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Event Management

Notes acceptance. The offer generally involves marketing services provided by the event organizer in
exchange for the sponsor’s cash or in-kind contribution to the event. The marketing services
may range from advertising to banner displays to hospitality to a full-blown marketing plan
involving public relations, advertising, and promotion.
As you can begin to see, these marketing services place new demands on the event organizer.
Therefore, the event resources may need to be reallocated to handle this new demand. Not every
event is able to do this. Before you give the green light to soliciting sponsorships, use the
following checklist to determine if your event is appropriate for this activity.
1. Does the event require an infusion of sponsor dollars to achieve the quality required?
2. Are there sufficient internal and external resources to support this activity?

3. Is commercial sponsorship appropriate for the nature of the event?
4. Are there sufficient prospects for sponsorship sales, and is the timing appropriate to
approach them?

5. Is this activity legal, ethical, and appropriate for the spirit of the event organization?
These questions can save many event organizations much wasted time, energy, and heartache.
Examining the internal and external resources may be one of the most important aspects of this
process.
Although sponsors may provide much needed funding for your event, to help you achieve the
quality that is required, sponsors also require that your own financial resources meet their
objectives. They may, for example, require that you commit a certain amount of marketing
dollars. Second, they may require minimal or substantial hospitality services that may amount
to hundreds or thousands of dollars per day. Finally, if you are going to retain these sponsors
assign one or more people to monitor the activities, service these accounts, and develop long-
term relationships. Yes, sponsors can provide needed funding; however, as in any commercial
transaction they must also receive a fair return on their investment.
You are responsible for orchestrating this return. Your event may benefit from additional
exposure through sponsorships. Earlier we discussed using tag lines in advertising as one way
to increase your exposure inexpensively. Sponsors may also provide you with shelf space in
their retail stores to promote your event through coupons. Some sponsors have celebrity athletes,
television stars, and movie personalities on contract who they may wish to involve with your
event.

Perhaps one of the most important reasons event organizers align themselves with commercial
sponsors is the opportunity to achieve greater credibility for the event. Securing the sponsorship
of AT&T, IBM, Coca-Cola, or other Fortune 500 firms immediately positions your event as a
major player and may help your event organization secure additional funding from other
sources.

Did u know? Your sponsors can also help you with the development of a public relations
campaign or can supplement their own public relations efforts with your message.

4.6.1 Developing Sponsors

The competition by event organizers for sponsors is keen at every level. Whether your event is
a local event or a national one, you must first conduct a competitive analysis to identify all
competing events and study their sponsorship history and present activities. Following are
several suggestions on how to identify appropriate sponsors for your event:

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