- How to create & maintain sustainable sponsorship projects? - Where lies the value of your sponsorship platform? - What are the DOs and DON’Ts in a sustainable sponsorship project?

1. First of all, thank you for having me here.
It’s really a pleasure.
Thanks Euroleague for the invitation.
I’m not here to lecture you, really.
My intention is to share food for thought in the next 15 to 20 minutes
that I hope it provokes forward thinking for the following discussions.
The subject that Euroleague has asked me to address is
“How to create & maintain sustainable sponsorship projects?”
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2. My first answer to that question is that partnership dealing should not be about flexing muscles
and comparing the strength of each other.
It should not be about arm wrestling and demonstrating who is stronger in dealing and pushing its
own interests.
We strongly believe that domination of club over sponsor, and viceversa, is not recommendable
at all.
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3. We truly believe that sustainable partnerships are really about creating synergies,
about pushing joint programs with common interests,
and about developing win – win relationships.
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4. Therefore, before we go any further,
we must understand
the needs & the thinking process of both parties involved:
the club and the sponsor.
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5. And to do that,
it’s really important to know
where you 2 come from
and where your paths meet in the journey.
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6. Brand management in your business means that each of you understands your current club
positioning…
That is, that you have a deep understanding of
your competitive environment,
your fan base
the benefits, values, and personality that your club projects
the reason to believe in your club’s promise
your club’s essence…
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7. Brand management in your business also means
that each of you has vision to further develop the club’s brand into the future
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8. And brand management in your business means
that each of you executes plans to distribute your club’s offer, as well.
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9. Finally, we are also aware that,
year after year,
all of these marketing efforts are made
in order to keep on delivering the best value to your fan base.
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10. On the other hand, sponsors follow a planning model with 4 steps in its value chain:
1. Strategy, which includes analysis, diagnosis, and strategic planning;
2. the creation of a Platform through the acquisition of sponsorship rights;
3. the design and execution of an Activation plan;
and 4. Measurement of the return on investment and the return on objectives.
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11. In the middle of this sponsoring model is
where your interests intersect with the interests of any potential sponsor.
Sponsoring brands want to connect with your fan base
by using you as a branding platform
and by exploiting your assets to engage with a large consumer group.
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12. So your relationship is like “Yin-Yang”:
Club & Sponsor are complementary opposites
that interact within a greater whole,
as part of a dynamic sports marketing eco-system.
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13. And the glue that sticks you 2 together is
“people with a common passion for basketball”:
people that you call “fans”
while your sponsors call them “target consumers”.
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14. The second question to address is
where lies the value of your sponsorship platform?
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15. Of course, your sponsorship platform has value
in its fan base,
in its media value,
in its sports assets,
and in its venue;
nevertheless, we believe that
managing sponsor value & fan experience
can boost the overall value of your sponsorship platform to higher levels.
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16. So, how to create sponsor value?
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17. A sustainable sponsorship relationship is just like a healthy plant:
If you give the plant water, it will blossom.
So if you want to celebrate a long-term relationship with your sponsor one day,
you should make a conscious decision to “water” his sponsoring model.
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18. So let’s water each one of the branches in the sponsoring model.
Let’s talk about watering the strategy:
It’s not a mad idea for a club to invest in business intelligence
and to have the initiative of delivering insightful data to its partners
hence, feeding its strategic planning process
Additionally, it’s not a crazy thought either that
each approach to potential and existing sponsors maintain
a personalized focus and a unique proposition
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19. Let’s talk now about watering the platform for branding:
It’s no surprise that sponsors desire the greatest media value possible,
and they expect to obtain it through live broadcasting as well as via additional media content.
On top of that, you can also offer other consumer relevant assets that the sponsor can exploit
such as naming, players, cheerleaders, mascots, academy, venue, databases, etc…
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20. Moving on to Activation for Engaging with your fan base,
It’s highly recommendable that clubs are proactive in suggesting activation initiatives
as well as flexible in terms and conditions for exploiting sponsorship assets.
Additionally, investing in creative to deliver disruptive activation solutions
could be a competitive advantage
and could also unlock additional revenue streams
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21. To end with the watering suggestions,
It’s also highly recommendable that clubs invest in
obtaining objective know-how to measure ROI as well as ROO for the sponsor
Finally, there is a great value in clubs that sit with the sponsor
to apply corrective measures, if necessary,
based on the results of the measurement studies
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22. And, how to enhance the fan experience?
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23. Allow me to introduce you to
the line-up of the most valuable drivers
for enhancing the basketball experience of today’s fans
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24. The first driver we’d like to highlight is Digital In-Game Experience
Like it or not, sports fans are in control of what they see, where and when they see it, and how
they see it…
Today’s fans can be watching a game live, in or off-venue,
and see the game in a different way, simultaneously, through a telecom device.
Live streaming, multi-perspectives instant replay, multiple live-camera angles, game analysis
tools,
and even monitoring of the lines for the bathrooms and concession stands:
they are all available now thanks to latest technology.
Talk about total control, right ?!
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25. The second driver is Social Gaming.
Facebook is becoming the number one entry to the web.
One of the hottest things about social networks today are social games.
These social games have been adapted to leverage the viral distribution opportunities
and their format is a perfect match of how people use the internet today.
In terms of monthly average users, 3 out of 6 fastest growing social games are sports related.
Big sports brands are already entering the social gaming territory:
When will they be joined by the mainstream?
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26. The third driver is Content Marketing.
Sports business is not a business of supporting media industry,
it is the business of connecting with fans.
The key role of a sports marketeer is
to create, deliver, and govern content that is useful, usable, enjoyable, and sharable for the fans.
Content marketing is giving people a reason to talk about your club, its assets, & its products,
and provoking for the conversation to take place.
The more engagement you get, the better.
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27. The fourth driver is Crowdsourcing.
It comes as no surprise that groups can make some judgments better than an individual.
By crowdsourcing parts of the management process,
you free yourself up to focus on the core of what you’re building.
Sometimes you can even boost your community by turning over certain parts to them:
for instance,
support in recruiting talent,
or feedback to develop apps or widgets,
or even fans’ opinion to select the line-up of your team.
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28. Finally, the fifth driver is Virtual Goods, virtual currency, virtual premiums…
This is already a billion dollar business,
virtual currency is a great alternative to credit cards for online purchases.
Fans can accumulate their credits in online games and apps,
receive them as a gift, and/or they can buy pre-paid cards thus converting real money into virtual.
Additionally, sports properties are already commercializing virtual goods of their assets,
for instance,
celebrity video greetings to be shared with friends,
or audio voicemail messages of your star players,
or autographed pictures of your franchise player.
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29. Finally, the last question that I’ll be addressing is
What are the DOs and DON’Ts in a sustainable sponsorship project?
To be honest, I really don’t feel that I’m entitled to be lecturing you
on basketball and on dealing with your partners.
Nevertheless, as a sports marketing agency,
seating in the middle of property owners
and brands that are interested in sponsorship…
we constantly hear the needs & complaints of both sides
and we are used to building sponsoring and relational bridges between you two.
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30. So, sometimes I feel like a counselor,
if you allow me, a marriage counselor,
or let’s just call it sponsoring counselor, for the time being.
And, if you think about it, I’m not that way off:
a sponsorship is a relationship between 2 opponent
that sign a contract to be together
and that pretend to get along for the long-run…
Isn’t that called marriage?
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31. Please, bear with me for a few more minutes
and let me give you the Top5 Tips
for a Happy Sponsoring Marriage
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32. With number 5
Communication is key:
don’t hold back, express yourself,
but most importantly listen, listen, listen
to what your sponsoring partner has to say !!
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33. With number 4
Trust each other
& share control with your sponsoring partner
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34. With number 3
Replace the deadly habits with constructive thinking.
The deadly habits are:
criticizing, comparing, blaming, complaining, nagging, threatening, punishing, and bribing.
On other hand, constructive thinking means:
supporting, guiding, encouraging, incentivizing, listening, accepting, trusting, respecting, and
negotiating your differences.
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35. With number 2
Avoid the “D” word.
Threatening with divorce
and thinking negatively
will take your sponsoring marriage nowhere safe.
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36. And, finally,
with number 1
All this hard work and tremendous effort
has much more value if both of you enjoy the journey,
so be wise,
be a good sponsoring couple,
and, most importantly, have fun doing it !!
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37. Thank you for your time
Unfortunately, I will not be able to stay for dinner tonight
but I’ll leave my details on the screen for all of you
that are interested in watering the sponsoring model
or that want to know more about sponsoring marriage counseling
Thank you again !!
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