Create an Activation Plan
Jim Richards
CEO & Founder of The Market Share Group
Activation – The action or process of making something active or operative. At Market Share Sports, we define it as “bringing sponsorships to LIFE!”
Rights holders are limited in what they can sell. They excel at creating visibility for your brand with their audience. This is important. We need the consumer awareness. More importantly, you need an activation strategy that takes your sponsorship assets and turns them into business drivers.
An investment this large, should impact every touch point of your business. It should impact distribution, drive velocity, and multiply consumer awareness. Your activation plan is what will make or break your sponsorship.
One of our clients, Reser’s Fine Foods, is in their 8th season as a NASCAR team sponsor. Reser’s is privately held and has a responsibly sized sponsorship program with Joe Gibbs Racing. Their retail-focused activation strategy is built to execute 40 weeks out of the year and works with regional retailers, VIP hospitality at the track, brokers, and employees. Reser’s is activating in race markets even when they are not a primary sponsor in a race market.
Think about your products’ path to purchase. How can your sponsorship be leveraged to reward employees, brokers, distributors, buyers, and consumers? How can you use your sponsorship assets and rights (e.g. tickets, meet & greets, name, image and likeness of artists) to enhance trade shows, employee incentive programs, and, of course, on-shelf presence? You will find fans throughout your entire network who will appreciate the effort to connect with their passion.
Once you have your activation strategy, you can determine how much you need to invest in sponsorship to make your plan work.
This is an excerpt from Selling with Sponsorships – 5 Keys to Make Sponsorships work for You. Key number 2 – Create an Activation Plan. Download at