connecting people,opportunities and ideas

Welcome Sponsorship and Marketing Pros!
Welcome to our 500+ new members; our mutual community is now 3,300+ strong. To our existing members (2,800+) thank you for continuing to be a vital part of our community. SIG’s goal is to provide a free resource to keep you informed of trends, connect with peers, share ideas and find resources in Sponsorship and Marketing.  We use LinkedIn to post new articles and host discussion forums.  We also blog on a daily basis and welcome your submissions and comments.

Newsletter news: PLEASE subscribe to the blog by providing your e-mail in the bex to your left.  We are transitioning away from a newsletter information distribution model.

Please welcome our new co-managers, Claire Ritchie and Chris Hughes of the agency Sine Qua Non and  Howard Berzack who are so generously volunteering with future growth and strategic planning! Look for more great things to come!

If we are not personally connected, please invite me to join your personal LinkedIn network: www.linkedin.com/in/danbeeman

Please feel free to “friend me” and join our Facebook group (Sponsorship Insights).
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featured article…
And the survey says… SIG members are experienced, successful and smart..what else does our March 2009 survey say about us? Melinda Sigal, SIG member synthesizes our membership and lets us understand one another better..

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March’s most popular blog posts…www.sponsorshipinsights.com/blog

Who are the top 10 most influential people in our industry? Share your thoughts.

Couldn’t make it to IEG this year? Take a peek at one attendee’s take-aways.

On the job hunt?  SIG’s top 10 ways to help you hunt elephants, not rabbits.

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connecting is good for everyone!

Please remember to invite your contacts to join our LinkedIn Group-the more members, the stronger we are together.
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career opportunities…LinkedIn Groups JOB Tab
A new feature has been added: a JOBS tab. This tab designed to engage regarding opportunities available, as well as starting a conversation about your talents and availability is designed to connect job seekers with talent seekers. Check it out here.

Job Seekers – Check out SIG’s Blog
Job postings on the SIG blog page are updated through RSS feeds. Stop in daily and save yourself the time from search several sites each day.
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other blogs of interest…

Insightful thoughts on sports, sponsorship, social media and marketing from Jason Peck. Updated very regularly, great source for news and ideas.

IEG’s regularly updated blog; broad commentary and thoughts on sponsorship’s industry offers some insight and asks interesting questions.
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and the winner is….

Emily Saveraid, Sponsorship Director
of Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation won Sponsor Fulfillment Software for participating in SIG’s survey last month. Emily said “I never win anything!”

Being new to sponsorship, she enjoys SIG as “great for me to learn more from professionals in a variety of industries. I always find it interesting the different ideas that can be taken and applied for us, here at the Iowa State Fair.”
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Looking to raise your profile to our 3,500 members? If you have something to share about sponsorship, the marketplace or news we want to hear from YOU!
Every month, we feature an article here and on our blog; fresh content is always welcome.

We also have internships available + (unpaid) marketing positions. Both are great ways to increase your visibility!
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SIG Co-Managers
Special “thank you” to the following professionals who donate their time and expertise to help this group grow and thrive.

Howard Berzack, Tara D. Coomans, Chris Hughes, Brian Levine, Ara Messerlian, Greg Parsons, Claire Ritchie, Melinda Sigal and Tom Stipes.
Please feel free to connect directly with any of these professionals through LinkedIn’s Sponsorship Insights Group.
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reach thousands of sponsorship buyers, sellers, activators and agencies.
e-mail dan@sponsorshipinsights.com

SIG members receive discount with code: SIG

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Sponsorship Insights Group (SIG) is a principle-centered sponsorship agency.  We connect partnership opportunities with brands.  We connect sponsorship professionals with opportunities.  We help buyers and sellers increase efficiency and profitability.

For more information about me and our services, please click on the links below.
www.sponsorshipinsights.com
www.linkedin.com/in/danbeeman
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“Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation.
Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is
merely what others think you are.”

-John Wooden {US Basketball Coach}

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Sponsorship fulfillment made simple!

SponsorshipPRO+ is offering a special opportunity for Sponsorship Group Insight Members!
Gain control over your marketing and media assets. SponsorshipPRO+ is the first presentation software designed specifically for the sponsorship industry and is benefiting organizations of all sizes and types.
Use promo code: sponsorshipinsights when ordering OR for further details click here
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reach thousands of sponsorship buyers, sellers, activators and agencies.
e-mail dan@sponsorshipinsights.com

SIG members receive discount with code: SIG
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Smart, experienced and successful.  I will submit some actionable interpretation of this information in the coming days.  For now, here are the results of our first survey completed by group co-manager, Melinda Sigal

A BIG Thanks to Melinda for putting this all together!  If you are not a member of our LI Group , please join.  Also we always welcome your comments/suggestions/feedback.

For those of you time-challenged, we begin with the summary…

SUMMARY – WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN?
75% of our members are between 26 and 50 years old, almost 40% have 10+ years and almost 25% has 15+ years experience in sponsorships. Almost 2/3 of our membership is Managing/Director level or higher (this does not include consultants).
Most members joined for professional development, sponsorship Q&A’s and networking.
Opportunities – since 1/3 of our members have 1-5 years experience, we might think about putting together a mentoring program, and/or a program that uses the expertise of our 20% members with 15+ years experience, asking them to author articles such as “How to’s …” webinars, etc. We may even be able to put on a virtual tradeshow-type event. There are lots of different kinds of programs we can develop and we’d love to get some feedback. (more…)

This is great for helping understand Twitter – http://tweeternet.com/
Jason Peck
Highway24 Media
http://www.hwy24.com
http://www.jasonfpeck.com

I have written about a great mind in sponsorship and his site went down due to a complication with Godaddy.  Brian Gainor’s work is on a new site, please temporarily view www.PartnershipActivation.NET (not PartnershipActivation.com) while Brian Gainor (@briangainor on Twitter) resolves some domain issues. The site is still up and running!”

Brian Gainor
Partnership Activation Inc.
bgainor@partnershipactivation.net

This guest post was provided by Zach Chernes, an intern with SIG.  Nice job Zach.

While some companies are scaling back on their sponsorship spending, one company is doing the exact opposite. Travelers Inc. just signed on to extend its title deal with Connecticut’s PGA Tour event, the Travelers’ Championship, through 2014.

Travelers has actually fared well through the recession: they made $801 million in profits during last year’s fourth quarter. Their financial stability has allowed them to continue to sponsor a PGA event, which usually costs between $3 and $8 million. The ability to spend is a sign of strength in these hard times, and could potentially lead to stealing market share from other companies who choose not to spend.

More than 3,000 insurance agents, brokers and customers are expected to attend the Travelers’ Championship. That’s 3,000 more people who will see that Travelers is an aggressive player in the insurance industry. The brand awareness gained will lead to brand loyalty and retained customers – and hopefully an increased market share.

The president of Mintz & Hoke Communications in Connecticut said “Keeping your brand front and center in a downturn is vital to longer term success”.

Do you think Travelers’ expenses are misplaced and should be spent in other areas?

Or is it acceptable for them to worry about their own financial well-being?

Connectedness and Productivity is a recurring theme that seems to take on more importance everyday in every aspect of our lives.  There are many, many tentacles that flow from those core concepts, but it all comes back to those.

The more connected we are the more productive we can be.  We aren’t necessarily more productive because we are more connected, but it sure helps.  I dedicate hours everyday to provide connections for others and foster a dynamic network to interact and  hope that it helps serve my community of sponsorship and marketing professionals.  It is not a triibe (intentional typo for Seth Godin fans ), but a resource and network of good people helping one another.

If you are a member of our groups on LinkedIn or Facebook, I encourage you to participate in some interesting discussions that are occurring in our discussion forum or post a job in that forum.  If you are not a member, I encourage you to join and tell others.

As always, I welcome your feedback.

If you are not getting his e-mail newsletter, you are missing out. He is one of the great young minds in sports marketing and sponsorship. Click here to check out his site and sign up for his newsletter.

My post today is a simple request. In your mind, who are the most influential people in the sponsorship industry and why? I’d imagine the list begins with Lesa Ukman. I will tally responses and share.

I look forward to your feedback.

I’ll start by saying – Thank you Jason Peck for always bailing me out of my technology vortex of darkness. It is Saturday and I am playing with my laptop and am considering using video on the front page to make it more dynamic.  I am thinking that not many people will be reading this, so I won’t embarrass myself too badly.  Here is the copy and the video. 

What do you think?

Sponsorship Insights Group is dedicated to connecting People, Opportunities and Ideas.

We help properties generate partnerships with appropriate brands.

We host the premier online sponsorship and marketing professionals group.

We partner with IEG, Marketing Sherpa, Teamwork Online, SponsorPitch and others to provide cutting-edge information, content job opportunities and more through our integrated website and blog.

We are pleased to offer an array of services through our alliance network, social media, OOH, marketing, specialty leasing, garage revenue enhancements, concierge options and more.

Our goal is to provide all properties and marketing professionals a one-stop location to gain efficiency and effectiveness in an unfiltered objective way.

How can we help you?

It is with great pleasure that I announce two new members of the LinkedIn, Sponsorship Insights Group Leadership Team.  Chris Hughes and Claire Ritchie will be working on a strategic plan to enhance the awareness of our group and capture both traditional and non-traditional media exposure.

Please let us know if and how you would like to contribute through discussion forums, job postings, recruitment, blogging or writing guest articles in our newsletter.

SINE QUA NON INTERNATIONAL: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
•    Founded in 2001 by Claire Ritchie, Sine Qua Non creates opportunities for brands, whether for companies looking to develop revenues and relationships or for rights holder looking for exposure, we provide outstanding experiences with exceptional returns. From strategy to activation and implementation, SQN creates and manages brand connection for clients in a range of sports and other sponsorship areas which create equity and add value.
•    Our highly experienced team have held key marketing positions client and rights holder side giving us a 360° perspective enabling us to get under the skin of a brand. We make sure that projects are aligned to business objectives with a well thought out, targeted, strategic approach with measurable results that deliver a clear ROI.
•    We have a particular expertise in technology enabled sponsorships. (more…)

Our LinkedIn group is a dynamic place for connectivity for folks in our  industry.  It is what we make it so invite your associates.  I hope it is helpful for all of you who are members in being more efficient and more effective.

I pledge to add more job-related content to this forum, and our newsletters as that is what many people are looking for in this space.  (more…)