It’s a little like the elephant in the room.
Broadcast advertising is no longer the only game in town. The advent of social media has added many more options for marketers. And everyone is demanding more interaction, more value for their money.
Do traditional event sponsorship packages fit into this new world?
Lindsay Fultz, Marketing Manager for the image-based social media startup, LoveIt, used to work as marketing manager for an event industry supplier and was excited about supporting events as a sponsor. However she has grown frustrated.
In a recent discussion on the EventProfs Facebook group, she put it this way: “Now that I am Marketing Manager in the social network space I have a much larger marketing budget but after much deliberation very, very little of it is set to be spent in the events industry because sponsorship cost is so high and perceived value in return does not compute.”
“Saddens me,” she adds, “because I love the events industry and people but why on EARTH are events’ big and small sponsorship packages $7500 to $100k for name on lanyard, 1 page print ad, insert in bag, name being shouted on intercom, eblast or newsletter or to be 1 of 10 luncheon sponsors? Not one mention of new media value is listed, except for maybe a banner ad.”
Her post drew a slew of comments on the page, so we thought, why not continue the discussion on the #Eventtable Twitter chat? Join our chat, “Are Event Sponsorships Worth the Money?” on Monday, May 7 at 3 pm est. For easier participation go to Tweet Chat and enter the #Eventtable hashtag.
(Photo by codepo8)
