Whether you are a brand sponsoring a team...or a team selling inventory, we can't let our sponsors become J.A.S.
Just. Another. Sign.
We see this too much in sponsorship. Logo slap. Logo placement on every nook and cranny in the stadium.
We have absolutely...
Resolutions come with the New Year. Turning a new leaf. Starting with a blank slate.
A new beginning.
But what can we focus on in 2020 to ensure the longevity of our sponsorship assets and value?
Have no fear…Rich & Nick are here to...
Prospecting is an important part of any sales process. We can’t simply live on our current clients, we must find new ones to see how we can help them reach their marketing goals through our sponsorship.
But sometimes it is the hardest...
I’ve said it here time & time again that our biggest “competitor” for sponsorship dollars are digital ads.
The efficiency and traceability of these ad platforms really make them attractive to brands to dump their money into.
Most valuable though is these platform’s...
Not all budgets for brands are “marketing” or “sponsorship”. There is some depth there.
Understanding the dynamics of a brand’s budget (and buckets) can help you close your deals and even open up more revenue for your team.
It’s something that Rich Franklin...
I’m sitting in a sponsorship meeting just 8 months ago with a client of ours. It’s the usual Agency, Partner, & Team three sections of the table divided (At SQWAD we get brought into sponsor meetings to help answer questions so...
When you’ve made money the same way for years and years, it is of course hard to shift to something new.
A great quote I heard recently on change went something like this:
“In order for change to happen, the pain of the...
I sit here today contemplating a recent comment by a brand on their thoughts to in-stadium signage…..
“An in-stadium sign….when you think about it…is a sexy highway billboard ad…and as a brand, we don’t get excited about that.”
Even in my digital biased...
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...