The notion of measuring and evaluating sponsorship has always been a complex and divisive subject. As Seth Godin observes, “Is something important because you measure it, or is it measured bxecause it is important?”.  In this case, the answer is not quite so simple. But how can we improve if we are not able to understand the impact of our actions?

To make this article easier to read, we shall first agree on a definition:

• Property = any organisation (cultural, sporting, economic, NGO, etc.) that can be sponsored by a company

For many companies today, sponsorship is measured mainly according to three criteria:

• Exposure and media countervalue
• Number of times the company is asked “who are the sponsors of this property?”
• Rate of positive responses to invitations sent out during hospitality events

The first of these issues has led to some drift in sponsorship, including a tendency to focus on the size of the logo at the expense of a real understanding of the impact generated. In addition, the third issue has led to companies regularly offering extremely large amounts of money for a benefit that is close to a conventional ticket purchase.

Today, the line between a sponsorship approach and a partnership approach has become relatively blurred. Is my company capitalising on a sponsorship investment to generate a return on investment? Or are we simply buying low value-added services (tickets, seats, etc.) weighted with an “intangible” amount that can be linked to a form of sponsorship?

The usual performance indicators mentioned in the previous section have many limitations and reveal various problems. Did your exhibition bring you new customers? Has the level of customer loyalty been impacted by your sponsorship actions? Did your actions generate an increase in the average consumption of your customers? Has the public perception of your brand changed? Has the positive feeling towards your brand changed?

It is likely that indicators focusing on awareness or participation cannot answer many of the above questions and this is normal. What they have in common is that they are not related to the final results and therefore do not allow you to reach the desired level of granularity; you cannot judge a book by its cover.

As with all media, it is hardly possible to calculate the overall impact of sponsorship with any precision, but it is possible to correlate this with some tangible results.

Nevertheless, what makes sponsorship stand out is that it involves two major elements that cannot be measured financially with precision: the emotional value of the property and those unique experiences. Different calculation methodologies exist, but they are all subjective and therefore give only an approximate view.

So don’t try to measure all the benefits that sponsorship can bring to your business, but focus on what is important to you: your objectives.

The first and foremost answer to the sponsorship measurement question is “why do you want to sponsor?”.

Your company has various objectives: marketing, sales, HR, communication, all of which can be strongly impacted by the sponsorship lever. Define the objectives you wish to achieve through your sponsorship actions in advance. The second step is then to select specific objectives for each property from your overall sponsorship objectives. This will allow you to monitor the success of these objectives in a specific and precise way for each property, facilitating the evaluation phase of the partnerships.

If you have not already done so, convert your objectives into SMART objectives. Use these as the end point of a customer journey the stages of which you will break down. Each property is unique and therefore will require at least one distinct customer journey in order to be optimised.

Building specific customer journeys for each property will lead to the design of at least as many sponsorship activation campaigns. Indeed, in order to measure the impact of the different touch points of this journey, you need to be in control.

However, in contrast to the title of this section, activating is not necessarily measuring. This is why it is essential that your plans are not only creative but also designed in advance to include a measure.

• Develop measurable activation campaigns
• Conduct an inventory of your sponsorship portfolio
• Help you define your sponsorship objectives