The SPOT:ON Sponsorship Activation conference in Copenhagen was a great success and we were delighted to speak at this inaugural event.
Lined up alongside speakers from Volvo, Manchester United, Skoda and Santander, we talked about sponsorship as the king of brand building. This was based on research presented by the IPA that showed sponsorship as the single greatest contributor to long-term brand-related business effects.
It is on this premise and the movement towards ‘short-termism’ in marketing, that the IPA research calls for a refocus on brand-building and, in fact, for a 60:40 balance between brand-building and sales activation based activity.
So, whilst sponsorship has been crowned with this position, it is not currently reaching its potential. There are still a large number of sponsorships that aren’t related to business need, that don’t have defined and relevant objectives and that don’t activate and measure impact accordingly.
It was these issues that we spoke about and what both rights holders and sponsors can do to improve sponsorship for the benefit of all stakeholders, most importantly, the audience of course!
It was an excellent conference that marked the start of the SPOT:ON sponsorship club in the Nordic region. Huge congratulations to Claus and Lars who started this movement that I’m sure will gain momentum and be a key resource for the sponsorship community.
We’re also delighted to be part of the advisory board that will take the conference and networking club forward. Watch this space!