Monday
Sep172007
Smart Sponsorship – Finding a Cinderella for your Prince Charming
By Sonya Winterbotham
Sponsorship shouldn’t be one way traffic of your dollar sign. It’s advertising, and R.O.I. must be justified, but are you doing everything you can to make it work?
Case Study No. 2:- Anaconda - Anaconda Adventure Races.
More than 1000 potential core customers delivered to you… I’d call that a perfect match!
Anaconda adventure stores have found a match with their sponsorship of a series of adventure races… A sponsorship that’s seen the company take full ownership of the events.
Anaconda brands itself as “the adventure playground” – Australia’s largest outdoor and adventure warehouse. The Adventure races are in perfect symmetry with their brand essence.
These races are for tough outdoorsy athletes, we’re talking minimum 4 hours out on the course - swimming, paddling, bike riding, running… and it’s not pretty either – it’s rough tracks, dirt, sweat, the tough slog. It’s Anaconda. Anaconda isn’t for the pretty types… because sometimes when you’re adventurous you have to get dirty.
So the actual sponsorship part – is a no-brainer… this is synergy at its best - the glass slipper is a perfect fit. But what’s so impressive about this sponsorship – is that Anaconda could have easily taken naming rights and left it at that… but instead they’ve turned this event into outdoor advertising.
Turn up to any Anaconda adventure race and the first thing you’ll see is the Anaconda mobile climbing wall. Cool… they’ve taken the PEF (personal experience factor) from the store – yes the store has a climbing wall – and delivered this experience straight to their potential customers.
Every competitor wears an official Anaconda racing bib, complete with their racing number. At most other sporting events the cheaper option is just to supply the athlete with a cardboard race number pinned to their shirt – no room for brand colours or naming rights there, and even if there was, the cardboard gets ripped off and tossed in the bin post finish line. In contrast the bib is made to be a souvenir – a reminder of competing, a reminder of completing, and a reminder of Anaconda.
The finish line – where all the action happens is a sea of orange and black – Anaconda colours. Anaconda supply the marquees for registration, merchandise – you name it and the Anaconda flags are flying everywhere. The event co-ordinators (not Anaconda staff) are all supplied with special Anaconda “race official” shirts – more branding. And if you really want to remember the race – you can always buy some official race merchandise – yes Anaconda in conjunction with a sports clothing company design race gear specific to these events.
Then when you think you’ve got all the Anaconda you can handle there’s this guy… Anaconda Man. He’s the super hero of adventure – black tights and an orange cape… kids love him and I think a surprising number of adults just want to be him.
The point is we all know branding is a powerful thing… How big a role it plays in your sponsorship deal is up to you… You can make it as big an adventure as you choose.
Anaconda brands itself as “the adventure playground” – Australia’s largest outdoor and adventure warehouse. The Adventure races are in perfect symmetry with their brand essence.
These races are for tough outdoorsy athletes, we’re talking minimum 4 hours out on the course - swimming, paddling, bike riding, running… and it’s not pretty either – it’s rough tracks, dirt, sweat, the tough slog. It’s Anaconda. Anaconda isn’t for the pretty types… because sometimes when you’re adventurous you have to get dirty.
So the actual sponsorship part – is a no-brainer… this is synergy at its best - the glass slipper is a perfect fit. But what’s so impressive about this sponsorship – is that Anaconda could have easily taken naming rights and left it at that… but instead they’ve turned this event into outdoor advertising.
Turn up to any Anaconda adventure race and the first thing you’ll see is the Anaconda mobile climbing wall. Cool… they’ve taken the PEF (personal experience factor) from the store – yes the store has a climbing wall – and delivered this experience straight to their potential customers.
Every competitor wears an official Anaconda racing bib, complete with their racing number. At most other sporting events the cheaper option is just to supply the athlete with a cardboard race number pinned to their shirt – no room for brand colours or naming rights there, and even if there was, the cardboard gets ripped off and tossed in the bin post finish line. In contrast the bib is made to be a souvenir – a reminder of competing, a reminder of completing, and a reminder of Anaconda.
The finish line – where all the action happens is a sea of orange and black – Anaconda colours. Anaconda supply the marquees for registration, merchandise – you name it and the Anaconda flags are flying everywhere. The event co-ordinators (not Anaconda staff) are all supplied with special Anaconda “race official” shirts – more branding. And if you really want to remember the race – you can always buy some official race merchandise – yes Anaconda in conjunction with a sports clothing company design race gear specific to these events.
Then when you think you’ve got all the Anaconda you can handle there’s this guy… Anaconda Man. He’s the super hero of adventure – black tights and an orange cape… kids love him and I think a surprising number of adults just want to be him.
The point is we all know branding is a powerful thing… How big a role it plays in your sponsorship deal is up to you… You can make it as big an adventure as you choose.
PS. Did you read Smart Sponsorship - Case Study No. 1 NRMA?
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