Corporate Sponsorship - "Not All Fun & Games"
2 August 2005 at 1:08 pm
It’s Not All Fun and Games is the newest book from Kim Skildum-Reid, a well-known sponsorship industry leader and co-author of global industry best sellers, The Sponsor’s Toolkit and The Sponsorship Seeker’s Toolkit.
It’s Not All Fun and Games is a selection of thirty-four of Skildum-Reid’s popular columns from Australia’s Marketing magazine. Topics range from new thinking and how-to advice for some of sponsorship’s most vexing problems to an unflinching look at the industry’s biggest controversies – from cause sponsorship to ambush marketing, sponsorship measurement to curtailing “chairman’s choice”.
Skildum-Reid says these columns were written to create thinking, incite discussion, and raise the bar for the industry.
She says there are sponsors and sponsorship seekers out there who are achieving extraordinary results by using the most cutting-edge, best-practice techniques, and there is absolutely no reason why all organisations can’t do the same.
All of the columns were selected because the topic, challenge, or advice is relevant to sponsorship professionals worldwide.
She says if any clarification or context is required for overseas readers, she has added it in an “Author’s note”.
In her first column called For Arguments Sake, Skildum-Reid asks why is it that in our private lives, arguments can be agents for change, while in corporate life, arguments are so often agents for paralysis. Arguments about sponsorship can be even worse. First, because it arouses a lot of passion and opinions. Second, the clock is always ticking. Sponsorships have expiry dates and indecision equals waste.
Skildum-Reid says
On tsunami funding…
I believe that doing the right thing in a strategic way can be one of the most powerful brand and social statements a company can make. On the other hand, half-arsed, self-congratulatory, me-too-ism makes a big statement, too, and it isn’t good.
On cause sponsorship…
Sponsors tend to generalise about the effect a cause sponsorship will have on their audience. The term often used is that they will get ‘warm fuzzies’. Please – we are marketers here! If we can’t be specific about the emotion we can nurture to enhance our connection with a marketplace, it will never happen.
On “chairman’s choice” sponsorship…
Senior executives still look at the sponsorship budget as their own personal slush fund to spend on their favourite teams, causes, or other pet projects. It is almost as if they think it is part of their remuneration package – salary, stock options, company car, and company money to support personal interests.
It’s Not All Fun and Games is an e-book, in PDF-format that is 101 pages long,
It is available to purchase from Power Sponsorship – www.powersponsorship.com
A five-column sampler book is available free. If you would like a copy, please send us an email at probono@probonoaustralia.com.au
