Sponsorship Best Practices
By Larry Davis
I've discovered over the years that there are many tournament promoters who can run a good tournament inside the tournament room, but few who know anything at all about the kind of workings outside the tournament that can really make their event a huge success. Therefore, I've established a topic area specifically for promoters who want to learn more about how to run that significantly more successful tournament -- one that gains community support, media attention, and sponsorships -- and that as a result both enhances the image of our sport and grows the player base. Subject areas will include working with venues, local media, local sports authorities and visitors and conventions bureaus (CVBs), gaining charity involvement, and of course, getting actual sponsors for an event.
Q: Has any one got a business to sponsor a weekly or monthly event and if so how did you go about it and what kind of business did you ask.
A: To begin, there is also a great resource on the USTSF.org website -- on
the main page click on Regional/State Directors and you'll find tons of
information that may be of help, but I'd say one of the best would be the letter
I sent out to these directors on February 9th -- this document has a lot of
great ideas for putting together a successful state championship-sized
tournament, with a number of ideas that would apply to getting both local
tournament and individual sponsorships. You may find some of it can actually
translate well to weekly and/or monthly tournaments. Then I'd say bounce some
ideas off Mark Winker mwinker@netfoos.com
(who has recently agreed to serve as the National Program Director for the 2009
USTSF State Championships Program). Mark has been involved in a lot of events
big and small, and should be a great resource.
Having said that, at the very beginning I'd say find out where the tables for
your weeknight and monthly tournaments are coming from (owned by the bar/poolhall?
owned by an amusement machine route operator? what amusement distributor sold
the bar or operator their tables?). What you'll want to do is to establish a
real good working relationship with the table owner and then also the source
distributor, as you later can leverage them as sponsors or even utilize their
inventories in a deal for the additional tables needed to run larger tournaments
as you begin to grow your player base. Certainly the location owner or operator
will stand to gain increased revenues from both weeknight and larger events
(with the location owner or liquor/beverage distributors also seeing gains in
food/beverage sales). These are all your best starting points, but read the Feb
9th document for ideas on what services or other promotional aspects you might
offer to negotiate greater sponsor involvement from bar-owner to amusement
machine or liquor distributors to local sporting goods and soccer related
businesses and much more. Keep in mind, you actually have to offer potential
sponsors something of value -- more than "give me money and I'll wear your logo
on my shirt and by the way give me the shirt too."
And when you get to the point that you either help with or run a tournament of
state ch. size be sure to request help from your local Convention and Visitors
Bureaus / Sports Authorities as far in advance as you can -- in most cases it's
a marvelous and FREE resource (as described the the Feb 9 letter) that you
should definitely take advantage of.
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For those interested, I would further recommend reading the following...
Promoters/Tournament Directors:
1. Successful Fundraising and
Sponsorship (in a week), by Sue Mckoen. A deceptively simple book, but in
my view a very good one.
2. How to Get Sponsorship, by
Stuart Turner. Written for a wide variety of sponsorship seeking organizations,
including sports.
3. How to Raise Funds & Sponsorship,
by Chris McCallum. Another one for a wide variety of both sponsorships and
different types of organizations including sports.
Players/Teams (and Promoters/Events):
1. The Athlete's Guide to Sponsorship,
by Jennifer Drury and Cheri Elliott. One of the only, but nonetheless very good
books specifically for athletes. And probably just as good as the first three
for promoters, but touches on different aspects. Highly recommended for all.
The key to all the above: actually doing it...
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Okay, here's something more for you all that completely supports the topic of
"tournament promoters: best practices." The thread below is extracted from
something I posted on the Foosball Board a couple months back (in response to a
question from Matt Pettinato) that I believe is very thorough, informative and
useful to promoters, tournament directors and even players.
mattpet
Location: Watertown, MA
Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:28 am Post subject: Promotion Ideas
I am trying to think of ways to work with companies to get them to give away
products/prizes (good products) at our local foosball tournaments. In return
they can advertise and promote there product. Anyone know where I can start or
have any ideas of what I can try?
thanks,
Matt Pettinato
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vswanson
Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 3:38 pm Post subject:
Energy drinks?
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qfoos
Location: Washington, DC
Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 12:30 am Post subject: Promotions
Matt,
I was hoping someone else would start up a good response thread on this, but I
can’t stand it anymore. Vswanson at least replied, but the answer “energy
drinks?” was pretty incomplete. So, I’ll expand on that and give you some of my
best techniques, all of which I’ve tried and found successful in the past. Many
who read this board will have read or heard me discuss these same ideas
countless times over the years. But whether you’ve heard this before or not,
perhaps reading it though here, and now, will help you to think things
differently, in a whole new way…
First of all, whether you’re a player seeking individual sponsorship or a
promoter seeking tournament sponsorship, you actually have to provide potential
sponsors with something of value in return. The idea that businesses should just
give away their cash or products solely as “advertisement” or “promotion” of
their product at your tournament makes zero business sense, especially in the
current economically constrained environment. They need to gain favorable, if
not substantial return on investment. That means a whole lot more than “give me
money and I’ll wear your logo on my shirt and by the way give me the shirt too”
or “give me a car as grand prize and I’ll let you put up banners at my
tournament and by the way, be sure to send about ten supermodels to stand around
the car for three days too.” And the famous assumption that businesses can
“write it all off as an advertising expense” is false. It’s only a deduction
from gross income and as such it only reduces net taxes paid by a percentage of
the total expense deducted (about 10 to 20%), not all of it. Besides, there are
just too many sports and charities competing for advertising, promotion or
donation dollars. So you need to begin with what you have to offer a business
that may be of favorable value. There are a couple ways to approach this:
1. What most businesses want more than anything is a) publicity/exposure (read:
press coverage), and/or b) increased favorable visibility in their communities
(read: charity involvement and more press coverage). If either or both of the
above are focused on the specific target audience for their product/service
and/or can drive potential sales traffic towards their point-of-sale locations,
that’s all the better.
In most cases, your local weeknight tournaments don’t fit the bill. Leagues
usually do better in attracting sponsors in connection with sponsorship of teams
that play weekly at various locations, much like darts leagues. But where most
all of the above applies best is at State Championship and above type
tournaments. Then it actually becomes so easy I still don’t know why a whole lot
more promoters don’t do it. In fact, most of the work for tournaments of that
size can be done for you for free – all you have to do is ask. Ask who? Ask your
local Convention and Visitors Bureaus and/or Sports Authorities. It’s their job
to help you find the ideal tournament venues at little or no cost (or even get
potential venues to bid to have your event at their location). In some cases,
the CVB/SAs will themselves bid to host your event in their towns (they have
budgets specifically for that which are generated by hotel sales tax revenues).
It’s their job to ensure your host hotel provides you with comp’d rooms, a share
of concession revenues, and/or cash up front from travel agency booking fee
rebates. And it’s their job to ensure your tournament gains maximum exposure in
local media and to connect you with likely and/or interested potential sponsors
and charities. And of course charitable involvement attracts media and more
media exposure means more sponsors getting greater return on investment and more
benefit to charities, and all the while you’re gaining more favorable publicity
for your own event. It’s a symbiotic relationship that can ultimately trickle
down to your weeknight events as well in terms of increasing public awareness of
our sport and expanding your local player base.
As far as what those businesses contacted by the CVB/SAs can provide, it could
be anything from grand prizes for your tournament prize fund (ex: ATVs from
outdoor recreation stores, 3-5 day resort weekends/cruise packages from travel
agencies, gift certificates, etc) or similar prizes to be raffled off at your
tournament with all proceeds going to the charity you’ve involved. Good for the
business, good for the charity, good for the media, good for your event and good
for the sport. (Note that businesses get a different type of deduction –
sometimes more advantageous – if their products/services are donated as
charitable contributions…)
When approaching a CVB/SA, you’ll need to be prepared to talk business right
away. They’ll need to know the square footage required, estimated number of
attendees & staff, estimated number of room nights, any staging/technical
requirements, media coverage requests and more. Essentially, they’ll ask you for
a Request for Proposal (RFP) that details most all of that. Many can provide a
format for RFPs, but there’s a good template on the USTSF website (www.ustsf.org)
that already lists the key information needed for state-level and above
tournaments in the Regional and State Directors information section:
http://ustsf.foosball.com/Documents/Organization/RegionalAndStateDirectors/USTSF%20FOOS%.
There’s also a good USTSF “Foos Data Fact Sheet” on the same page of the USTSF
website that can help to inform potential individual or event sponsors or media
about our sport, and of course there’s plenty of press releases on the USTSF
website that you can use as a format for the CVB to distribute to media.
2. What many businesses alternatively want in return is services in kind. It’s
in this area the players seeking individual or team league and tour sponsorships
can succeed the easiest, but it may be used to provide a few smaller giveaways
for local tournaments as well. And it’s how most players – novice and pro alike
– found sponsorships during the 1970s T.S. Million Dollar Tour. So what do I
mean by services in kind? Well this is where you want to work with the types of
businesses that might have some connection to table soccer – coin-op
distributors, coin-op route operators or sports bars, home-model retailers;
indoor soccer arenas, pro soccer teams, soccer specialty stores, sporting goods
distributors, sporting goods stores (anyone from Sportmart to Sears), etc, etc.
What can you offer them? Mostly its about two things, a) sales-promo demos, and
b) product maintenance/repairs/reconditioning. If you’re a fairly friendly,
sociable kind of person, you can conduct sales demos and “beat the pro” demos
everywhere from coin-op distributors’ semi-annual open houses to operators’
locations (which could vary from sports bars & billiard halls to bowling allies,
student unions, video arcades and family recreation centers) and from soccer
team challenge matches to Sears sporting goods department Christmas clearance
sales. (While you’re at it, be sure to teach their staffs how to assemble tables
correctly in the first place – nothing worse than walking into Dick’s Sporting
Goods during a Christmas rush and all their display tables are set up facing the
wrong way and there’s no silicone on the rods.) Or you can, on behalf of
distributors, teach their operators how to better maintain their tables on
location to maximize revenues and/or teach them how to run leagues in their
locations. Or you can run leagues for them, or teach them to recondition their
tables for longer life (or do it for them). Or do any of these for sports bars
where tournaments are run.
In all cases, such businesses can donate tour sponsorships/package deals, promo
items (hats, shirts, stickers, keychains, misc), gift certificates, bar tabs and
much more to you or your local tournament. And I should say that here is where
vswanson’s suggestion of “energy drinks?” might fit in. That is, if you’re
running your tournament at a sports bar and say, Red Bull is sold there, you
wouldn’t go to Red Bull corporate marketing but rather, to the local distributor
that’s supplying your sports bar. Much as noted above, you can provide them with
pro demos at any or all of their area locations that have foosball (or perhaps
at area soccer or tradeshow events) and like the Red Bull Girls (or maybe
together with them .) you would simply give out t-shirts, hats, key chains,
stickers, and Red Bull samples to all challengers in exchange for sponsorships
or at least like items to give away at your local DYPs. The distributor gets a
unique promotional value in return (in addition to their banners at your
tournament, logos on fliers, and/or the press exposure you and/or the CVB can
provide in connection with your larger tournaments), while through participation
in their events you get additional exposure for the sport thanks to the
sponsor's public relations people -- and added value/giveaways for your local
tournaments.
3. A third, creative but usually very successful way to generate individual,
team or event sponsorships is to find out where the nearest large outdoor soccer
fields are and who runs them, and obtain permission to pitch a gazebo-tent and
do free field-side beat the pro demos on busy days. (You don’t have to be a pro,
just a good, likeable and articulate player who knows about the sport, the pro
tour and some of the game’s history.) Keeping in mind that every girls, boys, or
adult soccer team out on that field has sponsors, you’ll want to give away
foosball stickers, key-chains, pens, buttons, autographed balls, hats, t-shirts,
etc (some of which are available for such purposes from manufacturers or
promoters for free or at cost, or at cost plus shipping from USTSF), and make
sure everyone you play gets a chance to score at least once. (You’re not there
to beat everyone 9-0; you’re there to make sure everyone that plays you has
fun.) Dress in warm-up pants and a soccer shirt and talk up the sport of
foosball, the worldwide pro tour, youth competition, and of course your quest
for sponsors and the potential benefits to sponsors as suggested above. Hand out
copies of current and/or recent USTSF press releases and the USTSF Foos Data
Fact Sheet from the USTSF website along with a business card or something with
your contact info on it, and either show or hand out copies of DVDs (to those
most interested) that quickly show the sport in a highly professional light,
such as the one that you can download and copy for free (Flash Player required)
from:
http://ustsf.foosball.com/images/Videos/tsabana(ITSF2008PromoVideo).flv [if
desired, here is DVD
and Jewel Case
front and
back cover
art that can be used when burning a DVD to hand out].
I like doing it with outdoor soccer, but you could probably do the same type of
thing in like-minded venues such as indoor soccer arenas, bowling alleys (where
both management and customers are already league and tournament oriented),
roller rinks and more.
(Additional hint: Like you might with energy or soft drink distributors,
sometimes you can team up at such soccer fields, etc. with a local radio
station’s promotion, and they’ll provide the handouts… Radio stations can also
provide great give-aways as sponsors of your local and state tournaments –
everything from bumper stickers to concert tickets -- especially if you offer to
do “beat the pro’s” at some of their other promotions in return for their
involvement.)
The general key to success in all the above is professionalism in appearance,
approach, and presentation. Be prepared with the facts, hand-outs, contact info
and always follow up. And whenever you do get sponsorships of any kind, get
everything in writing so that everyone fully understands what’s expected of
them. Then follow up on all agreements with frequent communications, stats on
player attendance, media coverage/exposure, etc., and send personal thank you
letters (or for major sponsors, a plaque or other form of special recognition).
Be sure to do the same for your host venues and CVB/SAs and charities. A little
thanks goes a long way towards continued/future involvement.
Hope that helps just a little…
Very respectfully submitted,
Larry "That's the difference between me" Davis
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mattpet
Location: Watertown, MA
Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2009 3:12 am Post subject:
Thanks for your help qfoos. I will look into these idea's.
Matt Pettinato
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vswanson
Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 4:17 pm Post subject:
I only responded "energy drinks" as a hint to a type of sponsor foosball could
use--all of your ideas are great and I agree with everything you said. Energy
drinks to me would be a great variance from the beer-bar image foosball has
always had. And don't think just because I say this I'm against alcoholic
beverages because I am far from that. However, I've been around for awhile in
this business and saw Lee Peppard try and professionlize foosball whereby all
pros and masters had to wear collared shirts, hopefully with their sponsors'
names imprinted on them, and dress pants. The point of all of this was to make
us presentable for our sponsors including beer companies such as Budweiser. We
were encouraged to try and model ourselves along the lines of professional
golfers and tennis players. Since our tour was the Million Dollar Tour, before
the fall of TS, this was very appropriate. We made commercials, were on the
local news channels in the areas where the big tourneys were being held, we were
even on national news once that I know of. Lee Peppard had in mind the idea that
foosball could become as professional a sport as golf and tennis. His vision was
realistic in spite of TS's downfall. However, getting players to cooperate with
the dress code was difficult and I remember players being penalized because they
didn't follow the dress code and always pushing the limits trying to evade it. I
think that still happens today and the dress code is pretty much overlooked now.
I also remember that the rookies and semi-pros dressed in raggedy jeans and
sleeveless shirts, sometimes barefoot, giving the appearance of a bar sport
through and through. In order for this sport to advance to the next level, all
players need to participate in unison--just because you may have learned to play
foosball in a bar doesn't mean you need to dress that way in a tournament.
Participants in tournaments should dress professionally, speak professionally
including leaving their foul language at home, keep their tempers in check, and
always be prepared to be on TV, radio, video, or other means of advertisement.
It should be made known by tournament promoters (this is key) that play in a
sanctioned tournament is very different than playing in a bar league or
tournament, and the means to that end is advancement of this sport. I am talking
about every tournament, be it Tornado, Warrior, Bonzini, etc. Once ithe game
leaves the bar and becomes a sanctioned event, players need to conform. This is
in my opinion the only way that foosball will obtain and retain sponsors for
their sport. It is not exactly the best spectator sport anyway as it is hard to
visualize on TV every shot as you can in tennis. I especially would much rather
play in my favorite blue jeans and tank top, but remember the days when I
couldn't, with a specific purpose in mind, to better my sport. Does this make
sense? Lee Peppard believed in this in the 70's and I agree with his vision.
Professional foosball and a friendly game of foosball in a bar must be separated
and distinguishable. How was that for expanding on my comment "energy drinks"?
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qfoos
Location: Washington, DC
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 8:34 am Post subject: Promotions
Nice. We're on the same page regarding professional image (personal and for the
sport). Despite fashions that trend toward looking trashed out and/or homeless,
most sponsorship decision makers prefer the image standards set by golf, tennis,
bowling, billiards, table tennis and/or olympic organizations and their
athletes/participants. However, most tournament foosball players and even
promoters don't see sponsorship being as readily attainable as it actually is,
and thus don't see the need to present themselves or their events accordingly.
Indeed, there are many who look at foosball as rooted in bars, frats, arcades
and poolhalls, and that's okay. Hey, if you're a frat or bar player who doesn't
aspire to tour or do anything more than have fun and socialize, then dress
codes, professionalism and this entire thread are all meaningless to you -- if
that was me I know I wouldn't care. But in the example you gave of the Million
Dollar T.S. tours, there were also plenty of players who actively and
voluntarily wore team shirts, no jeans and even as rookies and novices obtained
sponsors (including me at the time). The key is that it's not the skill level
of the player or the size of the tour per se, it's what value you have to offer
the potential sponsor and how you present it. And when using a combination
of the ideas from my above post and providing professional presentation of
yourself or your event -- back then or even now -- it's actually hard not to get
sponsors on board. You just gotta do the legwork.
Who else but...
Larry Davis
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Goose S92
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 1:33 am Post subject:
Qfoos clearly has a marketing background and knows what hes talking about Matt.
Print off his post, laminate it and use it as your go to guide for promoting
through sponsorships.
Impressive Qfoos, good work sharing so much detail.
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Here's something clipped from a newsletter courtesy of the National
Association of Sports Commissions that reinforces a bit of the info I provided
above only from a little different perspective. When reading this, the "host
organization" is the Covention & Visitors Bureau, Sports Commission or Sports
Authority that you as a tournament promoter or tournament director would be
working with, and you would be the one referred to as the "event owner." Among
the things this article brings out are the additional services provided and
benefits of working with a host organization that I had left out of my
description above, such as marshalling event "volunteers, financial assistance,
transportation, signage, kick-off celebrations, team hospitality, VIP
hospitality, promotional activities and events and so on." In my view, if
you're an "event owner" and NOT taking advantage of the free services, advice
and benefits of a host organization, then you're doing a great injustice to the
total success of your tournament and its participants:
How to Work with Host Organizations
The sports event travel industry has changed greatly since the late 1980's when
there were about 30 sports commissions in the United States. Today, more than
400 communities have some level of expertise in attracting sports events. There
are about 110 sports commissions (sometimes referred to as sports authorities,
foundations, etc.) with the rest primarily convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs).
This means there are many more CVBs active in the industry (close to 300) than
there are sports commissions.
What has changed? Cities have learned that hosting sports events can be good
business. They have learned primarily by joining the National Association of
Sports Commissions (NASC), the industry's trade association. The NASC was
founded in 1992 by fifteen host organizations. The purpose was to create a forum
for the exchange of ideas on what was working and not working from the their
side of the table.
As the association started to grow, CVBs were invited to join. By the time 250
or so cities had become members, the door was also opened to event owners.
Today, about 125 event owners are in the NASC and they are contributing
expertise from the other side of the table!
Sports destinations, facilities, and host organizations have learned a great
deal about what it takes to make good, solid business decisions on the best way
to present events. It does little good for the event owner, the destination, or
the facility to make wrong decisions. How can these be avoided?
The host organization and the facility or facilities should work closely to
present a united invitation to the event owner. They need to evaluate what it
will take to be successful and make sure they can deliver before the bid. The
event owner must also look closely at each invitation to make certain the
prospective host has anticipated all of the requirements. All parties are
learning the best way to accomplish these things is through a complete exchange
of information before the final decision.
How does this work?
There is a direct relationship between the quality of information provided by
the event owner and the usefulness of the host organization's response. A
clearly articulated Request of Proposal that clearly sets forth all of the
hosting requirements permits though analysis by the host organization. We
believe the best procedure is for the owner to send the RFP to the host
organization and not to a facility or a hotel, unless the owner anticipates
handling most of the details themselves. While it is true that a significant
number of events are hosted for the owner directly by, for example, a park and
recreation department neither can know what else might be done if the host
organization was involved.
Host organizations should know how to marshal the resources of the community
behind the event. They will understand the facilities that are available, will
know where to turn to assist in or handle hotel bookings, and attend to all of
the details of the event including volunteers, financial assistance,
transportation, signage, kick-off celebrations, team hospitality, VIP
hospitality, promotional activities and events and so on. This approach will
lead to the same facilities that might have been offered by the parks department
without these additional services.
We have noticed an increase in the amount of information sharing that takes
place in the site selection process. This is a healthy development. The owner
must know all details will be handled. The host organization must realize that,
although they may be motivated by room nights the event itself is not about room
nights, it is about the competition. For the parties to get to this point,
homework is required!
It really comes down to managing the expectations of all parties.
Everyone involved in the decision process must get answers to their questions.
From the event owner's perspective it must be clear that no details will be
overlooked. The host organization/facility should balance the investment of
time, money, volunteers, etc. against the anticipated return which, for many
hosts, is visitor spending.
At the end of the day an agreement not to proceed is often the best thing that
can happen. In fact, not doing the deal and waiting for the right one to come
along can pay major dividends to all.
Don Schumacher
Executive Director
National Association of Sports Commissions
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