17 Jun To sponsor or not to sponsor?

At adverset media solutions, we undertake more than our fair share of sponsorship, but if we were to take up every opportunity, we’d have a pretty poor set of accounts at the end of the year! Our sponsorship agreements normally involve the supply of concept, design and print services for the relevant event in return for a degree of advertising and exposure.

The right fit…

So which organisation/events do you commit to and which do you give a wide berth? Which is the right fit? The fact is that sponsorship needs to benefit both parties and if the relationship is a good fit it can be a great way of heightening the profile of your business and in turn helping to raise much needed funds for the sponsored organisation. In a nutshell, it’s all about developing a partnership.

It works for us (sometimes)…

One such a commitment which has worked for us is our partnership with Saint Catherine’s Hospice, Scarborough. For the past few years we have sponsored their Annual Charity Ball through the production of the design and printing of tickets, programmes etc. The beauty for us is that because our printed products and designs are on show (the programme particularly), this in itself provides a testament to our quality – and because the event is attended by local business, this gets noticed (in theory!) – and of course the benefit to the Hospice is that they make huge savings through not having to buy these services. A great relationship – and long may it last.

Calculating the risk

That said, we have one or two other sponsorship projects, which shall need to be nameless, which are still to bear fruit, so you could say it’s a gamble, or at least a calculated risk. Because quite often sponsorship can be connected to getting a charity/funded organisation off the ground, you almost need to rely on instinct as to whether the opportunity is going to be a successful one, because this type of sponsorship contains the highest risk.

Finally, when pursuing sponsorship, it’s all about getting the maximum exposure in the relevant places, at the right time for your business – and sometimes you have to fight for every ounce of exposure in order for it to work.

The short answer is that you never know until you’re committed – which is like most other things in life!