Assessing Prospect Potential - Sponsorship in Marketing Cornwell

Summary

In this video, Bettina Cornwell discusses the key factors for assessing potential sponsors in the context of sports, arts, and entertainment. She introduces a 100-point system, emphasizing the importance of preparation, understanding sponsorship processes, and evaluating past relationships. Cornwell highlights the critical role of overlapping values between the sponsor and the property, assigning 50 points to this area. The remaining 50 points focus on relevance, audience alignment, sponsor objectives, and identifying synergies. The goal is to exceed 50 points, ensuring a strong, mutually beneficial partnership before pursuing sponsorship opportunities.

Takeaways

• 🔍 Focus on assessing prospective sponsors by analyzing their suitability for sports, arts, and entertainment partnerships.
• 📊 A 100-point system is used to evaluate sponsors, with 50 points dedicated to fundamentals and 50 to relevance.
• 📋 Preparation is key: understand the sponsor’s sponsorship process and lead time (10 points).
• 🤝 Relationships matter: consider the sponsor’s past sponsorships and any personal connections within the organization (10 points).
• 💡 Overlapping values are crucial: alignment between the sponsor’s and property’s values is weighted heavily (30 points).
• 🎯 Relevance is determined by audience overlap and whether the property can meet the sponsor’s objectives (e.g., car displays, hospitality) (50 points total).
• 🔗 Look for synergies between the sponsor’s and property’s networks to create added value over time.
• 💬 It’s important to articulate and present identified synergies in a compelling and clear way.
• 📝 If a sponsor scores less than 50 points in the evaluation, reconsider pursuing them for that year and try again later.
• 🏅 Don’t limit sponsor selection to the largest companies—consider exploring previously overlooked prospects.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of Bettina Cornwell's presentation?

The presentation focuses on sponsorship and marketing, particularly assessing prospective sponsors for sports, arts, and entertainment as platforms for brand partnerships.

What is the main objective when pursuing a prospective sponsor?

The main objective is to determine which sponsors to pursue by evaluating their potential as partners for communication and engagement with the property’s audience.

How does Bettina Cornwell divide the 100-point system for evaluating sponsorship prospects?

Cornwell divides the 100 points into two main categories: 50 points for 'Fundamentals' and 50 points for 'Relevance.'

What elements are considered under 'Fundamentals' when assessing a sponsor?

Under 'Fundamentals,' Cornwell considers preparation (10 points), relationships (10 points), and overlapping values (30 points).

Why is preparation important in assessing a potential sponsor?

Preparation is crucial because it involves understanding the sponsor's assessment process, the lead time they require, and whether the timing aligns with the opportunity.

What role do relationships play in evaluating a sponsor?

Relationships are important as they help assess the sponsor's past partnerships and whether there are personal connections that can provide insight into the sponsor’s preferences.

What does 'overlapping values' refer to, and why is it significant?

'Overlapping values' refer to the alignment of the property’s values with the sponsor’s values. This is significant because a successful partnership requires shared values for long-term sustainability.

What is 'Relevance,' and how is it evaluated?

Relevance is evaluated based on the overlap between the property’s audience and the sponsor's target audience, as well as the sponsor's ability to achieve their objectives through the partnership.

How are 'synergies' defined in the context of sponsorship?

Synergies refer to the potential for mutual benefit through collaboration between the property’s network of sponsors and the sponsor's existing relationships, creating new value over time.

What should a property do if they score less than 50 points in the evaluation process?

If a property scores less than 50 points, Cornwell suggests reassessing the opportunity, particularly focusing on improving preparation and identifying overlapping values, and considering pursuing the sponsor in the following year.

Outlines

00:00

📊 Sponsorship Fundamentals and Preparation

In this section, Bettina Cornwell introduces the topic of sponsorship and marketing, focusing on assessing potential sponsors. She emphasizes the importance of understanding sports, arts, and entertainment as platforms for brand communication and engagement. The key question addressed is which prospective sponsors should be pursued. Bettina outlines a 100-point system, with 50 points dedicated to fundamentals such as preparation and relationships. Preparation involves researching the sponsor's process, lead time, and readiness for a sponsorship opportunity. Additionally, relationships, both past and future, with sponsors and key individuals, are critical. Overlapping values between the brand and organization are assigned 30 points, as shared values are crucial for long-term success. Bettina emphasizes the need for organizations to clearly define their own values before assessing potential sponsors.

05:02

🎯 Relevance, Objectives, and Synergies in Sponsorship

This section explores the relevance of a sponsorship relationship, particularly the alignment of audiences between the sponsor and the property. Bettina discusses how the target audience of the sponsor should overlap with that of the organization. She also stresses the importance of being able to meet the sponsor's objectives, such as providing space for a car display or hosting hospitality events. Synergies between the networks of the sponsor and the property are key for creating additional value, with the ability to clearly articulate and demonstrate these synergies being vital. Bettina suggests that if an organization cannot accumulate more than 50 points from the outlined criteria, including preparation and overlapping values, they should reconsider their approach or wait another year before pursuing a sponsor.

Keywords

💡Sponsorship

Sponsorship refers to the financial or in-kind support provided by a company or brand to an event, organization, or property in exchange for promotional or marketing opportunities. In the context of the video, sponsorship is framed as a partnership where brands engage with entities like sports teams or arts organizations to achieve mutual objectives, such as audience reach and brand alignment.

💡Prospect Potential

Prospect potential is the likelihood or suitability of a potential sponsor to become a valuable partner. The video discusses assessing prospect potential based on factors such as overlapping values, audience alignment, and synergies. It's about determining whether pursuing a specific sponsor would lead to a successful and mutually beneficial relationship.

💡Fundamentals

Fundamentals refer to the basic criteria or essential elements needed to evaluate potential sponsors. In the video, these fundamentals are divided into categories like preparation, relationships, and overlapping values, which collectively help determine whether a sponsor is a good fit. The speaker allocates 50 points to these fundamentals, highlighting their importance in the sponsorship assessment process.

💡Preparation

Preparation involves thoroughly researching and understanding the potential sponsor’s sponsorship process, lead time, and requirements. This includes knowing how much time in advance they need to plan sponsorships, and understanding their decision-making process. Preparation is given 10 points in the speaker's assessment system, showing that knowing these details can significantly impact the success of a sponsorship proposal.

💡Relationships

Relationships in the sponsorship context refer to the connections and previous partnerships that a sponsor has had with other organizations. It also includes personal relationships with individuals within the sponsor’s organization that could facilitate open and honest discussions. This aspect is allocated another 10 points in the speaker's system, emphasizing the importance of strong connections and prior history in securing sponsorship deals.

💡Overlapping Values

Overlapping values occur when the values and mission of a potential sponsor align with those of the organization seeking sponsorship. The speaker emphasizes this by allocating 30 points to overlapping values, underscoring its importance. If values don’t match, the relationship is unlikely to be sustainable, as the partnership wouldn’t resonate with either party’s brand identity or audience.

💡Relevance

Relevance is the degree to which a potential sponsor's target audience aligns with the audience of the organization seeking sponsorship. It also includes the relevance of the sponsor's goals and whether the partnership can help achieve them. For example, if a car manufacturer wants to display its cars, the event must have space to accommodate that. The speaker suggests that relevance is crucial for a successful sponsorship.

💡Synergies

Synergies refer to the added value that can be created when a sponsor and an organization collaborate in a way that benefits both beyond the basic sponsorship agreement. This involves looking at both entities' networks and portfolios to identify opportunities for joint initiatives. In the video, the speaker highlights synergies as a factor that can enhance the partnership, provided they can be clearly and compellingly articulated.

💡Objectives

Objectives are the specific goals or outcomes that a sponsor seeks to achieve through a sponsorship relationship. These could include brand exposure, audience engagement, product promotion, or hosting hospitality events. In the video, the speaker discusses how the organization seeking sponsorship must ensure they can meet these objectives to make the partnership attractive to the potential sponsor.

💡100-Point System

The 100-point system is a scoring method used by the speaker to evaluate the suitability of potential sponsors. The system assigns 50 points to fundamentals (preparation, relationships, and values) and 50 points to relevance and synergies. Sponsors who score below 50 are considered less viable, and the speaker recommends further work or postponing the pursuit of such sponsors. This structured approach helps in making objective decisions about which sponsors to pursue.

Highlights

Introduction of assessing prospect potential in sponsorship and marketing, particularly in sports, arts, and entertainment.

Fundamental question: which prospective sponsors should be pursued?

100-point system used for evaluating potential sponsorships.

50 points are allocated to 'fundamentals'—preparation, relationships, and overlapping values.

Preparation includes understanding the sponsor's assessment process, their lead time requirements, and determining if it’s too late to pursue the sponsorship.

Evaluating past relationships with sponsors is essential—knowing who they’ve worked with and what they may want in the future.

Relationship-building also involves personal connections—leveraging prior work or networks with people within the sponsor's organization.

Overlapping values are critical—make sure the sponsor’s values align with the property’s values, and this carries 30 points out of 100.

The organization or property must have clearly defined values, which should be communicated openly, such as on a website.

A mismatch in values (e.g., child health focus vs. unrelated sponsor values) can result in a failed or unhealthy sponsorship.

Another 50 points are allocated to 'relevance'—focusing on audience overlap, objectives alignment, and synergy between sponsor networks.

The relevance of audience overlap is key—do the property’s audience and the sponsor’s target audience align?

Evaluate if the sponsor's objectives can be achieved through the partnership (e.g., hospitality needs, product display opportunities).

Synergies between sponsor networks can create new value, and sponsors should be convinced of these synergies clearly and compellingly.

A total score of less than 50 points suggests a need to reassess the sponsor pursuit, particularly if the fundamentals or values don’t align.

Transcripts

hello i'm bettina cornwell

and this is sponsorship and marketing

and we'll be talking about assessing

prospect potential and so this is about

sports

arts entertainment as a

partner for a brand or for an

organization

as a platform usually for communication

for engagement and we're going to be

answering this fundamental question

which prospective sponsors to pursue now

having said that this is very much

um oriented to the sport property

art property and their decision of

who might sponsor them next right

so um i have a hundred point

system that i use so

and how might i divvy those up so

i start with fundamentals

and in total we'll give that 50 points

so fundamentals um begin with this idea

that

i need to know uh about the potential

sponsor enough to decide if this is

has an opportunity so i would argue here

that we need

preparation

so i'm preparing

to know about them by learning what is

their sponsorship

assessment process like

how much lead time do they typically

want when they take on

a sponsorship do they need a year are we

already inside of that window and it

would be too late

well let's not go there right so

learning

those uh fundamentals of what it is that

they're going to

have in terms of a process in place

so that's 10 points right

and then also to know the relationships

again ten points yeah so

um the relationships that they have had

in terms of sponsorship what

what are their past relationships like

and what might they want in the future

also relationships could include

relationships with people do you know

any people in this organization do you

did you work with them before can you

talk with them frankly about what the

sponsor

might be looking for and then

for me

this is big 30 points overlapping values

that is to say that the values

um that you see for the partnership

that the the brand or the organization

that you might

look um for for sponsorship that they

have values that are in keeping with

yours

and that when that sponsorship is maybe

secured

that that would be expressing your

values

look to their mission statement look to

their uh online information to learn

what their values are

now if you don't have your values sorted

it's hard to know if you have

overlapping values so i'd say one of the

first things you need to do is say

well what are our values as a sport as a

symphony whatever it might be and

express

those and state those write those put

them on your web page

and then you're more able to say do we

have overlapping values

so the kind of situation you don't want

to have and so you're all about child

health

in this brand that would like to sponsor

you is is not about

child health then that would be a

mismatch and you wouldn't have

overlapping values you get a zero

and it's really hard to have a

relationship even if you get it

to continue it and for for it to be

healthy over time

okay so fundamentals and then let's talk

about

relevance

now relevance is often times where other

people would start

its relevance to me is with audience

so is there an overlap where

your audience

matches their target audience and you

can clearly say

that we're going to be allow you to

speak to people you want to speak to

as well objectives can they with a

relationship with your property

achieve the objectives that they have in

mind if they wanted to have a display of

cars

is there space for that if they wanted

to host hospitality can you support that

all of those kinds of things that are

about answering the question of can we

serve

the objectives that the sponsor might

have

this is one of my favorites and it takes

some evaluation

but it's worthwhile and that is to look

at synergies

so you have a um a network

of sponsors for a property

as well you have a network or a

portfolio

of relationships that the the company

the brand the sponsor

potential sponsor might have can you

look in that network

and this network and see an opportunity

where if you work together

over time you're going to be able to

create something new or something

special that adds value

i would also say that you need to be

able to convince any synergy you

identify

in a compelling way so you need to make

sure you can really

articulate this relationship and explain

it fully

okay so this is another 50 points

right so we have our 100 and my argument

would be

that unless you can go through this and

get

more than 50 points total and this is

you need to go back to the drawing board

and especially if you don't have uh

preparation and overlapping value points

that are relatively high you really need

to think through that

uh if you're below 50 i would work

through it another year and then maybe

go in the next year

to pursue that sponsor it doesn't have

to be

the largest company in the region

headquartered there it could be

if you if you break out of that thinking

there could be a lot of sponsors you've

never identified

thank you very much to sponsorship and

marketing and assessing prospect

potential

you