Inside Sponsorship – Details, episodes & analysis

Recently, there have been a fair few people who have gotten in touch to let us know that they’ve enjoyed an episode from the past. So, we thought it would be a good idea to round the year out by re-running three of our most popular episodes.

One thing we have been thinking about, for some time, is creating a curated list of the host's personal favourite insights or pieces of advice from our guests.

We have always envisaged it to be a bit of an anchor or touchpoint for those of you with lots of sponsorship industry experience, in the sense that you can always revisit it and be validated or inspired again. Or, for those new to the industry, a condensed show of lots of great advice from lots of smart guests to help you on your journey.

As such, in this episode, our host has hand-picked 14 of his favourite pieces of sponsorship advice and insights from 109 episodes.

The best of the best!

Enjoy

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Recently, there have been a fair few people who have gotten in touch to let us know that they’ve enjoyed an episode from the past. So, we thought it would be a good idea to round the year out by re-running three of our most popular episodes.

We’ve all seen some great examples of sponsorships adjusting, doing something different, and really creative activations this year because of COVID-19. A lot of those have been driven by necessity.

Probably the most talked about activation of 2020, however, has been Burger King’s sponsorship of Stevenage FC, who, at the time of the sponsorship, in 2019, were last in the fourth division of English football. It left many people scratching their heads.

It is, of course, the sponsorship that ultimately gave us the hugely successful Stevenage Challenge.

This amazing partnerhsip wasn’t driven by COVID-19 or necessity. It was driven through vision and creativity, and, as our guest phrases it later on in the show, “a leap of faith”, to pull off a truly brilliant activation. One of the reasons it was so brilliant was because the opportunity was right under so many people’s noses, yet so many didn’t see it.

The activation is both amazing in its boldness yet so jarringly simple.

Tap into the already huge, but growing, eSports market, specifically FIFA. Tap into the underdog status and fairytale storyline of them winning. Tap into the desire for people to share their gaming highlights online. Tap into the fact that everyone loves an easily accessible giveaway, especially fast food.

The results have been absolutely amazing and driven directly from the 1.2 billion impressions that Burger King’s shirt sponsorship, of Stevenage FC, has produced through the Stevenage Challenge on FIFA. Furthermore, those commercial outcomes and further opportunities are both online and offline.

Alex Tunbridge is the Chief Executive at Stevenage FC and he joins us in this episode to take us inside Burger King’s sponsorship of his club.

We also hear from Daniel Collier-Hill, KORE’s Commercial Director – APAC, who joins us to discuss the blog which outlines 3 Things That Will Provide Both Short and Long-term Benefits to Sponsorship Managers.

Enjoy.

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As a worldwide brand, with huge awareness, it is no surprise that Toyota leverages sponsorships as part of its marketing mix.

Toyota believes that mobility goes beyond cars and wants to support people in their efforts to get across town, across a room, and through life. Toyota also believes in the power of sport, and its ability to connect people with diverse backgrounds as they compete with mutual respect towards a common goal. Through sport, the Olympic and Paralympic Games bring together the entire world to celebrate the highest realization of humanity, and it is the elite Paralympic athletes who truly demonstrate that when a person is free to move, anything is possible.

Toyota is helping drive towards a better world. Part of that better world is Toyota becoming a part of The Olympic Partner program in 2015. As the Worldwide Mobility Partner, Toyota is committed to mobility as a source of inspiration and as a way to improve the quality of life for all. As per that commitment, Toyota also became a Worldwide Paralympic Partner in 2015.

And to take us into what that really means at Toyota, and the wider sponsorship portfolio, we welcome Dedra DeLilli, Group Manager, Sponsorship Marketing, at Toyota.

Dedra has spent time at two well-known brands, Citigroup and TD Ameritrade, before joining Toyota as Group Manager, Olympic/Paralympic Marketing, and then progressing to Group Manager, Sponsorship Marketing, at Toyota.

As you’ll hear, Toyota doesn’t see the Olympics and Paralympics as separate partnerships. Inside Toyota, if you say Olympics, you are expected to say “and Paralympics.” as well.

Enjoy.

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When you think of the UEFA Champions League and sponsors, you think of Heineken. When you think of Formula 1 and sponsors, you probably think of Heineken as well.

Heineken could have reached those synonymous positions simply through longevity of logo slapping and the long association of sport and beer. We have all, however, seen the amazing activations Heineken executes.

Heineken is a huge company, with 25 million Heinekens served each day across 192 countries. Like all great companies though, they evolve and lead. It has been fantastic to see Heineken’s commitment to women’s sport and the integration of their zero-alcohol beer into existing sponsorships.

To take us inside sponsorship at Heineken, Thomas Mulders, Senior Global Sponsorship Manager, joins us on the show. Thomas is closing in on eight years at Heineken, having begun in marketing and social media at the Heineken Experience. These days Thomas manages UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Europe Conference League sponsorships at a global level. He also manages partnerships with top-tier museums in Amsterdam.

In the show, there is mention of some amazing activations Heineken has undertaken. Be sure to check out these links.

Heineken - The Jonah Lomu Machine
Heineken - The Dilemma
Heineken - The Negotiation

Enjoy

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We are very privileged to be able welcome such amazing guests onto this show and chat to them about their work. And, despite the ongoing challenges faced by the world, 2022 gave us another round of great guests and episodes full of excellent advice, insights, and experiences.

Now, as always, we've wrapped up the year and re-visited the 12 episodes of Inside Sponsorship from 2022. You might have seen on social media that, for each show, we pull out a 30-45 second snippet and turn it into a video to help whet your appetite. As such, we’ve gone back and pulled the full question and answer, for that snippet, and created a best of 2022 show for you.

Enjoy.

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It feels pretty redundant to note that there has been a lot of change in the world in recent times and, of course, those working in the sponsorship space know this only too well.

Included on that front is the employment market, a popular news topic at the moment. There are fewer people moving between countries, people returning home to their countries, and talk of the great resignation, silent quitting, and employment padding.

One thing that hasn’t changed is that the industry still needs quality professionals to sell, manage, and activate sponsorships. That’s why, in this episode, we’ll take a look at the current employment market and how it relates to sponsorship professionals and sports and entertainment more broadly.

To help us do that, Jonathan Harris, Managing Partner, ANZ, at SRI, joins us.

SRI is an executive search and consulting firm focused on driving individual, team and organisational performance in converging and transforming industries: media, entertainment, gaming & esports, fashion, technology, sport, and sporting goods.

So, whether you are looking to make a move to a new job, or you want to attract and retain the best talent, Jonathan is well-placed to provide us with an update.

You can connect with Jonathan on LinkedIn and find out more about SRI on their website.

Enjoy.

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The sponsorship industry can be guilty, sometimes, of just rolling out the same old properties activated in the same old ways. We all cringe at the thought of logo slapping and chairman's choice sponsorships, yet it still happens.

Innovation is what can give a sponsorship a competitive advantage. Whether that is better awareness and positioning for brands versus their competitors, access to target audiences, better ROI/ROO, or whether it is just a stronger overall relationship.

In the end, innovative sponsorships become a very attractive commodity. Of course, creativity is synonymous with innovation and while many people working in sponsorship are good at their jobs, they don't often describe themselves as ‘creative’.

So, if we know innovation drives better outcomes, and we need to be creative to be innovative, how do we help ensure that happens on a consistent basis in our sponsorships?

It's a question for all three sides: rights holders, brands, and agencies.

To help answer that question, one of Australia's most recognised innovators, Adam Ferrier, Founder and Consumer Psychologist at Thinkerbell, joins us.

You can connect with Adam on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter.

I highly recommend checking out his Black T-shirts Podcast, I'm a listener myself. Adam also has two books - Stop Listening to the Consumer: Try Hearing Your Brand Instead as well as The Advertising Effect: How to Change Behaviour.

Enjoy.

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As we know, sponsorship is one of the most effective means of marketing. 

In a US$60 billion industry (and growing) where brands spend tens to hundreds of millions of dollars on sponsorship, the ‘gut feel’ is still largely being used. As such, the biggest challenge marketers face is quantifying ROI.

It is a challenging situation and often traces back to disparate data sources, a lack of measurement framework, or even consistent KPIs.

For brands, those things have long been an issue ... and then COVID came along and brands were forced to really evaluate their sponsorship portfolio.

As such, the age-old question, for brands, "How do we properly manage, measure, and optimize our sponsorship portfolio?" has become so much more important.

The answer is a single source of truth and to help us unpack what that means, and why it is critical, Scott Tilton, EVP, Sponsorship Analytics at KORE Software, joins us.

Enjoy.

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It is scary to think that it is only a few months until 2023 rolls around. For many, we already have an eye on 2023 and are deep in planning for a successful year.

However, what should you be considering and keeping top of mind when planning?

You could argue that there’s a lot of ‘noise’ within sport and entertainment sponsorship. It just gets busier and busier and there seem to be more and more platforms; whether they be social media platforms or new OTT services that further fragment viewing. How do you navigate the noise and help ensure sponsorship success?

What role does cultural relevance play in sponsorship planning and execution?

Should you even be focussing on relevance or is going 'all in' on reach your best play?

How do you make the best use of your budget?

How flexible and responsive do you need to be to make use of opportunities that pop up, despite a plan already in place?

What about purpose?

All big and important questions which are discussed in this episode as Dan Collier-Hill, Head of Strategy, Creative Systems, at MediaCom Australia, joins the show.

You can connect with Dan on LinkedIn and find our more about MediaCom on their website.

Enjoy.

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On 29 July 1948, the day of the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games, the first competition for wheelchair athletes, which was named the Stoke Mandeville Games, involved 16 injured servicemen and women who took part in archery.

Fast forward from its humble beginnings, and the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics in Japan featured 4403 athletes from 161 countries.

Ryan Neiswender was one of those athletes, winning a gold medal in wheelchair basketball, for the USA, and he joins the show to discuss paralympic and disabled sports sponsorship.

Ryan is a Visa sponsored athlete as Visa’s connections to the Olympic and Paralympic Games extend beyond simply their sponsorship of the Games. Visa understands that the skills that make Olympians and Paralympians successful in sport extend to the workforce as well. As such, a number of elite athletes have taken the opportunity to join their global team where they are investing in their careers.

Ryan is one of those elite athletes and is a Digital Partnerships, Senior Manager at Visa. As such, this chat is really insightful as Ryan can speak from both sides of the fence – rights holder and sponsor.

There are 1.3 billion people in the world who are living with a disability and those 1.3 billion people have a combined disposable income of US$13 trillion.

While the world is largely focussing on digital, Web3, crypto, and blockchain, as new sectors and opportunities to develop in sponsorship, maybe there’s been an opportunity right under our noses the whole time.

Enjoy.

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