I was truly knocked out to receive the coveted 'Hollis Sponsorship Personality of the Year' award for 2006, not least by being introduced as 'the person behind some of the industry's most talked about sponsorship initiatives'. Big intro; was it justified? I don't know but here's my track record:
How much does this cost?
As BT's Head of Commercial Sponsorship, I implemented a strategic framework for sponsorship appreciation and helped re-position BT by showcasing the company's range of capabilities and expertise through imaginative sponsorship activity. Typical of this approach was BT’s relationship with Tate Online which has won nearly 20 industry awards overall, including two Interactive Bafta's for the site. Before BT’s involvement the website was pulling in around 100,000 unique users a month; with BT’s support and expertise, that figure has grown to over 1,000,000 per month and Tate Online is now regarded as one of the world's most popular arts websites.
This success with Tate led to a wider sponsorship strategy in the arts firstly with performance, through an association with the National Theatre’s Stagework website (which won a World Summit Award in the e-learning category) and then cinematically, with the British Film Institute’s education website, Screenonline.
I was a key member of the team behind BT’s involvement as a Premier Partner in the London 2012 Bid, helping the London 2012 team with comms services during the Bid process and implementing a vigorous PR campaign to maximise the public's involvement which helped drive 3 million people to register their support to back the Bid. Wrapping the BT HQ building in a huge 'back the bid' banner and illuminating the BT Tower with similar messages on 20/12 were two of the most impressive ideas we pulled off. I left BT mostly in frustration at its slow decision-making process over whether to support the London Games as a major sponsor. But I was delighted, and not a little proud, to read only today (27 March 07) that BT is likely to be the next significant corporate backer of London 2012.
In my earlier life at Cellnet, which transformed into O2, we led the mobile industry into what was to become dramatic sponsorship activity with associations with Capital Radio’s Flying Eye, the England Rugby Team, Damon Hill in his winning Formula One world championship year and Middlesbrough FC. The seeds of the mobile industry's major investments in F1, Premiership football, rugby and music properties were sown at this time.
On returning to BT, I project-managed BT’s first major sports sponsorship association with the Rugby World Cup 1999 and developed an exploitation policy known as ‘sweating the assets' such as the large-scale bannering of numerous BT buildings, putting promotional messages on thousands of fleet vehicles and on ‘street furniture’.
As well as a lot of expertise in selecting, managing and maximising sponsorship associations, I think I have a good feel for what it takes to make a sponsorship proposition attractive to a large organisation. I also know only too well what a poorly-presented proposition looks like, having received 1000's of these over the years. If you are a rights holder and feel that you need advice about developing a compelling proposition and, beyond that, help with securing sponsorship funding then I'd be delighted to hear from you too. I've joined forces with two experienced hands to provide a dedicated service in this specific area. Just click through to www.sponsorfinder.co.uk to find out more.
I'm slightly embarrassed but has anybody been doing this stuff for as long as me (with as much impact and enthusiasm?). An early major event was entertaining 150 key channel customers at Brands Hatch in Cellnet's dedicated hospitality unit, when Nigel Mansell won the Grand Prix of Europe. What was that, 1987? more >
I've done many platform presentations on sponsorship activity, often on the theme of how to maximise an association or a new approach to sponsorship activity or sometimes beyond sponsorship: a new course of thinking. more >
I guess that after 30 years in the business you get to meet a lot of people. Some of those contacts have become not only really useful but also, and more importantly, very dear to me. They are like a precious asset. more >
Contact Paul Leonard: info@paulleonard.net UK - T 01280 816 865 M 07758 558 748 ITALY - T +39 0734 750 238 M +39 349 151 6851