making co-op sponsorships work
Making Co-Op Sponsorships Work
Cooperative sponsorship programs can be wildly successful if participants in the co-op activities contribute equally and work together for the benefit of the group, rather than for personal gains. Furthermore, the corporate entity or regional office must offer guidance, and sometimes, financial support, for a co-op sponsorship to truly succeed. There are a host of challenges associated with co-op sponsorships, which vary depending on the relationship between the sponsor's corporate entity and the co-op participants. All of the stakeholders innately have their own interests in mind, and that's why every participant must bring something to the table. So what are the keys to successful co-op sponsorship?
Buy-In From Below: If corporate plans to only partially fund the sponsorship or it expects its retailers to foot the entire bill, the sponsorship must appeal - to some degree - to every retail partner, franchisee, distributor, company-owned retail outlet, or field sales rep (or whatever you call your local sales channel) in the co-op region. In order to gauge appeal, you the corporate marketer must get out in the field and poll your sales partners.
Fill The Bucket Early: The most successful co-op arrangements
are well organized and have supported policies and procedures in place.
Not coincidentally, experienced marketers assign part of their corporate
or regional budgets to local co-op activities, augmenting the co-op money
local retailers or partners are required to contribute. Corporate pledges
to co-op funds reinforce support and confidence in local retailers and
their markets. More importantly, those pledges add financial muscle to
exploitation activities, such as point-of-sale and in-venue promotional
programs, athlete/celebrity appearances, and grassroots events.
Custom Tailored Fit? What we mean here is that all parties
should benefit from the sponsorship. Take the case of an automobile manufacturer
and a regional cooperative of dealerships that together buy entitlement
to an arena club level lounge. All of the stakeholders likely have the
same goal - to move cars off the showroom floor - and they can achieve
that goal by negotiating the right assets and sharing them. That means
inviting local owners of the company's cars to "owner-only"
events in the club level. You could also distribute tickets to test-drivers
and rotate representatives of area dealerships to answer questions or
supply information on the club level.
Perhaps you can offer test drives in the parking lot of the venue two hours before game time? The key is to drive traffic (no pun intended!) back to all of the participating dealerships.
Don't Hoodwink Retailers! In other words, share the limelight. Otherwise, you might get stung. Here's the example: An in-line skate manufacturer unites with a 20-store state cooperative of its primary sporting goods retail partner to sponsor an NHL team. The skate manufacturer has a great deal of sponsorship experience but doesn't really understand co-op arrangements. The sporting goods stores have never been involved in sponsorship before, despite their sports orientation. The typical grave mistake, based mostly on brand attention greed, is for the skate manufacturer to take the lead and have the sponsorship consist mostly of one-sided brand identification: its own in-ice logos, assorted signage, and perhaps some small local media buys that come from a separate ad co-op fund. Consumers end up with awareness of the skate brand, but they have not been influenced to purchase. Even worse, those who do purchase won't feel compelled to buy from the co-op retail partner. So the skate manufacturer sees little noticeable increase in sales and the retailer feels like it just flushed precious marketing funds down the drain. Instead, the sponsorship should focus equally on product and retailer. How about side-by-side in-ice logos of both parties, so that fans can identify the relationship. Take that further by providing an understanding of the relationship, which can be accomplished by co-sponsoring youth in-line hockey leagues throughout the state. Tie the team into the equation by bringing pro players to each store for in-line hockey clinics.
Share Your Expertise: Corporate marketers tend to have infinitely more sponsorship experience and knowledge than their local retailers or partners. You will likely need to educate the co-op participants on negotiation, activation and measurement. Alternatively, if you have the resources, assign a member of your team to the co-op and have him or her take the lead on negotiation and activation planning. You may also want to organize a co-op sponsorship training session, led internally or by an outside agency.
