3 questions to ask if your sponsorship activation is struggling

If a sponsorship activation is posted, but no fan engages with it…did it really even happen?

Well, it did, mainly because you as the brand paid for it. But the return on your investment went out the door along with your chances at

We’ve all heard the term “Build it and they will come”, and how in marketing it 99% of the time couldn’t be further than the truth (sorry Kevin Costner).

Well, many times in sponsorships, we make the same mistake with our activations….especially the ones we post on our scoreboards with a QR code.

We assume that if we just put the QR code up, fans will scan & engage…but this is not the case from what we’ve seen at SQWAD.

We help more than 55 sports teams and brands across the globe turn sports fans into engaged customers through our digital activations and games. We’ve launched in stadiums, arenas, and properties of all sizes.

From these launches, we’ve found 3 main questions you can ask yourself if your digital activation took a face plant on game day with little to no participation. They are the cornerstone for helping understand what motivates fans and the mechanics around launching a successful campaign.

Let’s dive in.

1. What is the fan’s incentive/motivation to play my sponsorship activation?

This is the first thing to start with. While fans like to engage with fun experiences during breaks in your game…they rarely will do it without the chance that it will help them in return.

We see this happen a lot with activations. They launch with the idea “It will just be fun to play!”.

From our launches at SQWAD, this is rarely the case. Without a prize or return…fans rarely play or engage in a sponsorship activation.

And think about it, when we ask a fan to engage with a game we are asking them to do a multitude of tasks.

1. Pull out their phones
2. Scan that QR code
3. Enter their information and email to play

This may not seem like a ton, but in the chaos of game day…it’s a lot! Without any clear-cut incentive, the fan 99% of the time will default to not engaging with it.

So what are good incentives? We’ve really seen 2 items that will get them engaging:

Sponsorship Activation Prizes

Fans like to win things…when it comes down to it they simply want to come away with something for their effort.

If we want to get them to take the 3 steps above, we need to incentivize them with something of value. Prizes will usually do just this.

It doesn’t have to be a huge prize either. It just needs to be something of value.

With our 4th Quarter Franks activation for the Chicago Bulls, the simple prize is a free hot dog from their sponsor Portillo’s if the opposing team misses 2 consecutive free throws.

A hot dog? That doesn’t seem very valuable. What fan would take the time to win a free hot dog (even if they are the world-famous and delicious Portillo’s Franks!).

When this promotion hits, our system will send out over 100,000 hot dogs per game.

Yup, you read that right. Over 100,000 fans per season scan that QR code to get their hands on those mouth-watering glizzies.

So it doesn’t have to be a BIG prize to drive engagement. Fans will play and engage for items that are valuable to them. A hot dog, taco, oil change, etc. all bring value. Some more than others, but they bring value.

BUT, you can maximize it even further with a big prize.

After launching thousands of activations over the years, we’ve found one thing; while a big prize is great…most of the time fans don’t think they will win it and therefore won’t play.

So you may be thinking that giving away box seats will be enough to drive a huge number of entrants…and it does sometimes…we see a lot of campaigns flop due to the fact that fans calculate the odds of them being the one fan that wins and don’t play.

This is where the Prizing Triangle comes in.

Early on when we were launching activations, we found something really cool in structuring the incentives of our activations & contests.

We started noticing that the BIG prize by itself was causing fans to not believe they would win.

We also started noticing though that BIG prizes mixed with smaller ones was the perfect way to get more engagement.

But even more so, when you mix a BIG prize (say a box suite) with smaller ones (that free car wash your sponsor is looking to give away), it actually leads to more of the sponsor offers being redeemed.

You see, fans wanted to win the big prize, but when they didn’t they still went home with a prize. Feeling happy from winning, they would go redeem it.

This is the secret sauce, mixing a big prize with a smaller prize that is redeemable will not only get fans playing…but it also will push for more sponsor offer redemptions…and more sales & revenue for the partner.

Sponsorship Activation Fame

The other incentive/motivation that we saw moved the needle was Fame. Fans love to see themselves on the scoreboard, especially when showing off that they are in the top 10.

At SQWAD, if there isn’t a prize, we suggest our scoreboard leaderboard asset in the activation. With this leaderboard, fans can see on the scoreboard their names as they break the top 10.

This could be the top 10 scores of our prediction games. Or the top 10 scores of a photo scramble to show who solved in the least amount of moves.

While there was a prize here (a small one from the student store), the main motivation to scan and play was to see your name on the scoreboard for all the other fans to see.

While Prizing is the #1 motivator for fans…when you add in fame you create even more incentive for fans to play and participate.

So the first question to ask yourself if your activation just isn’t pulling in the number of fans you hoped for…”What is the incentive for fans to play? Would I play this given what I could win?”

2. When are you posting your sponsorship activation? And for how long?

So you have a good incentive/motivator to play…but are still struggling to get fans to engage with your sponsorship activation. What now?

The second biggest thing to stifle usage comes with timing in 2 aspects; timing and what we call Time on Scoreboard (TOS).

Both of these items are like the punch line to a joke. If you deliver it wrong, the joke won’t land. It is a perfect mixture of cadence and timing to really pull those laughs out.

The same goes for our activations on game day. With so many other items that can snatch away their attention, we have to nail the delivery to even get a shot at the fan wanting to play based on our incentive.

So let’s dive into the two:

The Timing of your Sponsorship Activation

Timing is all about WHEN the activation is put onto the scoreboard.

Fan migration patterns in a sports stadium are fascinating. Many times we assume that our arena is PACKED at all times of the game. That fans are in their seats…ready to take in our sponsorship messaging.

Nope. They aren’t.

Fans walk around the concourse, get food, meet up with friends, go to the shop, they snag a picture with the mascot.

This all usually happens at the times we think are perfect for posting our sponsorship activation.

So when you plan out your activation, you can’t just throw it into any break in the game. In order to really make sure fans are there to even see it, you have to take some time and find the dead times and prime times of your game day. The times when fans are in their seats, actively paying attention, and ready to engage.

From what we have found, pre-game is the roughest. Fans rarely are in their seats during pre-game. If they are…they are tuned into warmups.

But overall, the stadium is pretty empty during pre-game. Most people haven’t gotten back to their seats.

The best times usually come with TV time-outs or the end of the quarter. Those times when it’s not quite enough time to leave their seats…but enough time to run an activation.

This will differ from sport to sport…but the best way to figure this out is by paying attention at your next game (or the game that you sponsor if you are a brand.)

Find times when fans are still in their seats and ready to engage if you really want to drive participation.

Time on Scoreboard for your Sponsorship Activation

So you’ve found the perfect time in the game to place it…you’re all set right?

No. Because if you don’t give the QR code love…you won’t get it back in the form of playing.

This is by far the second biggest mistake we see when launching activations. A property will put the QR code up for maybe 5-10 seconds and wonder why no one plays.

Let’s look at the logistics of this from a fan perspective. They see the sponsorship activation promotion, see the prize that triggers them to want to play, pull out their phone, aim and zoom their camera, and then jump into the activation.

You’re talking maybe 10-15 seconds to decide they want to play. Another 5-10 seconds getting their phone out and opening the camera app (if nothing on their screen distracts them like a text), then another 4-5 seconds to zoom and scan.

Right there, we are talking around 30 seconds. And that is IF they make the decision to play quickly.

Our recommendation is that you give it at least 35 seconds on the screen. With the QR code up the WHOLE time.

Miami (OH) athletics launched our scratch & win activation for their home hockey games and gave the scoreboard image multiple one-minute & thirty seconds reads throughout the game. They gave the activation the Time on Screen love that was needed.

The result, they were able to reach over 40% of the fans in attendance to play the game.

Many times we hear “I don’t have that much time in my game to promote!”. Well, this could be the case…but if you can commit that time you can reach 40% of the stadium engaging with your brand.

If you have the promotion, but the QR code is only up for the last 10 seconds…you will miss out on a lot of people.

Will it take up a full TV timeout? Yes. Will it be worth it for the sponsor with the increase in registrants you will see? Yes.

Give your QR code love. Don’t just put it up there for 10 seconds…at that point, it isn’t worth it to run it.

3. Am I posting my sponsorship activation consistently throughout the season?

So you have the compelling incentive, you have the right timing, and are posting the QR code for long enough…but still not seeing results.

This comes with the fact that humans are creatures of habit. They like consistency. They like what they know. They many times are scared by anything new.

Our sports games are no different. Our fans have a game day cadence and form habits. They like the consistency of knowing what they will get each game day.

Does it mean they don’t like new things? No. Of course, they do.

But, what it does mean is it will take some time to warm up to that new thing and embrace it fully.

The same goes for our activations. We can’t expect there to be a one-hit success. By that I mean we shouldn’t put all our eggs into the basket that posting only one game will be enough.

If you want true success in your activations…you will need to commit to posting it for multiple games.

What is bigger than this, you have to commit to seeing dismal results at first and not panicking.

I am not saying that you should have 4 people play and not make tweaks based on what you see (watching as fans engage when it goes onto the scoreboard). I am saying that you need to commit to not scrapping the whole thing after launching just a few games.

Why? Eventually, fans get more familiar with the activation. They start to get curious after seeing it for a second or 3rd game. They start to get familiar enough with it to try it. Then they build it into their game-day habits.

We see this all the time at SQWAD. A low turnout in the first two games and people want to pull the plug. But in actuality, fans aren’t familiar enough with it to take a chance on it.

And sometimes it can take multiple seasons to really get the results you want. Below are the results of an activation launch over the first 3 years with a client.

These are new, unique sign-ups for an activation by year. In the first year, the brand sponsor wanted more from the campaign.

We knew we had to tweak a few things on the prize and timing…but our gut told us that in the first season, fans were just starting to warm up to it. We would see bigger results in year 2 once they saw it in the stadium for another season.

And that is exactly what happened. We a little more than tripled our new account sign-ups the following season with very few tweaks to the execution.

Fans were now familiar with the activation and ready to roll with it and take a chance.

So as you launch your activations, ask yourself…Am I giving it enough consistency and time with the fans to get familiar with it?

If you are just doing a one-shot, one or two-game promotion you won’t see the same results as if you commit and launch it for longer.

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So there you have it, the 3 biggest questions to ask yourself if your activation isn’t getting enough users. As you look to audit or launch your next sponsorship activation in stadiums…use these as a cornerstone to evaluate and make adjustments. The results will be night and day.

And if you’re looking to launch new and compelling digital activations to help your sponsors turn fans into customers, check out the many proven digital activations that SQWAD has launched with brands across the globe. We’d love to be a part of your next successful sponsorship.