Right now there are a lot of NFL Teams, NCAA Athletic Departments, MLB and MLS franchises working on sponsorship wrap-up reports after another season finale.
Inevitably one of these franchises is going to have a sponsor partner, who woefully did not activate their partnership to the degree they anticipated.
This is always a red flag that something is inherently wrong with the partnership and the value you are delivering to them.
The most likely outcome is, they will not be renewing and even worse for our industry is they may never sponsor anything again.
Across our entire portfolio, we have found there are three common themes for why brands don’t activate their sponsorship assets. All, some, or maybe even just one asset.
This is a more common problem than most people realize, especially with first-time sponsors. Rights holders can help their partners by building leveraging and activation programming into their deals.
Remember that these companies are your partners and they have the ability to amplify your brand to new audiences. That amplification could mean unexpected revenue for year to come.
To build equity with fans, both partners and rights holders are often paralyzed to change the assets that make up their partnerships. If you don’t continually review your sponsorship assets and test if they are reaching your target audiences, you can expect a very short-term relationship with your partners.
Remember markets change customer preferences change and the world is an ever-changing place.
Rights holders often fabricate bundles or sponsorship packages that only serve their business without considering the real business objectives of their partners.
If you have rules and policies like Minimum promotional spending levels, escalators, or required ticket purchases then you might be creating an unhealthy environment for your partners to operate. Remember they have lots of options including ambush marketing tactics.
Trak helps foster trust and transparency between rights holders and their partners. Our software lays out in very clear terms with assets are part of the partnership, and make it apparent in terms of what other assets may be needed to execute planned activities. The best example of this was during the COVID-19 pandemic and rights holders were offering make goods to their partners.
Our clients use Trak to lay out exactly what assets could be executed and which ones would be delayed. Trak also delivered transparency which assets would be restored through make goods in the future and the timing of those make goods. When you truly understand everything that is included in your partnership, that’s when activation can really happen.
For more information about how to schedule a free virtual demonstration of Trak’s customized configurable workflow solutions, ROI assessment and Business Case or see how you can better manage your Sponsorship Portfolio using Trak Software, visit Trak.io. Join us in the #sponsorshipworks revolution. End your status quo. #TrakmakesIThappen.
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