Here’s a sneak peek at the Sept. 10 issue of Marketing
If you think back to the way Canadians cheered on the women’s soccer team to a bronze medal at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, it is easy to understand why marketers want to sponsors events. Brands can communicate around, and even become part of, something that people are passionate about—whether it’s an amateur sports competition or a local arts festival.
It certainly helps explain the steady, year-over-year growth of the sponsorship industry in Canada, in 2011 worth almost $1.6 billion, according to the Canadian Sponsorship Landscape Study. Now in its sixth year, the study, researched by the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa, TrojanOne and IMI International, surveyed sponsors, sponsees and agencies in French and English Canada. The study illustrates an industry that hasn’t just been resilient during the economic downturn—it also reveals a shift in the approach organizations take to their sponsorship activity.
For starters, the study found sponsors have diversified their sponsorship mix, including beyond professional sporting events. They’re also using new methods to activate their sponsorships, including social media, employee marketing and PR. Increasingly, too, they’re funnelling those activation dollars through their agency partners. Here’s what’s driving the paradigm shift.
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