The Use of Appropriate Methodology to Plan and Activate Sponsorship and Promotions

The Use of Appropriate Methodology to Plan and Activate Sponsorship and Promotions

Editor's comment: Sponsorship has evolved and should be evaluated in the same way as other forms of marketing communications. Sponsoring an event purely become the Chairman likes it is becoming less common.

There is widespread agreement within most companies that they need a better methodology for identifying and implementing those properties they sponsor. Once one develops the right methodology to create and analyze sponsorships and promotions, one must be disciplined in applying the methodology to current programs and plans, or those that either are presented from the outside, or are developed within the company.

The essence of the needed methodology in evaluating and planning for sponsorships and promotions is the early identification of thematic spaces of potential marketing value to the company’s products and brands. The identification of these potential spaces (to be confirmed or rejected through subsequent research) can be from the company’s sponsoring tradition and experience, from a sponsorship opportunity presented and available for purchase, or simply from a creative assumption by a company’s marketing person or by some cooperating agency person.

Drilling down from the generic thematic space, one next should consider the specific property-area within that space (for example, within the thematic space of sport, tennis). The drilling-down process continues as one identifies the area within the property universe that one wants to emphasize in the contemplated sponsorship or promotion (for example, college or professional tennis).

As one prepares to field initial consumer research, one is primarily interested in answering three fundamentally important questions: First, what is the essence of the appeal -- that is, the “sweet spot” of this proposition from the point of view of segmented consumers; second, how do the company’s (and competitors’) customers and partners perceive, value, and potentially interact with this “sweet spot”; and, third, what essential creative marketing and communications insights might one glean from this consumer research?

It is crucial that smart Marketers understand that research can only validate or invalidate a proposition, or provoke -- or fail to provoke -- a subsequent creative insight; research -- absent subsequent, creative marketing and communications ideation -- almost never presents or mandates the essential insight underlying truly outstanding sponsorship-- and outstanding marketing of all kinds, for that matter. Good research is merely a validating or invalidating step, and a churner of grist for potential insights, not an automatic deliverer of those insights which lead to big, winning ideas.

Once research has shown the relevance and potential power of the particular “sweet spot” for those to whom one wishes to appeal, then one must creatively scan the research data for the sort of creative insight on which great marketing ultimately depends. For it is the creative insight -- almost always at least partly counter-intuitive -- that provides the ultimate consumer offer and appeal with its breakthrough power.

Once one has the essential creative insight, then the next step is to devise specific activation ideas that incorporate, feature, and even showcase the insight one has discovered. Again, without the power of an underlying creative insight, surprising in its counter-intuitiveness, sponsorship and promotion are otherwise simply part of the routine marketing clutter; they never rise above, or break through, the continuous background noise.

Finally, these specific activation ideas one devises are further researched, in part by presenting them to our segmented consumers and prospects.


	*Number 39: Winter 2008*
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About Jerry Welsh Marketing Communications Index	*The Use of Appropriate Methodology to Plan and Activate Sponsorship and Promotions* *by Jerry Welsh* Editor's comment: Sponsorship has evolved and should be evaluated in the same way as other forms of marketing communications. Sponsoring an event purely become the Chairman likes it is becoming less common. There is widespread agreement within most companies that they need a better methodology for identifying and implementing those properties they sponsor. Once one develops the right methodology to create and analyze sponsorships and promotions, one must be disciplined in applying the methodology to current programs and plans, or those that either are presented from the outside, or are developed within the company. The essence of the needed methodology in evaluating and planning for sponsorships and promotions is the early identification of thematic spaces of potential marketing value to the company’s products and brands. The identification of these potential spaces (to be confirmed or rejected through subsequent research) can be from the company’s sponsoring tradition and experience, from a sponsorship opportunity presented and available for purchase, or simply from a creative assumption by a company’s marketing person or by some cooperating agency person. Drilling down from the generic thematic space, one next should consider the specific property-area within that space (for example, within the thematic space of sport, tennis). The drilling-down process continues as one identifies the area within the property universe that one wants to emphasize in the contemplated sponsorship or promotion (for example, college or professional tennis). As one prepares to field initial consumer research, one is primarily interested in answering three fundamentally important questions: First, what is the essence of the appeal -- that is, the “sweet spot” of this proposition from the point of view of segmented consumers; second, how do the company’s (and competitors’) customers and partners perceive, value, and potentially interact with this “sweet spot”; and, third, what essential creative marketing and communications insights might one glean from this consumer research? It is crucial that smart Marketers understand that research can only validate or invalidate a proposition, or provoke -- or fail to provoke -- a subsequent creative insight; research -- absent subsequent, creative marketing and communications ideation -- almost never presents or mandates the essential insight underlying truly outstanding sponsorship-- and outstanding marketing of all kinds, for that matter. Good research is merely a validating or invalidating step, and a churner of grist for potential insights, not an automatic deliverer of those insights which lead to big, winning ideas. Once research has shown the relevance and potential power of the particular “sweet spot” for those to whom one wishes to appeal, then one must creatively scan the research data for the sort of creative insight on which great marketing ultimately depends. For it is the creative insight -- almost always at least partly counter-intuitive -- that provides the ultimate consumer offer and appeal with its breakthrough power. Once one has the essential creative insight, then the next step is to devise specific activation ideas that incorporate, feature, and even showcase the insight one has discovered. Again, without the power of an underlying creative insight, surprising in its counter-intuitiveness, sponsorship and promotion are otherwise simply part of the routine marketing clutter; they never rise above, or break through, the continuous background noise. Finally, these specific activation ideas one devises are further researched, in part by presenting them to our segmented consumers and prospects.
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