February 2022

EVENTS
What if you’re a start-up event?
Target localised brands at a small to
medium size that can
find synergies with your
offering and audience.
Do your due diligence on
your local area, organise
meetings, connect with
your community and
make some noise.
Typically, brands like
to work with events that
have some skin in the
game. They like to see
data and have confidence in the event.
On the other hand, brands like to find
new innovative events to partner up with.
Understand what sets you apart and why
it would be great for a brand to work with
you. Once this is established, there needs
to be a lot of outreach and pre-planning!
What does sponsorship look like? Is it all
about money?
Being true to your values is powerful for
meaningful sponsorships. The fit has to
be real and genuine. The money is an
important factor and this is where the
demographic data and performance of
campaigns makes the difference. However
some sponsorships can be all about
brand sentiment, rather than short term
sales success. It’s about finding the right
balance and understanding what means
most to the brands you work with. A brand
will want to ensure that the event aligns
with their broader marketing initiatives.
How should you see sponsorship in
terms of your overall business plan?
Utilise it as added value; it’s not wise to
simply rely only on sponsorship. You can
make good revenue of course but from
our experience sponsors want to see
good traction before they invest heavily
themselves.
How do you ensure a lasting
partnership?
It’s about synergy and results. Go above
and beyond where you can. Added value
is super important and sometimes costs
nothing for the organiser.
What can go wrong and how can you
mitigate against potential problems?
When partnering with another brand
in a campaign, make sure to research
their reputations to educate yourself
on their views and morals and ensure a
good pairing. Having two mismatched
“BEING TRUE TO YOUR VALUES IS POWERFUL FOR
MEANINGFUL SPONSORSHIPS. THE FIT HAS TO BE REAL
AND GENUINE. THE MONEY IS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR
AND THIS IS WHERE THE DEMOGRAPHIC DATA AND
PERFORMANCE OF CAMPAIGNS MAKES THE DIFFERENCE”
companies involved with opposing
company mission statements can have a
negative impact.
When evaluating any potential brand
relationships, it is vital to understand
and analyse audience overlap. In order
to protect and represent the brand in the
right way ensure that the brand message
connects with your audience profile.
Each partnership should go through
a bespoke process to understand the
brand’s marketing strategies. This is
how we deal with our global network of
sponsors, venues and events here at We
Get Sponsors. We connect our network
based on synergy.
Give us some success stories
We Get Sponsors received a marketing
brief from BoohooMan which we aligned
to Hideout Festival, where all parties
agreed there was synergy. Hideout
were able to provide us with accurate
demographics and historical data which
matched what BoohooMan were looking
for. The key here is to understand a brand’s
strategy and demonstrate with tangible
data why the event is a perfect fit.
We also connected Under Armour to
Football For Change (FFC) in October 2021,
succeeding because Trent Alexander-
Arnold is leading the FFC campaign. FFC’s
footballing stars are already ambassadors
for Under Armour which meant the
alignment was perfect to support the
event. This was a large-scale event that
made sense in terms of partnerships and
a great way to onboard new footballers
as ambassadors for Under Armour, whilst
supporting a meaningful cause.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Danny Wheeler is head of business
development at We Get Sponsors. “We
work closely with a global network of
events, venues, music artists, and sports
professionals. Helping to secure long lasting
relationships with sponsors. We integrate with
your event to understand your business and
needs; this enables us to be an extension of
your team. If we don’t already have the right
sponsors in our network, we will actively
outreach to find them. If you are looking for
sponsorship of your event then let’s have a
conversation.”
www.wegetsponsors.com
56 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM