Monday
In Support of Sponsorship
By Joseph Jaffe
The best practice of sponsorship is one of those universal approaches evident across every major form of media -- from Safeco Field to the Survivor Mountain Dew Challenge; from “this program brought to you in part by Coca-Cola” to the iMedia Best Practice of the Week, made possible through MSN.
This week’s best practice speaks to two primary aspects:
How online sponsorship works exactly the same as what we’re used to in traditional media
How online sponsorship also provides additional unique benefits to that of “offline”.
“Online sponsorships work best when they act like an improvising chef,” says Randy Kilgore, VP, Advertising at The Wall Street Journal Online. “Read the recipe, but don't forget to be creative.”
In other words, draw from offline heritage (by associating the message with content that either plays well to your audience or ties to a feature of the site that has a clear user benefit) but also look to leverage online’s key differentiators in order to provide additional benefit to sponsors.
And so, perhaps the questions we should be asking are:
In what ways does online sponsorship complement, extend or leverage an offline sponsorship?
What are the integrated benefits of pursuing a sponsorship deal online?
Visa is one example of a company that has taken its offline sponsorships to a new level through a variety of online approaches, including Survivor cast-off tie-ins, sweepstakes and promotions.
“As online as an advertising medium matures I believe more value will be placed on leveraging ‘offline’ sponsorships online,” says Jon Raj, Director of Advertising at Visa. “The very nature of the sponsorship and the very nature of the medium are about passion. It’s a place to dig deeper into what people care about.”
Take the Olympics for example. In the past, NBC’s coverage has been a debacle (which is being kind). The public (that’s you and me) revolted at the revolting coverage, which was cheesy, staid and contrived. Most importantly, the network’s obsession with Prime Time meant that events would be broadcast several hours after they had taken place, which didn’t help any sports fan who would typically have known the result already –thanks largely to the Internet.
This inference is part of a much larger consumer trend (the evolution of Prime Time to My Time based on the need for “instant gratification”), however in this particular case it opens up a can of worms for the sponsors paying the big bucks, who end up getting disgruntled consumers in return for their investment. Fortunately, the networks are slowly adapting, but until they get to where they need to get to, there’s the salvation of extending the olive branch to the official sponsors in the form of being able to participate in official Website activity.
Today’s empowered consumer is learning pretty quickly how to filter out brand communications (otherwise known as clutter). Predictability is without question a danger and challenge to advertisers. Just like many consumers are accustomed to screening out the 468x60 banner in the fixed top-of-page position, so too are they learning to cope with the persistent sponsor logo on television or the book-end “brought to you in part” goodwill message, together with the accompanying 30-second spot.
The Internet has proven to be a shot in the arm in helping to counteract this trend and in doing so, serve as an additional touch point through which to drive home the association and endorsement.
The case study below helps to validate this assertion.
Objective: To create visibility of the GM Chevrolet brand through its association and sponsorship of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Approach: A co-branded section on MSNBC was created, with the look and feel of the Chevy site. This section, called Daily Highlights, was “brought to you” by Chevrolet and contained information about the Winter Olympics, such as medal counts.
MSNBC also created an interactive map in conjunction with the Olympic Torch Relay. Information was provided about the individual torch athletes. Local dealerships were also tied in to the relay route. Finally, events were held at the respective dealerships during the actual relay.
Key findings:
The campaign boosted Message Association significantly across the board
Most influenced were the in-market respondents, looking to purchase a new vehicle within seven to 12 months
Frequency played a key role in increasing Brand Awareness, Message Association, as well as Sponsorship Association (against the attribute, “Is a sponsor of the Olympic Winter Games”).
In addition to providing a synergistic amplification of offline sponsorships, there’s also the unique functionality that the Internet provides in the form of interactivity, which takes sponsorship to a whole new level.
This occurs both directly (through the ability to enter a sweepstakes or self select information from within the creative) and indirectly (by sponsoring a utility such as a stock ticker for example).
“The front page of The Wall Street Journal Online has customization options in the form of modules,” says Kilgore. “We offer sponsorship opportunities tied to these modules. For example, today you would see Brown & Company (financial services provider) sponsoring the portfolio module that appears on the front page. There are no similar sponsorships on the front page of the newspaper.”
Sponsorships work best when synergies are reached through the alignment of brand with relevant and desirable content. As both a means to help monetize this content, and in doing so, provide value back to the consumer, online sponsorships are proving to be integrated oases amid a rather bland integrated backdrop.
By Joseph Jaffe
The best practice of sponsorship is one of those universal approaches evident across every major form of media -- from Safeco Field to the Survivor Mountain Dew Challenge; from “this program brought to you in part by Coca-Cola” to the iMedia Best Practice of the Week, made possible through MSN.
This week’s best practice speaks to two primary aspects:
How online sponsorship works exactly the same as what we’re used to in traditional media
How online sponsorship also provides additional unique benefits to that of “offline”.
“Online sponsorships work best when they act like an improvising chef,” says Randy Kilgore, VP, Advertising at The Wall Street Journal Online. “Read the recipe, but don't forget to be creative.”
In other words, draw from offline heritage (by associating the message with content that either plays well to your audience or ties to a feature of the site that has a clear user benefit) but also look to leverage online’s key differentiators in order to provide additional benefit to sponsors.
And so, perhaps the questions we should be asking are:
In what ways does online sponsorship complement, extend or leverage an offline sponsorship?
What are the integrated benefits of pursuing a sponsorship deal online?
Visa is one example of a company that has taken its offline sponsorships to a new level through a variety of online approaches, including Survivor cast-off tie-ins, sweepstakes and promotions.
“As online as an advertising medium matures I believe more value will be placed on leveraging ‘offline’ sponsorships online,” says Jon Raj, Director of Advertising at Visa. “The very nature of the sponsorship and the very nature of the medium are about passion. It’s a place to dig deeper into what people care about.”
Take the Olympics for example. In the past, NBC’s coverage has been a debacle (which is being kind). The public (that’s you and me) revolted at the revolting coverage, which was cheesy, staid and contrived. Most importantly, the network’s obsession with Prime Time meant that events would be broadcast several hours after they had taken place, which didn’t help any sports fan who would typically have known the result already –thanks largely to the Internet.
This inference is part of a much larger consumer trend (the evolution of Prime Time to My Time based on the need for “instant gratification”), however in this particular case it opens up a can of worms for the sponsors paying the big bucks, who end up getting disgruntled consumers in return for their investment. Fortunately, the networks are slowly adapting, but until they get to where they need to get to, there’s the salvation of extending the olive branch to the official sponsors in the form of being able to participate in official Website activity.
Today’s empowered consumer is learning pretty quickly how to filter out brand communications (otherwise known as clutter). Predictability is without question a danger and challenge to advertisers. Just like many consumers are accustomed to screening out the 468x60 banner in the fixed top-of-page position, so too are they learning to cope with the persistent sponsor logo on television or the book-end “brought to you in part” goodwill message, together with the accompanying 30-second spot.
The Internet has proven to be a shot in the arm in helping to counteract this trend and in doing so, serve as an additional touch point through which to drive home the association and endorsement.
The case study below helps to validate this assertion.
Objective: To create visibility of the GM Chevrolet brand through its association and sponsorship of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Approach: A co-branded section on MSNBC was created, with the look and feel of the Chevy site. This section, called Daily Highlights, was “brought to you” by Chevrolet and contained information about the Winter Olympics, such as medal counts.
MSNBC also created an interactive map in conjunction with the Olympic Torch Relay. Information was provided about the individual torch athletes. Local dealerships were also tied in to the relay route. Finally, events were held at the respective dealerships during the actual relay.
Key findings:
The campaign boosted Message Association significantly across the board
Most influenced were the in-market respondents, looking to purchase a new vehicle within seven to 12 months
Frequency played a key role in increasing Brand Awareness, Message Association, as well as Sponsorship Association (against the attribute, “Is a sponsor of the Olympic Winter Games”).
In addition to providing a synergistic amplification of offline sponsorships, there’s also the unique functionality that the Internet provides in the form of interactivity, which takes sponsorship to a whole new level.
This occurs both directly (through the ability to enter a sweepstakes or self select information from within the creative) and indirectly (by sponsoring a utility such as a stock ticker for example).
“The front page of The Wall Street Journal Online has customization options in the form of modules,” says Kilgore. “We offer sponsorship opportunities tied to these modules. For example, today you would see Brown & Company (financial services provider) sponsoring the portfolio module that appears on the front page. There are no similar sponsorships on the front page of the newspaper.”
Sponsorships work best when synergies are reached through the alignment of brand with relevant and desirable content. As both a means to help monetize this content, and in doing so, provide value back to the consumer, online sponsorships are proving to be integrated oases amid a rather bland integrated backdrop.
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