Featured Articles

Words I heard today…”​In-Stadium Signage is the Sexy Equivalent to a Highway Billboard Ad”​

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...

The math behind why brands opt for digital over your traditional sponsorship assets

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...

Working through Ghosts in Sports Sponsorship Sales

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...

Competing As A “Smaller”​ Team In A Crowded Market In Sports Sponsorship

For most of the sports teams in the U.S. & Canada, we are the smaller teams. Whether a “niche” league, “minor” league, whatever it may be, there are more of us than the larger Big 5 league teams. Most of the time...

Understanding the levels to sports sponsorship and how you can close deals with it.

In sports (and really most other) advertising & sponsorship the more interaction you can build with a consumer, the more valuable our assets can be to brands. In sponsorship, there are levels of value that a single asset will hit. Almost like...

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...

Top Shifts In Sports Sponsorship For 2020 & Beyond

2020 may be one of the most vital years for sports sponsorship this century. We are in the golden age of digital marketing and advertising….all while we have been slow to adopt digital into our sponsorship assets & packages. 2020 will be a...

Are We Headed for a Sports BOOM….Then BUST?

There are cycles in almost everything in life. Nothing ever grows exponentially forever. This can be seen in nature, our economy, and countless other places in our lives. No bull market lasts forever. No Bear market does either. How you navigate those peaks...

Latest Articles

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...

2025 Sports Sponsorship Predictions

Predicting the future is a seductive pursuit, yet it’s often an exercise in navigating uncertainty with incomplete information. While patterns and data can provide a glimpse into what might be, the future is shaped by countless...