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Monthly Luncheon Report
(June 8, 2005 PCC Monthly Luncheon)
Corporate, Event and Media Sponsorships: Who and What You Need to Know
Many organizations cannot
resist the siren’s song of
event sponsorships. They
covet the glitter and
pizzazz and having their
name linked to a prestigious
“happening.” What they often
don’t love is when they wake
up the next morning with an
“ROI hangover.” What did we
really get for our dollars?
To provide the hangover
cure, PCC gathered experts
representing event planning
and public affairs to
discuss the ins and outs of
event sponsorships: How to
plan, how to budget, and
what to expect from an ROI
perspective.
Diana Palomar (from left),
Barbara DiGuido, Patrick Pierce, Wynona Redmond
(Photo by Ted Lacey)
MODERATOR
DIANA PALOMAR
Director of Community
Services, WLS-TV/ABC 7,
Chicago
PANELISTS
BARBARA DIGUIDO
Director of Communications,
Special Olympics Illinois
WYNONA REDMOND
Public Affairs Director,
Dominick’s Finer Foods
PATRICK PIERCE
Senior Manager, IEG
Consulting
PROGRAM SUMMARY
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PCC Past Presidents (from left):
Herb Kraus, Jane Canepa, Jonathan Lehrer, Charisse
Witherspoon (current president), Jeff Bierig, Roslyn
Levinson. (Photo by Ted Lacey)
ABC-TV’s community service director, Diana
Palomar, moderated the June luncheon meeting of the
Publicity Club of Chicago. Panelists were: Special
Olympics Illinois director of communications and
media relations, Barbara DeGuido; IEG Consulting
senior manager Patrick Pierce; and Dominick’s Finer
Foods public affairs director, Wynona Redmond.
The meeting was also highlighted by recognizing
past PCC presidents (see accompanying photo).
Diana Palomar
Community Services Director, ABC-TV
Diana began her career in cable television and
currently handles a host of sponsorship requests
annually for ABC-TV. She reminded the audience that
the importance of media sponsorships is generating
valuable air time. As a result she recommended that
during negotiations, confirm the number of times
that your promotional will run.
"Media today is very fragmented," she said.
"There is a large, diverse viewership and time is
very valuable. You must know your target audience.
The briefer the spot the better, but make sure you
consider measurable outcomes so you can judge the
return on your investment (ROI). Results need to
show growth. You also need to know that television
will not share sponsorships with another television
station, even though it might with a radio station
or newspaper. However, be sure to include community
affairs people when you send out media alerts!"
Barbara DeGuido
Director of Communications and Public Relations,
Special Olympics Illinois
Responsible for promoting statewide programs
devoted to sports training and competition for
children and adults with disabilities, Barbara
DeGuido works on both internal and external
communications. This includes video projects and
website development, as well as securing media
partners for select organizational events and
programs.
Formerly with WBBM Radio, DeGuido was
instrumental in selecting media partners as well as
helping with non-profit media sponsorships and
partnerships. She indicated that it is a perceived
corporate responsibility to be involved in the
community – and a good marketing strategy to work
with not-for-profit organizations. Providing media
partnerships helps companies to access a customer
and vendor base, as well as engaging employees and
providing an opportunity for executives to be seen
doing good in the community.
Non-profits, according to DeGuido, need to use
whatever ammunition they have to show their
credibility when looking for a sponsor. This
includes the Special Olympics.
Cause marketing, which historically began with
American Express and its campaign to raise money to
restore the Statue of Liberty by donating a portion
of its earnings from credit card use, goes beyond
check writing to benefit a cause.
As an example of a successful strategy, the
Special Olympics teamed up with Cingular, providing
a free phone to anyone who contributed at least $20
to them. On the other hand, Cingular used this
campaign as a marketing campaign to help them launch
their brand.
In developing this kind of campaign, the Special
Olympics, with the help of IEG, created a list of
assets and benefits they could bring to the
corporation, including creating a list of value
levels and a list of what the sponsors could expect
in return. This would "make it as valuable to the
sponsor," said DeGuido, "as it was to us."
PR, according to DeGuido, was a huge part of this
sponsorship and the value of creative PR was
tremendous.
DeGuido recommended that, no matter what is being
planned, always follow up with the sponsors, do
whatever has been promised, allow for back up
planning, show the value to the other organization
and show clearly that this is a win-win proposition.
Afterwards, do an analysis and share the feedback
received with the sponsors. This, said DeGuido
"creates a real payoff and helps people to come back
and want to work with an organization again."
Patrick Pierce
IEG Consulting, Senior Manager
The point person for IEG Consulting’s business
development, Patrick Pierce serves as a research and
valuation analyst, working with his team to develop
the most targeted and strategic solutions for a
diverse group of sponsors and sponsorship sellers.
He tracks trends, provides a competitive marketplace
analysis and assesses sponsorship packages for
clients of all sizes, from UNICEF to Brookfield Zoo.
Pierce focuses on sponsorships vs. ads, best
practices and trends. He defines an ad as a direct
promotion of a company through space and airtime for
a specific reason. Ads, according to Pierce, are
one-dimensional, can cost a large amount of money
and, essentially, are a monologue.
On the other hand, sponsorships allow
organizations to be included in the benefits of the
event through their visibility. It offers a sampling
of the attendees and is more likely to engage the
audience.
Now more than ever, media is fragmented. Before,
there were three major stations, whereas now there
are more than 150 avenues available to reach the
same percentage of households. Consumers are also
more jaded now, according to Pierce, especially in
light of the lack of trust evolved from what
happened with Tyco, Enron and other large
corporations. In addition, with the advent of
developments like TiVo, commercials can be skipped
and paid ad space is reduced. "Since sponsorships
are linked to emotions, advertisers need to reach
consumers in areas they care about," said Pierce.
As far as best practices, looking at the big
picture involving buyer and seller, there are
several elements that need to be considered. (1) Is
this going to be a solution-based sponsor? (2)
Activation is critical and (3) there must be a
measurable objective to prove the sponsorship
worthwhile.
Those wanting sponsorships need to solve a
business problem for the company, rather than just
asking them to spend money. "You need to present
your organization as a marketing asset to help the
company generate an ROI," said Pierce. For example,
having Coke sponsor "Reading is Fundamental" had no
direct relevancy. However, three years later,
"Reading is Fundamental" noticed that Coke was
spending funds on Harry Potter items. This brought
relevancy to a partnership between the two. "Reading
is Fundamental" saw they could help market Coke to
kids and told Coke, ‘we can give you access to
children and tie you into libraries frequented by
underprivileged children. This solved a problem for
Coke and brought relevance to a partnership between
them.
For activation, there must be marketing
activities identified to promote the ties between
those involved. For example, a property can act as
an agency to generate rights fees, ads, public
relations activities and promotions, establishing
their link. "Show how you can help leverage your
partnership to increase the ROI for your sponsor,"
said Pierce.
Evaluation is the next key. How do you figure
vale? Both the sponsor and the agency need to
identify their goals.
As an example, Delta Airlines provided a
sponsorship for the Guggenheim Museum, allowing VIP
access to the museum and awarding frequent flyer
mileage to visitors. A goal of four percent was set,
however seven percent actually redeemed the offer.
It pays to define the goal and measure the results!
To attain the goal of creating awareness, Pierce
created a similar program for St. Jude’s Medical
Center. "We packaged sponsorship offers to create
awareness for all involved. To do this, we aligned
with Blue Chip sponsors to get into Westfield
Shopping Malls, onto television and into movie
theatres. We were determined to show that this was
NOT just a small hospital in Tennessee, but was a
major player in curing cancer in children worldwide.
Using its founder Danny Thomas as part of the story
did not hurt either." He advises others to "be clear
in creating your proposal, showing what you bring to
the table, how the brand logistics are involved and
why there is a need for an event, an impact on the
targeted audience.
Wynona Redmond
Public Affairs Director, Dominick’s Finer Foods
In a multifaceted position that includes
oversight operations of the public affairs office
operations like state and government relations,
community relations, special events and the
Dominick’s Children’s Foundation, Wynona Redmond has
strengthened the organization’s connection to the
community. Her talent for translating an
organizational mission and vision into tangible
programs and communications vehicles have led her to
excel in this leadership position and helped her
become a popular mentor in the PR field.
In her position, Redmond gets an enormous amount
of calls asking what to do to obtain a sponsorship –
or a donation – from Dominick’s. Among the company
criteria is making a request a minimum of 45 days
notice before an event, unless it is a major
sponsorship request, which requires a three- to-six-
month lead time! Another consideration is having a
Dominick’s store in the area and if this will be an
opportunity to reach clientele that might not
normally be reached, rather than just regular
customers. These criteria apply to product
donations, Foundation grants, gift card and cash
donations and whether or not a requesting
organization will be included in an ad.
According to Redmond, Dominick’s has some pet
projects already. "We are very involved in prostate
cancer awareness and breast cancer research," she
said, "and we are a sponsor of Y-Me, the Muscular
Dystrophy Association and Easter Seals. Our primary
focus, since women comprise the majority of our
customers, is women, children and nutrition
education."
She considers a great opportunity for Dominick’s
to be a sponsor is for an event where they can be an
exclusive category – or would be noticeably absent.
For example, for the LPGA Keebler Kellogg Classic,
they committed $500,000 in a three-year commitment
as a founding member. This helped secure Keebler,
which gave them a lot of leverage and go to sell
their inventory to other vendors. Their "Dominick’s
Village" booth was located where there was "lots of
TV action." In addition, they created an event prior
to this one, the Junior Pro Am – Hook a Kid on Golf,
and provided shirts, camps and other promotional
items. By directly supporting kids, it attracted
some golf , and was supported with in-store signage
at Dominick’s stores. Dominick’s also, naturally,
sponsors food-related events, such as Taste of
Chicago and the ABC-TV/Channel 7 Food Drive.
In determining how many sponsors to have,
consider the benefit to each. "We won’t be a
component in a logo soup," she said. "We either own
the day or will do it solo."
She gave as an example the part they played in
the Women’s Business Development Child Care Expo.
Dominick’s donated bags – and were the sole sponsor
to provide that component. "We weren’t interested in
being one in 10, said Redmond. "We want to be on the
top row!"
The major goal of doing sponsorships is to drive
traffic to its stores and show an ROI. "The easier
you make it, showing us how we can do this, the
easier our decision will be to participate with
you," said Redmond. "The more you do to ensure good
results, the more likely we are to work with you.
Create a compelling me, present us with a sample
press release and a story, and we’ll be more likely
become your partner."
Redmond prefers shorter proposals. "I’ll know if
you match," she said, "and I’ll give you brownie
points if you use bullets. If you can hit a
fragmented audience, that also is good; we try to
hit our target markets that are harder to reach like
the Asian community.
"In making decisions about who to give to, we
know there a million wonderful causes. Like most
companies, there is one pot and they try not to
deplete it. To ensure this, we do not repeat helping
an organization more than once in a year. If I have
the criteria and the budget, I look at our checklist
and database – and KNOW if we supported you in the
past," said Redmond. "Timing is everything!"
(Photo by Ted Lacey)
(Photo by Ted Lacey)
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