Featured Articles

Your Stadium Connectivity Should Not Be The Reason Why You Don’t Activate Digitally.

I hear this objection a lot…” Our stadium doesn’t have wifi and connectivity is terrible. We can’t implement this or any digital activation.” I hear you. Sometimes we feel like it is beyond our control. An easy out to why we want to...

Apple will significantly affect your sponsors and how they run digital ads.

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...

Close More Deals By Selling Benefits, Not Features In Sports Sponsorship

“People want a 1/4 inch hole, not a quarter-inch drill.” This quote (paraphrased) sits in the office of Rich Franklin as a reminder that our customers want solutions toward their goals…not the features that get them there. Sometimes we forget this in sponsorship...

Top 5 ways to LOSE a sponsor

Many times, we focus on the tactic TO do to keep our sponsors as opposed to NOT to do. But understanding the landmines, we can avoid them early before there is a problem. Mostly though…we need a map in order to navigate...

In-Stadium vs. Out Of Stadium Digital Sponsorship Assets…The Value In Each

Ice cream or soup…which is better? Tough question to answer. Ice cream, on one hand, is great for hot days. It’s also sweet so it is meant for after a meal. You can eat it on a cold day in the winter…but...

How to Build the Perceived Value of Your Sponsorship Assets & Department

Value is a very interesting dynamic in economics. Why do we spend $1,000,000 for a Ferrari over $30K for a Toyota? Are the parts really 33X better? Have they built a brand that is 33X better than Toyota? In short…yes. Really, the only thing...

The Biggest Competitor to Sports & Event Sponsorship is Paid Social Ads. Here’s Why.

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...

Utilizing Text To Build A Valuable Sponsorship Asset In 2020

I’ve nibbled a bit around it before but I really think that utilizing text messaging as a sponsorship asset will be the killer move of 2020. We’ve used this tactic in ticketing and it has proven to be a valuable asset….but there...

Latest Articles

SQWAD Partnership Announcement: SQWAD’s Interactive Suite Joins Tagboard’s App Marketplace

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...

The Inventory Illusion in Sponsorships

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...

What Sponsors Should Really Be Buying in Stadiums

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...

Finding the Strike Zone Customer: The Art of Focus in Sports Partnerships

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...

Your Sponsorship Activation Needs a Pull Mechanism, or No One Will Care — And You’ll Waste Your Money

“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...

Everyone is Creative — A Mindset in Sponsorships

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...

The Imperfection in Sponsorships

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...

The Audience Isn’t the Target in Sponsorships—It’s the Compass

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...

2025 New Year’s Resoltions for the sponsorship industry

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...