Monday, September 3, 2007

Week 9's readings

This weeks reading is from Chapter 13 – Sponsorship an Event Managements in Public relations: theory and practice / edited by Jane Johnston and Clara Zawawi. Crows Nest, N.S.W. Allen & Unwin, 2004. 2nd ed

I think the key points to remember from this week's reading are:
• Sponsorship is one of the most expensive tactics which can be chosen by an organization, but the goodwill delivered by a well chosen and managed sponsorship can be commensurately large.
• Sponsorship is the purchase of specific rights and benefits associated with an event, organization or individual
• Sponsorship generates goodwill and provides opportunities to enhance the image and reputation of the organization by association
• Sponsorship provides a focal point for sales and marketing efforts, offers product brands high visibility to potential customers and generates media coverage for the sponsoring organization

• The three types of sponsorship include:
1. Philanthropic – generally community based
2. Corporate – event not normally linked to the sponsors general business
3. Marketing – cash/goods for tangible revenue-oriented results

• Ambush marketing occurs when an company misrepresents itself as being associated with an event when it has no official, legal or moral rights to do so.
• The most common avenues for event ambushing are:
• Advertising in event publications
• Signage sales
• Sponsorship of an individual or sporting team

Successful event management includes:
• Strong commitment of all members of the organising committee
• Strong leadership
• Efficient event committee
• Effective subcommittees with clearly defined responsibilities
• Clearly defined objectives and priorities
• Strong event theme and image

In order to achieve the best media coverage:

  • a media release is to be issued about the event and sponsorship
  • media functions should be staged within the event
  • an event handbook should be distributed to the media
  • event tickets should be made available to the media
This weeks readings made me think about public relations in that this chapter really got into the core details of what is involved in either sponsoring an event or holding an event. It was very interesting and very helpful with lots of great tips. I particularly found it interesting that Many large organizations now have dedicated sponsorship pages on their websites which clearly define the steps and information to be provided to the organization on order to be considered for sponsorship. Sponsorship was used to not be a traditional for of PR and it is interesting to see how it has now grown to become a common practice with such a great demand that organisation have an entire page dedicated to it. The world of PR is really changing and growing towards the future which is very exciting for all us new aspiring practitioners.

3 comments:

cmns1290-Luke Bryan said...

Dear Monique,
Once again you've produced a flawless blog!You have an easy to follow style of writing and it summarises the readings very well.
I agree with your point that a well organised sponsorship campaign can be beneficial to a company, however it needs to be extremely well managed to achieve specific goals with the emergence of ambush marketing.As my debate topic is on this subject, my additional research has made me aware that sponsorship of events may be in danger as more companies turn to ambush marketing as a cheaper and often equally (if not moreso)successful form of exposure.
Keep up the top shelf blogging!
P.S.as usual send my regards to sam -- he will always be in my heart haha.see you when i'm debating the hell out of my topic-i'l be the guy rebutting the numerous flawed arguments of the positive team and making inrefutable points of my own!

Jessie said...

Monique I agree with your points that sponsorship is important however, I don't believe it always generates goodwill. For example when an athlete is sponsored by one company and therefore cannot compete in another companies event, this generates poor sponsorship. Or what if the person you sponsored doeas not get chosen? For example Nicole Kidman is sponsored by Dior and Katie Holmes is sponsored by Chanel(I Think)and both are vying for the cover of Vanity Fair. Whoever looses is pretty much generating poor coverage for their sponsor so sponsors have to be careful...

Lauren said...

Hi Monique, I like the point you pulled out of the readings about sponsorship generating goodwill and providing opportunity to enhance the image and reputation of an organisation. Sponsorship seems to be a two-way relationship and although a commercial organsiation may be involved for economic benefit, in a charitable situation, it is a worthy relationship because it is helping people in need. I'm thinking along these lines because our assignment and the amateur organisation which we will be representing. Good work! :)