2009 National Conference a huge success

2 December, 2009

Elephants Exposed!
The Sponsorship Australasia Conference ‘The Business of Sponsorship:A Meeting of the Minds’ held in Sydney at the end of October, brought together 200 industry professionals, celebrities and media to debate some of the hottest topics affecting the sponsorship industry today.

Our objectives were: to create a dialogue between sponsors, corporates, rights-holders, not-for-profits and agency professionals; and to share strategies and tips to help leaders to proactively manage the challenges facing the industry going-forward.

The opening session, ‘Let’s talk about the Sponsorship Elephants in the Room’ hosted by Tim Burrowes of Mumbrella, got the discussions off to a great start and gave delegates an insight into some of the major global trends, opportunities and threats to our industry. From Ben Crowe’s (Gemba) insights into the importance of storytelling: “the right stories enable the sponsor to create a fit between the brand and the sport which is critical for sponsors to creating a legitimate reason for being on the field of play … whoever tells the best story wins,” Crowe said; to Paul Waldren’s (AFL) examples: “sport is an Aussie way of life,” Waldren said. “It is one of the most engaging ways to communicate with consumers … sport has durability and offers a mass audience which is increasingly hard to find.” Chris Maxwell of Foster’s spoke on the stricter governance of alcohol in sponsorship and asked delegates to: “unite together in a coordinated approach by sharing insights, leading by example and developing standards.”
 
The ‘Art’ of Sponsorship
Delegates learned to sing and dance with Australia’s leading Telco’s as Optus and Waterfront Entertainment Marketing shared their success story of Pink’s sell-out Australia Tour and Telstra teamed up with the Australian Ballet to outline their 25-year long engagement with the arts community through a strategic marketing partnership.

“The partnership with Pink epitomized our ‘live life large’ campaign,” Tanya Menzies of Optus said of this all-medium encompassing campaign.

“Our partnership with the Australian Ballet helps Telstra to broaden its participation in Australia’s cultural fabric, from grass-roots to elite,” Richard Howarth of Telstra enthused.

Despite the shorter, 1-day format, it was inspiring to be part of the power-packed networking sessions. I’m sure that the wonderful venue was instrumental in keeping many of the delegates chatting into the wee hours as the sun went down over the Sydney harbour bridge! Fortunately, everyone who had registered for the Sponsorship Measurement session the following morning turned up!

Overall the feedback on the conference was positive with over 92% of the delegates who responded to our survey (86 in total) stating that the content of the conference was good or better. 94% preferred the one-day format and the location of Luna Park scored highly at 91%. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who responded to our survey and for your invaluable and constructive comments which will be taken on board when planning our annual conference for 2010 – date to be announced by the end of the year.

Thanks are also in order for the valuable, voluntary, contributions of our speakers and presenters who gave their time and shared their knowledge freely to make this event a success.

Finally a big nod to our sponsors B&T and Claxton Speakers Bureau. Sponsorship Australasia is a not-for-profit association run by a team of voluntary board and sub-committee members so, the support of sponsors and partners is much appreciated.