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.

Networking Tips that Build Lasting Friendships

The definition of networking I use is: Networking is a process by which you can create meaningful business contacts and relationships to further your career and enhance your professional life.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the most difficult, networking is a 5. Building friendships is a 10.
I know that many of you have become better and better at this "networking thing." I thought I would share one of the deep dark secrets of effective networking - some of these folks become fast friends.
Just as much as no one really understands why you fall in love, it is a mystery in much the same way why after networking with someone over the years you suddenly realize that you have become good friends.
By making every effort to network appropriately, by which I mean with those with whom you have some background connection, you are bit by bit going to meet up with likeminded individuals. It is inevitable. Some of those folks will just "click" with you.
Now comes the hard part. (I know it sounded too easy to this point.) When you "click" with someone, you have to make an effort to perform acts of friendship. Networking, according to many seems to have some evil intent. Were it not for your need to earn a living, I suppose you would just stay in your shell and never talk to anyone. "Networking" is all well and good, but calling a succession of strangers when you need their help is not as valuable as having real friends. If you died, how many people would come to your funeral because they really wanted to?
We casually say, "he's a friend." But would she bring you food if you were housebound? Would she listen to you gladly if you had lost your job and wanted to talk? The "care and feeding of friends" can be exhausting at times, but it is always worth the effort long term.
We are a networking group, but this implies that many of the people we meet will become this kind of friend.
Among the many goals in your life, I hope this is one you will sign up for.
Note: I received this letter from the leader of another group I belong to called MENG. If you are interested in joining this group, check out www.mengonline.com
And let me know if you want an introduction for membership.