The International Olympic Committee is considering relaxing Rule 40, which bans non-Olympic sponsorship during the Olympic Games. Rule 40 restricts athletes from allowing their name, image or performances to be used for advertising purposes during the Games. The IOC proposes allowing generic, non-Olympic advertising and increasing the size limits of manufacturer logos to generate more sponsorship dollars for athletes. Both proposals must be approved in July to take effect. Views are mixed on how much relaxing Rule 40 will help athletes secure sponsorship versus benefiting Olympic sponsors. Enforcement will depend on the wording and how national Olympic committees apply the rule.

1. Fixing 40
The International Olympic Committee is contemplating relaxing Rule 40’s ban on
non-Olympic sponsorship during Olympic Games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has
indicated its willingness to relax Rule 40 and amend
Rule 50 following a March executive board meeting
in Rio de Janeiro. Both rules directly impact athlete
sponsorships in the weeks surrounding the Olympic
Games.
Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter states that: “Except
as permitted by the IOC Executive Board, no competi-
tor, coach, trainer or official who participates in the
Olympic Games may allow his person, name, picture
or sports performances to be used for advertising
purposes during the Olympic Games.”
Under the proposal, the IOC would allow generic,
non-Olympic advertising during the Games.
Changes to Rule 50 would “increase the maximum
size of a manufacturer’s identification while respect-
ing the clean field of play to prevent conspicuous
advertising.”
Both proposals must be approved at the July IOC
session in Kuala Lumpur to take effect.
Rule 40 was particularly unpopular with athletes
representing several countries who organized a
Twitter campaign during the 2012 London Olympics,
using the hashtag “WeDemandChange2012.” Among
athlete concerns: a lack of freedom to engage in so-
cial networking on behalf of sponsors during the
Games; and a strangling of potential long-tem deals
with non-Olympic sponsors that might potentially
run afoul of Rule 40.
Supporters of the existing Rule 40 argue that ath-
letes have far more to gain by granting exclusivity to
Olympic sponsors just before and during the Games
than they would by broadening opportunities for
non-Olympic sponsors.
Relaxing the restrictions of Rule 40 is a positive
step forward for athletes, says Connie deBoer, Presi-
dent of Action Sports Management in North Vancou-
ver, an agency specializing in both sports sponsorship
and placements of athletes in film, commercials, tele-
vision and print media.
“I’m in favour of anything that helps to secure more
sponsorship dollars for athletes,” she says. “Many
of the Olympic athletes I’ve worked with are really
stretching themselves to keep sponsors happy, but as
the event approaches, that becomes more and more
difficult. It’s especially important to give the athletes
that substantial cash injection they need early on so
that they can focus their energies on their sport in the
crucial days and weeks before the Games.”
The agency often places athletes in commercials,
some because they’re recognizable athletes and oth-
ers simply because the role requires an athletic type
– a skier, snowboarder or rower, for example.
“The question currently arises as to whether the
commercial will be seen as sponsorship that conflicts
SponsorshipReport
The
IN THIS ISSUE
2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am
Games 2
2015 Skills Canada National
Competition 6
Action Sports Management 1
Assiniboine Park Conservancy 7
Big Brother Canada 2
BMO 8
Brojects 7
Canadian Interuniversity
Sport 4
Canadian Red Cross 7
Canadian Sponsorship
Landscape Study 3
Chevron Canada 7
Cimoroni & Company 3
Commonwell Mutual Insurance
Group (The) 4
Cottage Life 7
Day, Jason 6
Energy East Pipeline Project 6
FIFA Women’s World Cup 2
Fuel Your School 7
Halifax Regional Municipality 7
Hitting Hard for MS 2
International Olympic
Committee 1
Ironman 6
Jani-King 7
Jayman Built 2
Junior NBA Program 8
Maytag Canada 2
MLSE Foundation 6
MS Society 2
NBA Canada 8
O’Reilly, Norm 3
Porter Airlines 2
Ports Toronto 2
RBC 7
Ryerson University 4
Scotiabank 7
Sentry Investments 5
Social Ambassador 7
Sponsorship Gut Check 5, 7
Sponsorship Week 5, 7
St. James Town Multipurpose
Games Court 6
Subaru 6
Team RBC 6
The Brick 2
Timber Mart 7
Toronto Maple Leafs 5
Toronto Raptors 4, 5
TORQUE Strategies 3
Trees Across Toronto 6
Trend Micro 2
Twistos 2
UA Canadadian Piping Trades 6
Walton, Bill 4 continued on page 3 >
Credit: Kris Krüg
“If you took Rule 40 at its word, you’d have
to pull every video game featuring the
likeness of an NBA player from the market
while they’re competing in the Olympics.”
VOLUME
30
VOLume 30 Number 4
april 2015

2. Pan Am organizers want
enthusiastic support, but not
ambush
One of the lessons of the 2010 Winter Olympics is that the best
defence is a good offence. In the year leading up to the Vancouver
Games, the commercial rights protection team hit the road, pop-
ping up at marketing conferences and in major corporate board-
rooms with detailed guidelines that attempted to draw a solid line
between enthusiastic support and ambush. It did not silence the
cries of ambush as the Games drew nearer. Those intent on gaining
maximum leverage from the Games (without paying the rights fee)
knew where the line was drawn, and several balanced themselves
right on it. But when weighed against past and subsequent Olympic
Games, the effort of Games organizers appears to have paid off.
Organizers of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games
hope to be able to say the same thing once the final curtain falls
this summer.
“We truly do value the investments that our partners have made
in the staging of the games,” says Chris Doyle, Manager of Com-
mercial Rights Management at the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am
Games, “and part of their investment includes commercial rights
protection, so were are constantly monitoring the marketplace to
ensure those rights are protected.”
Major events, particularly those enjoying a large dose of pub-
lic funding, must always reconcile two competing pressures: build
enthusiasm among the public, who are cutting one cheque, while
protecting the commercial rights of partners, who are cutting an-
other cheque.
Most commercial infringement comes from companies that want
to support the games but don’t know where the infringement line
is drawn, says Doyle. His group hopes to have made that clear, or
clearer, with the December 2014 publication of a guideline that is
available on the 2015 Pan Am games website (http://images.to-
ronto2015.org/system/asset_pdfs/2544/original/public-and-busi-
ness-community-guidelines.pdf)
[CAUSES]
Jayman walks the talk
Residential home builder Jayman Built, a supporter of the MS Society in
variouscapacitiesforoveradecade,isthenewtitlesponsorofall MSWalks
in Alberta, now known as the Jayman built MS Walk. According to the
MS Society, the partnership will allow it to increase it commitment to MS
research.
Three generations of the Westman family, founders of Jayman Built, have
been impacted by neurological or autoimmune disorders as well as friends
and family of many Jayman team members.
This sponsorship builds on Jayman’s existing partnership with the MS So-
ciety. In October, Jayman announced Hitting Hard for MS, an initiative that
sees Jayman donating $100 for every regular season hit the Edmonton
Oilers and Calgary Flames make this year. To date, Hitting Hard for MS has
raised over $175,800 in support of the MS Society.
Contact: Careen Chrusch, Jayman Built, cchrusch@jayman.com.
[ENTERTAINMENT]
Keeping watch on Big Brother
Big Brother Canada launched its third season on March 23 with a slate of
returning and new sponsors.
Back this season are The Brick and Twistos. The Brick is the Big Brother
house’s official furniture provider and contributes a $25,000 gift card to the
competition’s grand prize.
New sponsors include OxiClean Laundry Detergent, shomi, KFC, Ramada
and Pizza Pizza. All sponsors are tightly integrated into the broadcast and
activatethroughextensionsoutsidethebroadcast.Theprogramairsduring
prime time on Global on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays.
[SPORTS]
Pan Ams sign up a few more
Maytag Canada is the Official Appliance and Athlete Laundry Services Sup-
plier for the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games in Toronto. Maytag will
equip all athlete residences in the CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Athletes’ Vil-
lage with laundry rooms, amounting to over 400 washers and dryers.
Ports Toronto has signed as a games supporter, providing a combination
of financial support and value in kind through its watercraft, equipment,
infrastructure and personnel.
PorterAirlines,whichwasannouncedinDecember2014asthegames’offi-
cialairline,unveiledoneoftwoBombardierQ400aircraftfeaturingToronto
2015 sport pictograms. The pictograms combine to create a pattern that
represents the TORONTO 2015 Games motto “United We Play.”
[SPORTS]
Women’s World Cup (finally) signs another
The surprisingly thin ranks of national sponsors of this summer’s FIFA
Women’s World Cup got a bit thicker with the recent announcement of
Trend Micro as a national supporter. Trend Micro joins Bell and Labatt,
bringingWorldCuporganizershalfwaytotheirgoalofsixnationalpartners
for the summer 2015 tournament.
Trend Micro is a US-headquartered IT security company. According to a
FIFA release, Trend Micro will leverage its sponsorship to raise awareness
about the company, as well as its mission to the make the world safe for
exchanging digital information.
W h a t ’ s h a p p e N i n g
Where crowds gather, ambush marketers follow.
Organizers of the 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games will
be ready.
2 the sponsorship report april 2015

3. The guideline states its purpose as to “provide the general public
and business community with information on how to show their
support for the TORONTO 2015 Games without infringing on the
rights of the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games Organiz-
ing Committee (TO2015) or its Official Partners.”
The guideline provides examples of rights infringement, and also
examples of how companies can engage with the excitement of the
games without receiving a phone call from Doyle and his team.
Doyle says he has also reached out to the corporate community.
“I consistently meet with our commercial partners, our municipal
partners, our government partners and other third parties to edu-
cate the marketplace on the guidelines,” says Doyle.
Organizations that cross the line should expect to receive a phone
call from Doyle. “I would take a friendly, educational approach.” So
far, most infringements appear to be the innocent products of en-
thusiasm. “Most entities will agree to remove in infringing content,”
he says, and in only a few instances has he had to draw upon the
Pan Am games’ legal department.
“I think most people aren’t really attempting to ambush us at this
point,” says Doyle. “We’re not seeing major category infringements
from major blue-chip companies. Perhaps that’s a legacy from Van-
couver and the work that they did.”
Infringements are also happening mostly online, says Doyle. To
date, his team has had to address about 70 instances of infringe-
ment, and websites and social content are accounting for approxi-
mately 60% of the action.
Major public events leading up to the games have attracted
street teams, he says, and his team has worked to shut them down.
He expects more of that during the games themselves. The land-
scape of the many games venues has been assessed and Doyle feels
he has a good handle on likely spots for ground-level ambush. If
street teams show up, he promises he’ll be ready. n
Take part in the Canadian
Sponsorship Landscape Study
In fact, consider it your civic duty as a member of the Canadian
sponsorship community.
The Canadian Sponsorship Landscape Study (CSLS) is the indus-
try’s barometer. It is a measure of its health and its direction, and its
accuracy depends on the participation of Canadian sponsors, prop-
erties and agencies.
Let’s not forget that in the days before the CSLS, marketers relied
on the familiar shorthand of dividing US numbers by 10. What the
CSLS has clearly revealed is that the Canadian market is a unique
place, and that the “10% rule” had many of us chasing our tails.
The survey is online, available in English and in French, and
completely anonymous and secure. The study continues under the
leadership of Norm O’Reilly, now the Richard P. & Joan S. Fox Profes-
sor of Business at Ohio University, in partnership with the Canadian
Sponsorship Forum and IMI International.
All participants will be entered into a draw for a free pass to the
Canadian Sponsorship Forum in Edmonton June 4 to 6. And, of
course, participants will receive a copy of the study’s results.
Access the survey online at www.sponsorshiplandscape.ca (Eng-
lish) or www.sondagecommandite.ca (en français). n
Rule 40
> Continued from page 1
with Rule 40 if it plays months later, during the Olympics,” she says.
“A gold medal Olympian might do a car commercial as a recognized
Olympic athlete, but others might be cast simply because they can
fill the part of a high-level skier. At the point where the commercial
is filmed, they may not even know whether they’ve qualified for the
Canadian Olympic team or not. They may not even be recognizable
to audiences as themselves when they shoot the footage, but if they
happen to perform well or to win an Olympic medal, that commer-
cial might fall under the scrutiny of Rule 40.”
Just how much difference a relaxation of Rule 40 will make to
athletes depends on the exact wording of any changes, and how
each country’s Olympic committee chooses to enforce it.
“These are big unknowns at this point and reasonability is the key
to make sure that any changes are positive ones,” says Dan Cimo-
roni, CEO of Toronto-based Cimoroni & Company, a client services
and content provider specializing in sports. “If there’s too much grey
area or the wording is way too subjective, then the subjectivity of
enforcing the rule from individual to individual will also come into
play. For example, if a sponsor runs an Olympic-themed sponsorship
with an athlete throughout the year, then flips to something more
generic only during the few embargoed weeks covered by rule 40,
will that comply with the new rules?”
Cimoroni also notes that punishments for thwarting Rule 40 fall
exclusively on athletes who have almost no leverage in quashing a
sponsorship activation that may be perceived as an ambush.
“I can certainly say that it would be extremely cumbersome for
an athlete competing in the Games to try to get something pulled
once it’s in the market,” he says.
Cimoroni previously served as Senior Vice-President of Canada’s
Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium during Vancouver 2010 and
the London 2012 Summer Olympics.
“From that experience, I would hope that there would be a re-
gional filter for Rule 40 with a slightly altered set of rules within the
host country,” he says. “The Olympic committee in each country will
have a different model of delivery ranging up to an incredibly so-
phisticated marketing and activation plan. During the Games when
the volume and pace of sponsorship activation is so massive, the
host will require some flexibility.”
Taking a reasonable approach to Rule 40 is the key its success
as an enforcement tool, says Bill Cooper, Chief Operating Officer
of sports sponsorship agency TORQUE Strategies with offices in
Vancouver and Toronto, and former Director of Commercial Rights
Management for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010
Olympics.
“In some regards, Rule 40 is almost unenforceable,” he says.
“The only stick you have is the unsavoury action of taking away
an athlete’s accreditation and disqualifying them from the Games.
You don’t want to contemplate the PR ramifications of taking that
step against what you’re trying to achieve. If you took Rule 40 at its
word, you’d have to pull every video game featuring the likeness
of an NBA player from the market while they’re competing in the
Olympics.”
Cooper notes that enforcement during the 2010 Games was fil-
tered through consistent criteria designed to weed out only cam-
paigns that were malicious in both nature and intent.
“We had already created athlete guidelines that allowed long-
april 2015 the sponsorship report 3

4. 4 the sponsorship report april 2015
standing campaigns featuring an athlete’s likeness during the
Games window, provided the creative did not build an unauthor-
ized association with the Olympic brand and the campaign wasn’t
significantly altered or escalated within the Olympic Games window,”
he says. “We had a very high resolution rate without turning to legal
means. You don’t want to drive a wedge between the athlete and
the sponsor.”
The ideal scenario for a relaxed Rule 40 would mirror the Ca-
nadian approach, he says, balancing the rights of the Games, the
Olympic sponsors and the athletes: “By allowing each party to tell
the story they’re entitled to tell, you won’t cannibalize each other.”
The proposed changes to Rule 50 are less specific, but may ad-
dress variations in the size of manufacturer logos between sports
products.
“Snowboards, for example, have always featured larger manu-
facturer logos off the rack and there’s always been a tolerance for
that,” says Cooper. “Changes to Rule 50 may create more of an equal
playing field for all sporting goods manufacturers.” n
CIS attempts a downtown Toronto
takeover
In the vast shadow cast by that American sporting institution
called March Madness, the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national
basketball championship searches for a flicker of light. Ryerson Uni-
versity played host this year, hoping that its downtown campus in
the middle of the country’s biggest media and corporate market-
place would lead to a larger viewership on Sportsnet and heftier
corporate support.
The hype began last fall, when former NBA star Bill Walton was
lured to Toronto to take part in the tournament’s media launch. It
continued in the weeks leading up to, and during, the tournament
with a virtual takeover of downtown Toronto – wild postings, bridge
and pole banners, subway ads, window wraps and a full streetcar
wrap. The program was executed jointly by Ryerson and Toronto
agency BT/A.
Promo crews hit downtown sports bars, particularly on nights
when the Toronto Raptors were playing, with contests and ticket
giveaways. It was, admits Lynne Rozario, Corporate Sales Manager
at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre, a “gentle ambush” of the Rap-
tors, one she was comfortable executing because Maple Leaf Sports
& Entertainment (Raptors owners) have a working relationship with
the Mattamy Centre and supported various aspects of the tourna-
ment.
Though the sum of the effort may not sound like much when
weighed against other national championship, in the CIS it repre-
sented a big change. CIS championship (with the exception of foot-
ball’s Vanier Cup) tend to be campus events, drawing their crowds
from the host school and a few busloads of fans from competing
schools. Seldom do they spill into the neighbouring community.
One of the objectives of the effort was simply to raise the brand
of the CIS. Another was to attract more corporate sponsorship. The
tournament was fortunate to have signed an unlikely brand at title:
steelmaker ArcelorMittal Dofasco, a company that doesn’t even
have operations in Toronto. But, says Rozario, the promotional push
in downtown did catch the eye of the Downtown Yonge BIA, which
titled the Final 8 Fan Fest, and Mattamy Homes, naming partner of
the host venue. n
Mutual respect: Ontario insurance
merger results in expanded
sponsorship program
Mergers and acquisitions are often accompanied by a sub-
sequent rationalization (translation: reduction) in sponsorship and
charitable efforts. Not so for The Commonwell Mutual Insurance
Group with its head office in Lindsay, ON, which not only insisted
on maintaining its sponsorship commitments post-merger — it in-
creased them.
The Commonwell is the result of the January 2014 merger of
three mutual insurance companies in Greater Ontario: Farmers’ Mu-
tual Insurance Company of Lindsay; Glengarry Mutual Insurance
Company of Alexandria; and Lanark Mutual Insurance Company of
Perth.
“It’s easy to amalgamate and close down a couple of offices,” says
Scott Crone, Vice President, Regional Development with The Com-
monwell. “We’ve gone through great pains to make sure that we’ve
maintained a representation and a physical presence in all of the re-
gions we represent. We also insisted that our sponsorship program
shouldn’t be diminished as a result of the amalgamation.”
The program was branded prior to the amalgamation as C.A.R.E.
(Create a Ripple Effect), operating out of Lindsay since 2011. C.A.R.E.
doled out $350,000 to registered charities in 2013 prior to amalga-
mation and increased that to more then $400,000 in 2014 as the
program was expanded to each branch.
“The C.A.R.E. program was once administered on an ad hoc basis,
but now it’s got a little more structure to it,” says Crone. “We now
review applications on a quarterly schedule. A mutual insurance
company is owned by its members and we want to make sure that
causes in each community are recognized.”
The CIS Final 8 streetcar takeover was one of the social
media successes of this year’s national basketball
championships. The jury is still out on whether it had an
impact on ticket sales or sponsorship.

5. april 2015 the sponsorship report 5
The program only considers applications from Ontario registered
charities that focus on improving the quality of life for children, or
measures to enhance health care and community safety. That en-
sures not only that sponsorship dollars are concentrated on local
partners, but that sponsorship benefits are also tangible and real-
ized locally. Sponsor partners have included local food banks, the
Port Perry Hospital Foundation, the Children’s Treatment Centre of
Cornwall, the cardiac unit at Glengarry Memorial Hospital. Big Broth-
ers Big Sisters of North Durham Region, the City of Kawartha Lakes
Police Services Brown Bag Drinking and Driving Awareness cam-
paign, and Beyond 21, an organization supporting developmentally
challenged young adults.
Crone notes that many insurance companies are amalgamating
and retrenching into larger centres such as Toronto. That won’t cut it
with a clientele drawn in part from rural areas and small towns where
agriculture still forms a significant part of the local economy and a
handshake is still a contract.
“Having a physical presence in the area we serve is a competitive
advantage,” he says. “We make that presence felt in our three re-
gional offices and through our broker network. We will also be mak-
ing brokers more aware of C.A.R.E. so they can promote it through
their physical offices.”
Crone notes that the company has so far made little effort to
publicize the sponsorships themselves, beyond simple cheque pre-
sentation events and a notation on the program web site.
“I can tell you that we haven’t really broken a sweat promoting
this,” he says. “Part of that is being a mutual insurance company. Our
members are ultimately responsible for the sponsorships, so we’re
more likely to tell them what they did at the annual meeting.” n
Sometimes plain vanilla is all a
sponsor needs (or wants)
Signage. Hospitality. It’s so last-millennium. Old school. That’s
the messaging in sponsorship marketing media, including this one.
It is the plain vanilla of sponsorship, the refuge of the indolent and
creatively challenged.
For all this talk on the pages of this publication and elsewhere
about the merits of out of the box activation, brands in certain cat-
egories and at certain stages of development may find themselves
quite comfortable within it. Sentry Investments, for instance, sees a
great deal of value in the brand visibility and corporate hospitality
it is afforded through its new 3-year partnership with the Toronto
Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors.
Sentry is an emerging mutual funds company, “a rising star” says
Brian McOstrich, Vice President of Marketing. Since emerging from
the 2008-09 recession, it has experienced phenomenal growth, ris-
ing in asset value from $3 billion to $18 billion. It is also a pure B2B
company, selling only to professional investment advisors.
It has, therefore, a relatively small and well-identified universe
of prospects, and the challenge of building brand awareness within
that universe and introducing prospect to Sentry’s line of products.
“Our penetration among the Canadian advisor community is in
the high 30% range,” he says, referring to the percentage of ad-
visors who do business with Sentry, “whereas a company such as
SPONSORSHIP WEEK
November 2 to 6, 2015
We’re a little bit late opening the gates for Sponsorship Week,
but it’s not because we’ve been idly twiddling our thumbs.
Sponsorship Week has always been a day short of a working
week, usually spanning Monday to Thursday. This year, we’re pleased
to announce that Sponsorship Week will span the full five days from
November 2 to November 6, 2015. In partnership with The Pitcher
Group, Sponsorship Week will now feature a one day workshop
exclusively tailored for fundraisers seeking to add corporate spon-
sorship to their revenue stream. We’re calling it the Sponsorship
Gut Check: Prepping Your Organization for the Challenges of
Marketing-Centric Fundraising.
Why a Gut Check? Because corporate sponsorship is not just an-
other revenue stream. It is a completely different way of looking at
your organization and the external environment. Sponsored orga-
nizations are not supplicants, asking for money. They are partners
seeking joint business opportunities. Sponsorship calls for a new
level of creative thinking and the occasional measure of compro-
mise. To succeed, organizations anchored in fundraising must em-
brace cultural and organizational change.
The rewards are significant, but the road to them can be bumpy,
sometimes even catastrophic, unless you are properly prepared. And
that’s what the Gut Check will do: meticulously lay out the culture
and structure of a sponsorship-ready organization, and full prepare
you to lead your charity or NFP through the changes necessary for
success.
If you are preparing to embark on a sponsorship program for the
first time, this session is a must-attend.
Sponsorship Week will also present two other powerful work-
shops and one dynamite professional development conference,
all conveniently held at Toronto’s Grand Hotel and Suites. You may
register for any one of the workshops or the conference, or bundle
them together for the most powerful sponsorship learning oppor-
tunity anywhere.
Here’s what’s coming up and where to find out more:
November 2: The Sponsorship Gut Check (www.sponsorship.
ca/gutcheck.html – webpage opening April 15)
November 3-4: Sponsorship Toronto (www.sponsorshipto-
ronto.com)
November 5: The Sponsorship Boot Camp (www.sponsorship.
ca/bootcamp.html)
November 6: The Municipal Forum on Sponsorship (www.
sponsorship.ca/municipalities.html)
Want to know more? Call us at 705-653-1112 or email tsr@spon-
sorship.ca. n
continued on page 6 >

6. Fidelity might have a penetration rate among Canadian advisors
somewhere in the 70% range.”
Given that difference, Sentry is quite happy with rinkboards at
Leafs games, in-stadium signage at Raptors games and rotating
digital signage at both. The same goes for complimentary tickets
and the ability to host key advisors at corporate events arranged by
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Though it may be the plain
vanilla of sponsorship, “that is intentional on our part,” he says.
There is, perhaps, some corporate ego at work too. McOstrich
doesn’t’ deny it. Sentry is a family-owned company, and a partner-
ship with MLS&E’s two prime properties “sends a message to our
fellow competitors on Bay Street that we are putting a stake in the
ground and that we are an emerging company,” he says.
The visibility will also build awareness of Sentry among the in-
vesting public both at the Air Canada Centre and through television
broadcasts of the games, and that’s not wasted. Familiarity with the
brand among investors will benefit advisors who recommend Sentry
products to their clients.
The partnership also includes an important philanthropic com-
ponent through the MLSE Foundation. Sentry has donated $65,000
toward the completion of the St. James Town Multipurpose Games
Court, a large outdoor recreational facility that will serve the coun-
try’s most densely-populated neighbourhood, a five-minute ride
from Sentry’s head offices on Bay Street.
McOstrich says Sentry’s involvement will ongoing for the next
three years. An announcement is forthcoming about Sentry’s role in
program development and delivery at the refurbished facility, which
may also include opportunities for employee involvement.
W h a t ’ s h a p p e n i n g
[SPORTS]
Another tees it up for Team RBC
That would be Australian Jason Day, the newest member of RBC’s golf
team.
The 27-year-old Day is a three-time PGA Tour champion. He will add an
increased global dimension to RBC’s stable of brand ambassadors.
Day will wear the RBC shield on his golf apparel and golf bag and par-
ticipate in future marketing initiatives and client events for RBC. He will
also act as a global brand ambassador, particularly in support of charitable
initiatives that demonstrate RBC’s commitment to kids and youth such as
the RBCGolf4Kids online charity challenge.
Contact: Shauna Cook, RBC, 647-534-1562, shauna.cook@rbc.
com.
[SPORTS]
Subaru remains firm with Ironman
Subaru has been involved with Ironman in Canada for more than two de-
cades, dating back to the early 1990s with the grassroots series and Subaru
Ironman Canada, and that’s not going to change any time soon. The car
company has announced its return as the title sponsor of all Ironman tri-
athlons in Canada for the 2015-2017 race seasons.
The 2015 Subaru-Ironman partnership will include title sponsorship of all
Ironman-ownedand-operatedIronmanandIronman70.3racesinCanada.
Subaru will also be the title sponsor for shorter distance Ironman-owned
triathlon events in the region, including Subaru Iron Girl Grimsby, the Sub-
aru Ontario Tri-Series and the Subaru Western Tri-Series.
Contact: Joe Felstein, 905-568-4959, jfelstein@subaru.ca.
[MUNICIPALITIES]
Toronto pays tribute to tree planters
Trees Across Toronto, whose sponsors include sponsors include Toronto
Parking Authority, Toronto Hydro, Enbridge Gas Distribution, HSBC Bank
Canada, Lomco Landscape Contractors and Toronto Parks and Trees Foun-
dation, was honoured by the City of Toronto earlier this year for its efforts
to grow the city’s urban forest.
The City Hall ceremony singled out the program’s sponsors for their con-
tribution to the volunteer planting of approximately 10.2 million trees in
the city since 1999.
[EVENTS]
Skilled trades on display
UA Canadian Piping Trades, a multi-craft union whose members are en-
gaged in the fabrication, installation and servicing of piping systems, and
theTransCanada’sEnergyEastPipelineProjecthavebeenconfirmedasPre-
senting Sponsors of the 2015 Skills Canada National Competition (SCNC).
This is the third consecutive year of partnership for UA Canada, and a first
for TransCanada’s Energy East project.
This year’s competition will take place from May 27 to 30 in Saskatoon.
More than 500 students will compete in some 40 skilled trades and tech-
nology contests, ranging from carpentry, steamfitter/pipefitter and mobile
robotics to welding, aircraft maintenance and fashion design.
SCNC tests the best skilled trades students against exacting industry stan-
dards configured by a National Technical Committee composed of skilled
trades and technology experts from industry and education.
Plain vanilla
> Continued from page 5
Credit: CNW Group/Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd.
Representatives of Sentry Investments and Maple Leaf
Sports Entertainment present Community Matters with a
cheque investing in the St. James Town community.
6 the sponsorship report april 2015
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7. april 2015 the sponsorship report 7
[LOOKING BACK]
Why causes are leaving money on
the table; mining the depths of your
social networks; Brojects is back;
Halifax proves us wrong; Chevron
fuels schools, except in Vancouver
Last year TSR profiled a social fundraising and sponsorship pro-
gram in Winnipeg involving RBC and the Assiniboine Park Conser-
vancy. Linking the two was a new tool called Social Ambassador,
and this project was its big test. The idea behind Social Ambassa-
dor is to empower the digital community and to identify and build
ambassadors within it. By providing metrics in real time, it allows
partners to tweak a program as necessary. The hope is that through
Social Ambassador, fundraising goals will be achieved and affinity
for the sponsoring brand will grow.
John Heppenstall, Senior Strategist at Social Ambassador, says
the program is working, uniting what he calls “the three Cs” – cause,
corporate and community.
One significant, change, however, is Social Ambassador’s ap-
proach to the market. At launch, the first of the three Cs, causes,
had been identified as the prime prospects. It was a cost-effective
tool they could use to attract new partners and to build new social
programs with existing ones.
What Heppenstall found, however, was that although most causes
understood the concept and its potential, they were ill-equipped to
build the partnership necessary to execute the program.
“A lot of causes are stuck in their ways and might not understand
the opportunity,” says Heppenstall. “They don’t move as quickly as
the corporate sector does in order to embrace opportunity.” He con-
trasts that with companies which, when presented with an opportu-
nity that addresses a need, can usually act upon it straight away.
It’s a commonly-encountered problem. Causes typically begin as
fundraising organizations and gradually attempt to graft corporate
sponsorship to their revenue stream unaware of how culturally and
organizationally disruptive sponsorship can be. A shift toward spon-
sorship requires an organizational transition, a subject that will be
covered this year at Sponsorship Week in Toronto (November 2-6,
2015) in a new one-day workshop called Sponsorship Gut Check:
Prepping Your Organization for the Challenges of Marketing-
Centric Fundraising and presented by Bill Pitcher. Details will be
coming soon at www.sponsorship.ca.
Heppenstall says Social Ambassador has now changed direc-
tion, targeting the corporate sector. By focussing on a corporate
prospect’s CSR strategy, Social Ambassador can identify a cause or
causes that align and propose programs that will build social com-
munities that elevate the sponsoring brand and support the spon-
sored cause.
Social Ambassador is also reaching deeper into the social com-
munities of the cause and corporate partners it serves. When
mounting a social campaign, be sure to mine the full depth of your
social relationships, says Heppenstall. For a campaign for Jani-King
and the Canadian Red Cross, for instance, Social Ambassador was
able to tap into some less-than-obvious resources – relationships
that Jani-King had with sports teams and athletes in Canada and
the United States – vastly extending the social reach of the pro-
gram, which is quickly approaching its fundraising target for the
Red Cross.
Brojects is back. Cottage Life picked up a second season of the
Timber Mart-sponsored cottage reno series with a difference. Broj-
ects stars the Buckles Brothers, Kevin and Andrew, as they embark
on decidedly off-the-wall cottage improvement projects. This sea-
son, which debuted on March 26, will feature the construction of a
combination boat dock-bowling alley, a swim-up bar, a floating golf
course, even a kid’s fort. It’s done mostly for laughs, as the disclaimer
on every show reminds us, and it fits well with its sponsor, a small-
town home improvement retailer that is featured in the broadcasts
and on various digital extensions.
Last year, TSR used the adjective “ambitious” to describe the goal
set by the Halifax Regional Municipality as it put naming rights
to the Metro Centre on the market. It’s an 11,000-seat downtown
arena, the city’s largest by far, and civic leaders had valued the nam-
ing rights at $500,000 per year. “Ambitious” is an editorial version
of “you’ve got to be kidding,” which is really what TSR intended to
say. After all, Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum, a larger venue in a more
densely populated metropolitan region (Hamilton) had recently sold
for $350,000 per year. Who was Halifax trying to kid?
Nobody, it appears. Later in the summer, the Halifax Regional
Municipality announced that a naming partner had been secured,
Scotiabank, at a whopping $650,000 per year over ten years. At
least $5 million of the rights fee will be directed to capital upgrades:
replacing seats, renovating and expanding washrooms, expanding
the concession area and replacing the ice slab. Renovations should
be finished by fall 2017.
Scotiabank, with its roots in the province and its extensive invest-
ments in hockey, was likely the only brand in the country positioned
to see that much value in that property. With the bulk of the money
going to facility upgrades, Scotiabank was also able to position the
naming rights purchase as a community support initiative, which
made the hefty price tag a bit easier to swallow.
The new sign was up in time for the September 19, 2014 Halifax
Mooseheads season home opener.
Last fall, Chevron Canada expanded its Fuel Your School pro-
gram in British Columbia to the Burnaby, Coquitlam, North Vancou-
ver and West Vancouver school districts. They joined a list of local
school districts that include Surrey, White Rock, Burnaby, Coquitlam,
Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore, Belcarra, Bowen Island, North
Vancouver, West Vancouver and Lions Bay, but not Vancouver.
Last April, TSR reported on Vancouver’s rejection of the program.
Reasons for the rejection were never made clear to TSR. The board
cited its lack of capacity to manage the program, but the program
actually places no demands on boards. The board’s published policy
on sponsorship and advertising was equally unhelpful. Nothing in it
seemed to stand in the way of the program.
Quite possibly the issue was the program’s commercial element.
Consumers at the Chevron pump are clearly told that one dollar
from every purchase of 30 litres or more will be donated to Fuel
Your School, an arm’s length program that supports in-class projects
put forward by the schools themselves. That’s a strong incentive
to pump 30 litres of gas into a tank, and for school boards with
strong anti-commercial policies, that may be too big a problem to
overcome. n

8. Toronto’s hosting of the 2016 NBA All Star
Game will open up activation opportunities for some
Canadian brands that would otherwise not be allowed
near the event. It will mark the first time the game has
been hosted outside the US, and NBA Canada has
been authorized to sell activation rights in categories
where the official NBA partner has no commercial in-
terests in Canada. The first beneficiary will be BMO,
which last month announced a multi-year partnership
with NBA Canada.
BMO is banking heavily
on basketball. Its US sub-
sidiary, BMO Harris Bank, is
strong in the US Midwest,
where it sponsors both the
Chicago Bulls and the Mil-
waukee Bucks. In Canada,
BMO is a partner of the
Toronto Raptors.
BBVA Compass, the
official bank of the NBA,
does no business in Can-
ada, opening the door for
BMO to serve as the official
bank of NBA Canada and
to build a distinctive pres-
ence at the All Star Game.
The telecommunications
category is in a similar
position. The official NBA
partner is Sprint, while Bell
is a partner of NBA Canada
and should expect to be af-
forded rights at the All Star
Game if it wants them.
BMO will also be an as-
sociate partner of the NBA
Canada Series. The NBA
Canada Series is a slate of preseason games played
across Canada that includes interactive fan events
and community outreach programs. The NBA Can-
ada Series games held in Montreal were the most at-
tended NBA exhibition games in the world the past
three years, and the 2014 NBA Canada Series games
in Vancouver and Montreal were both sellouts. The
partnership will allow BMO to run consumer promo-
tions in those markets as well as to host clients.
Those are the shiny baubles, but BMO’s biggest
bang will come from its sponsorship of the Junior
NBA program, something that has been heavily pilot-
tested this season in 50 cities and that will roll out
nationwide for the 2015-16 NBA season, with the
big reveal coming in the
fall. BMO’s spokesperson
for the program is Joanna
Rotenberg. Chief Market-
ing Officer and Head of
Strategy. Rotenberg was
unavailable for an inter-
view in time for this article,
and MacKenzie was reluc-
tant to spill many details in
advance of what should be
a big announcement next
season. But we do know
this: The NBA runs youth
development programs in
several countries. Junior
NBA will be its first of that
kind in Canada. It will be
an introductory basketball
program that will provide
thousands of boys and
girls in 125 communities
across Canada with health,
fitness, and basketball in-
struction. It is a grassroots
initiative that will be de-
livered through local bas-
ketball clubs identified by
provincial basketball associations and supported by
a rigorous, professionally-developed curriculum writ-
ten specifically for Canadian youth. It is expected to
launch in October of this year. n
Banking on basketball
Not all NBA sponsors have a commercial interest in Canada, and that has left the
door open for some Canadian brands at the 2016 NBA All Star Game in Toronto.
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Credit: David Fan
The NBA runs youth development programs
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