Inside Sponsorship

One thing that sponsorship professional’s fear, mostly those at rights holders, is a crisis; a situation that may see sponsors walking away from the organisation. Let’s be clear, when we say “crisis” we mean an athlete or staff member brings the organisation into disrepute. For those that are high profile rights holders, it almost feels like it is only a matter of time before a crisis will impact their commercial portfolio. How long can a sponsor put up with, or how bad does, a crisis need to be before a sponsor seriously considers whether their values are still aligned? In a commercial world, particularly one where a rights holder may still be providing great ROI on the sponsorship, it can be a cloudy question. It almost feels like it is only a matter of time before today’s, or this week’s, bad news story directly affects you and your sponsorships. That’s why, knowing how to communicate with sponsors during a crisis, and being prepared for the inevitable crisis, is where the focus should be in quiet tim