Roaring Fork Agency Partners with Faire la Fête to Elevate Sparkling Wine Presence Across North America through Event Sponsorship and Strategic Placements

November 11, 2024

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

The Roaring Fork Agency (www.roaringforkagency.com) has announced an exciting new partnership with Faire la Fête (www.fairelafetewines.com), a French sparkling wine brand known for its rich heritage and commitment to crafting high-quality wines. Under this partnership, the Roaring Fork Agency will take on a multifaceted role, helping to manage sponsorships, marketing, and product placement efforts to enhance Faire la Fête's brand presence across North America.

This collaboration will involve the Roaring Fork Agency strategically positioning Faire la Fête within key lifestyle events, premium experiences, and exclusive gatherings, ensuring that the brand reaches a discerning audience that appreciates fine sparkling wines. By leveraging its extensive network, the agency will also seek to secure high-visibility sponsorships, aligning Faire la Fête with influential partners and venues that complement the brand’s luxurious and celebratory nature.

Through this partnership, the Roaring Fork Agency aims to align Faire la Fête with premium experiences where the brand can be showcased as the sparkling wine of choice for celebrations and refined entertainment. By targeting influential corporate events and executive gatherings, the agency will help position Faire la Fête as a go-to option for sophisticated consumers looking to enjoy sparkling wine in elegant settings.

Additionally, by tapping into high-profile sporting events such as golf and tennis tournaments, Faire la Fête will benefit from enhanced visibility and association with upscale audiences. These placements will not only reinforce the brand’s identity as a celebration-worthy beverage but also broaden its reach within elite circles, allowing it to gain traction as a preferred choice in both the corporate and leisure event spheres across North America.

If you have any questions about Faire la Fête reach out to Paul Birdwell anytime at ——> 415 730 - 4854 or paul@roaringforkagency.com

Faire la Fête - www.fairelafetewines.com

Roaring Fork Agency - www.roaringforkagency.comm

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact Paul Birdwell at the Roaring Fork Agency:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

Roaring Fork Agency and FishBait Solutions Partner with National Football Foundation to Elevate Sponsorship for National Football Foundation, William V. Campbell Trophy® and NFF Annual Awards Dinner

October 28, 2024

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

The Roaring Fork Agency (www.roaringforkagency.com) has joined forces with the National Football Foundation (NFF) (www.footbalfoundation.org) and FishBait Solutions (www.fishbaitsolutions.com) to secure high-profile sponsorships for the William V. Campbell Trophy® and the broader sponsorship needs of the National Football Foundation’s prestigious Annual Awards Dinner. The partnership is part of a concentrated effort to bring increased visibility and support to the award, which honors college football’s top scholar-athlete, as well as the NFF’s mission of promoting the lifelong benefits of amateur football. The gala, scheduled for December 10, 2024, at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, promises to attract a premier gathering of sports, business, and media influencers from across the country.

The William V. Campbell Trophy®, often referred to as the "Academic Heisman," celebrates an athlete who exemplifies excellence both on the field and in the classroom, setting a standard for leadership and character that resonates well beyond sports. Roaring Fork Agency and FishBait Solutions will play pivotal roles in identifying and securing a primary sponsor that aligns with the values of the Campbell Trophy® and appeals to a highly engaged and loyal college football fan base. The collaboration aims to enhance the impact and reach of the award, leveraging corporate partnerships to spotlight the achievements of scholar-athletes and their commitment to academic success and civic responsibility.

NFF Proudly Announces the Finalists for 2024 William C Campbell Award, October 23, 2024, National Football Foundation

Tahj Brooks, RB – Texas Tech (3.55 GPA – Sport Management)
Robert Coury, LB – Carnegie Mellon [PA] (3.97 GPA – Mechanical Engineering)
Jaxson Dart, QB – Ole Miss (3.71 GPA – Business)
Beau Freyler, DB – Iowa State (3.91 GPA – Kinesiology)
Dillon Gabriel, QB – Oregon (3.43 GPA – Multidisciplinary Studies)
Ashton Gillotte, DL – Louisville (3.69 GPA – Communications)
Brody Grebe, DE – Montana State (3.93 GPA – Mechanical Engineering)
Mark Gronowski, QB – South Dakota State (3.76 GPA – Mechanical Engineering)
Terrance Hollon, LB – Howard (3.90 GPA – Health Science)
Jack Kiser, LB – Notre Dame (3.82 GPA – Business Analytics)
Luke Lehnen, QB – North Central [IL] (3.76 GPA – Exercise Science)
Brayden Long, QB – Slippery Rock [PA] (4.00 GPA – Sport Management)
Jake Majors, C – Texas (3.65 GPA – Business Management)
Seth McLaughlin, C – Ohio State (4.00 GPA – Finance)
Jalen Milroe, QB – Alabama (3.52 GPA – Management)
Jackson Woodard, LB – UNLV (3.77 GPA – Kinesiology)

In addition to the Campbell Trophy®, the NFF's Annual Awards Dinner serves as one of the most anticipated events in the college football calendar, attracting a diverse audience of college football legends, dignitaries, and sports enthusiasts. With Roaring Fork Agency and FishBait Solutions driving sponsorship efforts, the NFF is positioned to create an exceptional experience that not only celebrates athletic excellence but also underscores the foundation’s educational mission. The partnership is expected to foster dynamic sponsorship opportunities that elevate the NFF’s reach and bring additional recognition to both the Campbell Trophy® and the Annual Awards Dinner in Las Vegas, an iconic venue renowned for hosting high-profile events.

Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell is a compelling exploration of the life and impact of William "Bill" Campbell, a former college football coach who became one of Silicon Valley’s most influential business mentors. Written by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle, all former Google executives who were coached by Campbell, the book reveals the secrets behind his unique approach to leadership, which helped shape companies like Apple, Google, and Intuit. Known for his people-first philosophy, Campbell believed that successful leadership meant fostering strong relationships, cultivating trust, and empowering teams. The book distills his lessons on empathy, teamwork, and accountability, illustrating how Campbell’s coaching contributed to the growth of companies now worth over a trillion dollars combined. His legacy shows that even in a tech-driven world, human connections remain the foundation of effective leadership and innovation.

Bill Campbell - The Trillion Dollar Coach - Timothee Tosti, LinkedIn

If you have any questions about Sponsoring the National Football Foundation reach out to Paul Birdwell anytime at ——> 415 730 - 4854 or paul@roaringforkagency.com

National Football Foundation - www.footballfoundation.org

Fishbait Solutions - www.fishbaitsolutions.com

Roaring Fork Agency - www.roaringforkagency.comm

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact Paul Birdwell at the Roaring Fork Agency:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

Luxury Meets Community: Roaring Fork Agency Partners with Haute Living San Francisco to Expand Advertising and Sponsorship Opportunities

October 15, 2024

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

The Roaring Fork Agency (www.roaringforkagency.com) has partnered with Haute Living San Francisco (www.hautelivingsf.com) to represent the prestigious magazine in selling advertising, marketing services, and sponsorship opportunities for events hosted by Haute Living SF and other organizations. This collaboration aims to tap into Roaring Fork’s deep expertise in sponsorship and brand partnerships to enhance the visibility of luxury brands in the Bay Area. Through Roaring Fork’s strategic sponsorship efforts, brands will have the opportunity to connect with the affluent audience that Haute Living SF serves, not only through print and digital platforms but also at exclusive, high-profile events that draw the city’s elite.

Haute Living San Francisco is owned and led by Olivia Hsu Decker, a well-known luxury real estate broker and influential figure in the Bay Area’s social and philanthropic circles. Decker, who owns one of the largest luxury real estate brokerages in the region (Golden Gate Sotheby's International Realty), has long been an advocate for community involvement and hosts or participates in a variety of high-end social events, often with a focus on charitable causes. Her deep connections within the San Francisco Bay Area’s social, business, and cultural spheres make Haute Living SF an ideal partner for brands looking to reach the city’s movers and shakers.

Through this partnership, Roaring Fork Agency will help secure advertising and sponsorship deals that reflect the high standards of Haute Living SF’s readership. With Decker’s extensive involvement in organizing and supporting charitable galas, luxury lifestyle events, and other cultural gatherings, the magazine provides an ideal platform for luxury brands seeking to engage directly with influential and high-net-worth individuals in the Bay Area. Roaring Fork’s role in facilitating these partnerships will ensure that sponsors can maximize their engagement and reach within this exclusive community.

By collaborating with Haute Living San Francisco, Roaring Fork aims to bring top-tier brands to the forefront of luxury events and campaigns. This involves facilitating sponsorship deals that connect companies with elite consumers through exclusive events, high-end marketing initiatives, and carefully curated advertising opportunities. These events—whether in the world of fashion, real estate, or culinary arts—are prime platforms for luxury brands to engage directly with Haute Living’s audience, while Roaring Fork Agency ensures these partnerships meet both the event hosts' and sponsors’ objectives for visibility and impact.

This collaboration marks a natural fit for both entities, as Roaring Fork’s success in delivering significant sponsorship deals dovetails perfectly with Haute Living SF standing as a leader in the luxury lifestyle space, catering to sophisticated audiences in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

Please find the 2024 Media Kit for Haute Living SF below.

If you have any questions about Advertising in Haute Living SF or Sponsoring any of the events that Haute Living SF is staging or involved with reach out to Paul Birdwell anytime at ——> 415 940 - 2180 or paul@hautelivingsf.com

Haute Living San Francisco - www.hautelivingsf.com

Haute Living - www.hauteliving.com

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact Paul Birdwell at the Roaring Fork Agency:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

Haute Living San Francisco - www.hautelivingsf.com

Haute Living - www.hauteliving.com

World Speed Motorsports Sponsorship Opportunities for 2025 Racing Season with Lamborghini Super Trofeo Racing Team

October 8, 2024

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

The Roaring Fork Agency (www.roaringforkagency.com) is excited to announce its new role in securing corporate sponsorships for World Speed Motorsports (www.worldspeed.com), headquartered at the iconic Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. As one of the premier organizations in professional racing, World Speed Motorsports competes in the highly prestigious F3, F4, and Lamborghini Super Trofeo racing series. This partnership opens the door for companies to expand their brand and presence across America and internationally by aligning with a top-tier racing organization. Sponsorship opportunities provide businesses with the chance to showcase their brand to a vast, enthusiastic motorsports audience, offering unparalleled visibility in both the U.S. and global markets.

Through this collaboration, Roaring Fork Agency is creating tailored sponsorship packages that allow companies to gain exposure through a variety of channels, including race car branding, media coverage, and on-site activations at major racing events. As World Speed Motorsports competes in some of the most exciting and competitive racing series, sponsors will benefit from high-impact visibility and association with speed, innovation, and performance. These sponsorships are ideal for businesses looking to engage with diverse and passionate audiences while building their reputation in new and dynamic markets.

In addition to brand expansion, corporate sponsorship with World Speed Motorsports offers unique opportunities for employee wellness and reward programs. Companies can use this partnership to inspire and reward their teams with access to exclusive events at World Speed Motorsports' headquarters at Sonoma Raceway. Employees can enjoy behind-the-scenes experiences, meet the drivers, and even participate in trackside activities, fostering a sense of excitement and team spirit. These immersive experiences are designed to motivate employees, boost morale, and create lasting memories that promote a culture of recognition and reward within the company.

Moreover, sponsors can entertain key clients at races across the U.S. and the world, offering them VIP access to world-class motorsports events. From luxury hospitality suites to trackside views and pit lane tours, corporate guests will enjoy the thrill of the race while networking in an exhilarating and exclusive setting. Whether at the Sonoma Raceway headquarters or at racing events across America and beyond, this sponsorship allows companies to create unforgettable client entertainment experiences, strengthen relationships, and make a lasting impression.

By partnering with Roaring Fork Agency and World Speed Motorsports, companies can achieve both internal and external growth—enhancing employee wellness and client relations while simultaneously expanding their brand's reach in the fast-paced world of motorsports.

Below is some more information about World Speed Motorsports and you can find lots more info at the WSM website – www.worldspeed.com

Founded in 1991 WSM, has supported drivers in Formula and Sports cars ever since. WSM has competed in Formula Mazda, Champ Car Atlantic, F2000, Formula Renault, Pro Formula Mazda, F4, and Porsche GT3 Cup. World Speed Alumni are in IndyCar, NASCAR, IMSA, World Challenge, and many other series around the world. World Speed Motorsports has earned a reputation as the “go to” company for drivers that demand real solutions and results. The team is capable of providing every type of service a race car, and a driver could need.

World Speed Motorsports is fueled by World Speed Incorporated

The core executive team at World Speed Incorporated has a cumulative 80 years of spec formula racing car experience both in the racing school world as well as in various pro racing series. World Speed Inc. is a complete racing eco-system that includes manufacturing, race promotions, driver training and development, and race team management.

World Speed Motorsports is focused on:

– Grooming professional racers

– Turning enthusiasts into race car drivers

– Securing and promoting racing events

– Designing, manufacturing, supporting, maintaining, and supplying all the things necessary for race cars and drivers

World Speed Motorsports Mission Statement & Core Values:

– To do the right thing in all things.

– To fulfill the visceral love people have for speed, competition, and technology.

– To be the best run and operating business in the racing world.

– To have a positive effect on the world that we live and work in.

The racing team branch of the corporation, World Speed Motorsports, has been victorious in Formula Atlantic, Formula Mazda, FormulaSPEED, Open Class Formula S, Prototypes, Pro Formula Mazda, F4, and Formula Renault.

World Speed Racing Is A Leader in Diversity and Inclusion

In addition to being one of the winningest racing teams in racing world, World Speed Racing, located in Sonoma, California, is a champion of diversity, both within its organization and the broader racing world. The team actively recruits talent from all walks of life, ensuring its racing teams and drivers reflect the rich diversity of the community. World Speed Racing empowers individuals of different backgrounds by providing equal opportunities for drivers, engineers, and staff, fostering a culture of inclusion at every level. Through partnerships, scholarships, and outreach programs, the organization is dedicated to breaking down barriers in motorsports, helping underrepresented groups not only find a place within the racing world but also thrive as leaders and innovators on the global stage.

World Speed’s Commitment to Diversity Continues to Drive Progress in 2024

Lyn St. James Tests at Sonoma Raceway with World Speed Motorsports

World Speed Motorsports - www.worldspeed.com

The Roaring Fork Agency has put together a number of different Sponsorship Packages for World Speed Motorsports which we can tailor to any company or situation dependent upon what the Sponsoring Company is looking to achieve with its Partnership and Investment with WSM. Some example of the Sponsorship Opportunities that the Roaring Fork Agency is now offering for WSM are below >

2025 Sponsorship of WSM Super Trofeo Lamborghini Racing Team for All Events and Races (see 2025 Racing Schedule below)

Sponsorship Benefits extend way beyond Branding Company Branding on the Race Team across the entire World Speed Motorsports organization and media assets include primary Company + Logo as Primary Sponsor of Lamborghini racing team for the 2025 Season

PLATINUM PARTNERSHIP - PRIMARY RACE CAR TEAM Sponsor of Lamborghini Super Trofeo Car for 2025 Season

$400,000 + $100,000 estimated Activation for Full Season of Races

Fun: Six VIP Tickets at every event (36 total) Value if you could purchase (you can’t) is $36,000. Each VIP receives event General Admission, VIP Lamborghini program, all weekend hospitality, team access, garage tours, Lamborghini rides, etc.

Activation: Track Days behind the wheel, company headquarter visits, race simulator contests, employee rewards, customer experiences, event tour guides, race cars for trade show displays, race shop tours, and national contests would be developed using the activation funding. To best develop that plan, World Speed would need to know what the company’s overall marketing goals and targets might be. There are lots of very cool ways to activate this!

Signage: Your company's logo will be featured on the majority of both sides of the racing car, the driver’s suit, and the team’s transporter. The transporter travels thousands of miles across the country each year. The races are broadcast (and re-broadcast) across a variety of channels. Your logo and company will be getting a lot of exposure.

Media Mentions: Your company would get mentions on the World Speed website, press releases, and all social channels. WSM would work with your marketing team on messaging and graphics that make the most sense for your objectives. The car would be referred to as the World Speed / Brand X Lamborghini in press and live footage. would work with your marketing team on messaging and graphics that make the most sense for your objectives.

GOLD PARTNERSHIP

$125,000

Fun: Six VIP Tickets at every event (36 total) Value if you could purchase (you can’t) is $36,000. Each VIP receives an event General Admission, VIP Lamborghini program, all weekend hospitality, team access, garage tours, Lamborghini rides, etc.

Signage: Your company's logo will be featured on the hood of the racing car, the driver’s suit, and the team’s transporter. The transporter travels thousands of miles across the country each year. The races are broadcast (and re-broadcast) across a variety of channels. Your logo and company will be getting a lot of exposure.

SILVER PARTNERSHIP

$50,000

Fun: Three VIP Tickets at every event (18 total) Value if you could purchase (you can’t) is $18,000. Each VIP receives an event General Admission, VIP Lamborghini program, all weekend hospitality, team access.

Signage: Your company's logo will be featured on the lower rear wing of the racing car, the driver’s suit, and the team’s transporter. The transporter travels thousands of miles across the country each year. The races are broadcast (and re-broadcast) across a variety of channels.

Media Mentions: Your company would get mentions on the World Speed website, press releases, and all social channels. WSM would work with your marketing team on messaging and graphics that make the most sense for your objectives.

BRONZE PARTNERSHIP

$30,000

Fun: Two VIP Tickets at every event (12 total) Value if you could purchase (you can’t) is $12,000. Each VIP receives an event General Admission, VIP Lamborghini program, all weekend hospitality, team access.

Signage: Your company's logo will be featured on the car (bumper sticker size - both sides) The races are broadcast (and re-broadcast) across a variety of channels.

Media Mentions: Your company would get mentions on the World Speed website, press releases, and all social channels. WSM would work with your marketing team on messaging and graphics that make the most sense for your objectives.

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact Paul Birdwell at the Roaring Fork Agency:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

The Club Lounge at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in the Harvey Milk International Terminal Naming Rights Opportunity

October 1, 2024

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

The Roaring Fork Agency (www.roaringforkagency.com) has partnered with Airport Experiences (www.airportdimensions.com) to secure a new naming rights sponsor for The Club Lounge at San Francisco International Airport's Harvey Milk Terminal. Located in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area, this premium lounge offers a unique opportunity for brands seeking extensive exposure to a diverse and influential audience. The Roaring Fork Agency is using its expertise in building high-profile partnerships to identify a sponsor that aligns with the lounge's luxurious offerings and its prime location within one of the busiest airports in the world.

The Harvey Milk Terminal, a symbol of progress and inclusivity, serves millions of travelers annually. With San Francisco being a gateway to Silicon Valley and a global hub for business, technology, and tourism, SFO attracts a wide range of passengers, from business executives to international tourists. The new The Club Lounge, designed for travelers seeking comfort, productivity, and relaxation, provides high-end amenities such as gourmet dining, private workspaces, and quiet areas for relaxation. Securing the naming rights to this lounge allows a company to connect with a global audience and directly engage with affluent, tech-savvy, and influential travelers who frequent the Bay Area.

For a company looking to drive wide exposure, taking on the naming rights to The Club Lounge at SFO’s Harvey Milk Terminal is a strategic move. The lounge offers an exclusive, luxurious experience, and by associating its name with this premium service, the sponsor will benefit from constant visibility in a high-traffic environment. This partnership not only provides brand exposure to millions of passengers but also strengthens the company’s image by aligning it with excellence, innovation, and inclusivity. The opportunity to showcase a brand in such a prestigious, high-profile setting ensures lasting recognition and association with a key destination in one of the most influential regions in the world.

Key Highlights of The Club Lounge at SFO >

High-End Audience Executives, Decision-Makers, Influencers with 60+ Minutes Dwell Time
Lounge located in first airport terminal with LEED Platinum Certification
Upcoming Huge Audience of Travelers to Big Sporting Events >
2026 Super Bowl
2026 World Cup Soccer
2028 PGA Championship Golf Tournament
2028 US Olympic Games in Los Angeles and lots travelers to Olympics fly through SFO
Already Nominated for Best Independent Lounge 2024 by the Business Traveller Awards

Key Demographics of San Francisco Bay Area and SFO >

San Francisco Population 3M+ and SF Bay Area 7M+
San Francisco 5th Most Popular Tourist Destination in America
SF Bay Area Highest Per Household Earnings in America
Home to Silicon Valley and 2,000+ Cutting Edge Technology Companies
SFO 127,000+ Passengers Per Day
SFO 58M+ Passengers Per Year
SFO 7th Busiest Airport in America
SFO is Major Gateway to Europe, South America, Middle East, Asia + Oceana
SFO has 53 Major Domestic and International Airlines

The Roaring Fork Agency is also working with Airport Experiences to secure sponsors and product placement opportunities for The Club Lounge at San Francisco International Airport’s Harvey Milk Terminal. This partnership aims to enhance the premium traveler experience within the lounge while providing brands with high visibility in one of the busiest airports in the world. With its expertise in forging strategic partnerships, Roaring Fork is working to identify sponsors and products that align with The Club's luxurious atmosphere, offering travelers top-tier amenities such as gourmet dining, relaxation spaces, and business services. Brands that participate in sponsorships or product placements at The Club will benefit from exposure to a diverse and influential audience, including business professionals, tech leaders, and international tourists passing through the San Francisco Bay Area, positioning their products and services in a prestigious and high-traffic environment.

The Club Lounge at SFO - www.theclubairportlounges.com/products/the-club-sfo

Airport Dimensions Launches The Club at SFO - www.airportxnews.com/airport-dimensions-launches-the-club-at-sfo/

Airport Dimensions Extends The Club Network to San Francisco International Airport - www.moodiedavittreport.com/airport-dimensions-extends-the-club-network-with-new-san-francisco-international-airport-lounge/

The Partnership Offer >

Please see The Club Lounge at the Harvey Milk Terminal at San Francisco International Airport Presentation below and if you have any questions reach out to Paul Birdwell anytime in the following ways >

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

The Roaring Fork Agency - www.roaringforkagency.com

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

Professional Golf Sponsorship Marches On as PGA Tour and LIV Tours Continue to Negotiate

July 20, 2024

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

With the PGA Tour and LIV Golf Tours still talking about finding a way to merge their two tours a year after an agreement to call off their dueling lawsuits was announced in the Summer of 2023, professional golf is still rolling along and having some success with sponsorship with still one of the best demos in all of sports.

Some recent sponsorship wins for professional golf tournaments:

Amundi extends Evian Championships title sponsorship until 2030, Sports Pro Media

BMW takes the wheel as title sponsor of Australia’s prestigious PGA Championship, Sports Mint

Deere & Company celebrates 25th year as title sponsor of John Deere Classic, PGA Tour

Dick’s Sporting Goods, PGA Tour Champions announce five-year title sponsorship extension, PGA Champions Tour

PGA Tour inks new sponsorship deal for Kentucky event held in July, SB Nation

That’s the Good News, and there’s plenty of it, but there’s also the pleas from sponsors and events for the PGA Tour to figure out where the future of professional golf is going and really for someone to get the PGA Tour and LIV Tours back together, because a fragmented tour with LIV having a dozen or so of the biggest names in the golf world playing on its tour means those players are not playing in PGA Tour events. Here’s a few stories of that dynamic playing out in the public for all the world to see:

RBC’s Sponsorship of Canadian Open uncertain as Tour-PIF negotiations continue, Golf Channel

Two-tournament sponsor RBC has a direct message for the PGA Tour: Figure it out, Score Golf

“The PGA Tour is in danger of losing a long-standing partner with RBC steadfast in its desire to see changes before the bank signs any more long-term deals.

RBC paid the PGA Tour a reported $25 million to be the title sponsor for this year’s RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island, S.C., and the upcoming RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf and Country Club.

Mary DePaoli, the bank’s executive vice-president and chief marketing officer, helped negotiate one-year extensions for both tournaments last August, hopeful but guarded that the fractured state of men’s professional golf would be on the mend or at least the worst of the mess cleaned up.

Nine months later, once smoldering embers of disruption are a four-alarm dumpster fire.

PGA Tour television viewership is down, golf fans are fed up with talk of money, the PGA Tour versus LIV Golf narrative is headache-inducing, stars are showing up less, commercials are showing up more and the tour policy board is a soap opera.

On Monday, DePaoli addressed the current state of men’s professional golf at RBC Canadian Open media day. She did so with diplomacy but pulled no punches. With RBC the title sponsor of two PGA Tour events, she is in position to do so.

“We’re all experiencing some frustration, whether we’re a sponsor or a fan or the players,” she said while seated next to Golf Canada chief executive Laurence Applebaum and RBC Canadian Open tournament chairman Bryan Crawford. “We are all watching the PGA Tour right now trying to sort through a business model that has been under some significant strain and has still not fully resolved itself and that’s still TBD (to be determined). It’s required a lot of patience from the players and it’s required a lot of patience from sponsors and fans.”

With the PGA Tour just out this week with their 2024 Fall Schedule…

PGA Tour set to release fall schedule, with Fortinet dropping off as title on Napa event, Sports Business Journal

….getting a deal done with the LIV Tour has never been more important, especially with events like the Napa Valley Championship at the Silverado Resort now looking for a new title sponsor which is in the “$11M - $13M range annually which is a significant chunk of change for a company to commit to when they don’t know what the PGA Tour and LIV Tours either separate or together will look like in the future.

Regardless of whether the PGA Tour and LIV Tours are able to come up with an agreement to merge or if they will go their separate ways again, there’s no arguing about the incredible demo that watches professional golf as detailed in this Tegna report from earlier this year:

The Benefits of Marketing with the PGA Tour, Tegna

“The Benefits of Advertising on the PGA Tour

Sports advertising has plenty of benefits, and advertising on the PGA Tour offers numerous benefits for businesses looking to reach a specific demographic and enhance their brand visibility.

1. Live Television Audiences are Highly Engaged

Sports fans are highly engaged during live broadcast events, as they invest emotionally in the outcome of the game or event. This captive audience gives advertisers a prime opportunity to deliver their message to a receptive audience that is less likely to change the channel or skip commercials. That’s because these viewers know that sports and commercials are like teammates. Commercials are part of the live-viewing experience and are the topic of social discussion.

Commercials aired during live appointment TV broadcast events not only have the potential to leave a lasting impression on viewers due to the heightened emotional engagement and excitement surrounding the event but also allow advertisers to tailor messaging to appeal to the target audience. This strategy will ensure the message resonates with the right viewers and maximize the effectiveness of advertising efforts.

In addition to traditional commercial spots, live broadcast events often offer sponsorship opportunities, such as TEGNA’s Sports Report, that give brands greater visibility and integration into the event.

2. A Brand-Loyal Audience That LOVES Golf

The audience of the PGA Tour doesn’t merely have an affinity for golf; they are passionate enthusiasts who watch and play the game they love. According to the PGA Tour’s website, this audience:

75% more likely to have played golf in the last six months

55% more likely to have been a spectator at a golf event

137% more likely to have taken a golf vacation in the previous 12 months

9% more likely to describe themselves as “brand loyal”

The relentless dedication and emotional bond that golf enthusiasts share with the sport’s culture and traditions form a solid foundation for brand loyalty. Corporate sponsorships and brand endorsements have long been intertwined with golf tournaments and events, leading fans to actively engage with these brands and develop a sense of trust and familiarity over time.

While 55% of the PGA Tour’s audience is aged 55+, the younger audience is growing. This younger audience, particularly millennials, wants to do business with and buy from brands that share their values and commitment to the community. The PGA’s audience aligns with the sport’s core values of integrity, honor, and respect. Brands with similar values can easily tap into this mindset and forge a genuine connection surpassing transactional relationships.

3. Reach an Educated Demographic with High Buying Power

Reaching the PGA Tour’s target audience could be a hole-in-one for brands looking to market to an affluent audience. Insights speaking to this audience’s affluence and buying power include:

231% more likely to spend $200,000 every year

87% have a household income of $150k+

76% more likely to own a second home

30% are more likely to have a bachelor’s degree

21+% have a postgraduate degree

16% are more likely to donate to a non-profit

12% more likely to be part of the C-suite

H3: 4. Build Trust with Your Audience Through the Halo Effect

It’s no secret that trust drives growth, leading to increased sales, advocacy, and loyalty. The 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer uncovered several valuable insights for brands looking to increase customer trust.

71% say it’s more important to trust brands they use than in the past

67% stay loyal and recommend/advocate for a trusted brand despite a mistake

59% are more likely to buy new products from a trusted brand despite the price tag”

That’s a WOW with a Capital W and if your company would like to reach the Awesome Demo that watches professional golf or would like to talk with the Roaring Fork Agency about the 100+ other events, sporting and otherwise, that RFA represents across America don’t hesitate to reach out to us anytime for a fast and free consultation on all things sponsorship…and beyond if interested!

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

NASCAR Goes With Fictional TV Program Starring Kevin James To Try and Drive More Fans To US Stock Car Racing

February 13, 2021

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

As America slowly comes out of the Corona Virus Pandemic it has never been more self-evident that event properties have to become more innovative in doing Sponsorship, Marketing, and Public Relations and NASCAR has come up with an unique way to showcase their sport with a fictional TV program based around a NASCAR sports team starring Kevin James of King of Queens TV show fame.

NASCAR looks to expand reach, engage fans with Netflix sitcom “The Crew”, Bob Williams, Sports Business

“US stock car racing series Nascar is looking to engage its fanbase, attract new supporters, and extend relationships with commercial partners via its upcoming Netflix sitcom The Crew.

Created and developed by Nascar’s in-house entertainment division, The Crew stars US sitcom veteran Kevin James as the crew chief for the fictional Bobby Spencer Racing team.

When the owner steps down and passes the failing team off to his millennial daughter, James’s old-school character is at odds with her attempts to modernize the team and improve its fortunes.

The sitcom features a wealth of Nascar intellectual property, including multiple sponsorship logos, footage of Bobby Spencer Racing’s No. 74 car from a real Nascar Cup Series race, and guest appearances from three Nascar drivers – Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon and Cole Custer – as well as Fox Sports pit reporter Jamie Little, who plays herself in an episode.

The 10-episode series debuts on Netflix on February 15, the day after the season-opening Daytona 500.

Nascar’s managing director of entertainment marketing Matt Summers and chief digital officer Tim Clark served as executive producers on The Crew, while Jeff Lowell (The Ranch, Two and a Half Men, Spin City) was its writer, showrunner and executive producer.

The creation of a scripted sitcom represents Nascar’s latest effort to remain relevant and attract a new and younger audience, which has been aided by a significantly revamped schedule for the 2021 season, a meaningful move into the sports betting space, and the likes of global stars Pitbull and Michael Jordan recently becoming team owners.

It also follows the 2006 Nascar-themed comedy movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, starring Will Ferrell, which is widely credited with helping popularize the motorsport series.”

This is a brilliant move by NASCAR to try and engage with potential fans of the sports with a well-known TV star Kevin James which will air for the first time on Netflix the day after the season opening race, the Daytona 500, which is on Sunday followed “The Crew” on Monday. NASCAR has struggled in recent years with both fan attendance and TV ratings and it will be fascinating to see if “The Crew” TV show can drive more people to the sport, and if it works be assured other events and sports will be giving this concept a go too!

Here at The Roaring Fork Agency we understand that events and companies need to find new and innovative ways to reach consumers in this Uber-fragmented world and we stand ready to help you drive your brand and company forward so give us a call!

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

2021 Daytona 500

Bubba Wallace Needed NASCAR Help. Michael Jordan Took it Personally, Jonathan Abraham, New York Times

Daytona 500 expecting largest US sporting attendance since onset of Covid-19 pandemic, Bob Williams, Sport Business

Dale Earnhardt’s death at Daytona 500: Revisiting the day of the crash, Ryan McGee, ESPN.com

Event Sponsorship + Experiential Marketing = The Best Way To Reach Consumers Directly

January 17, 2019

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

For a few decades now Event Sponsorship has been a way for companies and brands to directly reach consumers in places where consumers are actually at, such as at football games, racetracks, running events, musical concerts, etc., but in today’s world with consumers immersed in digital media most of their waking hours and traditional advertising not having the power to move consumers the way it has in the past, a new kind and very effective marketing approach is becoming one of the few ways to reach consumers directly.

Experiential Marketing is that new very effective marketing approach and is defined Molly Galetto at NG Data in the following way:

What is Experiential Marketing? Best Practices, Examples, and More, Molly Galetto, NG DATA

“An advertising strategy that focuses on helping consumers experience a brand, experiential marketing veers off course from traditional strategies that broadcast brand and product benefits to a wide audience. Also referred to as engagement marketing, experiential marketing may be comprised of a variety of marketing strategies geared toward immersing customers within the product by engaging them in as many ways as possible. Ultimately, companies utilizing this strategy want to help customers form memorable, emotional connections with a brand to foster customer loyalty and improve customer lifetime value (CLV).”

Event Sponsorship is no longer just a Sponsorship with companies hoping they connect with consumers by having their brand plastered all over events, but rather Event Sponsorship + Experiential Marketing at the site of the event that is used to both deepen relationships with consumers and to give them a personal experience they could never get through a digital device may just be the very best way to drive sales and expand market share.

Citi has been a leader in sponsorship of events for years and they have become experts at executing Experiential Marketing campaigns at the events they sponsor and recently Brand Channel sat down with Citi Global Consumer CMO Jennifer Breithaupt to discuss Citi’s experience strategies:

The Value of Experience: 5 Questions With Citi Global Consumer CMO Jennifer Breithaupt, Brand Channel

“Brand Channel talked with Breithaupt about Citi’s approach to experiential marketing and how it works for the brand.

Why does the experiential approach hold so much power for Citi?

Citi Jennifer Breithaupt

Experiential marketing is a key component of our overall marketing strategy. For us as a brand at Citi, it allows us to bring the brand to life and connect with consumers on a deeper and much more emotional level. It’s one of our more strategic approaches to connecting with consumers. We’re proud of our unique connection as an emotive brand, and it is a great differentiator for us in our category.

How are you leveraging it to engage with customers in a deeper and more meaningful way.?

We have obviously millions of customers around the world to reach and connect with. Our music platform is rather large—we work with more than 1,500 artists a year and 6,500 events. And our consumer entertainment platform as a whole is the largest of any brand. That’s an instrumental platform enabling us to establish deeper connections and enhanced loyalty with customers.”

“Bringing the brand to life” is what Event Sponsorship + Experiential Marketing is all about and Citi has shown that being omnipresent at events, particularly musical events, is a great way for Citi to directly reach consumers which helps to build deep and long lasting relationships which are fundamental to expanding consumer market share.

Canadian Monica Gomez who created The Concierge Club, a luxury premium event and staffing company, gets right to the point of the great value of Event Sponsorship + Experiential Marketing to reach consumers that often relish a break from their digital lives and are more than happy to embrace companies and brands that add value to their life while they are outside their normal comfort zone at a live event:

The Key To Pulling Off A Successful Activation In 2019, Monica Gomez, Ad Age

“In a world overflowing with distraction and diluted with competition, it's becoming harder and harder for businesses to connect with customers online. Today more than ever, brands need to step outside the digital box and find fresh ways to surprise and delight consumers in real, authentic ways. Experiential marketing has been climbing to the top of the brand-world totem pole for a few years now and shows no signs of slowing down. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the event industry will grow by 44 percent from 2010 until 2020, and for good reason: 98 percent of consumers say they're more likely to buy a product after attending an activation. Whether a company lives online, in brick-and-mortar or somewhere in between, in-person events carry the potential to leave a lasting impression on customers, whose attention has become a true commodity. But it's not just about throwing a great party anymore. If businesses want to bond with their audience in a genuine way, they have to solve a problem and provide real value that customers can take home.”

The “98 percent of consumers say they’re more likely to buy a product after attending an activation” is a stunning number that should get the attention of marketing executives at companies that are always interested in reaching out to consumers directly which they hope will then turn into sales for their company’s products and services. Event Sponsorship + Experiential Marketing is now an incredibly effective path to reach consumers and at events companies need to go beyond just having their name and brand everywhere for people to see, but they must also build interactive, friendly, engaging, and memorable activities at those events that create the deep relationships with consumers that will lead to long-term customers.

The Roaring Fork Agency works with over 100+ events across America every year to help them find corporate sponsorship that create opportunities for companies to put together an Event Sponsorship + Experiential Marketing relationship with those events to reach consumers directly in places where consumers are happy to hear from real human beings, i.e. not a digital ad of some kind, that can help improve their lives.

One of the event companies we work with at the Roaring Fork Agency is Miramar Events in the San Francisco Bay area that for decades now under the leadership of company owner Tim Beeman has put on some of the most innovative, interesting, and consumer-friendly events on the West Coast.

The 8 events that Miramar Events is putting on in 2019 are:

PACIFIC COAST DREAM MACHINES SHOW

"The Coolest Show On Earth"

(29th annual) Half Moon Bay, California

WHEN: April 28, 2019, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

SILICON VALLEY A LA CARTE & ART FESTIVAL

"Spring Into Festival Season"

(23rd annual) Mountain View, California

WHEN: May 4-5, 2019, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

OL' FASHIONED 4TH OF JULY PARADE

(49th Annual) Half Moon Bay, California

WHEN: July 4, 2019, Parade starts at 12 noon and lasts approximately 90 minutes.

MENLO SUMMER FEST

"Hot Fun In The Summertime"

Menlo Park, California

WHEN: July 20-21, 2019, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

MILLBRAE ART & WINE FESTIVAL

"Last Blast Of Summer"

(49th annual) Millbrae, California

WHEN: August 31 - September 1, 2019, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. (always Labor Day weekend)

MOUNTAIN VIEW ART & WINE FESTIVAL

"A Festival Like No Other"

(48th annual) Mountain View, California

WHEN: September 7-8, 2019, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Sunday

SAFEWAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PUMPKIN WEIGH-OFF

"World Heavyweight Championship of Gargantuan Gourds"

(46th annual) Half Moon Bay, California

WHEN: October 14, 2019, 7 a.m. - 11 a.m. (always on Columbus Day)

HALF MOON BAY ART & PUMPKIN FESTIVAL

"World Pumpkin Capital Celebrates The Great Gourd"

(49th annual) Half Moon Bay, California

WHEN: October 19-20, 2019, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. (always weekend after Columbus Day)

There are of course Sponsorship Opportunities available at all of the above 2019 Miramar Events, but to really reach consumers Event Sponsorship needs to be combined with a clear strategy of Experiential Marketing to really make your marketing dollars payoff and the Roaring Fork Agency can put your company’s brand, products and/or services on the ground in front of happy and engaged consumers at these Miramar Events or at over 100+ other events around America.

Event Sponsorship + Experiential Marketing is going to be one of the last places that companies will able to meet and engage with consumers directly as the world continues to evolve deeper into a digital reality, and the Roaring Fork Agency stands ready to promote your company at the above Miramar Events or another 100+ events across America in 2019 and beyond.

Just give us a call!

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

Launching A Global Brand Sponsorship Campaign With A Limited Budget - Target and Measure and Measure Some More!

December 27, 2018

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

We here at the Roaring Fork Agency have been talking recently with an established middle-sized but fast-growing American company about launching a worldwide global brand sponsorship campaign with the challenge being this company would like to expand its reach into new markets around the world without spending a whole lot of money = under 5 million dollars total.

Event sponsorship is an efficient way to introduce a company brand into new markets because unlike digital advertising which is easy to execute but can be hit and miss with a lot of fraud to boot and thus can be a major drain on company marketing dollars…see the latest on this problem in New York Magazine….

How Much of the Internet Is Fake? Turns Out, a Lot of It, Actually, Max Reed, New York Magazine

…a company can be assured that if it sponsors “X event” in “Y market” it will get “Z number” of people that will see its company brand that will not just be a guess based on faulty and often pulled from the sky data like with digital advertising.

The Forbes Agency Council recently asked marketing experts how a company could go about launching a global brand sponsorship campaign and came up with some great advice that we are going to add to our approaches to doing sponsorship campaigns in America and around the world especially for a company like our client focused on really getting the most bang for their buck!

Thinking About A Global Brand Sponsorship? Here Are Five Important Considerations, Forbes Agency Council

1. Prioritize Goals and Recognizing Your Audience

2. Find Alignment With Your Beliefs and Image

3. Find Someone Who’s Passionate About Where You’re Headed

4. Clarify The Value You Bring To Your Partner

5. Consider The Long-Term Impact

We would add to the above Five Considerations the importance of…

6. Having A Plan In Place In Each Market To Maximize the Value of the Sponsorship

7. Measuring the Bottom-Line Value of the Sponsorship by Tracking Sales After the Event

As the late great David Ogilvy, legendary advertising man and founder of the ad agency Ogilvy & Mather, said when it comes to whether advertising is creative or not which we always have uppermost in our minds….

“If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”

….the focus at the Roaring Fork Agency when executing sponsorship plans for our clients is to emphasize on getting the company’s brand and offerings into the targeted marketplace in front of the right potential customers so that it leads to increased sales of the company’s products and/or services.

With the above in mind, one of the things we talk to clients about all the time is their specific goals for not only a proposed sponsorship campaign but also whether the goals of the marketing department within the company are FAST.

What is FAST exactly when it comes to setting goals you ask?

FAST is an acronym for an approach to setting and achieving goals that focus on four critical things:

F = Frequently Discussed

A = Ambitious

S = Specific

T = Transparent

The MIT Sloan Management Review wrote an article this past Summer that spoke directly to the idea of FAST goals with a section of that article quoted below:

With Goals, FAST Beats SMART, Donald Sull and Charles Sull, MIT Sloan Management Review

“In 1954, management guru Peter Drucker introduced “management by objectives,” an approach where employees would agree with their boss on a set of goals and work toward achieving those objectives throughout the year. Not even a visionary like Drucker, however, could have predicted how thoroughly goals would come to dominate the modern workplace. In 95% of organizations, according to a recent survey, employees set goals for themselves or their teams.

When it comes to setting goals, most managers follow a well-established set of practices. They hold one-on-one meetings with their subordinates to set goals, and then they review performance against those objectives at year end and link their appraisal to promotion and bonus decisions. These same managers aspire to make their goals SMART, by ensuring they are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.

The conventional wisdom of goal setting is so deeply ingrained that managers rarely stop to ask a fundamental question — does it work? The traditional approach to goals — the annual cycle, privately set and reviewed goals, and a strong linkage to incentives — can actually undermine the alignment, coordination, and agility that’s needed for a company to execute its strategy. Expecting employees to hit 100% of their targets to earn their bonus, for example, creates strong motivation for them to “sandbag” by setting conservative targets they are sure to achieve. And when goals are kept private, employees don’t know what colleagues in other teams are working on.

Goals can drive strategy execution but only when they are aligned with strategic priorities, account for critical interdependencies across silos, and enable course corrections as circumstances change. If these conditions aren’t met, every employee could achieve their individual goals, but the organization as a whole could still fail to execute its strategy.

If the traditional approach to goals cannot ensure successful strategy execution, what’s the alternative? Over the past few decades, a handful of leading companies including Google, Intel, and Anheuser-Busch InBev have pioneered and refined an alternative approach to harness the power of goals to drive and align action. To understand how this new approach works, we studied these companies and others, analyzed a proprietary data set of more than half a million goals, and reviewed the academic literature on goal setting.

We found that four core principles underpin effective goal systems, and we summarize these elements with the acronym FAST. (See “Make Goals FAST, Not SMART.”) Goals should be embedded in frequent discussions; ambitious in scope; measured by specific metrics and milestones; and transparent for everyone in the organization to see.”

We have found here at the Roaring Fork Agency that having a FAST approach to setting goals it is a lot easier to achieve the stated goals for our clients because everyone at our agency and within the client organization that we are working with knows exactly what goals we are trying to achieve, how we are planning to achieve those goals, and most important of all:

If the sponsorship campaign was able to achieve those goals and if not, why not?

Like our client that is now looking at doing a global brand sponsorship campaign to drive their company and brand into new markets in an efficient way as possible with a limited budget, if you are interested in talking with the Roaring Fork Agency about how we can help you expand your company’s reach around the world with sponsorship we can be easily reached and are ready to talk to you at the below numbers.

Just give us a call!

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

Go Bowling and Stewart-Haas Racing Do Terrific Sponsorship Deal - 2018 Sponsorship Spending - Ogilvy On Advertising in the Digital Age

May 1, 2018

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

Following on our last RFA Blog post….

NASCAR Driver Solicits Sponsorship On Twitter and Gets Help...From Two Other NASCAR Drivers! - The NASCAR Sponsorship Problem....FOCUS!, March 2018

….we ran across a great blog post by the folks at Front Office Sports recently that details a NASCAR sponsorship deal with Go Bowling. In the above RFA Blog post we talked about the importance of NASCAR teams and sponsors FOCUS on the demographic that is actually tuning into and watching NASCAR races on a regular basis and this sponsorship deal has FOCUS written all over it:

Why Go Bowling Turned to NASCAR to Help Grow Interest in the Sport, Front Office Sports, Kraig Doremus

“In the world of NASCAR, partnerships between teams and outside organizations are a key component to a race team’s success. From being a source of revenue to helping with marketing, when a team creates a healthy partnership with a business, both sides reap the benefits.

Veteran Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) driver Aric Almirola has continued his partnership with Go Bowling this season, while the company has also partnered with his Stewart-Haas Racing his teammate, up-and-coming NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) competitor Cole Custer.

For Go Bowling, which operates more than 3,000 bowling centers across the United States, there is a draw of being associated with both a veteran driver and young, new talent. The company will be on Almirola’s No. 10 Ford for the Watkins Glen MENCS race and on Custer’s No. 00 machine for the NXS race at Richmond Raceway in September.

“Aric (Almirola) is a veteran in this sport and has won races at the Cup level,” said Stewart-Haas Racing VP of Sales and Marketing Mike Verlander. “He’s an elder statesman when it comes to pushing brand messages and is professional. Cole is younger and represents many different brands very well. It’s part of the reason we assembled a two-pronged program. He can speak to the future of bowling as a young guy and millennial, and we get to reach a whole different crowd through Aric.”

The above is just music to the ears of anyone that loves a sponsorship deal that hits the Sweet Spot for everyone involved and Bravo to Go Bowling and Stewart-Hass Racing for putting together this terrific partnership that is doing what a sponsorship deal is supposed to do:

Create New Customers for the Sponsor!

The famous management consultant Peter Drucker had a great quote about what a business should be about and people putting together sponsorship deals should keep Drucker’s below quote in mind when working on new deals:

“The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.”

The Roaring Fork Agency modified version of the above Peter Drucker quote is:

“The purpose of a sponsorship deal is to create lots of new customers for the sponsoring company!”

A report from ESP Properties (www.sponsorship.com) that we read earlier this year but didn’t comment on in the RFA Blog is always a great read on the direction of sponsorship in the coming year and below is a link to that report:

What Sponsors Want & Where Dollars Will Go In 2018, ESP Properties

A couple of slides in the above report from ESP Properties that really caught our attention are:

A terrific book that we have been passing around the Roaring Fork Agency recently is a must read for anyone that works in the fields of sponsorship, advertising, marketing, and public relations because its subject is such a huge part of marketing today and that subject is Digital Advertising and that terrific book is:

Ogilvy On Advertising in the Digital Age, Miles Young

Of course, for followers of advertising this book is a follow-on to the must read advertising book for decades now from founder of the ad agency Ogilvy & Mather, David Ogilvy, who wrote Ogilvy On Advertising in 1985.

The author of Ogilvy On Advertising in the Digital Age, Miles Young, detailed in a recent interview what he was hoping to achieve with his book:

“Question: David Ogilvy’s Ogilvy on Advertising has been the bible for aspiring advertising and marketing professionals all over the world. Why did you write this book now and do you think it was the right time?

Young: I wanted to direct people back to David’s book because it still is the advertising bible. In the 1970s, David saw “an attempt to disentangle the eternal verities from the passing facts”. That is even more necessary now, and the digital revolution has changed so many things in a variety of ways. The point of this book is to say that the screenplay and the script may be different, but the process is very much the same. David believed in big, simple ideas, and one of the challenges of the digital age is that people have confused the medium with the message. In elevating digital platforms as we have, we’ve forgotten what really matters – what you say to people and how you say it to them.”

Miles Young is right on point here and recalls one of David Ogilvy’s great quotes that echoes throughout the new Ogilvy book:

“If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”

The above David Ogilvy quote goes to the heart of a great sponsorship deal meaning there’s little reason for a company to sponsor something unless it drives more customers to that company.

Now let’s watch the below terrific video on Ogilvy Habits that has great advice for anyone on how to run a creative company or any company for that matter!

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

NASCAR Driver Solicits Sponsorship On Twitter and Gets Help...From Two Other NASCAR Drivers! - The NASCAR Sponsorship Problem....FOCUS!

March 7, 2018

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

This was a remarkable week in sponsorship with a NASCAR driver, Matt DiBenedetto, soliciting sponsorship for his race team over Twitter and getting a response from two fellow NASCAR drivers, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, who said they would be more than happy to help out!

A NASCAR driver’s plea for sponsorship is answered…by his competitors, Nick Bromberg, Yahoo!

With the 2018 NASCAR racing season now underway it’s no secret that NASCAR has seen declining television ratings in the last decade-plus that have led to drivers, tracks, races, and even the entire NASCAR series itself having problems in securing adequate sponsorship.

In 2018 NASCAR is gearing back to 30 races from 36 which some think could be an answer in not having so much inventory in the marketplace to sell….

Why 30 Races, Not 36, Could Help NASCAR Get Back Into Gear, Dave Caldwell, Forbes.com

….but it’s not really the number of races, or rules, or anything else that is causing the decline in interest in NASCAR in recent years.

All sports are played or performed by human beings, and ultimately it’s interesting and compelling human beings that draw fans and television viewers to events, and for the past decade-plus at least NASCAR has been devoid of any major stars that would attract the attention of the average sports fans to get them interested in the NASCAR product. This is an issue that NASCAR can address by better marketing their drivers in the marketplace, but as NASCAR does that necessary PR work, it also must keep the sport going and with yet another NASCAR series sponsors, Monster Energy Drink, considering dropping their series sponsorship….

Report: Monster Energy asks NASCAR for additional extension on sponsorship decision, Nick Tylwalk, Fandsided.com

…it’s time for the execs at NASCAR and the sport’s drivers to FOCUS like a laser beam on the fundamentals that will keep their sport rolling along at least at the current fan + television viewing level.

It was shocking to see that in the 2018 Daytona 500 that was just run in February for the first time in years had no beer-sponsored cars in the race which speaks to what is becoming a basic disconnect between the drivers, the people that run NASCAR, and the fans of the sport. NASCAR itself, including the race tracks where its races are run, and its drivers should be able to generate a lot more in sponsorship dollars than they have in recent years which has seen NASCAR take its eye off its core fans and their fans main passions + interests.

NASCAR and its drivers should narrow their focus for potential corporate sponsors that fit well within the demographic that is attending races and watching NASCAR on television, because there are plenty of companies out there that have a lot of interest in reaching the NASCAR demo, but they are not now being reached out to by people that work on NASCAR-related sponsorship issues. A laser beam focused is what is needed, such as the one that advertising agency consultant Michael Gass recommends to ad agencies when they put together a new business development plan by focusing on just a few core competencies and becoming very good at those core skills. Michael Gass writes about his approach to helping ad agencies finding new business at his blog website, Fuel Lines: Fueling Ad Agency New Business, and NASCAR itself and its teams + drivers could learn a lot and raise a lot more sponsorship dollars by really focusing on just who is attending and watching NASCAR races and then going after companies that really want to reach that audience.

The Roaring Fork Agency stands ready to help NASCAR and any of its teams + drivers find new corporate sponsorship dollars by bringing a laser beam focus to our work to identify the companies that are very interested, some companies who are desperate, to reach the NASCAR audience to sell their products and services to and with that in mind we can be reached at:

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

TV May Actually Die and the Importance of Measurable Data on the Future of Sponsorship

May 2, 2017

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

The Internet has up-ended entire industries in the last couple of decades, and it is now closing in on the last media “fortress” as well in television that could lead to a fundamental re-shaping of the media landscape that will no doubt also change how everyone watches television as well.

Shelly Palmer writing for Advertising Ages gets straight to the point in a recent column:

TV May Actually Die Soon, Shelly Palmer, Advertising Age

“FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google/YouTube) is about to take a huge bite out of traditional network TV (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox), and the media business will never be the same.

To understand the profound implications of the recently announced NFL on Amazon Prime or YouTube TV, it may help to understand the economic engine that drives traditional commercial television.

The goal of the commercial TV business is to package a specific, targeted audience and sell it to the highest bidder. The more precise the targeting, the higher the fee; the bigger the targeted audience, the bigger the fee.

TV is data-poor

Because the broadcast television industry is data poor (it only offers metrics about itself), this model has never been a complete solution for brand or lifestyle advertisers. In practice, an advertiser needs to translate ratings and demographic information from Nielsen into knowledge and insights it can link to its key performance indicators (KPIs). Because content is distributed across so many non-TV platforms, this process gets more difficult every day. How effective was your broadcast TV buy? Was there an increase in sales that could be attributed to it? Could we have spent this portion of our advertising budget differently?

FANG is data-rich

There are four data sets that help define each of us: attention, consumption, passion and intention. While traditional broadcast TV tries to measure or attribute some of these to TV viewership, FANG has actionable data that drives KPIs.”

“TV is data poor” goes right to the heart of the problem with television and shows the big advantage that FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google/YouTube) has over television that will just continue to accelerate in the future because advertisers will demand that TV figure out a way to justify the advertising dollars it is receiving, or even better find a way to move their programming onto the Internet so usage by consumers can be more closely tracked, monitored and acted upon.

That TV is now under assault by the Internet has huge ramifications for Sponsorship, because companies spending money on sponsorships are increasingly asking for proof that those sponsorship investments are paying off in consumers seeing their company’s products and services in the marketplace, and that those eyeballs are translating into bottom-line new business coming through the door.

The software and technology company SAP which annually spends $50M+ on sponsorship….

Sponsorship’s Big Spenders: IEG’s Top Sponsor Rankings, IEG

….has under the leadership of its’ head of Global Sponsorships, Bjoern Ganzhorn, implemented a number of programs to make sure that it is getting all it can from its sponsorship spend each year and it calls its program:

Sponsorship 2.0

In a recent article Bjoern Ganzhorn details the ways that SAP is using technology to measure the impact of its sponsorship dollars:

Corporate Sponsorships Reimagined, Bjoern Ganzhorn, SAP News

“When I say the words corporate sponsorship, what do you think of? Logo placements. Official status. Fancy private events.

These are the types of things that have long defined corporate sponsorship programs; essentially, I give your company a bunch of money and in return you display my logo, feature my name in a gala program, and sing my praises in public. It’s pretty straightforward—but frankly uninspiring.

These are the methods of the past. Today’s fast-changing, technology-enabled marketing and consumer landscapes demand a new, more-dynamic model of corporate sponsorship.

Call it “sponsorship 2.0.” In this new paradigm, richer collaboration amplifies impact and partnerships go beyond pay-for-placement. So what does it look like? Sponsorship 2.0 partnerships are:

1. Authentic
2. Global, Yet Local
3. Sustainable”

What SAP is attempting to do in measuring the impact of its sponsorship dollars on current and potential new clients in the marketplace is a critical issue for sponsorship to solve so that when a company is considering making a sponsorship investment there are systems in place to measure how effective the sponsorship is in engaging consumers and creating new business for the company.

To the above point Kissmetrics, which is an analytics company that works with companies and ad agencies to figure out ways to measure the real world impact of their marketing dollars, has put together a number of ways that sponsorship can be measured to see what kind of “Bang for the Buck” sponsorship is providing for companies:

5 New (And Effective) Ways To Measure Event ROI, Kissmetrics

“Events drive leads for sales and are a powerful networking tool that enables companies and brands to connect with their audiences and clients face to face. At least, that’s what we know. But as any marketer, sales rep and event organizer will tell you, qualifying those collected leads is anything but certain.

Why?

Because not all leads are created equal, and every individual at your event has their own unique journey to the final sale.

According to Statista, only 14% of B2B marketers’ budgets are being allocated for in-person trade shows in 2015. Because of this, event marketers are pressured to find the metrics that matter when it comes to proving value.

Traditionally most event organizers and sales reps have focused on the data that is generated before and after an event, which gives a good picture of who showed up, but not much else.

Here are 5 ways that event marketers can use the data that is being generated before, during, and after their events to create a richer experience for their attendees, while providing insights into the value of their show.

1. Social Listening
2. In-Event Surveys
3. Targeted Messaging
4. Gamification
5. Mobile App Insights”

In pitching sponsorships to companies and ad agencies today we here at the Roaring Fork Agency are placing an ever-larger emphasis on figuring out ways we can measure the effectiveness of the sponsorship and determine as best we can how much new business was created by the company sponsoring “X” event. Companies like…

….in the United Kingdom can help us to create platforms that focus in on and around an event to determine the amount of interaction among event participants on all kinds of different platforms which gives the sponsoring company a good idea of how its sponsorship investment is paying-off with real world outcomes.

The task for companies like the Roaring Fork Agency in this “Age of Data” that are pitching sponsorships for events is to continue to search for ways to measure the effectiveness of those sponsorships in the marketplace, and ultimately on the bottom-line of the sponsoring company which was best summed-up by the advertising icon David Ogilvy:

“If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”

David Ogilvy also said that…

“Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn’t sell much of anything.”

…and with that in mind we here at the Roaring Fork Agency are interested as always in working with companies and advertising agencies that are looking for events to sponsor that will create a lot of buzz and more importantly bring lots of new customers through the door with their wallets and purses open ready to spend their hard-earned money!

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

New Great Sponsorship Website - The Sponsorship Space - 30 Sponsorship Executives - The Essential Guide To Sponsorship Valuation

January 27, 2017

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

There is a great new sponsorship website on the Internet that has been producing some terrific content in the last several months:

The Sponsorship Space – www.sponsorshipspace.com

Two posts in particular by The Sponsorship Space in January 2017 caught our attention at the Roaring Fork Agency, and we thought we would pass along some of their great information.

30 Sponsorship Executives Discuss Opportunities and Trends Headed Into 2017, Avish Sood, The Sponsorship Space

The Sponsorship Space had 30 Sponsorship Executives give their best advice heading into 2017 and below are a few of those posts:

“Sponsorship has evolved into a sophisticated marketing technique that goes much beyond promoting awareness and association of an event to a brand. Sponsors now know that the most authentic way in which they reach their targets is to provide and support an exceptional experience that the target will have with the event and their interaction with the sponsored product. Whether it is a team, a sport, an event, a cultural undertaking, the most powerful way in which a sponsor truly connects to a customer is to show that customer how their brand has added to the value of the experience. This can be through enhancing a live event, through digital or socially connecting with a customer as they experience the event through broadcast or even after the event where the sponsor allows the customer the opportunity to re-experience powerful moments of the event.

These areas of brand affinity are harder to measure and a future conversion is a harder connection to make to bottom line profits so going forward marketers and sponsored experiences will need to work well with research, data analytics, and people to see the fully realized value of a sponsorship over a longer arc of time.

Katherine Henderson (CEO, Curling Canada)”

And

“The days of a Sponsor only looking for a signage asset in left field, on the stadium scoreboard, or on the rink boards, are few and far between. Marketing executives are being challenged more and more by their company executives to prove the ROI and ROO of company sponsorship spending. Companies want tangible results, as budgets are further scrutinized each year.

Heading into 2017, sponsorship salespeople (clubs, leagues, venues, events) are being challenged more than ever. Sponsor companies are looking to take partnerships further, to integrate products or services into agreements and to customize property content so that brands feel immersed in the relationship. When all is said and done, the mark of a successful partnership in the eyes of the sponsor, is whether consumers can fully understand what the sponsor company offers in terms or its products and/or service offering. If a consumer cannot answer that question, the effectiveness of the sponsorship should be evaluated.

Today’s sponsorship equation is about finding a balanced win-win-win between 1) The Sponsor Company, 2) The Partner Organization and 3) The Consumer.

Andrew Agro (Director, Corporate Sponsorship & Business Development, New York Jets)”

And

“The trend in the sponsorship industry the last few years has been the move toward data-driven decision making and measurement, which really is an extension of the same shift seen in brand marketing as a whole. Brands are becoming more analytical, boutique specialist agencies have sprouted to support the need to prove effectiveness, and the smart properties have become proactive in providing sponsor-specific success metrics. Most players are now working with the same sets of data and the playing field is more level than it has ever been before.

Moving forward, I believe you’re going to see brands getting more and more creative in how they sponsor. With it becoming easier for every sponsor to see the value of each dollar spent on traditional assets – signage, classic media, etc – decisions on these will be made as functions of math equations more than anything else. Conversely, for more content-focused and deeper funnel sponsorship activation, brands will look for new avenues of engagement. Certainly in the form of new property types; E-gaming and other non-traditional entertainment properties are already being gobbled up by the big brands. But for these and traditional sports / entertainment properties, brands will seek more and more assets that can’t be found on a rate card. Creative social extensions, increased property-owned asset inclusion to better leverage built-in fan base, sponsorable streaming content – anything that can be presented organically and with an already-engaged audience. Valuable to sponsors, sure, but even more valuable to properties as the cost to incorporate sponsors in this capacity is often minimal.

Dan Frystak (Senior Manager, Brand & Sponsorship, CDW)”

And

“In the past too many sponsorships have been based on 'Chairman's Whim' or the 'Highest Paid Person's Opinion' (HiPPO), with whoever leads sponsorship for the brand having to retrofit that to their marketing strategy. In my view, for the majority (but not all), sponsorship is way behind marketing in terms of strategic approach and so in 2017 I hope we see:

- more education in sponsorship
- sponsorship being managed by marketing professionals and as part of the marketing strategy
- brands selecting, planning, activating and measuring with the same scrutiny as they would with any other element of the promotional mix
- rights owners offering genuine partnerships with brands, not just the same package as before now labeled as a 'partnership'
- rights owners taking a fresh view on what assets they can offer and build together with their partners
- better use of customer insight data
- better experiences for the end audience and not just through technology
- and measurement that goes beyond media equivalent value and social media likes.

I'm leading the European Sponsorship Association's working group to write a best practice guide to sponsorship measurement - so watch this space! Whilst none of these are revolutionary, I see 2017 being the year that sponsorship catches up to show what a powerful platform it can be.

Sophie Morris (Strategic Marketing & Sponsorship Director, Millharbour Marketing; Chartered Marketer; Board Director of the European Sponsorship Association)”

One of the things that is mentioned by almost all of the 30 Sponsorship Executives in the above article, and something that we are seeing from the companies we pitch event sponsorships to is the demand that sponsorship achieve specific goals just as digital advertising campaigns do in the marketplace.

With that idea that sponsorship effectiveness is something that must be measured so that the sponsoring company can know to the greatest extent possible that it is getting its “Bang for their Sponsorship Buck” another article by The Sponsorship Space is appropriate in this spot:

The Essential Guide To Sponsorship Valuation, Chris Baylis, The Sponsorship Space

There is a lot of great information about properly valuing sponsorships opportunities in this article, but one section in particular caught our attention because it goes to heart of what companies are looking for from sponsorships:

Identify Your Audience Segments and Some Sponsorship Survey Questions to Get Started

“You have your properties and now you have your assets…but you can’t do a sponsorship valuation until you understand your audience.
Here are some examples of audience segments that don’t work and are very low value:

All of Canada, the US or North America
“Everyone should care about what we do” so they do (this is the first point in disguise)
The “general public”
Donors
Women aged 30-50
Professionals
People who enjoy XYZ activity
People who care about XYZ activity
Middle-class people, upper-class people

If this is your audience then you can still do a valuation…you just need 10 million of these types of people to generate any money and even then, sponsors want way more than this. Why are these audience segments useless? Because they tell a sponsor nothing about whether or not you have their customer base and makes measuring sponsorship effectiveness impossible for your sponsor. The less you know about your audience, the less likely a sponsor is to trust that you can deliver on your promises to get your audience to take a specific action.

Here are some examples of good audience segments:

40 year old, high net worth moms, who live in suburban Chicago, with 2 or more kids who play baseball
55 year old, partner track, corporate lawyers, who are responsible for bringing in new business and making purchasing decisions for their law firm
University of X grads, who studied X program, who in 5 years tend to work on Bay St in Toronto, making X salary, who buy houses in York Region and commute 2 hours daily (let me tell you how much I DON’T miss that time of my life, by the way)
Newly minted tradespeople who are trying to buy a house, work in X trade, need professional insurance, plan to spend $5000 on new tools

What do these audience segments have in common? You can instantly see what they are likely to purchase, their needs, responsibilities etc. and it make build a sponsorship valuation formula much much easier. But you’re not done yet! Once you know your audience segments, you need to know their preferred brands and what purchases they intend to make.

You are looking for answers to the following questions which you can ask in your next sponsorship survey:

Who do you bank with? Would you consider a change in the next two years?
Do you have a mortgage? How much?
When do you plan to buy a house or move?
Do you have life insurance, retirement savings? With who? Do you plan to change?
What is your household income?
What is your preferred brand of car? Do you lease or won? When do you plan to buy a new car?
What is your level of education?
What industry do you work in? How many years? What is your level of responsibility? Do you control a budget? What size?
How many staff report to you?
How would you rate brands XYZ (try this one before and after your campaign to see if your campaign worked)

This is not an exhaustive list by any means!

Now picture yourself sitting down in front of a major bank, telling them you have 40-year old, high net worth moms, who live in suburban Chicago, with two or more kids who play baseball. You know they bank with your prospect’s competitors and you know they want to change banks. You also know they plan to save for their kids’ school, retirement and a new house when the third child comes along.

If you share this data with a prospect and they will leap across the table throwing money at you! You tell that same prospect that you have “the general public” and could put their logo on your website and they will say the words you never want to hear:

“Oh, just send me a proposal” (Code for “no thanks!”)”

The above is some great advice on really drilling down and identifying the people that will be attending and involved in the event you are pitching to a company, mainly because the one thing that companies considering sponsorship opportunities are most interested in is what group of people will see this sponsorship and are those people that will do business with your company in the future? If the person pitching the sponsorship cannot identify who the sponsoring company will be reaching by taking on a sponsorship opportunity then one is going to have a very hard time getting to “Yes’ and that is what pitching a sponsorship is all about….isn’t it?

The Sponsorship Space – www.sponsorshipspace.com

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

The 2016-2017 College Football Bowl Games Are About To Kickoff - Bowl Game Sponsorship Questions, Answers and Approaches

December 13, 2016

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

The college football bowl season is upon us with ESPN leading the charge and bowl games getting underway with six bowl matchups on Saturday, December 17 of the total forty-bowl games that will be played in 2016-17.

2016 – 2017 College Football Bowls Schedule, ESPN

With only 128 college football teams on the FBS level the bowls are now taking 82 of those teams to play in postseason bowl games which has led to a few teams with losing records the last couple of seasons getting bowl invites, something that was unheard of until recent years.

With so many bowls games and only so many sponsorship dollars to go around it seems natural that a few bowl games would be without title and/or presenting sponsors, and that is the case this year with four bowls on the hunt for title and/or presenting sponsors:

Hawaii Bowl
St. Petersburg Bowl
Birmingham Bowl
Boca Raton Bowl

Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today takes a good look at the sponsorship issues around bowl games in a recent piece that details some of the struggles in finding sponsorship in a bowl game market that at first-glance seems oversaturated:

College football bowl sponsorships become a harder bargain, Brent Schrotenboer, USA Today

“But the name game finally may have hit a wall. Six of this year’s 41 bowl games have failed to obtain similar title or presenting sponsorships, raising more questions about the market appeal of an 80-team postseason that already includes several games with sparse crowds and 20 bowl teams this year with 6-6 records or worse.

“There are 41 games this year, so there’s more competition for it,” said Mark Neville, executive director of the Holiday Bowl and the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego. “We’ve got to work a little bit harder and be a little bit more creative to secure them.”

Twenty years ago, there were 18 bowl games. Five years ago, there were 35, and all of them had a title or presenting sponsorship to help pay their bills. Starting Dec. 17, there will be 41 postseason games through Jan. 9, including the biggest game-changer in the business: the College Football Playoff.

After debuting in January 2015, the four-team Playoff sweetened the postseason pot with more money than ever but also arguably made the lower-tier bowl games seem even less attractive to sponsors.

The Hawaii, St. Petersburg, Birmingham and Boca Raton bowls don’t have title sponsors this year after previous title sponsors didn’t renew. Another game, The Miami Beach Bowl, has not had a title sponsor after starting in 2014. The national championship game also has not announced a presenting sponsor after two years with AT&T — though the game's asking price is much more, and a deal might come soon.

Lower-tier games generally fetch less than $500,000 from these companies in exchange for changing the game’s name to help build awareness for the companies’ brands. The more prestigious bowls can command $20 million or more as part of a larger package, according to Navigate Research, a Chicago firm that measures sports marketing investments.”

Even at the low end a $500,000 annual sponsorship investment in a bowl game is a large number that probably eliminates the vast majority of private and public companies in America that don’t have the wherewithal to spend those kind of marketing dollars on a bowl game sponsorship.

If the bowl games now missing title and/or presenting sponsors are going to convince companies to become involved with their games then they must provide a realistic and well-reasoned return-on-investment (ROI) rationale that will assure a potential sponsor that they will get their bang for their hard-earned sponsorship buck.

At the Roaring Fork Agency we use a very simple formula to compute a potential ROI for an event like a bowl game that is based on three factors:

Reach = How many people will the sponsorship reach?

Frequency = How many times will the sponsorship reach people?

Relevance = Will the sponsorship reach the right people?

In order to examine a real world scenario we will use the 2017 Birmingham Bowl game which is being played on Sunday, December 29 at 2 PM EST between South Florida and South Carolina.

Let’s assume that the cost of the Title Sponsorship for the Birmingham Bowl is $500,000 annually.

Birmingham Bowl Reach – All Numbers Approximates

Attendance = 50,000

Television = 1.2 Million viewers

How many consumers approximately will have heard the name of the Title Sponsor at least one time in the month of December above and beyond the people attending the game and watching it on television = 3 million

How many consumers approximately will have heard the name of the Title Sponsor at least one time the rest of the year besides December above and beyond the people attending the game and watching it on television = 1.5 million.

Total Birmingham Bowl Reach = 5,570,000

Birmingham Bowl Frequency – All Numbers Approximates

Total Birmingham Bowl Reach = 5,570,000

Each consumer hearing about the Birmingham Bowl will hear the Title Sponsor name approximately = 7 times

Total Birmingham Bowl Frequency = 38,990,000

Birmingham Bowl Relevance – All Numbers Approximates

With South Florida and South Carolina playing in the 2017 Birmingham Bowl which is contractually obligated to take one team from the SEC Conference and one team from the American Athletic Conference, if we assume that the potential Title Sponsor is a company located in and does most of its business in the Southeastern and Eastern United States the “Relevance” for such a company becoming the Title Sponsor of this bowl game would be HIGH.

At the Roaring Fork Agency when we match a company to an event that fits into the HIGH category of “Relevance” we usually assign a number of…

80% Relevance

….which in this case would give a potential Title Sponsor of the Birmingham Bowl the following return-on-investment (ROI):

Total Birmingham Bowl Frequency = 38,990,000 x .080 = 31,192,000

Birmingham Bowl Title Sponsor Cost = $500,000

Birmingham Bowl Cost Per Impression:

$500,000 / 31,192,000 = 16 cents per impression

At the Roaring Fork Agency we believe the corporate sponsors we work with should get from their sponsorship investments impressions somewhere between….

5 and 20 cents per impression

….which puts the potential ROI of 16 cents per impression for the Title Sponsorship of the Birmingham Bowl in a good spot for a potential corporate sponsor.

Of course, what really makes sponsorship an effective marketing tool when done right, which usually boils down to matching the right event with the right corporate sponsor is the sponsor, is being able to get a lot more out of a sponsorship than just a bottom-line cost per impression number.

As pointed out by Kim Skildum-Reid at her terrific website Power Sponsorship what a great event+ company sponsorship comes down to is = MEANING:

Sponsorship Seekers: Please Stop Doing Attendee Division, Kim Skildum-Reid, Power Sponsorship

“Sponsorship stopped being about visibility decades ago. It’s now squarely about meaning. It’s about brands connecting with their target markets in a powerful, meaningful way, engendering greater alignment, preference, loyalty, and advocacy. If you’re not talking about that stuff, you’re not a compelling sponsorship option.

Instead of trying to make some kind of attendee division metric look attractive, concentrate on creating an offer that addresses the following:

1. Clearly lay out the meaning of your organization or what you’re doing to the fans. Why do people care? Why is what you’re doing different to the other options for fans?

2. Fan segmentation by psychographics. That sounds complicated, but it’s not. Just segment your fans by the primary reasons they care about the property. If you’re a team, is their primary motivation their love for the team itself? The tribal atmosphere of the game? The social occasion with their friends? Something else?

3. An overview of your marketing plan. How do you nurture your relationship with these fans?

4. Creative ideas for leverage. This is the number one most important part of your offer! How could the sponsor use this investment? What could they do with what you’re offering to achieve their objectives and get closer to the fans? For a sponsor, this is the real “what’s in it for me” moment.

5. Fully customized benefits list, including all of the benefits they will need to carry out the leverage ideas you’ve given them.”

Great sponsorship deals that are Win-Win for both parties involved, the event and the corporate sponsor, is ALL about companies and their brands connecting with their Target Markets. In the case of the Birmingham Bowl it is imperative that whoever is representing the bowl game in the marketplace be targeting companies that have consumers today and would have consumers in the future that would have the opportunity to see or hear about the Birmingham Bowl Title Sponsor, and more importantly be able to buy their products or services, which is a great starting point to creating a list of companies to pitch the Title Sponsorship of the Birmingham Bowl to in the near future.

Birmingham Bowl – www.birminghambowl.com

Power Sponsorship – www.powersponsorship.com

National Football Foundation – www.footballfoundation.com

ESPN – www.espn.com

College Football Playoff – www.collegefootballplayoff.com

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

10 Simple Patterns of the Most Insanely Successful People – Stanford Dean: You Need These 8 Skills To Qualify as an Adult – How to Become Great at Just About Anything

April 30, 2016

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

It would be impossible to overstate the importance of Inc. Magazine and its constantly inspiring content over the past three-decades plus to entrepreneurs like us here at the Roaring Fork Agency that are fighting like Hell in the marketplace each day to be a success.

Since 1979 Inc. Magazine has been the go-to place for finding new and innovative ways to run a business and approach each day ready to go, and the May 2016 issue of Inc. doesn’t disappoint with a fascinating profile of Blake Mycoskie of Tom’s Shoes and lots of other great information like the story below on the…

10 Simple Patterns of the Most Insanely Successful People, Chris Dessi, Inc. Magazine

You can read the important details about each of the below 10 Simple Patterns of the Most Insanely Successful People at the Inc. website link HERE, but quickly those 10 Simple Patterns that lead to great success are:

1. Create Your Own Reality: Oren Klaff
2. Embrace Change: Jeffrey Hayzlett
3. Work Harder: Rosanna Scotto
4. Don’t Worry About the “How”: Chris Guererro
5. Never Complain: Adrian Dessi
6. Serve Others: Chris Maloney
7. Be Yourself: Russ Adler
8. Respect Everyone: Chris Hansen
9. Cultivate Your Creative Side: John Dokes
10. Define What True Success Means To You: Jeff Pearlman

There were a couple of other stories that caught our attention in this past week with the first also coming from the Inc. Magazine website and a former Stanford University dean, Julie Lythcott-Haims, on…

Stanford Dean: You Need These 8 Skills To Qualify as an Adult, Jessica Stillman, Inc. Magazine

….which is some great advice for parents to deliver to their children as they head through the high school years towards college life and adulthood:

1. Talk to strangers
2. Find your way around
3. Manage your workload and deadlines
4. Do basic household chores
5. Handle interpersonal problems
6. Cope with life’s ups and downs
7. Manage money
8. Take risks

The above 8 Skills To Qualify as an Adult come from a terrific book written by Julie Lythcott-Harris which is a great read for anyone like us here at the Roaring Fork Agency that are working hard to raise great children!

How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success, Amazon.com

The last story that caught our eyes this past week was from the fascinating folks at Freakonomics who wrote a book of the same name….

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, Amazon.com

….and have a website of the same name – www.freakonomics.com – that always has lots of interesting and fascinating stuff for people interested about the world around them.

The latest Freakonomics story we learned a lot from and agree with totally is…

How to Become Great at Just About Anything, Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics

…which is a podcast and transcript of a conversation that goes into what anyone would have to do to become great at just about anything. If you don’t have time to listen to the Freakonomics podcast or read the transcript how can anyone become great at just about anything you ask?

Lots and Lots and Lots and Lots and Lots and Lots of Practice = How to Become Great!

Inc. Magazine – www.inc.com

How To Raise An Adult – www.howtoraiseanadult.com

Freaknomics – www.freakonomics.com

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

The Growing and Increasingly Vital Role of Data in Sponsorship

April 22, 2016

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

If there is one question that is always on the mind of the person at a company that is making a recommendation or the final call on whether a company should sponsor an event or not, that question in today’s results driven world often is:

“What will be my company’s return on investment (ROI) on this sponsorship deal?”

That is a question that has often been hard to quantify in the past in the world of sponsorship, but in this age of technological wonder it’s the billions of bits of “data” that make it a lot easier for both events with sponsorship opportunities and companies making sponsorship investments to see just what kind of bang they are getting for their sponsorship Buck.

Recently, Sam Yardley, who works for Inside Two Circles a London-based “data driven” company within in the WPP Group that helps sports organizations build stronger relationships with their customers, wrote a blog post at IEG (www.sponsorship.com) about the growing importance and use of data in sponsorship that is great read on the future direction of sponsorship:

Game Changer: The Growing Role of Data in Sponsorship, Sam Yardley, IEG Sponsorship Blog

“Data, and the ability to access and analyze it, already is having a profound, across-the-board impact on sponsorship—from the evaluation, selection, activation and measurement of partnerships by brand marketers to the selling, negotiating and fulfillment of those partnerships by rightsholders of all types and sizes.

But as important as the current developments are, we have just begun to scratch the surface of what data can deliver to properties and their partners.

Audience remains at the heart of the sponsorship proposition. However, it is no longer exposure, impressions generated or image transfer that drives and determines value. Rather—thanks to data—it is the ability to engage, involve and connect with fans that raises sports, events, entertainment, nonprofit, cultural, association and other partnerships above mere marketing.

This is not a recent change; at least not on one side of the fence. Data-led, digitally enabled personalization has been at the heart of many brand marketing initiatives since the turn of the century. More recently, as the technology cost of delivering personalization has been reduced, rightsholders in some areas of entertainment—cinema, for example—have begun to take the initiative in this space. Most others, however, are still playing catch-up.

Data-based personalization changes the conversation from which rightsholders can deliver the biggest numbers (reach, broadcast ratings, etc.) to which can deliver the deepest insights, share the most detailed information regarding actual online and real-world behavior, and drive the most actionable results.

In this way, data levels the playing field, making sponsorship about quality, not quantity. It changes the conversation from exposing sponsors to a large amount of people (which shouldn’t have been the idea anyway) to identifying, understanding and communicating one-on-one with a brand’s best targets.”

In the above section of Sam Yardley’s blog post he is right-on-point of increasingly what marketing decision-makers at companies are asking events offering sponsorship opportunities to deliver which is to create an environment where….

The sponsoring company can directly engage and then have an opportunity to do business with the consumer

…..and that is a mandate that event organizers and the people that represent sponsorship opportunities in the marketplace must embrace by utilizing as much data as possible to deliver a great experience to consumers or risk becoming an afterthought in today’s data-driven world.

Luckily, there are some amazing data-driven companies now cropping-up across the United States including Umbel in Austin, Texas which is doing some terrific work in helping events and organizations to harness and utilize the massive amounts of data they collect on their customers and fans.

The Umbel Blog…..

Truth in Data – The Ultimate Data Blog for Innovators in Sports, Media and Entertainment

….is now a must read for all the employees at the Roaring Fork Agency that now bring with them reams of data to pitch companies sponsorship opportunities that help to power the underlying value behind those sponsorships. A few of Umbel’s blog posts that we have learned a tremendous amount from are below:

8 Ways That College Teams Can Prove Sponsorship Value to Brands, Trips Reddy, Umbel

"What ever college team needs to do to attract and retain premium sponsors

1. Grow Size & Engagement of Your Fanbase

2. Own Your Fan Data & Relationships

3. Use Fan Data to Prove Brand Affinities to Sponsors

4. Prove The Value of Online & Offline Fans to Sponsors

5. Enhance Fan Experiences Inside Stadiums

6. Beef up Data Security to Protect Against Breaches

7. Understand The Priorities & Preferences of Millennials

8. Add Sponsorships That Actually Help Students"

The first four items in Trips Reddy’s above Umbel blog post….

"1. Grow Size & Engagement of Your Fanbase

2. Own Your Fan Data & Relationships

3. Use Fan Data to Prove Brand Affinities to Sponsors

4. Prove The Value of Online & Offline Fans to Sponsors"

…have become increasingly important in each and every sponsorship pitch that the Roaring Fork Agency now does, and it’s now almost becoming expected that sponsorship opportunities should be able to produce “digital-like” bottom-line data metric projections before the sponsorship investment is made by a company which is something we work very hard to quantify before ever picking-up the phone to pitch a sponsorship.

Another recent Umbel blog post that caught our attention here at the Roaring Fork Agency deals with…

4 Data Points All Sports Teams Should Be Using, Sarah Meredith, Umbel

….which goes right to the heart of still a major problem today which is sports teams and organizations are sitting on mountains of very valuable data that they need to learn how to successfully leverage to not only generate more revenue, but to also better serve the most important thing in their lives: their paying fans and customers!

“There is so much talk in the sports industry right now about making programs (collegiate and professional) both smarter and safer.

With an increase in research on the effectiveness of safety equipment and individual performance during a game, in addition to advances in wearable and equipment technology, everyone is talking about collecting more data on teams and players.

But are sports teams really collecting all the data that’s available to them? As someone who talks to Marketing, Ticketing and Sponsorship teams, I would answer that data collection at most sports organizations is still fairly narrow.

What Data is Missing?

The data being collected on players and teams helps improve performance and reduce injuries, but teams are missing the other half of the equation: the fans.

Teams are constantly trying to ensure that they provide the best fan experience both at the game and online. By expanding the data they are collecting on players to include fans, sports teams will be able to create personalized experiences both online and offline. So what type of data should sports teams be thinking about?

Transaction Data: Teams most likely have merchandise, ticketing or concessions data, but is it organized enough to where you can see trends and understand your fans? Are you able to see the relationship between who is in your venue and purchasing concessions and merchandise? Chances are your team does not have the bandwidth to mine this data quickly and take action on it. There are many solutions out there that can enhance your existing “plumbing” (like Umbel).”

Read the rest of the above Umbel blog post here…

4 Data Points All Sports Teams Should Be Using, Sarah Meredith, Umbel

In the end when it comes down to whether a company will make a sponsorship investment or not, it’s often a “gut call” by a decision-maker based upon their opinion of the quality of the event or organization and the individual pitching the sponsorship opportunity, but in just the last couple of years it’s now often the underlying data that drives sponsorship investment decisions which makes it vitally important for people pitching sponsorships like the Roaring Fork Agency to have “the proof” and be ready and able to present that data evidence in the best way possible to that ultimate decision-maker.

Another great piece on the growing importance of measuring the ultimate value of sponsorships was produced by McKinsey & Company a few years ago that has been a guide of sorts for those of us here at the Roaring Fork Agency that are always looking for all the help we can get!

Is sports sponsorship worth it?, Jeff Jacobs, Pallav Jain, and Kushan Surama, McKinsey & Company

“Sponsorships have become an integral component of marketing strategy. Yet many companies still do not effectively quantify the impact of these expenditures, even for events requiring significant spending such as the World Cup. A systematic commitment to a menu of analytics approaches allows executives to identify sponsorships that create value as well as those that don’t live up to their names.”

The above McKinsey & Company piece of sports sponsorship is a great read, but then so is their Marketing & Sales webpage which has lots of great information about many important issues driving marketing & sales both in the Unites State and around the world.

Bottom-Line: Data has never been more important and it’s now the underlying data that is driving the ultimate value of sponsorships in the marketplace, and it’s up to people pitching sponsorships like us here at the Roaring Fork Agency to make sure when we are on the phone or walking into an office to pitch a sponsorship opportunity that we have the data the potential sponsoring company will want to see, to understand, and to rely on that will make it that much easier for them to say that magic word:

YES!

IEG – www.sponsorship.com

Two Circles – www.insidetwocircles.com

WPP Group - www.wpp.com

Umbel – www.umbel.com

Umbel Truth in Data Blog – www.umbel.com/blog

McKinsey & Company – www.mckinsey.com

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

Valuing Naming-Rights Deals for the Pac-12 Conference Football Stadiums and Basketball Arenas

April 15, 2016

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

A couple of news stories from college athletics in the state of Washington that appeared in the Seattle Times…

University of Washington, Alaska Airlines agree to naming-rights deal for Husky Stadium's field, Adam Jude, Seattle Times

AND

Washington State athletic department closes 2015 with $13 million budget deficit, Stephanie Loh, Seattle Times

…have gotten us here at the Roaring Fork Agency to start thinking about how we go about valuing naming-rights deals for our clients, as well for any universities that might be considering attaching a corporate name to their football stadiums and/or basketball arenas.

Below is a list of the current major football stadium and basketball arena naming-rights deals now in place and one will immediately notice that they vary widely in price and length of contract or term:

Collegiate Football Stadium Naming-Rights Deals

Collegiate Basketball Arena Naming-Rights Deals

In the story we referenced above on the current state of Washington State athletics….

Washington State athletic department closes 2015 with $13 million budget deficit, Stephanie Loh, Seattle Times

….Washington State athletic director Bill Moos is quoted at the end of the news story saying:

“We have to grow the ones we have, but we like to use our imagination and be innovation, and we’ve done that over the last six years here. We’re shifting it to another gear,” Moos said.

That could include selling naming rights to Beasley Coliseum or Martin Stadium for the right price.

“I wouldn’t say no, but the money would have to be right,” Moos said. “Because I have a conflict in the traditional part of me and the aggressive part of me.”

That quote from Bill Moos got us wondering just what the naming-rights for the football stadium and basketball arena at Washington State would be worth, which led us here at the Roaring Fork Agency to putting together a group of about ten variables such as facility type, local population, average attendance, number of games and events, tradition of program, potential media mentions, media impressions, etc., that would lead us to a correct valuation of the naming-rights for any college football stadium or basketball arena in America.

Below are the naming-rights valuations we came up for the football stadiums and basketball arenas for schools in the Pac-12 Conference that do not currently have naming-rights deals in place. We believe here at the Roaring Fork Agency that the ideal naming-rights contract for a college or university is a 10-year deal which provides needed stability and income for a decade, but does not overextend the school into alignment with one company at one market price for over a decade.

Pac 12 Conference Potential and Current Naming-Rights Deals (Current naming-rights deals in bold):

Using the above information and estimated amounts that could be garnered by Pac-12 Conference Schools with football stadiums and basketball arenas that do not have naming-rights deals in place right now, the Pac-12 Conference schools combined are missing out on something around….

$31.775 Million Dollars Per Year

….in potential naming-rights revenue!

Over $30 million dollars will pay a lot of bills in college athletic departments, especially when there are athletic departments like Washington State that are running annual deficits of over $13 million dollars.

The Roaring Fork Agency is now working with a few universities on naming rights deals, and after some exhaustive research that led to our agency creating a solid framework on how to value college naming-rights deals in the today’s marketplace, we stand ready to work with any college or university in America to help them both value and land a naming-rights deal that is a win-win for both the university and the sponsoring company.

Washington Athletics - www.gohuskies.com

Washington State Athletics - www.wsucougars.com

Pac-12 Conference - www.pac-12.com

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

How to Score with Sports Sponsorships - Nissan Goes Big With College Sports in New Sponsorship Deal

December 18, 2015

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

Back in September Michael Sussman of AdAge.com laid out some great advice on how companies can…

Brands: How to Score with Sports Sponsorships, Michael Sussman, AdAge.com

….which goes to the heart of why companies spend money on sponsorships which must always be:

A Sponsorship Investment MUST Create A Return on that Investment for the Sponsoring Company

Michael Sussman in this piece lays out three steps for brands to create winning sports sponsorship:

“1. Target audience alignment

The first, most obvious, step in establishing a successful partnership is identifying your brand's target audience, then choosing a partner that reaches your core audience.

2. Brand image alignment

Next, marketers need to understand the brand equity of potential partners and select one that can elevate their brand.

3. Strategic activation

“It is not enough to just be a "proud sponsor." Brands need to really tap into the spirit of the sport they are sponsoring and leverage the enthusiasm and loyalty of those sports fans.”

We here at the Roaring Fork Agency could not agree more with Michael Sussman’s three steps to create winning sports sponsorships which are rightly focused on:

Aligning the Company and Brand with the RIGHT Event

And

Focusing Heavily on the Activation of the Sponsorship at the Event

If companies focus on the above two things when thinking about sponsoring sporting events or any event for that matter they will end up with a more successful sponsorships that create the MUST for any sponsorship investment which is a Return on the Sponsorship Investment.

A great example of a company meeting all three of the steps in winning sports sponsorship as laid out by Michael Sussman in doing a sports sponsorship is Nissan in its recent deal with college sports:

Nissan Goes Big With College Sports in New Sponsorship Deal, E. J. Schultz, AdAge.com

“Nissan has locked down sponsorships for 100 colleges and universities -- from the University of Alabama to the University of Wisconsin -- in what the automaker is calling the "widest-reaching sponsorship in the history of collegiate sports."

The four-year-deal includes permanent Nissan signage in hundreds of stadiums and arenas and gives the company the rights to use school logos in TV ads. All told, the pact will cover 22 men's and women's sports at the schools, allowing the automaker to reach 22 million alumni and 188 million fans nationwide, according to estimates provided by Nissan.

Nissan did not disclose financial terms. But Jeremy Tucker, VP-marketing communications and media for Nissan North America, called it "massive and complex."

"We saw this as a white space," he said in an interview. "There is no one activating it in automotive at this scale nationally 11 months out of the year, always on."

The pact was negotiated with media rights holders for the schools, including IMG College, Learfield Sports, Fox Collegiate Sports Properties, JMI Sports and Sun Devil Athletics. The deal is not exclusive, meaning universities might still have partnerships with other automakers. "There can be others, but not at this scale," Mr. Tucker said.”

In this sponsorship deal with college sports Nissan followed the three steps to winning sports sponsorship to a tee:

Target audience alignment – Fans of college sports align very well with Nissan’s products

Brand image alignment – The Nissan brand aligns very well with college sports fans.

Strategic activation – Nissan is going all-out on activation by having people on the ground promoting Nissan products at colleges across the country and Nissan has even produced a “Diehard Fan” app that allows fans to virtually paint their faces:

“There will be plenty of on-the-ground marketing, too. This weekend, for instance, Nissan is setting up face-painting booths at several campuses at which the deal begins immediately, including Ohio State and the University of Southern California.

All 100 schools will be active in 2016. The pact includes a sponsorship of the University of Texas vs. University of Oklahoma football game, known as the Red River Showdown. Other schools included are UCLA, Duke, Notre Dame, University of Michigan and plenty of other big-time programs.

To hype its new association, Nissan is launching a "Diehard Fan" app that allows fans to virtually paint their faces in their favorite team colors. Fans can choose from designs representing nearly all 100 collegiate teams in the new deal. The app allows fans to put virtual face paint over an existing picture or portrait. The designs were created by hand-painting them on human models and then digitally remastering them for the app.”

Kudos to Nissan and their lead creative agency TBWA, Los Angeles along with some help from the digital agency Critical Mass on the “Diehard Fan” app for creating a very unique branding campaign that during this past football season was seen and experienced by millions of fans of college sports and which will continue running into 2016.

Ad Age - www.adage.com

Nissan USA - www.nissanusa.com

TBWA - www.tbwa.com

Critical Mass - www.criticalmass.com

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

As College Athletic Department Revenue Continues To Grow the University of Texas Is Raking In Big Sponsorship Dollars for Its Sports Teams and Bevo

June 1, 2015

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

In recent years college athletic departments have been taking in record amounts of revenue from both the long-running NCAA Basketball Tournament and the just started-up last year College Football Playoff, but postseason tournaments are only part of the story of the large amounts of money that is being generated and spent on sports teams on college campuses in America.

USA Today was out last week with their annual NCAA Finances database of the top 200-plus colleges in America which lists how much athletic departments raise and spend in fielding their sports teams, and not surprising the universities of Oregon, Texas, Michigan, Alabama and Ohio State are at the top with the Oregon Ducks athletic department taking in a gargantuan amount of almost $200 million dollars in 2013 - 2014.

2013 - 2014 NCAA College Athletic Department Finances - USA Today

The University of Texas has long been at or near the top of college athletic department revenue for decades now and in a recent piece in the Houston Chronicle reporters Mike Finger and John Tedesco used the state of Texas open record laws to learn about the inner-workings of how sponsorship dollars are raised by the UT athletic department which is a fascinating inside look at how the UT athletic department makes money selling sponsorships:

University of Texas rakes in corporate sponsorships, Mike Finger and John Tedesco, Houston Chronicle

“Two years ago, on an afternoon in his final spring as the University of Texas athletic director, DeLoss Dodds attended two meetings. One was to discuss the Longhorns' foundering major sports teams. The other was with a group of executives from Chevrolet.

The conversation with Chevrolet led to a lucrative sponsorship for UT - $4.8 million in cash over three years from the automaker and a new Silverado HD pickup truck worth $63,885 that was dubbed "the official truck of Bevo," the Longhorn mascot.

The contract is one of 19 corporate sponsorships that will provide UT athletics and marketing partner IMG College with $16.4 million in cash, products and services this year, contracts obtained by the San Antonio Express-News show. Through 2021, the multiyear agreements add up to $98 million.

Dodds' successor, Steve Patterson, believes the corporate largess can help UT address those still-relevant questions about performance. As the nation's wealthiest athletic department shakes up its coaching staff and seeks a return to on-field glory, its quest is being funded in part by an impressive stable of private companies.

The corporate deals represent less than a tenth of the athletic department's total revenues, which Patterson estimates will be between $180 million to $185 million this year, including $12.5 million from the Longhorn Network. But the value of UT's sponsorships exceeded the 2013-14 total operating expenses of 100 different Division I athletic programs.

The deals until now have been kept under wraps, and UT and IMG fought the newspaper's requests to make them public. But the Texas attorney general ruled in December they generally are subject to open-records laws. After giving the individual companies time to challenge the ruling, UT recently released the documents.”

Yes, $17 million dollars annually and counting in sponsorship deals for the Texas athletic department is a stunning number, but that is still less than a tenth of UT’s entire athletic revenue from 2013 - 2014 with that other 90% mainly coming from the Longhorn Network and TV contracts associated with the Big 12 Conference and the postseason College Football Playoff which by itself has added over $200 million dollars in new revenue to college football last year.

For those in the sponsorship business it is interesting to note the growth of companies like IMG and Learfield Sports that work with and represent college athletic departments across America that then receive a cut of any monies generated by their sponsorship sales work and there is a section of this Houston Chronicle article on Texas athletics that goes into the details of those business relationships:

“As part of its UT contract, which also enables it to sell advertising, TV and radio rights, and signage at events, IMG keeps 17.5 percent of gross revenue it generates on the school's behalf. For that privilege, IMG pays UT a $2.26 million annual-rights fee.

Because IMG handles so many similar clients, it's able to consolidate deals with national brands to enable those companies to sponsor multiple programs. Chobani, UT's newest sponsor, signed on with the Longhorns and 16 other schools at the same time.”

Just doing some back of the envelope math using the above numbers IMG makes around $700,000 per year on their sponsorship sales deal with the Texas athletic department which is in the 4 to 5 percent range on sponsorships generated which is a little higher than the Roaring Fork Agency would charge for the same work, but pretty much in-line with sponsorship sales work commissions across North America right now.

There has been one constant of more and more money in the last three decades since the Supreme Court decided in the NCAA vs. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma in favor of schools and conferences right to schedule and put together their own television contracts which has seen an explosion in the amount of intercollegiate athletics that is on TV and money that has continues to flow in ever increasing amounts to college athletic departments across America.

University of Texas rakes in corporate sponsorships - Houston Chronicle

University of Texas Athletics - www.texassports.com

USA Today NCAA Finances - www.sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances

IMG - www.img.com

Learfield Sports - www.learfieldsports.com

NCAA vs. Board of Regents University of Oklahoma - Wikipedia

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy

The University of New Mexico Completes Arena Naming Rights Deal With WisePies Pizza In A Very Backend Loaded Deal Indeed

January 21, 2015

By Paul Bryant Birdwell - paul@roaringforkagency.com - 415 730 - 4854

Naming Rights in intercollegiate athletics is increasingly becoming a way for colleges to raise money to fund their athletic programs and reporter Mark Smith of the Albuquerque Journal has done a great job in a recent story in compiling a list of the current naming rights agreements of basketball arenas in the Mountain West Conference and detailing the University of New Mexico’s search for a Title Sponsor of UNM’s arena now named WisePies Arena after a deal was completed last December:

Naming rights deals vary greatly in MWC, Mark Smith, Albuquerque Journal

“It’s difficult enough to compare naming-rights deals for college basketball arenas because of the numerous differences in local economies, arena marketing – both nationwide and locally – of arenas, the population and such. But it’s even tougher to compare based on the new numbers of arenas that have sponsorships.

Matt Ensor, assistant director of communications at UNM, researched the number of collegiate basketball venues with title sponsors before the school’s deal with WisePies was announced. His discovery is that UNM is in rare company following its $5 million, 10-year deal with WisePies.

“In looking at all 345 NCAA Division I basketball programs, I researched the number of programs who play in a college basketball arena (no professional or semiprofessional teams) with naming rights from a company headquartered or founded in the same state. Including the University of New Mexico, I counted a total of 25 schools out of 345 (7.2%) in this unique situation. Of the 25 facilities, only eight are west of the Mississippi River.”

The Mountain West Conference which is not one of the larger “Power Five Conferences” that now dominate major college sports in America has a number of up-and-coming sports teams including Boise State which has fielded a top college football team for over a decade along with many MWC schools with basketball teams that have made it deep into the NCAA Basketball Tournament on numerous occasions.

Using the data from Mark Smith’s article in the Albuquerque Journal below are the current arena naming rights deals in the Mountain West Conference:

Air Force: No naming rights deal in place not looking for one

Boise State: Taco Bell Arena - 15 years $4 Million

Colorado State: No naming rights deal but looking for one

Fresno State: SaveMart Center - 23 years $40 Million

Nevada-Reno: No naming rights deal in place not looking for one

New Mexico: Wise Pies Arena - 10 years $5 Million

San Diego State: Viejas Indian Tribe - 10 years $6.9 Million

San Jose State: No naming rights deal in place

UNLV: No naming rights deal in place but looking for one

Utah State: Arena built by donation from founder of Smith’s Grocery

Wyoming: No naming rights deal but looking for one

It’s always notoriously hard to figure out what each naming rights deal is worth on a year-to-year basis, but of the four Mountain West Conference schools that have arena naming rights deals in place below are the annual payments on those deals:

Boise State = $267,667

Fresno State = $1,739,130

New Mexico = $500,000

San Diego State = $690,000

The New Mexico arena naming rights deal with WisePies which was announced in early December by the UNM…

WisePies gives $5 million gift to support UNM Athletics, University of New Mexico

….is an interesting one indeed when one looks at the particulars of the contract which includes a small payment up-front and much larger payments on the backend. The Albuquerque Business First has the details of the UNM arena naming deal:

See the $5 million UNM/WisePies contract to rename The Pit, Dan Mayfield, Albuquerque Business First

“On Monday, the University of New Mexico received $100,000 from WisePies Pizza & Salad, which marks its first payment on its $5 million agreement to buy the naming rights to The Pit.

WisePies Arena, formerly The Pit, is named after the local pizza and salad chain.

Though the agreement is for $5 million over 10 years, WisePies will pay $100,000 in 2014 and 2015, and then the chain will pay $600,000 annually for the remaining eight years of the contract, due every December 31, according to the four-page agreement between UNM and WisePies obtained by Business First.”

So this contract between UNM and WisePies calls for WisePies to pay…

$100,000 in 2014

$100,000 in 2015

..and then..

$600,000 annually in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023!

Now that is a backend loaded naming rights contract and if the Roaring Fork Agency had been advising the University of New Mexico on this deal we would have pushed for UNM to get much more compensation upfront from WisePies in the first couple of years because it’s next to impossible to know what will be going on 5-plus years from now with WisePies or any other company for that matter that could go out of business, be bought, be sold, or be part of a much larger company that might not want to be making $600K annual payments for an arena naming rights deal in the early 2020s contract in place or not!

For anyone that is interested in collegiate naming rights deals Kristi Dosh at her website the Business of College Sports has a comprehensive naming rights database that can be accessed just by signing-up for her newsletter:

Naming Rights Deals, The Business of College Sports, Kristi Dosh

If you have any questions about event sponsorship or venue naming rights contact the Roaring Fork Agency at:

paul@roaringforkagency.com

415 730 - 4854

Aspen, Colorado

Tiburon, California

Incline Village, Nevada

Santa Monica, California

Newport Beach, California

www.roaringforkagency.com

Twitter - @RoaringForkAgcy