Inside Sponsorship

Blockchain companies investing in sports sponsorship is projected to reach US$5 billion by 2026. Cryptocurrency, blockchain and NFT sports sponsorship investment is projected to increase by a massive 778 per cent compared to 2021. The next highest increase in sports sponsorship is 44 per cent for IT software and hardware. Retail, automotive, and energy sponsorship investment is expected to rise by seven per cent, five per cent, and four per cent, respectively. Last year, the number of people in the world investing in crypto doubled to 100 million. Now, it’s estimated to be more than 220 million and many analysts expect that to double again next year. It is an attractive space for rights holders as they look to shore up commercial programs to help recover from pandemic-driven losses in a category that barely existed a few years ago. Of course, while awareness of blockchain companies is growing, sponsors are also focused on converting. That needs to be a key understanding for any rights holder looking to pit

We hear so much about the importance of Data. That’s because it is important. It is often no longer acceptable to make gut decisions or use your intuition when comes to making business decisions and sponsorship is no different. Whether you are on the rights holder side, brand side, or you work for an agency, data now plays an important role in reducing any risks and unknowns around sponsorships; whether that is using data to identify well-aligned partners, presenting sponsorship proposals, evaluating proposals, or tracking and ensuring partnerships that are in place. There are, however, lots of organisations and platforms collating data and trying to bring it to life and make it useful. Sometimes, organisations even have silos of data which can present problems. Data, at times, can feel big, unwieldy, and hard to make sense of and work for you. There are some that are doing it well and, as such, joining us for this episode is Christian Fizia, Sponsorship Insight and Operations Manager at Kindred Group. Du

The world of sponsorship was already experiencing a lot of change, before COVID, but, as we are now fairly and squarely in the middle of living with COVID, the industry continues to change. 2022 has a real sense of optimism as we see people flocking to live sports events including the rise and rise of women’s sport where we recently saw a record set for the biggest crowd at a women’s football match when Barcelona hosted Real Madrid and 91,553 people attended. No game had more people in it all season – and that includes the men’s clásico. Brands are also taking stock and, in some cases, pivoting or re-jogging their sponsorship approaches and portfolios, looking for new ideas and opportunities. That’s why I thought it would be good to look at some of the trends that are happening in the sponsorship industry right now. Paula Beadle is the Founder and CEO at Caravel Marketing. Paula is a sponsorship industry leader who has mastered the art and science of sponsorship over 30 years of experience in sponsorship,

Esports is no longer a sector that we can look at and say, “Let’s just wait and see how it plays out”. Reports from Newzoo and Juniper Research last year show that the global Esports audience grew to 474 million in 2021, with revenues from competitive gaming just shy of US$1.1 billion. The growth of Esport’s audience represents year-on-year growth of 8.7 percent. To be classed as part of the 474 million Esports audience, you had to watch competitive gaming more than once a month. The audience is expected to continue to grow with a compound annual growth rate of 7.7 percent which will see it rise 577.2 million people in 2024.  The US$1.1 billion in revenue is a 14.5 percent increase on the US$947.1 million from 2020. Of the 2021 US$1.1 billion revenue figure, US$833.6 million will come from media rights and sponsorship. That’s 76% of total revenue. Significant seems the common thread here. Significant audience growth. Significant revenue growth. Media rights and sponsorship contributing a significant perce

This episode is born from KORE Software’s 2019 free whitepaper, Storytelling in Sponsorship: The importance of storytelling in selling, reporting, and activating partnerships in sports and entertainment. Storytelling drives our lives. A myriad of new OTT broadcasters, the rise in popularity of Instagram and Facebook Stories, TikTok and YouTube’s increasingly influential stars, and a multitude of news sources where the dilemma of credibility and authority are changing the ways information is shared, all impacting our everyday. Stories are at the heart of this new world of information sharing. For what is the foreseeable future, they will continue to shape relationships, understanding, and behaviors. In this episode, we want to shine a light on how both brands and rights holders can utilize storytelling to their advantage, across the whole lifecycle of their partnerships. In a world of instantaneous conversation and differentiation, expectations of audiences as well as clients have changed. In this episode,

It goes without saying that 2021 was a challenge but, as we know, the show must go on and that includes sponsorship. As such, despite the challenges of 2021, it was still a great year filled with lots of amazing chats with sponsorship professionals from all over the world. Now, as always, we've wrapped up the year and re-visited the 11 episodes of Inside Sponsorship from 2021. 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 2021 show for you. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Josep Borrell, Head of Commercial Strategy takes us inside Valencia CF’s commercial program. Josep made the move to Valencia CF from the agency side where he spent two and a half years at Nielsen, in London, including roles as a Football Account Manager and a Commercial Insights Manager. Playing in Spain’s La Liga, Valencia have a great footballing history and celebrated their centenary year in 2019 by winning the Copa del Rey, Spain’s annual knockout football competition. Not only does Valencia  CF have a great footballing history, They also have a real and deliberate connection with the Valencia region and that absolutely translates positively to Valencia’s commercial program. Those efforts include the Valencia Innovation Hub and a business club they established during their centenary year that has seen other football clubs reaching out and connecting. You can connect with Josep on LinkedIn and learn more about Valencia CF at valenciacf.com Jordan Rutner, Research Marketing Manager at KORE Software, als

Welcome to the third of three industry roundtables focusing on the future of sponsorship. In each of the roundtables, we hear from multiple guests, from rights holders, brands, and agencies, about how they think the future of sponsorship is shaping up. Each guest will share their views and opinions across the same six questions and, joining us in this episode, are: Stuart Ramsay, Head Of Brand Partnerships at the British Olympic Association Katherine Butterworth, Mastercard’s, Marketing Director, Consumer, Partnership & Sponsorship Marketing Australasia Michael Israel, Senior Account Director, Client Consulting + Services at GMR Marketing Mark Thompson, co-Founder at Sports Rights Tech Jordan Rutner, Research Manager at KORE Software Enjoy.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the second of three industry roundtables focusing on the future of sponsorship. In each of the roundtables, we hear from multiple guests, from rights holders, brands, and agencies, about how they think the future of sponsorship is shaping up. Each guest will share their views and opinions across the same six questions and, joining us in this episode, are: Misha Sher, Global Head of Sport, Entertainment & Culture at MediaCom Rajesh Menon, VP | Head & Director on the Board of Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd Alice Larkworthy, Senior Partner Services Manager at Arsenal F.C. Scott Tilton, CEO at Hookit Gareth McCarthy, Sponsorships Manager at HCF Australia Enjoy.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the first of three industry roundtables focusing on the future of sponsorship. In each of the roundtables, we hear from six guests, from rights holders, brands, and agencies, about how they think the future of sponsorship is shaping up. Each guest will share their views and opinions across the same six questions and, joining us in this episode, are: Joel Seymour-Hyde, Octagon Managing Director, UK;  Sophie Morris, who is not only the Strategic Marketing & Sponsorship Director of Millharbour Marketing, but also Board Director of the European Sponsorship Association and Advisory Board Member for the Institute of Sport Business at Loughborough University; Sven Gloor, Global Manager - Rugby Partnerships at HSBC; Josh Kritzler, Co-Founder at 4FRONT; Andrew Mikhail, Chief Commercial Officer at the Parramatta Eels National Rugby League Club; and Brendan Moynihan, Executive Vice President, Consulting and Sponsorship Activation at SPORTFIVE Enjoy.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Based on total website traffic, social media behemoths, YouTube and Facebook are the second and third most visited sites, respectively, behind only Google, with Twitter in 4th and Instagram 5th. To be clear,4 of the top 5 most visited websites are social media websites. All of those people, all over the world, spending all that time on social media, every day, sharing, questioning, arguing, promoting, and engaging, it is a truly magnetic place to be. Understanding audiences has always been a key plank in sponsorship. That’s why, social listening can be a very powerful tool to be able to help sell, find, align, activate, and report on sponsorships, regardless of whether you are a rights holder, brand, or agency. As such, joining us on the show to discuss how social listening can be used in sponsorship is Benjamin Foster, Talkwalker Oceania Enterprise Partner. Talkwalker is an AI-powered analysis tool that provides real-time insights into what's happening on all social channels and online media, across 187 l

No longer can audience understanding be superficial i.e. females in New York who are between 25 and 40 years old. Consumers are complex people and a rights holder’s and brand’s understanding must go deeper. But what happens when a rights holder can’t provide a potential sponsor with a fully formed, deep, and complex view of their fans? What happens when the brand has a deep view of their target audience and is looking for the right fit but won’t simply just accept the stock standard, demographic driven, fan profile so often presented by rights holders? Well, the obvious answer is that the rights holder is a good chance of missing out on that sponsor. In today’s sponsorship environment, that’s a risk less and less rights holders are willing to take. That is where Nielsen’s Fanlinks is an amazingly powerful data source that fuses consumers’ detailed lifestyle, attitudinal, and purchasing behaviour with their sporting interests & passions. Joining us on the show to discuss best-practice fan data and use, and

In a world where traditional reach and attention are diminishing, brands are looking for cut-through and engagement to drive relevance and ultimately accelerate their growth. Through sponsorship, rights holders help brands access an audience they would otherwise find it hard to access or would not be able to access as cost-effectively. However, we all know that being a sponsor and simply logo slapping is no longer enough; it hasn’t been for a while. That is why creative in sponsorship is one area where brands can really activate their sponsorships to achieve cut-through & engagement to drive relevance & growth. What is, however, the process of creative in sponsorship? What part can it play in activation? How can brands and rights holders bring it to life? What are the pitfalls along the way? Joining the show, to help answer those questions is Misha Sher, Global Head of Sport, Entertainment & Culture at MediaCom, based in London. Also joining the show is Jordan Rutner, Research Marketing Manager at KORE

Big sponsorship announcements are not commonplace right now; as we still aim to get back to whatever normal is going to look like post-pandemic. That is why it was great news to hear that Football Australia recently announced that the Commonwealth Bank will become the official naming rights partner and bank of the Australian national women’s team, known as the Matildas, as well as the Junior Matildas and Young Matildas, from August 2021. The initial four-year partnership will inject millions of dollars into elite women’s football and grassroots initiatives around the country, and it’s just the start of what is set to be an exciting new partnership. It is great news for Football Australia as it comes as they move into a huge cycle of Olympics 2021 and 2024, the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cups 2022 and 2023, and, of course, FIFA World Cups 2022 for men but also the Women’s FIFA World Cup 2023 which will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Further, and another feather in football’s cap, is the lat

Throughout the world we have seen tobacco sponsorship and alcohol sponsorship banned or curbed in most markets and, right now, the sponsorship industry is watching the UK after a House of Lords Select Committee on gambling recommended that not only should gambling shirt sponsorship be banned by 2023, but “there should also be no gambling advertising in or near any sports grounds or sports venues”. The review is driven by concern at the number of problem gamblers, which is estimated at 430,000 in Britain, and which has seen the losses of punters rocket to £14.4 billion per year in 2019; that’s almost US$20 billion. Of course, the pervasiveness of betting in sport, and football in particular, is there for all to see and certainly a driving factor. It seems surprising that gambling has avoided the spotlight for so long. It may, in some part, be due to the rapid rise of online gambling which has developed at a breakneck speed. Interestingly, however, the opposite is happening in the US with betting sponsorships

It has been a whole year since the world shut down because of the pandemic. The plights of rights holders and brands is well documented. Often forgotten in the sponsorship conversation, however, is the third side, the agencies; the ones working between rights holders and brands to activate the biggest sponsorship deals in the world. There are some amazing minds in the agency world who are not always bound by the hierarchy and bureaucracy often found in rights holders and brands. Agencies can start with a blank whiteboard and work on ideas and solutions; some of which find their way into sponsorship deals, and the industry is better for it. That’s why, in this episode, we wanted to check in with one of the world’s great agencies, PRISM, and find out how they’ve pushed through COVID, their learnings, their successes, and how they are moving forward a year after it all started. As such, in this episode, we welcome Shannan Quinn, Managing Director at PRISM. Also joining the show is Daniel Collier-Hill, KORE’

As an ever-present Premier League team, Arsenal are a global brand and, while current results are not favourable, they are one of the big six English football clubs, boasting a sponsorship portfolio with some of the world’s most recognisable brands including Adidas, Cadbury, Intel, and Lavazza. Arsenal is just like every other team around the world as they responded to the pandemic, welcomed football back, welcomed some fans back, and then the ever-changing environment and the rules and regulations that come with it. Right in the middle of Arsenal’s great sponsorship team is Alice Larkworthy, Senior Partner Services Manager. Alice joins us to take us inside Arsenal FC’s corporate partner's program. Also joing the show is Noelle Fanella, Product Manager at KORE Software, who discusses her blog, Brand Sponsors, Take Full Advantage Of Your Hospitality Perks.  Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite the challenges of 2020, it was still a great year filled with lots of amazing chats with sponsorship professionals from all over the world. As always, we've wrapped up the year and re-visited the 13 episodes of Inside Sponsorship in 2020. 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 2020 show for you. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Passions drive us. Passions define us. Passions connect us. Yet, passions are changing and with the explosion of digital, the democratisation of media, and a plethora of publishing tools available, expression can come in any form and inspiration can come from anywhere. Research from M&C Saatchi Intelligence identified that interest areas that were traditionally considered hobbies, including fashion, food, beauty, health, and wellbeing, have exploded into passion areas and have identified this trend as hyper-passions. It sounds an obvious and simple enough opportunity for brands. However, it also sounds fraught with danger. How do big brands, with big budgets, weave themselves through the hyper-passions and sub-cultures of the world which have long been guarded by the passionate members themselves?  These hyper-passions are highly nuanced, a point that should not be lost on brands, agencies and rights holders. How would, and how will, those with hyper-passions, respond to corporate involvement?  That rema

Data, measurement, and most importantly, the insights and what we do with them, is something that is driving the sponsorship industry. In a world where we are so connected, 24/7, globally, and with so many data capture points, the power that can be unlocked is immense. Interestingly though, what brands ultimately want to achieve through sponsorship, and increasingly data-driven sponsorships, hasn’t changed – they want more sales. That is always the end game. Social media has long been a big player, but this year, with people suddenly restricted in movement, and less sports content to consume, social and other digital platforms suddenly accelerated. Scott Tilton, CEO at Hookit, joins the show to discuss sponsorship data and takes us inside their whitepaper, Chasing Sponsorship Value - An Inside Look At The Top Brands In Sports, How They Got There, And What They Could Do Even Better. Be sure to visit hookit.com to find out more about their work, download the whitepaper here, and connect with Scott on Linked