School Event Sponsorship Proposal: A Sample Case Study

Yesterday I received a sponsorship proposal from a school which is organising its annual day function in February 2012. I am a marketing manager and the school wants my company to sponsor the event. I cannot share the slides with you, but I can definitely share the overview of the presentation. If you too are making a similar presentation, you have something to learn here.


Contents
Slide 1 has the agenda of the presentation


Basic details of the annual day
Slide 2 talks about what the event is all about. When and where is the event.


Recap of last year's event
How many participants came last year and some images of the event shared.


Overview of the event
The annual day has four events; cultural event, competition for kids, kids carnival and stalls (food, knowledge and fun)


Competition details
What are the various contests for various age groups.


Stalls
The pavilion has food stalls, education stalls and other kinds of stalls.


Audience
Parents will come along with their children. In all 20,000 people are expected to come.


Sponsor benefits
Build awareness about your brand, connect with consumers, gather market research, etc.


Media plan
How the event will be promoted using radio and press advertisements.


Brand visibility
The sponsor will have his/her brand logo on the stage backdrop. It can organise a customised contest around the brand. It can sponsor the gift hamper bags and have a logo on them.


Social side of the event
The school is associated with an NGO.


Thanks (Slide 13)
Contact details.


I have tried to critically evaluate the PPT and will explore what could have been added and what needs to be avoided. First, the good part.


What is good?

1. The presentation is crisp and has 13 slides only. It does not go on and on.
2. The key message of every slide has been summarised in one statement at the end of the slide. After we have read the slide, the essence is being captured by one line at the end.

Every sponsor has various questions in their mind which a presentation needs to address. Here is the list as I can see:

Q1. What is the event? (Event details)

Q2. Who is going to come for the event? (Audience)

Q3. What will make them come to the event? (Event promotion)

Q4. How will I target the audience at the event? (Branding options)

Q5. Why should I sponsor the event? (Benefit)

Q6. Who is the organiser? Will they deliver on their promise and organise it well? (Credentials)

Q7. Who else is sponsoring the event? (Social influence)

Q8. What is the cost? Is it justified? (Cost Benefit analysis)

You can read in more depth about these points and more by reading my old posts here and here.

What could have been better?

This presentation addresses all questions except  6, 7, 8 and it also is weaker on Q4 and 5. Let us address this one by one. Q6 is about the organisers and their quality of execution. How can the presentation convince the sponsor about the quality of execution? The best way can be share pictures and videos of last years event. The images shared in this presentation are very few and very low resolution. Another good idea is to attach a testimonial from last years sponsor.

Q7 is important when you approach a sponsor for the first time. The sponsor wants to be sure he/she is not  alone. There are other people betting on the same event. This is the power of social influence. If other companies are sponsoring the event, then it must be something useful. It helps the marketing manager to justify the decision internally.

Q8 is about sharing the cost and convincing the sponsor that it is a fair cost. This can be avoided in a PPT and it is better shared in person.

Q4 and 5 are crucial. What benefit does the sponsor get? This presentations talks about the macro ideas; the brand can interact with the consumer, do market research, get sales and things like that. While this is good, the details are missing. The presentation also talks about branding options for the sponsor. The logo on stage and on gift hamper bags. If we create a dummy image with the actual logo of sponsor on the bags and backdrop it will be easy to visualise.

In my view, even the NGO slide is redundant. The school supports an NGO does not mean I should sponsor their annual day.

There is one last tip, which is tough to follow but yields good results. Call the sponsor and understand the needs of the brand before sharing your PPT. A company sponsors an event because it is of some benefit to them. Either they are aiming to sell their products or increase awareness or conduct market research or supporting a cause. Once you know the motivation and the needs of the brand, you can customise the presentation and sound more appealing.

Image credit: photostock