connecting people,opportunities and ideas

Over the last few years, there have been a number of efforts by American sports leagues to take their products global. The NFL has played games in London and the MLB has ventured to Japan and the Dominican Republic. In addition, the MLS has attempted to include America in what is already the most popular worldwide sport. Another example of sport globalization has taken place in the NBA with the development of NBA China.

NBA China may be the most exciting and lucrative opportunity for the globalization of sport for a number of reasons. First, (more…)

The buzz on the blog in this space yesterday has picked up a lot of conversation and debate.  My surfing analogy remains, but I want to be sure to acknowledge the thought-leadership of what IEG has done, and continues to do, through their series of educational services and conferences.  They have brought the sponsorship community together and inspired me to become a sponsorship professional dating back to my first conference in 1988. I have attended many of their conferences and always came away with a few new contacts, friends and ideas.

While I like to think of this space as a source for valuable information relating to sponsorship and occasional pop-psychology, my intent is to be thought-provoking and provide and interesting read on many subjects – not attacking anyone or thing.   You should note that this blog and comments are unfiltered and that criticisms of my work and blog are published in this very space.  With each post, I encourage your feedback and often ask questions that may seem tough or controversial.  I do it on purpose to foster discussion and debate.

It certainly is newsworthy that IEG is entering the social media space in a big way, especially as this blog a is dedicated to commenting on social media and sponsorship and exists solely in the social media space.

I have tremendous respect for the folks at IEG and hope to Share the Wave and be acknowledged as someone who provided some early leadership in social media and sponsorship networking online though our groups/following on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, totaling more than 5,000 sponsorship professionals.

Will my efforts to build an online community now be irrelevant or redundant?  Is this an apology or an obituary for SIG?  We’ll see.  What do you think?

Today, I received the following invitation from IEG to become a part of their social media community.  I’d like to say thanks and we welcome you too!

Since it is summer and I am in California, it may be appropriate for a surfing analogy:  Welcome to our wave and please recognize those of us that have been working to maintain the beach and share in the community aspect by supporting one another.  We celebrate the love of what we do and recognize the uniqueness of what we do as not being the most mainstream (advertising vs sponsorship).  We collaborate, share success and failure while trying to get better.  We cheer for each other after a good ride and help each other out after a wipe out.  We never jump in on someone else wave if they have already taken it.

While many of the IEG staff are members of our group, to this point they have remained silent on our discussion groups, yet ours is the biggest forum on the internet for sponsorship professionals.

As you know through this blog and on my sponsorship groups LinkedIn, our coverage includes news from IEG and often praises their work .  However, the question should be asked, is this initiative of theirs to sell more products and services (advisory, valuation, conferences, SER Report, Sourcebook, Webinars etcetera) or to serve the sponsorship community objectively?  Why have they chosen not to participate in other communications online before deciding to launch their own?  Does their launch and membership of 600 or so make ours eventually obsolete?

we have done our best to lead the way online via social media and share valuable information and foster a dynamic, interactive, virtual community.  Our objective for our group is to help you enhance your career, knowledge and efficiency.  We have never charged anything for our work (and it is a lot of work!) in providing you with this group, blog postings and newsletters.  We will continue to feature their work, promote their conferences and educational programs.  The question is, will they reciprocate or even acknowledge us in their education and media?  Should we charge for advertising or subscriptions and will that compromise out objectivity?  How do we all ride the wave together in harmony?

Here is their invitation:

You’re invited to join the sponsorship conversation through IEG’s just-launched social media initiatives.

We are excited to provide our industry colleagues with (more…)

Lesa Ukman recently blogged about the importance of activating sponsorships with meaning and delivering value for the consumer.  As usual, she has her pulse on the beat of the industry.  Here is a link to the blog

Lesa’s Blog

Yikes – Remember my post the other day about sponsorship sales strategies.  Here is some news that supports and reinforces the philosophy of being the Bee!  Ya gotta give to get…

In response to an unprecedented economic situation not faced by the sponsorship industry in the past two decades, IEG is issuing the first-ever mid-year update of its annual spending forecast.

The revision projects North American companies will still spend more this year than they did in ’08, but only by a tiny margin of 1.1 percent.

That compares to 2.2 percent growth predicted in IEG’s 24th annual industry forecast issued at the end of ’08, which at the time was the smallest growth rate in the forecast’s history.

The new figure means (more…)

SIG group member, Kris Mathis has a great post on his blog that I read today and wanted to share with my readers.

Today we offer something to ponder for a moment.  This is not one of those facebook games, but a chance to reflect on the nature of our strategic approach to selling sponsorship.

Watch the Bee -pollinating flowers to help them grow, working diligently within the order of nature and producing honey as the fruits of their labor.  They work harmoniously alongside their kin, in unison on flower at a time.  Their effort is a part of a community which is based on giving back.

Look at the Lion – working alone, sleeping the day away and waiting for one big piece of meat to approach within striking distance, then stalking its’ prey, only to kill and eat and sleep it off until the next opportunity comes.

The March of Dimes makes hundreds of millions of dollars one dime at a time.  How do you make yours?

As always, I welcome your feedback,

Dan BEEman

Here’s a taste – I welcome your feedback and participation!

Dan’s Corner/Welcome note

June, 2009

Welcome to our new members! We are now up to 3,600+. Our goal is to provide you with the best, objective, free resource to keep you informed of trends, connect with peers, share ideas and find resources or jobs in the Sponsorship and Marketing realm. Please share this with your peers!

We use LinkedIn to post new articles and host discussion forums and there is a new Jobs location that we hope is filled with new positions daily. We also blog on a daily basis and welcome your guest blogs and comments. We have added a new, dedicated discussion group for Buyers and Sellers to Connect. It is called Sponsorship Marketplace and will always be a featured discussion. Please post your sponsorship opportunities ONLY there.

In this newsletter we will provide:

· A featured article from David Rachel of Pinpoint Sponsorship.

· I also want to recognize the time talent and resources of existing managers, Brian Levine, Tom Stipes, Melinda Sigal, and Greg Parsons. I’d like to welcome our new, co-managers – David Rachell, , Tom Segal, Kim Henderson and Greg Borzirelli. Each of these professionals donates their time and expertise to help this group grow and thrive. Please let us know if you’d like to contribute

· Invitation to “friend me” and join our Facebook group.

· If we are not personally connected, please invite me to join your personal LinkedIn network www.linkedin.com/in/danbeeman and I welcome followers on Twitter – www.twitter.com/danbeeman

· Membership Drive. Please help us grow by inviting your network to join our group

· Invitation for your to join us as a co-manager, intern, featured guest writer, help with marketing as a volunteer, just shoot me an e-mail: dan@aponsorshipinsights.com

Visit our blog today and register your e-mail to keep up with the latest in the sponsorship community.

Are we connected?

For more information about me and our services, please click on the links below.

Dan Beeman

Sponsorship Insights Group

SIG is a principle-centered sponsorship agency. We connect people opportunities and ideas. We connect partnership opportunities with brands. We help buyers and sellers increase efficiency and profitability.

For more information, please click on:

Sponsorship Insights Group – My business website

LinkedIn Profile – Contains detailed recommendations, work examples and more – invite me to connect

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Sponsorship Insights Group member, Guilherme Guimaraes submitted the following to our LinkedIn discussion forum

On the opening day of the Los Angeles Dodgers, one of the most traditional baseball franchises in the United States, current season, the team and its sponsor Jet Blue had a very clever idea.

In the traditional line-up announcement, instead of the players coming out of the dugout, they came out of the stands.

http://ativaesporte-eng.blogspot.com/