2012 ANA/IEG Sponsorship & Event Marketing Members Only Conference
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the 2012 ANA/IEG Sponsorship & Event Marketing Members Only Conference on the Intrepid right on the Hudson River. This conference allowed me to network with several huge names in the marketing world and learn so much about how various companies benefit from sponsorship marketing.
The first company to present was IEG where they spoke about transforming sponsorships into value-creating partnerships. They presented their 5 main elements that they strive to achieve while pursuing these engagements: nurturing stories, serving others as a brand, belonging to communities that you’re sponsoring, innovation and evaluating and analyzing specific metrics.
The next company to present was Mastercard’s approach to sponsorship. With Mastercard’s “Bringing Priceless to Life” campaign, I was able to learn all the intricate details of how they have become so successful and customer/value-driven. An example they used regarding a partnership with TPC allowed them to promote the idea that experiences have more value than material possessions to their target market. Their newest campaign “Priceless New York” allows card members access to special deals and experiences that connected affluent members to their affinities and passions.
PepsiCo gave a very interesting presentation on how they’ve achieve great success with their various sport marketing campaigns. With examples such as their association of Gatorade and NFL, they explained how authentic stories about rookie players or under dogs kept them in line with the products personal authenticity.
The best presentation of the day certainly came from the company I’m interning for — Live Nation. LN explained the benefits, reasoning and processes of their current partnership with Hertz rental cars. With their “Movin’ with Music” campaign Live Nation has teamed up with Hertz to allow concert-goers the ultimate deal for travel and the music experience.
The 3 main components of reasoning behind this partnership are the facts that music rules social media, music is mobile and music a a shared experience. As anyone who has ever driven a car knows, music a huge part of your ride! With this program Hertz allows younger drivers to rent cars without an additional fee. Also, Live Nation incorporates a booking integration that allows access to a Hertz car rental option after purchasing concert tickets off of Ticketmaster.com. Additional attributes of this campaign include a VIP parking lot, social media integration, member benefits, venue activation and much more.
The Live Nation President, Russell Wallach, and Hertz VP & CCO, Jerry Preyss, did an outstanding job giving an entertaining and thought provoking presentation. The impression that this left me with confirmed my interest in the Live Nation company and how they conduct a very successful business.