There’s a temptation in business—especially in sports sponsorships—to believe that reach is everything. The bigger the audience, the bigger the impact. The more logos, the better. The wider the net, the more fish you’ll catch.
But more often than not, this thinking...
Look, fans like to game the system. If you get them an offer...they will try to get more than you are offering.
The usual solution: The sponsor sends you coupons and redemption codes to add to the offer.
But what if your sponsor's...
2020 was a hell-of-a year for the sports industry. One that we’d like to forget. But as we look back at it, there are some shifts that will help shape the future of the industry.
We were exposed in many ways. But...
Ghosting, Friend Zone, whatever you want to call it…sometimes after a great pitch and initial interest from a partner, we get radio silence.
This is not specific to sports & event sponsorship…this happens in ALL of sales. You will get ghosted in...
It's an unfortunate part of sales. Sometimes we think there is a fit, we have the prospect excited, then...GHOSTED. Radio silence, no answer to our emails or calls.
In sports sponsorship, it is no different. We get ghosted by prospective brands.
So how...
In an over-saturated attention market standing out is key. Sponsors have Instagram ads to grab that attention…but those are getting pretty oversaturated.
I’ve talked before about how your influence as a team can help with the over-saturation. A logo from a team...
For all the people who are going to comment with full caps about how traditional ads work and brands have been buying them forever…
You are right. Of course, they work. If they had a success rate of 0 they wouldn’t exist.
So...
There is a great quote from a 19th-century banker Nathan Rothschild that I love and keep coming back to.
“Great fortunes are made when the cannonballs are falling in the harbor, not when the violins play in the ballroom.”
In sports, cannonballs are...
In the modern sports landscape, fan attention is the ultimate currency. We’ve seen a massive shift toward "playing along" in real-time, highlighted by major leagues leaning into predictive markets and interactive second-screen experiences. Fans don’t...
More inventory doesn’t mean more value. It usually means less.
For years, sports sponsorship has operated under a quiet assumption: if revenue is the goal, inventory is the answer.
Add more signage. Create more assets. Open more...
I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about what sponsorships in sports have become...and what they were always meant to be.
Not from the perspective of inventory or impressions. Not CPMs, logo counts, or “media...
There’s a temptation in business—especially in sports sponsorships—to believe that reach is everything. The bigger the audience, the bigger the impact. The more logos, the better. The wider the net, the more fish you’ll catch.
But...
“The goal is not to fit in. The goal is to resonate.”— Rick Rubin
The Misconception of Attention
Most sponsorships start from the wrong place.
We assume the audience will care.We assume the logo is enough.We assume that...
In the world of sports sponsorships, creativity is often boxed into a role: something that belongs to the agency, the graphic designer, or the "creative team."
But what if creativity wasn’t a department—it was a mindset?
What...
In sports, perfection is often the illusion.
A perfect record. A flawless play. A pristine image on the jumbotron.
But in the realm of sponsorship, where connection matters more than control, perfection can be a liability. It...
In the high-stakes world of sports sponsorships, where millions are spent on visibility, impressions, and association, a powerful truth often gets lost: fans don't show up for brands.
They show up for the love of the...
I'm always interested in the exact definitions of the words we use. Sometimes, they can be powerful in understanding the meaning behind the everyday language we use.
The definition of the word Resolution is "a firm...
