If an activation is promoted, and no fan is there to hear it, does it even exist? Well…yes…but it wouldn’t be very successful.
Marketing your activations are a HUGE part of launching a new campaign with your fan base. At SQWAD we’ve...
We have no idea what sports will look like when we get back. How will our spaces change? Will the concourse still be a bustling corridor of energy & excitement? Or will it be empty and avoided with social distancing?
The reason...
Digital scratch-off games in sports are becoming more popular. It's not surprising, because we are entering the participation age of sports sponsorships. Sponsors no longer want to just “Be Seen” by your fans.
The odd inventory that included stadium signs and scoreboard...
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...
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...
Bonus, there is an editable spreadsheet at the end to help you create your own checklist. Read through to the bottom).
Look, it’s been overstated…but you can’t operate the same way you did before the crisis.
For one thing, with the lost inventory...
At SQWAD we run a lot of digital contests with some great teams. With running those contests we’ve learned a lot in the process. And a few recurring items have popped up with the digital contests we’ve seen success with.
We broke...
The power and emotion of sports are powerful tools. Our teams have created fan bases with similar characteristics, and followings that rival some religions.
Fans want to be part of something, it is a human need that lives deep in our brains....
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...
