Dodger Stadium - creating a year-round retail destination

The McCourts got it right. Their investment in upgrading their facilities will be paid back with new sponsorship revenue. It will become destination that will attract customer all year long and make Dodger Stadium viable for greater sponsorship revenue for a naming rights partner of the entire facility and the peripheral elements

In order to ensure the continued vitality of Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced a multi-faceted stadium improvement plan that will bring the most modern amenities to Dodger fans while preserving the tradition of the historic venue, first opened in 1962.

Now they need an outstanding sponsorship agency with retail experience. hmmm. I wonder who that might be?

These posts are opinions, insights and links to marketing and sponsorship news. They are meant to inspire and provoke thought. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed and visit my website at www.sponsorshipinsights.com to learn about our services.

Navigating the Blogging Waters

Blogging is a new thing for me. Sponsorship is not.


Blogging is a great tool for communicating. So is Sponsorship.


As I am working through my learning curve on best practices for blogging on sponsorships, I found a couple of great blogs and picked the brains of their owners.


Jason Peck does a blog on Sports Marketing and Frank Reed does one for small businesses on enhancing their web presence. Both are smart guys. I encourage you to check out their blogs.


They have both recommended that I switch from a site-hosted blog using blogger to wordpress.


Therefore, I am moving sites, but it is not hard to find me.


So, click here to see all of my latest postings moving forward.


For archived and older postings, stay here.


These posts are opinions, insights and links to marketing and sponsorship news. They are meant to inspire and provoke thought. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed and visit my website at www.sponsorshipinsights.com to learn about our services.

Renewing Sponsorships?

We are always looking to get better at what we do.

We are always evaluating how we can be more effective and efficient.


We are all trying to buy or sell sponsorships or thinking about it, right?


I think I found a pretty good solution to professionalize recaps and use them as sales tools.


Sponsorship Insights Group member, Tom Stipes, has a great software product and special deal for Sponsorship Insights Group members.


SponsorshipPRO+ Demo
This easy-to-use, interactive Flash Demo takes only a few short minutes to view and will introduce you to many of the integrated features that have been built into SponsorshipPRO+. It requires no registration and is intended as an entertaining overview, not a step-by-step tutorial. Please make sure your sound is turned on.


To join our group, please click here.



These posts are opinions, insights and links to marketing and sponsorship news. They are meant to inspire and provoke thought. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed and visit my website at www.sponsorshipinsights.com to learn about our services.

Canadian Sponsorship Learning Opportunities

Sponsorship Insights Group member and sponsorship guru, Brent Barootes and the Western Sponsorship Congress have announced the return of the One Day Spring Workshops in Calgary, Edmonton and Regina, Canada. They are also adding One Day Workshops in Toronto and Kelowna.

For our Canadian members and readers, we highly recommend his work and his in depth knowledge of the Canadian sponsorship marketplace.  For a special discount, use SPONSORHIPINSIGHTS, when registering.

These posts are opinions, insights and links to marketing and sponsorship news. They are meant to inspire and provoke thought. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed and visit my website at www.sponsorshipinsights.com to learn about our services.

Developing New Sponsorship Strategies in Challenging Times

Today, we are offering a guest columnist in this blog space. Please provide your feedback and let me know if you'd like to be a guest blogger on this site.

By Kevin Bartram
Principal, Bartram Sponsorship Strategies

We all know this fact - the state of the nation’s economy has not been this bad for generations and the conditions are not likely to improve any time soon. Corporations are reducing spending, particularly in any areas deemed discretionary, which is how many would classify sponsorships.

So how can an organization develop new sponsors in these tough times? The answer is to work on principle, establish a solid foundation and offer true value that will resonate with the companies deemed most desirable for partnership. Be authentic and professional in your approach while truly focusing on the needs of the companies being approached. It’s easy to say that you’re committed to establishing partnerships – it’s another thing to truly act like a partner. Remember that, regardless of the type of organization you represent, your sponsors are most likely looking at your organization as a channel for driving business, however directly or indirectly.

While one might be tempted to simply have a fire sale and cut any deal possible, now is the time to get buttoned down, revisit and update your sponsorship plan and make sure that the information being taken to prospective sponsors reflects the reality of the market and speaks to the unique needs of the corporate audience. Here are some actions to consider as you look ahead to a challenging 2009 (and beyond) in your effort to secure sponsorship revenue to fund your endeavor.

Ø Have a formal plan and defined sponsorship program that shows the prospect that you mean business, that your organization is stable with a low risk factor. Corporations are generally risk averse but, in times like these, risk is often the biggest influencer in making spending decisions.
Ø Present your offering not from the position of how wonderful your organization is (aren’t they all?) but how association with your group and access to its offerings can help companies do what they are in the business of doing.
Ø Consider approaching your sponsorship packaging from the perspective of identifying and providing access to your assets. What a company is actually purchasing when investing in a sponsorship is access to the unique assets of the sponsored organization, whether brand affinity, a unique audience, events, media or direct business opportunities.
Ø Don’t come off as desperate or fearful – potential sponsors can sense this from a mile away and won’t likely provide funds to an organization whose financial viability is strongly in question. Fear and desperation will drive away the risk averse in droves.
Ø Take advantage of the tough times by clearly positioning your offering as a business solution – as a means to drive business, generate sales and deepen relationships with potential new customers. As with all of these tools, one must apply them authentically, in a way that reflects the true nature of the organization seeking sponsorship. Be sure that what you are offering can truly be delivered.
Ø Offer your business whenever possible. Be ready to act like a true partner and make business commitments to the companies from which you are seeking sponsorship funds. And, by extension, be sure to approach those companies with which you do business with your sponsorship offering and seek quid pro quo from them as well.
Ø Consider pursuing sponsors for your organization’s “green” efforts but only if truly committed to taking actual measures to address environmental matters. Of course, many companies are jumping on the green bandwagon and sponsored organizations have adjusted to take a green position, whether genuine or not. This is a fertile area in which to seek sponsorship and will likely be so for years to come but the pretenders are easily weeded out and reputations can be damaged by making claims that do not hold up when scrutinized.
Ø Always have a professional presentation, a clean website, and take a respectful, consultative approach when recruiting sponsors. This may seem second nature and go without saying but, having sat on the corporate side for the past year, I can state first-hand that there are still many seeking sponsorship with poorly crafted, unprofessional offerings that come primarily from a position of need. Lead by clearly stating the strengths of your organization and how your assets can help prospective sponsors enhance their businesses and you should at least get some attention, the first step toward generating new sponsorships in tough – or any – times.

As a means for helping organizations develop or enhance their sponsorship offerings, I am making available my CD training courses, Sponsorship 101 and Sponsorship 201 to Dan Beeman’s Linkedin Sponsorship Insights Group at a special low rate. Designed to guide sponsorship professionals, new or experienced, in the art of sponsorship development, each CD is comprised of a one hour training program, led by yours truly, with presentations and bonus materials that provide access to intelligence gleaned over more than 15 years in the business. The programs are based on my successful webinar series administered with Sponsorwise and contain a wide range of valuable practices I have used in developing major sponsorships on behalf of both corporate and property clients.

Regularly priced at $149 each, we are making each program available to this group for $119. A package with both 101 and 201 can be purchased for $219. We are also sharing revenues with Sponsorship Insights to help fund this valuable networking and information service. Oh, and shipping is free. The contents of these programs would cost thousands of dollars if delivered by way of a consulting relationship and each contain many practices that, if properly deployed, will generate a direct ROI many times greater than the programs cost.

Please click on this link for more information on our training programs. (link) Type in the promotion code (need) and place your order. You’ll have your CDs in a week or so to help you in your quest.

Good luck and here’s to a prosperous and positively event-ful 2009.

Kevin Bartram Bio

In his near-20 year career as a marketing executive and sponsorship consultant, Kevin Bartram has developed programs, events and partnerships for several Fortune 200 companies as well as nonprofit and government agencies. The marketing-based alliances Kevin has created will generate over one billion dollars in economic impact for the communities and organizations served. His personal mission is to support social change through the facilitation of creative, mutually beneficial partnerships.

Kevin’s recent focus has been on green-related sponsorships and developing alliances to address environmental issues, while working on behalf of Pacific Gas and Electric and dozens of partner organizations. In working to help PG&E make a difference in fighting climate change by driving adoption of renewable energy, energy efficiency and carbon offset programs, Kevin is partnering with a unique blend of non-profits, sport and entertainment properties, government agencies and entrepreneurs to establish new programs.

Kevin’s clients have included Cisco Systems (for which he created NetAid with the UN), NASA, the National Geographic Society, Wells Fargo, the Golden Gate Bridge District, SunPower, the University of California and dozens of others. He has developed major naming rights deals, created new cause–based events, led a technology marketing consortium and consulted entities as diverse as the Esalen Institute and the Vatican. Kevin speaks on effective cause marketing and sponsorship development and has recently introduced a CD-based training series.

For more information, visit http://www.sponsorshipstrategies.com/.

These posts are opinions, insights and links to marketing and sponsorship news. They are meant to inspire and provoke thought. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed and visit my website at www.sponsorshipinsights.com to learn about our services.

StareWays - an effective way to reach consumers

Is your brand looking for new ways to reach consumers in effective ways?

Spoonsorship Insights Group member, Brian Gainor recently blogged about StareWays. StareWays has the exclusive distribution rights the patented adStep® system for stair graphicsMedia.

Check this out.

Contact me to learn more about their products or provide your feedback.

These posts are opinions, insights and links to marketing and sponsorship news. They are meant to inspire and provoke thought. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed and visit my website at www.sponsorshipinsights.com to learn about our services.

Appliance Zone & NFL Stadium Sponsorship????

I found an interesting sponsorship story here about an Appliance Zone at an NFL stadium, which illustrates the desire of brands to break through the clutter of advertising and reach consumers in new, effective ways.

"We think we've kind of taken it to a new level," says Pete Ward, svp of the Indianapolis Colts football team, in a New York Times piece by Stephanie Clifford (12/11/08). Pete is talking about the many sponsorship deals bringing millions to the Colts and making possible its new (Lucas Oil) stadium. Many of these sponsorships are garden-variety. They've got a law firm sponsoring club lounges to the west, and a health-care provider taking care of the lounges to the east. A telecommunications company sponsors one entrance while a bank sponsors the other.


But in a bit of a twist, an Indianapolis-based appliance retailer, Hhgregg, has built out a 26,000 square foot store in a stadium hallway. David Abrutyn of IMG Worldwide explains: "In today's world of a very crowded advertising marketplace, it's very important for facilities to provide the brands and companies they're associating with a lot more than just signs and tickets." So, David doesn't see anything wrong with an appliance store in a football stadium, other than it might be irrelevant to fans.

"Are people going to a stadium to buy a washer and dryer? Probably not, but you're reaching an audience," David says. It's really not all that different from Chevy parking cars in the stadium's northeast corner. Or AirTran Airways installing airplane seats in the stadium's food court. Hhgregg's Jeff Pearson says so far nobody has complained. "It's trying to showcase these appliances in a way that relates to football," he says, adding, "I think the reception's been very positive." No complaint from the Colts, either. Such deals will pay for all but about $100 million of the stadium's $719 million in construction costs.



This is an example of what my company does for retail properties – bring brands to the common areas where the foot traffic exists and quality interactions are more possible. This drives new revenue streams for property owners and more effective promotions for brands.

The thing is, this venue, a sports stadium, is not as appropriate or effective as a shopping destination. With a sports venue, they are reaching the wrong audience and the brand play is ancillary to the desired experience (watching the game).

At a shopping destination, people (mostly women who control the majority of domestic spending) are more inclined to spend, are open to brand messages and wouldn’t look at it is an intrusion or inauthentic.


These posts are opinions, insights and links to marketing and sponsorship news. They are meant to inspire and provoke thought. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed and visit my website at www.sponsorshipinsights.com to learn about our services.

National Research Network - Leveraging consumer access for brands looking to gain insights

Tim Deegan, member of Sponsorship Insights group on LinkdIn is doing some interesting work with a new business unit of GGP.


NRN is a full service consumer research company focusing on the design, execution, and analysis of consumer research studies. Through their exclusive partnership with General Growth Properties, they have access to over 200 shopping malls in 44 states and hundreds of millions of consumers.


Check out this interesting case study they did for a consumer electronics firm.


While GGP has an active in-house sponsorship agency headed by Rebecca Graf, this unit is an outgrowth of the existing capabilities by staff analysts. They are able to bundle the consumer analytics for brands with integrated sponsorships to drive more effective, integrated sponsorship programming and deleiver greater value while driving a new, internal revenue stream.

Pretty impressive!

Integrated, relevant, scalable sponsorship announced by AEG at LA Live

Panasonic to be a sponsor at L.A. Live


This is a perfect fit for the venue and both partners.  It will showcase their products and provide consumer entertainment while providing a Times-square-like environment with 21st century technology on the west coast.

This is also scalable as AEG is partnering with the NBA to build basketball arenas in China. Keep your eye out for some more, bigger deals to come between these two parties as AEG is building an internal agency to provide sponsorship sales efficiencies for their partners on a global scale under, Todd Goldstein and Shervin Mirhashemi.


According to this moning's LA Times, Panasonic will be one of eight sponsors committing to multimillion-dollar contracts over several years. Others include Coca-Cola Co., American Express Co. and Wachovia Corp.

Under the terms of the partnership, Panasonic will install more than 1,000 TV monitors throughout L.A. Live, as well as an 8,000-square-foot screen that AEG says is the largest in North America.


The companies plan to use L.A. Live to unveil and showcase Panasonic products and solicit consumer feedback on them, said J.M. Allain, president of Panasonic System Solutions.

"We want this campus to not just equal Times Square but be ahead of Times Square in its technology," AEG President Timothy J. Lieweke said.

Advertising and sponsorship dollars are getting tougher to attract. IEG Sponsorship Report, a trade magazine, predicts North America growth in that industry of just 2.2% from 2008 to 2009, which would be the smallest increase in the forecast's history.

Entertainment sponsorship, which L.A. Live would fall under, is projected to rise just 1.9% overall.

Aspirational or Inspirational?

What do you want to be - Aspirational or Inspirational?  I worked for a real estate developer who provided "aspirational luxury" stores at his retail properties for consumers who "aspired" for a luxury lifestyle.

It worked in retail as consumers shop to feel better, using consumption as therapy.  We sold sponsorships leveraging access to the consumers and their diminished psychological wall against innundation of invasive brand messages.

I found an interesting organization that is offering partnerships by rewarding future behavior - and inspiring that behavior.

What is an X PRIZE?


An X PRIZE is a $10 million+ award given to the first team to achieve a specific goal, set by the X PRIZE Foundation, which has the potential to benefit humanity. Rather than awarding money to honor past achievements or directly funding research, an X PRIZE incites innovation by tapping into our competitive and entrepreneurial spirits.


 How enlightened.  Why be aspirational if you can be inspirational?

Connecting Ideas, Opportunities and People - IEG's 26th annual conference

Where can you connect with peers, learn more about sponsorship and bring practical ideas to take back to your job?

Just in time to keep the partnership bull raging, Singularity—sudden, unprecedented progress including breakthroughs in brain science, social media and digital data—alters the physics of sponsorship.


Sponsorship is founded on the instinctive, often subconscious, equation that together, the value of each partner is worth more than either could achieve on its own: 1+1=3.something, or Pi.

Now, Singularity, IEG’s 26th annual conference, catapults sponsorship to the far richer realm of Pi².

This matters. In these times of flat demand, oversupply and volatile economic climates, there’s an accentuated need for sponsors, agencies and rightsholders to support hunches with science and replace ad hoc and instinctive approaches to selection, activation and measurement with defendable, transparent algorithms.

Marrying the power of partnering with the teams, events, causes and organizations customers love to sophisticated new analytics, new media extensions and operational refinements is not for the lazy or the faint of heart—but highly rewarding for the rest of us.

For more information click here.

LA County Fair, Shows Flair With Excellent Sponsorship Program

I recently spent some time on The LA County Fair website and was most impressed with their comprehensive integration of testimonials from sponsors, factual representation of sponsorship benefits and examples of integration.

The site provides an excellent marketing tool for the La County Fair and was easy to navigate and find information.

Clearly, their marketing and sponsorship folks are on the same page and they will continue to grow their program by understanding the audience loyalty and ability to offer direct interface with consumers.

Top Marketing Trends for 2009

I am a proud member of the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG). It is an invitation-only group for senior-level marketing executives. For more information about MENG, click here.

We have just produced an insightful document summarizing some of the top marketing trends for 2009.

Of particular interest to me was that 56% of marketers anticipate their staffing to stay the same or increase, but 50% anticipate their budgets will decrease.

To me, this means that marketing folks are optimists and must do more with less.  Hopefully, this bodes well for sponsorship properties that offer significant ROI and ROO.   

To read more, click here.