I don’t get it.  I go to a lot of events, many in sports.  From hockey, to football, soccer (the other football), even baseball and I love racing.  But it always kills me at how much sponsorship dollars cost, how rare they are to come by, and then to see how little consumer brands do with their sponsorships.  From what I see, it should be easier to get sponsorship dollars because all the sponsors do is provide a logo and a check and they’re done.  Event sponsored.  To coin a gross and old expression, they’re leaving a lot of meat on the bone.

Let’s use a racing example.  Take a look at the 7-Eleven sponsored Indy Racing League car driven by Tony Kanaan.  7-Eleven actually has it figured out: they only pony up a modest amount of cash for their primary sponsorship and they off-load the balance to some of the larger brands they carry in-store, like Kraft.  At the recent event I was at as a guest of the IRL, Kraft had the car sponsorship for that particular event.  It was still well-branded 7-Eleven, but the car also adorned a handful of Kraft logos prominently placed.  Not cheap by any means.  I asked one of the marketing reps for the IRL who deals with sponsorships, what Kraft was doing a the event.  He replied, “What do you mean?”.  “I mean, where else is Kraft at this event,” I said. “Surely they must have some on-track advertising, or at the very least please tell me they have promo-girls working the 100,000+ crowd of Kraft-consuming consumers with samples and coupons for their new cheesy, zesty whatever.  Where’s the Kraft RV?  Hospitality tent and suite for customers?”  Nothing. Not a person.  Not a rep. Not a slice of cheese.  Just a big check for a logo on the car for one event.  Not even a representative from the brand was present.  What if Tony won?

This is such an easy yet constantly overlooked part of marketing and only a few brands really do it right. But you might be saying, “Well, we’re just a B2B medical device company.  This doesn’t really apply to us.” Really?  You sponsored your last tradeshow by attending with a big booth, 100 sales reps, 50 corporate folks, etc.  What else did you do at the event? What in-show marketing did you deploy?  What “sampling” did you do?  How did you maximize your sponsorship dollars at the event?  You didn’t, did you?  You just showed up.  Well look at this way, you’re not alone, you’re actually in good company with big brands like Kraft.  Cheese anyone?