Importantly, SponsorMap is applied for to provide meaningful measurements of deliverables from a sponsorship.

Still an emerging concept, experiential marketing involves a target audience member in an event experience related to a brand or product. The goal is to make a “quality brand experience” that creates real engagement where customers are not only exposed to the brand name but also given an opportunity to interact with the brand, absorb the messaging and understand how the brand attributes are relevant to their lives and needs.

“Advertising is rapidly losing its effectiveness as consumers have learned to tune out the bombardment of ads in everyday life, so more and more firms are turning to experiential marketing tactics that are novel enough to catch the attention of the sophisticated consumer’, commented Nicholas Cameron, Director of SponsorMap.

“The tool is building on our existing knowledge of event sponsorship that we have developed from our SponsorMap methodology but it also encompasses key word-of-mouth measurements that are especially of value in experiential marketing where WOM impact is considerable.”

The SponsorMap range of tools measure consumers’ passion and gratitude to try and identify the role that sponsorship is having on brands. SponsorMap has been used in more than 20 countries across the globe and is currently partnered with TNS.
There are various modules of SponsorMap ranging from sponsorship pre-testing, tracking, hospitality and event research and also including the PassionIndex, a syndicated report that examines sporting and entertainment passions.

You can download information on SponsorMap Experiential here.

That’s what sponsorship was in the 80′s, the days when what mattered to sponsors was simply to have maximum brand exposure, often manifesting itself in sporting events where logos are plastered over the event itself.

Sponsorship is an opportunity for brands to engage with consumers in authentic ways that highlight brand values and at the same time provide memorable experiences. These experiences can deliver very strong results for brands and marketing.

Based on numerous sponsorships were have evaluated using SponsorMap we can conclude that there is often a direct relationship between the brand experience and the effectiveness of the sponsorship itself. We see this using measurements of key brand performance indicators pre and post event in conjunction with other sponsorship metrics. Brand activation which engages consumers and that enhances as event experience is often very powerful in spreading positive word of mouth for brands with a very specific audience.

Looking at a recent example of successful sponsorship activation that illustrate the power of brand experience in sponsorship itself, there is an example from the Beijing Olympics below. This was not a brand that used SponsorMap but it is a very good example of the power of the brand experience.

The example below is from China where the ABT Creative brand experience agency agency undertook sponsorship activation for the Snickers brand.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwBvjc-2DCY[/youtube]

We are not affiliated with them but they have a nice video on the activity as well as information on the type of results that were achieved.

The Brief

To connect with young males 15-25 years and show how Snickers can work as an on the go snack that can satisfy.

Sponsorship Property

Snickers Street Olympics in China undertaken in the lead-up to Beijing 2008. Series of street events in conjunction with integrated marketing campaign.

The Results

• Snickers is now the number 2 chocolate brand in China.
  
• Sales rose 75% Qtr 1 2007 to Qtr 1 2008.