Nick Lawson

More 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...

Trending

Your fans are the experts on how they like to consume & connect with your sponsors…not your team

I believe in constant auditing of what you’re doing. The way we keep from being complacent is to constantly challenge what we’re building, creating,...

More relationships touchpoints, less logo touchpoints in sports sponsorship

In sports sponsorship, and really all sponsorship, we get bogged down in assets. It somewhat makes sense...it is the product we sell. Our mindset sometimes...

What EVOLVE means in today’s sponsorship industry

I have such a blast rocking with Rich Franklin of the Portland Winterhawks each week on The Inches Podcast. His knowledge and experience have been...

The new era of prospecting in sponsorship comes in your social feeds

One vital thing to understand is brands are still spending dollars in this pandemic. Despite what we may hear from them about budgets being...

Better Partner Offer & Coupon tracking with the SQWAD Redemption Process

Look, fans like to game the system. If you get them an offer...they will try to get more than you are offering. The usual solution:...