Event Sponsorships Can Be Tasty
For most, an event sponsorship means you will get lost in a sea of logos or a laundry list of names. Having your name slapped on a poster, banner or brochure cover are not enough.
Today, event sponsorships need to be strategized just like a media buy. Sure, some sponorships are just contributions, but it time to optimize your investment. At a minimum you need to negotiate how you will presented as a sponsor of the organization.
I attended the Go Red for Women event in Cedar Rapids and I saw an event sponsor that got all the best flavor for this new era of sponsorships. Meth-Wick Community had a prominent position at every place setting. And even though some people ate the sponosorship logo, it was real positive engagement with nearly every person who attended. Best of all you could clearly read the logo and name. No confusion.
An event sponsorship is an investment, so make sure you optimize your sponsorship investment. Treat you sponsorship like a marketing media buy.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.