Thinking of Sponsoring?

Roll of drums, sound the trumpets, Brand 51 is pleased to announce their sponsorship of Dings Crusaders RFC, the excellent Bristol based National League 2 rugby club…to which happy news someone new to the idea of sponsoring might ask the question, “Why?” Not, we hope, why sponsor Dings when you could have invested your money in Club x instead, but why sponsor at all?

The subject of sponsorship carries with it a number of questions, here are two for a start, the first is simple…why sponsor? The second isn’t so easy, it’s (and with apologies to Dings) what happens to your brand if the object of your sponsorship loses?

Let’s look at both of these. Ultimately sponsorship is all about branding and getting your name and brand out to an audience who may or not know you. So here’s another question: when considering sponsorship, what do you want to say about your business and who do you want to say it to? It’s an important consideration, because like anything that represents you, it has to give the right message to the right people. By its very nature sponsorship speaks of confidence; “We’re here, we’re proud, and we want you to know about it!” So why sponsor? Because it’s saying that you’re a confident company and you’re open for business. With that in mind, where and how will you sponsor is important. The choice very much depends on who you want to talk to, and how you want to be perceived, so choose wisely, and then make a splash. If you’re locally based you’ll probably want to sponsor locally; if you want to be thought of as a quiet, thoughtful company, sponsor chess; if dependable, good value, down to earth and fun, try rugby (Ah….!). 

A couple of closing points. There’s no point handing over your money in return for a small advert lost in the programme, make sure you know the exposure you’ll get and that it will be seen… this is a straight contract you’re entering, your money for their exposure, so don’t be shy! And lastly, if you sponsor a team and they keep losing…actually it doesn’t matter, exposure is everything!