Danielle Howe looks at what goes into a successful sponsorship programme and whether it’s worth the cost
The word ‘sponsorship’ often conjures up images of the world’s biggest B2C brands at the world’s biggest sporting events. The current Rugby World Cup is evidence of this; the likes of Coca Cola, Land Rover and Heineken are each paying millions for a slice of the action. However, there is no reason why B2B brands should miss out on the fun. In fact B2B businesses such as EY and DHL are also partners of the Rugby World Cup this year.
A number of B2B organisations have been investing successfully in sponsorship for years, but many also have reservations, seeing sponsorship as expensive corporate hospitality or as a channel that’s impossible to measure. Having said this, sponsorship opportunities are now becoming increasingly sophisticated and exciting, and they are more measurable than ever before.
More than a hospitality piece?
Sponsorship in B2B – whether you’re talking about sport, the arts or charity – has long been perceived as a vehicle for corporate hospitality. It is true, sporting events often provide the perfect opportunity to engage key clients, although an increasing number of B2B brands are doing much more than this to maximise the value they get out of sponsorship, rivalling their B2C counterparts in terms of originality and all-round sponsorship success.
Alistair Gammell, MD at B2B marketing agency Earnest and MD of Earnie, the company’s new specialist sports marketing and sponsorship division, feels there is still work to do: “The traditional model for B2B is that you get hospitality, an ad page in the programme, some perimeter signage and some online inventory. What brands actually want is data and content. It’s about creating a meaningful conversation with audiences.” Beyond standard hospitality, he adds it’s the potential for ‘money-can’t buy’ experiences that differentiates sponsorship from other channels. He says: “It might be an expensive purchase, but then you’re thinking those clients will stay with you for life.”
With this in mind, it is the ability to build personal relationships that sponsorship can offer beyond any other marketing channel. EY, which invests in the arts through a long-standing partnership with the Tate, knows the potential to build personal relationships with clients is key. Senior marketing manager, national sponsorships, Catherine Masters explains: “The arts gives us access to the c-suite, to CEOs. It sometimes means you have a different type of relationship with them. Perhaps rather than having a call or meeting to talk about a particular product or proposition, you’re having a different type of conversation.”
Are B2B brands being put off?
While brands might need to change their perceptions of sponsorship and reconsider its potential, it’s also up to rights holders to make sure they understand the specific needs of B2B brands and make it an attractive proposition. Chas Moloney, UK and Ireland marketing director at Ricoh, acknowledges it can be an issue: “In the past I have really struggled with some partners to say ‘this is what we need’, as they see sponsorship as ‘awareness, awareness, awareness’.”
Gamell feels rights holders are making progress, but more can be done to understand the needs of B2B brands: “We’ve definitely seen cases where B2B brands have been ‘poor cousins’, because [rights holders] haven’t had experience in that space. That’s not necessarily on purpose; with a consumer brand, it’s very obvious – raise awareness and drive sales – in B2B it’s obviously a lot more complex and the buying journey is a lot longer and harder to track. There is also the trap of thinking that because you’re dealing with a B2B brand, you have to do stuff that’s dry and disinterested.”
It’s a partnership
So, once both sides understand what the other has to offer, what next? A key part of the recent evolution of sponsorship – in both the B2C and B2B worlds – is that we’re now talking about ‘partnerships’ rather than ‘sponsorships’. This is embodied in EY’s agreement with the Tate. Masters explains: “It’s absolutely a collaborative partnership. Contractually you obviously need to say ‘we’ll pay you X and you get A, B and C’, but there are a lot of things that we do with Tate thanks to our partnership; we’re quite aligned as organisations. It’s not just a contract, it’s more collaborative and more flexible.”
One organisation that has significant experience working with B2B brands is Montréal-based Cirque du Soleil, which currently has partnerships with SAP, DHL and Xerox. Louis Malafarina, senior director of corporate alliances, says: “The partnerships that work well generally revolve around a common thread that can then be woven throughout a fully integrated programme.” He also makes sure his team looks to work with ‘like-minded partners’, adding: “We try to learn as much as possible about the B2B brand’s initiatives to then marry strategic assets that will allow the company to leverage a meaningful marketing partnership.”
Annabel Rake, CMO at Deloitte, takes a similar approach: “We don’t go into any relationship that’s just ‘write a cheque, get some rights’ – we want to work with partners that see us as much more than a chequebook; rather they see us as a partner that can help them achieve their aims, and we believe they can help us achieve ours. Shared goals are important.”
What makes a partnership work?
Maintaining a positive and meaningful partnership with the organisation that you’re sponsoring isn’t the end of the story. A lot of work needs to go into a B2B sponsorship to make it successful.
A crucial factor to consider is making sure you have set aside the resources to activate a partnership to its full potential. Masters says: “If you’re really going to bring [a sponsorship] to life, then you need budget to be able to activate it. You need resource as well. You need to take it seriously.” She adds: “I think having senior leadership support is really important. It’s so much easier when you’ve got senior people within an organisation who are behind it.”
Once you’ve set aside the resources you need and have senior leadership on board (not necessarily in that order), the next step is ensuring you have extremely clear goals. Gammell explains: “The key thing in B2B is having a clear set of objectives before you go into the sponsorship. Is it about creating awareness, reassessing your brand, lead generation, or staff engagement? The key thing is that sponsorship needs to be part of the buying journey or the marketing cycle put in place by the centralised marketing department.”
Moloney explains that two years ago Ricoh’s sponsorship strategy was reviewed to ensure its goals were as clear as possible. It now focuses on three key areas: “The most important part of our sponsorship is to create platforms for engagement. The second area is very much focused around education. Thirdly, the area that is important to us is awareness, although this is more about creating confidence around the brand.”
Finally, you need to make sure you stay proactive and work with your partners to create original ideas. Malafarina says: “The activations we extend to our B2B partners include organising tailor-made special events designed for product launches, customer and employee appreciation or supporting world-class business conferences and tradeshows. In turn, these events allow us to capture and generate exclusive content to allow these activations to live longer and reach a greater audience across social media channels.”
The message is clear – if you’re investing in sponsorship (or planning to) – make sure you create meaningful partnerships with clear objectives that are supported by the rest of the business.
