockey game the other night and the virtual signage on the glass at the ends of the rink made me think, “what others spaces are left to sponsor?”  So here is a quick list of physical and virtual inventory by sport that hasn’t been sponsored yet, but could be. I realize that several of these might not be allowed because of rules on having uniform court/rink/field elements, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen in time…

Hockey:

• The crease
• The blue lines
• The penalty box
• The goal netting (like with field goal nets?)
• The faceoff circles
• Center ice (if you ever dared to replace the team logo)

Basketball (after seeing Oregon’s new court, I believe anything is possible):

• The shot clock
• The paint
• The top of the key
• The mid-court, free throw or three-point lines
• The baselines (out of bounds)

Football:

• The endzones (combine the team name/logo with the presenting sponsor?)
• The virtual first down line (have seen this on some broadcasts I believe)
• Sections of the coaches box and players area on the sidelines (the way NBA benches are)
• The instant replay review booth

Baseball:

• The bases (remember the Spiderman controversy a few years ago?)
• The outfield (logos mowed in to the grass)
• The on-deck circles
• The first and third base lines (just along the grass)
• The warning track
• The bullpens

I know that some of these may seem ridiculous, but many of them don’t even need to be physical elements. The entire reason I started thinking about this was because of the virtual signage in hockey games. There’s no reason that the same technology can’t be applied to these types of locations.

Note: Check out the comments below. I tried to add a little more context to the idea behind this post. Thanks!

Last week, the Sacramento Kings announced that they signed a new naming rights deal. On March 1, the building’s name will officially change from Arco Arena to Power Balance Pavilion. It is a five year deal, and the financial details have not been released, although it supposed to be worth much more than the $750,000 per year they had been getting from Arco. You can read about the deal over at the Sports Business Daily.

For those of you that might not be familiar with Power Balance, they produce bracelets designed to, well, improve your balance.  Here is a quick description from their website:

What is Power Balance?
Power Balance is Performance Technology designed to work with your body’s natural energy field. Founded by athletes, Power Balance is a favorite among elite athletes for whom balance, strength and flexibility are important.

How Does the Hologram Work?
Power Balance is based on the idea of optimizing the body’s natural energy flow, similar to concepts behind many Eastern philosophies. The hologram in Power Balance is designed to resonate with and respond to the natural energy field of the body.

What makes this deal interesting to me is that Power Balance is quite a controversial brand right now. Because of complaints from Australian consumers, Power Balance has stated that there is no “credible scientific evidence” behind their product, and they are currently facing three false advertising lawsuits in the U.S (Sporting News, 1/14/11). Based on this information, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Power Balance doesn’t represent a particularly stable brand.

If you only look at the financial value of the deal over the five-year period, I’m sure that this is a profitable deal for the Kings, and probably does a lot for the credibility and visibility of the Power Balance brand. However, if the company faces further legal problems or consumers decide to abandon their product, what happens to the Kings and the value of their naming rights moving forward? If anything happens that leads to the deal ending prematurely, the market value for those rights could easily be diminished. Is that worth the risk of the short-term dollars that Power Balance was willing to pay over any second or third options (if there were other options, of course).

On the other hand, Sports Business Daily also highlighted that Sacramento is a small market, which has its own long-term challenges for stability of a professional sports franchise. If there’s a chance the Kings are unable to stay in Sacramento more than a few more years, this deal could end up making much more sense.

What do you think of the risk vs. reward of a deal like this?

In case you didn’t see it, there was a very interesting moment in last night’s BCS Championship broadcast right before the game-winning field goal attempt by Auburn. Check out this video clip (thanks to fangsbites.com for their post today that included the clip).

Now before you assume that the “This is for all the Tostitos” line was part of Frito Lay’s’ sponsorship package, Darren Rovell has already confirmed via Twitter that this was not the case (@darrenrovell: “ESPN Spokesperson: Frito Lay did not pay for Brent Musburger’s “This is for all the Tostitos” line.)

Even though the line was an “unofficial plug,” it does raise some interesting questions:

• What was the additional media value generated by the statement?
• Would title sponsors want to have integrated play-by-play mentions as part of their deals?
• How much would this level of integration increase the cost of the sponsorship?
• Could there actually be a negative impact if fans thought the integrity of the game and broadcast was being compromised?

Unfortunately, I don’t have any answers to these questions. I’m sure within a day or so, we may have some estimated numbers to measure the value of the statement from a media value perspective. The other questions will probably be actively discussed by sponsors and properties alike over the coming weeks. Both sides are always looking for new, creative ways to integrate sponsors into the sports experience, and this could make sense if it’s done correctly.

Update: From our friends over at Navigate Marketing (@Navigate_Mktg), “Making educated assumptions, we think ‘This is for all the Tostitos’ will end up being worth about $250k in exposure value for Frito-Lay.”

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Mike Mahoney from the Carolina Panthers.

May 18, 2010. 8:30 a.m. – At Caribou Coffee, in the shadow of uptown Charlotte, people fill chairs for coffee meetings, fire up Wi-Fi  on their laptops, and swing in to get their day started with some much needed caffeine. Scott Hepburn (@scotthepburn) and I meet to exchange ideas and chat about social media, marketing, sponsorship etc. It’s maybe the 4th time we’ve done this over the last year.  We go over a number of things we are each trying to get accomplished and Scott brings up one last project he has started. He pens it as a “social media road rally”, touring Charlotte while documenting your Amazing Race like experience using social media. He has a couple of businesses signed on to be stops on the tour, hosting competitors and offering challenges. I thought instantly it had potential. Scott was meeting with his prospects and clients and getting good feedback. I thought about how we had been looking for a way to include social media in sponsorships. I thought the Panthers would make a great theme for the event, something to tie it all together. And we’d have enough partners and connections to get a sponsor to help defray costs while generating payback for their efforts. Plus we could include our community partners who would benefit from the mentions and interaction.

I take the concept back to the Panthers sponsorship group and got early buy-in from my boss, John Berger, and team to research and find out more about what the event would look like. Sponsors had been asking us about Facebook (Panthers FB  launched 3 days earlier) and Twitter, where we had 9,000 followers for a while now. Scott came in and explained it to the group and after two or three follow-up meetings, everyone was on board. We needed a title sponsor. Allen Tate Company, the leading residential real estate company in the Carolinas, was the first company I called. They were the first of our sponsors in Charlotte to hire a full-time social media coordinator, Genevieve Jooste, (@genevievejooste) who talked to Scott about it as well separately.   Scott agreed to let me try to make the event a Panthers event and hire Media Emerging, his firm to be the race director. Dana Thomas, our event coordinator would run sign-ups and marketing of the event and any operations at the stadium and organize the awards party. Our sales team and account managers would work with our sponsors and include some as stops on the challenge and we’d need to find sponsors to cover the costs. Our mascot, Sir Purr (@pantherssirpurr) would do whatever we needed.

July 7, 2010 – Genevieve and the VP of Marketing for Allen Tate setup a meeting at the stadium to talk about fresh ideas for 2010 sponsorship elements. The goal was to have something with more concrete measurement capabilities and benefits. Allen Tate CEO Pat Riley bought in quickly after the presentation and agreed to be the title sponsor as they saw immediate fits with bringing in open house, offices with agents and combing both social and personal interaction.

Several planning lunches and brainstorming sessions continue. Allen Tate’s marketing team brainstormed and generated the final event name, Panthers Purrsuit and logo. Media Emerging generated YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts which we all helped manage.  One of the main questions we get is why are you charging for this and why $20. We just had to know how many people to plan for. We knew we get more folks for free but how could busy retail locations plan for an event not knowing if it would be 25 or 200? So we decided we’d charge about what our 5K race charges and instead of getting to run for 20 minutes you’d get a whole day of fun, free stuff, coupons, and companionship with a partner (not to mention great prizes).  Scott Hepburn and the assigned Panthers reps went out to each interested sponsor to help create exciting challenges for the teams to complete.

By the time registration ended in mid October we had two Panthers players help us with videos, Jon Beason (@jonbeason) and Everette Brown (@everettebrown). We had several teams make promotional videos after their entry and engaged in playful trash talking. Thirty-two teams signed up and they were all extremely enthusiastic, making costumes and uniforms and trying to encourage their friends to get involved as well.  The Panthers added a new sponsor to our roster as well in SportClips who saw the value in promoting Purrsuit across their 14 area stores since they too are very active in Facebook marketing and Twitter.

October 23, 2010 – Event day was a truly amazing sunny Chamber of Commerce weather day in Charlotte. After days of stuffing SWAG bags, filling envelopes with color coded clues, and delivering signage, we were ready. Teams started from Bank of America Stadium by kicking a field goal into an inflatable goal post and getting their pictures taken with Panthers mascot SirPurr. Teams were dispatched with their first clue at 1:00pm. After that, If you were in Charlotte and on Twitter from 1pm – 6pm you could not miss #Purrsuit Tweets, Facebook posts and YouTube videos. Not to mention teams of two building Lego houses on a real estate office sidewalk, scooping up empty sweet tea containers with their elbows in recycling bags, watching 3DTV, and playing paper football in a dining booth. All in response to challenges dreamed up by Panthers partners and Scott Hepburn. Some sponsors had the capability and the vision to dedicate resources to be on-site interacting with the contestants. Others came up with ways to be creative without expending many resources at all. I believe it is fair to say the stops where staff were there to meet and greet, instruct and compete against the teams were the favorites of the challengers. Allen Tate was certainly in this group, as was Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont and Bojangles’ Famous Chicken and Biscuits.  Their blogs, recaps, or photos are linked in their names above. We collected school supplies for classroom central, food for Second Harvest Food Bank, learned more about Goodwill’s job training and electronics recycling and garnered $10 text donations to the Library system.

To tie this all up in a bow Purrsuit was a success from a numbers perspective, mentions, sponsorship, interaction, donations, sales all were there and that is important. But the most gratifying part of the entire event by far was the Bud Light awards after party at Dandelion Market where we had a private room upstairs and we were able to have a cold one, tally up the points, give out the prizes and collapse from the exhaustion of a crazy day. The winners were funny, smart and gracious. Check out the pictures from our Facebook page and a full recap of all the media exposure and relevant numbers from the event are on this slideshare presentation (also included below).

And of course, there are more people to thank than I will be able to here but the event would not happen without Scott’s creativity (he wrote about his 5 A-Ha moments in the process here), Dana’s execution, the support of everyone at the Panthers from the top down and the bottom up and of course the vision of the Allen Tate Company team who continue to be leaders in real estate as well as social media and the rest of our sponsor and partner roster that participated.  I certainly can’t express enough gratitude for the support of the Sportsbiz community as well as the social media advocates and Panthers fans in Charlotte.

Mike Mahoney is a sponsorship sales executive for the Carolina Panthers with 5+ years of sponsorship sales experience. Prior to selling in the sports world he worked in major account sales at FedEx and SAP. Mike believes in the power of CRM and loves social media. You can follow him on Twitter (@mahoney) or find him on LinkedIn.

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Brian Gainor. Brian is the Founder of Partnership Activation Inc., a venture that provides sports business professionals with sponsorship and marketing best practices, unique activation tactics, and innovative ways to drive revenue for their business. He also works for GMR Marketing.

As the sponsorship marketplace continues to mature across the globe, the airline category has remained alive and healthy as many carriers look to take their consumer engagement and hometown affiliation programs to new heights. Despite the global recession and fluctuations in oil prices, airlines have continued to invest in the sponsorship space, particularly in the government, arts, music festivals, and sports categories. Airlines typically leverage their partnership agreements to drive hometown affiliation awareness, engage with consumers in 1-to-1 settings, reward frequent flyers, and capitalize on B2B opportunities, but more airline carriers are beginning to activate their deals in new, innovative ways.

With a general understanding of the sponsorship landscape, here is a quick look at how a few of the leading airline carriers are activating their partnership agreements across the globe:

Emirates Airline

Emirates Airline leveraged its designation as an Official Sponsor of the 2010 World Cup and FIFA’s only Official Travel partner by executing several programs on the ground, in the air, and across the globe. Emirates activated its partnership on the ground in Johannesburg by featuring a giant inflatable display mirroring the airline’s A380 Airbus fleet that hosted a soccer kick challenge where consumers had an opportunity to compete against a virtual goalie to win prizes. The airline carrier leveraged its FIFA affiliation by providing team and association travel to and from the World Cup and treating several senior global media figures to an extraordinary FIFA World Cup experience. Emirates also extended its partnership rights to its flights and airport terminals, where passengers enjoyed exclusive broadcast rights of live and delayed World Cup matches while traveling.

Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines leverages partnership agreements in several select markets to drive affiliation awareness and acquire new customers. The airline carrier currently has several partnerships in place, including an official agreement with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and a collection of team deals.  Southwest Airlines recently brought its partnership with the Phoenix Suns of the NBA to life by executing a “Trading Places” promotion, where players, cheerleaders, and the Suns mascot  greeted travelers at the airport by taking boarding passes, making announcements, and interacting with consumers at the gate.

AirTran Airways

AirTran Airways has utilized auto racer Danica Patrick as a central figure in its sponsorship efforts. Over the past few years, AirTran has successfully leveraged a personal services agreement with Patrick to create several initiatives that engage consumers at the airport, trackside, and online. AirTran celebrated the start of the 2008 NASCAR season by featuring a team of Danica Patrick lookalikes, referred to as the Danica Patrick Pit Crew, working the airline ticket counter at Laguardia Airport in New York City. Here, the Pit Crew assisted travelers with their check-in process and ensured that they had a memorable airline experience. The airline brought its partnership to life for consumers at-track by executing a “Ride Shotgun with Danica” promotion that offered consumers an opportunity to win a trip to Miami where they could enjoy three days of VIP hospitaliy and take a ride with Danica in an Indy Racing Experience 2-Seater. From a digital standpoint, AirTran leverages its affiliation with Danica Patrick via an online video game, AirTranRaceway.com that rewards airline tickets to participants who log the fastest times competing against Danica while driving a luggage truck, people mover, catering truck, or stair car in a virtual race.

JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways celebrated its partnership with the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL) by unveiling a 22.5’ x 26’ airplane tailfin just outside of the team’s arena, the BankAtlantic Center. The giant tailfin, built off-site and transported in multiple pieces to the arena, serves as a gathering place for fans prior to games, concerts, and related events taking place at the venue. The area, known as “The JetBlue Tarmac”, is now considered a common venue destination for fans. JetBlue also leverages its partnership with the Panthers with several joint marketing initiatives, highlighted by a promotion that offers free tickets to fans who wear blue on the airline’s TrueBlue nights and to others who are willing sign up to become TrueBlue members.

Jon Kander, Valuation Analyst at IEG, and I decided to have a little back and forth discussion of the idea of integrating guarantees and team performance into sponsorships and sports business in general. Jon’s comments are in black and mine are in blue. Hope you enjoy our conversation!

Jon: I really enjoyed your latest blog post on guarantees in sports, especially the part where you made the distinction between “guarantees as a sales/marketing tactic” and “guarantees as a result of passion/emotion.” Emotional guarantees by players and fans have been around since people began playing and watching sports. However, sales-based guarantees appear to be a recent trend. While both can have a drastic impact on a team and its fan base, I was hoping we could delve further into the sales-based category. Is this purely a result of the economic downturn, an ever-increasing amount of available entertainment options, or something entirely different?

Also, the examples you brought up in your blog post were ticket sales-based. What are your thoughts on variable compensation as it relates to sponsorship fees? Are their instances where you would recommend incorporating a pay-for-performance model?

Russell: Thanks Jonathan. I don’t think the idea of using guarantees can be entirely attributed to the economic downturn, although there’s probably some relationship. From the ticket sales perspective, the guarantee is designed to overcome two objectives: the risk of team failure, since fans are less willing to financially support a losing team, and the financial reassurance, to try and make customers feel more comfortable with the value of their purchase. Even without the economic downturn, if a fan becomes too frustrated with the team’s on-field performance, they will still walk away, and if the team doesn’t live up to the “guarantee,” they risk potentially reinforcing the fan’s choice.

Connecting guarantees to sponsorships can have similar issues. Hopefully, the team sells the sponsor on the long-term relationship with the brand, and that brand needs to have value even if the team isn’t winning. There’s no question that winning always helps, but the more you tie a significant revenue source, such as season tickets or sponsorships, to the on-field performance, the more you risk potentially devaluing your brand. This is not to say there’s no place for pay-for-performance, but I believe it needs to be selectively and strategically applied. For example, I like the idea of escalator clauses with additional sponsor benefits when the team is performing well. Another option would be to offer additional “complimentary” benefits if a team under-performs – in this situation, you aren’t decreasing your revenue potential, but still try to compensate the sponsor with additional value to ensure they get the results they’re hoping for.

Finally, as a last resort, I think you can consider using a pay-for-performance style deal for a new customer or even a renewal if they absolutely insist and you believe there is no other option that can close the deal. However, when you open this door to one sponsor, others will find out and want the same type of opportunity, and I don’t think that’s a road you want to head down. Jonathan – what pay-for-performance structure do you feel can help mitigate the team risk but still drive sponsor value? Also, from the sponsor perspective, what are the biggest reasons why they would benefit from that approach? Are there reasons why that model could actually hurt the sponsor?

Jon: Great question. I would endorse a variable compensation model tied to delivery of benefits and a property ensuring its sponsors are achieving their ROO and ROI benchmarks. This can include establishing minimum performance milestones around attendance and an out clause if a property is not meeting expectations. Negotiating this type of sponsorship model would be a completely justifiable and prudent move on the part of the sponsor. Ideally, this would ensure that properties would work with its sponsors to better meet their objectives as well as force sponsors to think through what they are hoping to accomplish with a sponsorship investment on the front end of a negotiation/partnership.

On the other hand, I do not believe sponsorship fees should be tied to on-field performance. First, on-field success is no guarantee of fan loyalty – look at the Cleveland Browns vs. the Tampa Bay Rays. The former has one of the most loyal fan bases in country (coming from a biased Ohio boy) and the latter had to give away 20,000 tickets late in the season for a team in a pennant race. Second, I worry that this model enters the territory of sponsors unduly influencing a property’s decision-making. This has happened in college athletics by alumni promising large donations if the school fires its athletic director or coach. I wouldn’t want team execs firing or hiring a coach based on the potential loss of sponsorship revenue.

A sponsor could also be hurt by this type of model. If a sponsor requires a refund because it is unhappy with the on-field product, the organization could come across as disloyal and/or a fair-weather fan. That reputation would make it very difficult for the company to market itself to a team’s die-hard fans who have stuck by their favorite team through thick & thin. Their fan loyalty is unlikely to extend to the sponsor in this instance.

Despite my concerns detailed above, sponsorship fees linked to on-field performance appear to be more commonplace than in years past. Within the past month the French National soccer team paid a significant refund to many of its sponsors after its dismal World Cup performance. A few days later, England’s soccer governing body said that it believe it needs to link payouts more directly to performance if it hopes to secure new major partners for the national team. I also was in attendance at a conference where Bank of America’s former corporate sponsorship manager, Ray Bednar, argued that winning teams should get paid more in sponsorship than losing franchises. Do you think this is the next sponsorship trend? What impact do you see guaranteed on-field performance having on the both the sponsorship industry as well as the sports business landscape as a whole?

Russell: You brought up some great examples. I completely agree that winning does not guarantee fan loyalty, which for a sponsor is probably the biggest factor to identify in a property they should connect with. And in the right (or wrong) situation, I can see your analogy between athletic donors and performance-related sponsors becoming reality – you cannot put your organization in a position where business relationships can have undue influences on your on-field decision making.

There does seems to be a small trend developing, but I don’t see it becoming common practice because of the various risks we’ve discussed. Let’s take the French national team example. There was nothing specifically designed into their sponsor deals that I’m aware of. However, the team didn’t just under-perform – in many eyes, they embarrassed themselves and their country with how they handled the conflict between the players and their coach, leading to their quick World Cup exit. I imagine that the national team was at risk of losing several sponsors because of this. So as a proactive measure, they decided to refund several sponsors. To me, this was a relationship-saving decision more than a direct tie to performance. The goodwill generated by the refund can hopefully ensure their continued support of the national team in future years – you can almost think of it as a renewal discount more than a refund if things work out well.

In principle, I agree with Bednar’s statement that winning teams should get paid more. But even without direct pay-for-performance style contracts, isn’t this already happening? Winning teams almost always have the ability to generate more revenue than losing teams (additional short-term deals during a good season, better chance for long-term renewals, escalator clauses, maximizing all inventory, etc). And if they make the most of the good times, that can help carry them if team performance swings the other way. If organizations take the next step and directly integrate on-field performance guarantees into their sponsorships, I feel like all they’ll be doing is leaving revenue on the table during the downtimes. So I guess my position is that guarantees are still a bit to “gimicky” to be a significant aspect of sponsorships and sports business in general. Sponsorship, season tickets, premium sales and most significant revenue streams are ultimately based on long-term relationships, affinity and brand value. Guarantees shift the focus from the long-term relationship to the short-term transaction, and I think that’s bad for business.

I don’t write much about tennis here, so when a friend of mine sent me a press release about a tennis partnership that combines a major sporting event (US Open), a top athlete (Venus Williams), cool technology (a virtual interactive clinic), a top fashion line (Polo Ralph Lauren), a premium sponsor (Mercedes-Benz) and fundraising (Women’s Sports Foundation), I thought I would share some of the release with you. This is the type of partnership-driven event that really creates value for every party and brand involved, from the sponsors to the consumers.

POLO RALPH LAUREN PRESENTS THE LEGENDS CLINIC FEATURING VENUS WILLIAMS

In celebration of its sixth year as the Official Apparel Sponsor of the US Open Tennis Championships, Polo Ralph Lauren presents the Legends Clinic with Venus Williams, a live interactive virtual tennis clinic produced in partnership with Mercedes-Benz at New York’s SPORTIME Tennis Center on Randall’s Island on August 26 at 2:00PM EST. Tennis enthusiasts around the world will tune in as seven-time Grand Slam Champion Venus Williams answers questions, demonstrates technique and offers hints and tips on how to improve your game during this live one-hour interactive clinic. The clinic will reach a global audience as it will be streamed live online exclusively at RalphLauren.com and accessible on mobile devices at m.ralphlauren.com/USOpen.

“The Legends Clinic is ground-breaking. This is a dynamic way of connecting fashion, technology and sports in a way that has never been done before,” said David Lauren, Senior Vice President of Advertising, Marketing and Corporate Communications. “We are providing our customers around the world a unique experience to personally connect with one of the world’s premier tennis legends while she is engaged in her sport.”

Ralph Lauren will design a limited-edition dress in partnership with Eleven to be worn by Venus Williams during the Legends Clinic as well as a special limited-edition US Open polo shirt to accompany the collection. Both the Ralph Lauren designed limited-edition dress and polo shirt will be available on-site at the US Open Polo Ralph Lauren shop and online at RalphLauren.com. Additionally, the limited-edition US Open polo shirt will be exclusively available at Macy’s Herald Square in New York. Fifteen percent of sales will be donated to the Women’s Sports Foundation, dedicated to advancing the lives of girls and women through sport and physical activity.

“It is truly exciting to partner with Polo Ralph Lauren in this unique endeavor and to bring my professional expertise and personal experiences to tennis fans around the world,” said Venus Williams.

The Ralph Lauren US Open collection is available on-site at the US Open Polo Ralph Lauren shop open for the duration of the tournament. The store also features a wide selection of items such as tote bags, tennis dresses, skirts, sweaters, commemorative caps, classic Polo shirts for men and women. The collection will also be available at select Ralph Lauren stores, department stores and online at Ralphlauren.com.

As part of the Legends Clinic, Mercedes-Benz, the official vehicle of the US Open Tennis Championship and presenting sponsor of the Men’s Single Championship, will highlight its new SLS AMG supercar that draws inspiration from the 1954 300SL Gullwing, a legendary car known for its iconic style and innovation.

This announcement reinforces Polo Ralph Lauren’s leadership in major sporting initiatives. The company also serves as the Official Outfitter of the Wimbledon Championships and will be the Proud Outfitter for the US Olympic and Paralympic Teams at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Polo Ralph Lauren also sponsors an elite roster of professional golfers, as well as the Blackwatch Polo Team.

Earlier today, I received a sponsorship solicitation email, which in itself is not unusual. I get all sorts of different requests and proposals through the site. However, there were some things about this particular email I felt should be addressed in a post. First, take a look at the edited version of the email below – all identifying content has been removed (substitute content in CAPS) to protect the innocent:

From:      FULL NAME <SALES REP EMAIL ADDRESS>
To:            <SALES REP EMAIL ADDRESS>
Date:        Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at ##:##
Subject:  SPORT Sponsorship Opportunity

Hello,

My name is REP NAME, and I am a TITLE of a sports agency located in CITY called COMPANY-HAME-HERE (www.WEBSITE.com). I am writing this email on behalf of our affiliate agency, OTHER-COMPANY-NAME (www.OTHERWEBSITE.com). I noticed you are in a sports related business, so I wanted to offer a sponsorship opportunity. We represent numerous ATHLETES. THIS SPORT is the fastest growing sport across the world. We are offering you the opportunity to sponsor these ATHLETES.  Sponsorships include your logo on ITEM 1, ITEM 2 and ITEMS 3 AND 4. Please see the attached Power Point for more details.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, please contact me via email at EMAIL-ADDRESS or cell phone at PHONE #. I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

FIRST-NAME
CONTACT INFORMATION

So, what problems did you notice? Here are just a few that immediately jump off the page:

1. “Hello,” is not an acceptable greeting. The person sending this didn’t even take the time to type in my first and/or last name. If they have my email address and are sending this to me, they better know my name.
2. Look at the email header. The “From” and “To” address were the same, meaning that I was BCC’d (blind carbon copied). That tells me this same exact email was sent to who knows how many people at the same time. Not exactly a personalized sales pitch. And if you can’t take the time to write me a personalized email, what does that say about how I matter as a prospect, let alone an actual client?
3. No where in the entire email is there any reference to my company name or what we do, other than being a “sports related business.” If you have no idea who I work for or what I do, and how can you demonstrate a fit with your property and how will you generate any interest?
4. The sender is rattling off inventory option in the very first email sent. Before you start to discuss any sponsorship details, you need to assess what value you can provide for the sponsoring company, and then tailor your package accordingly. Just sticking my logo on different things does not provide value.
5. We know this sport is “fast growing,” but that doesn’t mean anything without context or fit. This sport may be growing exponentially, but if your property doesn’t reach my target audience, that size and growth is useless.
6. This particular person isn’t just representing their own agency, but a larger affiliate agency as well. Now any problems with this approach reflect poorly on both organizations.
7. The attached Powerpoint file (not shared here) was actually pretty good and had some nice data in it (albeit not personalized at all). However, the odds of someone opening the attachment from this email are minimal at best.

For the record, I replied back to the sender. He seemed very apologetic for the mistakes and interested in learning what he can do better next time, so I am writing this post as a tip for him and anyone else out there trying to drum up business. What other problems do you see in this approach and what tips can you share with other readers?

Today’s post is courtesy of Brian Gainor, Founding Editor of PartnershipActivation.com. This article was featured in the July 2010 Partnership Activation monthly newsletter. I highly encourage everyone to sign up for it – always a great source of sponsorship news and marketing best practices.

Are You Providing Truly Exclusive Experiences for Fans?

Miller Lite and the Tampa Bay Rays recently teamed up to execute a “Ray for a Day” promotion that truly offered one (1) lucky winner the ultimate Rays game day experience. Miller Lite called on agent Drew Rosenhaus to host the winner, Andrew Marante, and represent him in negotiations with Rays SVP Mark Fernandez, President Matt Silverman, and GM Andrew Friedman that officially made him a “Ray for a Day”.

Following the negotiations and official press conference, Marante was presented with a collection of prizes, which included a one-year supply of Miller Lite, a one-day rookie salary, an authentic, customized Rays jersey and hat, (4) pre-game field passes to watch batting practice, (4) game tickets in Row 1 – directly behind the Rays dugout, an on-field meet & greet with Rays Manager Joe Maddon, a box of authentic Miller Lite-branded Rawlings baseballs, a Miller Lite/Rays neon sign, a Miller Lite beer fridge, a commemorative press release issued by the Rays, and the opportunity to throw out the first pitch prior to the game.

The promotion, managed by GMR Marketing from ideation to execution, was picked up by a host of media outlets and the Rays organization featured a (1) minute clip of the press conference on the jumbotron during pre-game warm-ups and at the bottom of the 4th inning.

Miller Lite leveraged relationships with several retail partners (Publix, Total Wine and More, Buffalo Wild Wings, Winn-Dixie, ABC Liquor, Hess, and Beef O’Brady’s) to execute the Ray for a Day sweepstakes, which tasked consumers ages 21+ with filling out entry forms between May 1– June 6 for a chance to win.

Editor’s Note: This type of ultimate fan experience provides the best level of exposure and activation for a team sponsor. This particular program was able to combine point-of-sale messaging, customer data collection, prime in-venue activation and media exposure, not to mention providing this lucky Rays fan the experience of his life. Great job between the team, agency and sponsor in executing all of the elements involved in this promotion.  ~RS