About SponsorLab
Whether you are the sponsor, the property, or the agency in-between, your aim is to deliver maximum brand value through the partnership. SponsorLab offers a simple yet powerful approach to do just that.
Out of the Courtroom
Too often sponsorship measurement feels like a courtroom... and the sponsorship is on trial. This can create a FEAR that leads to 'selective' measurement and overly rosy reporting. This helps no one and can actually make the sponsorship WORSE.
Into the Lab
SponsorLab takes sponsorship measurement out of the courtroom and into the laboratory. You now measure to assess effectiveness and impact - to find out which levers did and didn't move the needle. Just like the scientific method, with every sponsorship execution you must learn, adjust and improve.
Conversations are Key
SponsorLab addresses the fear and 'self defence' problem by creating a simple process that drives critical stakeholder conversations at every step of the the way. More collaboration and shared responsibility.
No more finger pointing.
OBJECTIVES
What is this sponsorship trying to achieve?
WEIGHTING
Which objectives take priority?
KPI's
What does success
look like?
PRIORITIES
Are some KPI's more significant than others?
Let's talk about it...
Too often the most critical sponsorship conversations never happen...
Who is SponsorLab for?
For Brands/Sponsors
Sponsoring brands and organisations are always the ultimate beneficiary of the SponsorLab platform and process. It helps you clearly define what success looks like and makes sure you stay on track. If you use the tool and follow the system steps and guidance, you'll get even more from your sponsorship investment.
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For Properties /
Rights Holders
Sponsor servicing is key for properties/rights holders to maintain lasting partnerships. Critical to this service is a true understanding of your partners' objectives and SponsorLab has a modified cost-effective version designed specifically for properties/rightsholders to share with sponsors. Sponsor Lab gets both parties on the same strategic page and that leads to better results and long-lasting partnerships.
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For Agencies
Sponsorship agencies can use SponsorLab to guide their clients through the process of setting and weighting sponsorship objectives and KPIs. This assures all strategic views are considered, gets all stakeholders on the same page, and leads to a higher quality activation brief. It crystalises the target you are paid to help them hit.
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Why is
SponsorLab so Powerful?
Easy to Use - Fully trained in under an hour!
Saves Time - Drives clarity and efficiency from Day 1
Enhances Collaboration - All pulling in the same direction
Better Briefs - Clear view of success = better activation
Clarity For All - Identify and eliminate time-wasting actions
Data Cohesion - All KPI data integrated in a master scorecard
Data Needs - Clarifies what you need and what you don't
Focus - Keeps users focused on core purpose of the sponsorship
Simplicity - Makes a complex process clear and manageable
Features
The SponsorLab platform is your own self-guided 'workshop' providing a clear and simple interface with intuitive prompts and output visuals that walk you through the strategic process the right way.
Dashboard View – A birds-eye view of all sponsorships. One tile and performance indicator for each partnership plus an overall performance summary.
Weighted Objectives – SponsorLab prompts you to identify your key business outcomes from the sponsorship - weighted by strategic priority.
Measurable KPIs – Your quantifiable definition of 'what success looks like.' A Performance Window sets minimum threshold and target results so expectations are clear. KPI weightings assure you consider outcome priorities before the activation plan is built.
Performance Scoring – As the results come in, a performance score is calculated for each KPI, Objective and Sponsorship. To improve the scores you must deliver activity that drives the KPIs. This keeps your eye on the ball.
Portfolio Analysis – As each sponsorship is scored, the overall portfolio performance score is built. Sponsorship weightings by investment level or strategic priority help assure resources are effectively deployed.
Universal Objectives – Key brand or organisational objectives to be considered for all sponsorships can be established at the Dashboard level. This assures portfolio synergy and enables cross-sponsorship reporting.
Performance Tracking – Compare current results to past seasons or timeframes with calculated variance.
Projected Performance – Partial campaign results can be instantly converted to full-campaign projections.
Value Analysis – Linked directly to KPI performance, a Value of Investment (VOI) calculation can be activated for each partnership. Rather than a 'market value', this represents the true value to the sponsor.
Layered/Tiered Dashboards – For larger organisations with numerous sponsorships, separate dashboards can be created for each region, brand, sport or any sub-division you use. These then roll-up into a single summary dashboard for an 'executive view' of overall performance.
User Management – Complete customisable so you can control which users can see and edit each sponsorship.
One-Click Reports – Easy output for sharing or printing.
It's The Process
Successful sponsorship strategy is about THE PROCESS as much as the calculations. SponsorLab guides you through each step of the strategic process.
Right order.
Right pace.
No shortcuts.
Whether or not you ever look at your scorecard, your sponsorship will be more successful for having gone through the SponsorLab process. Once you get started you'll know what we mean.
SponsorLab Uses
A few of the many ways you can put SponsorLab to work for you.
Sponsorship Evaluation
SponsorLab is the ultimate tool for sponsors to manage and evaluate the effectiveness of a sponsorship strategy. The platform pairs your clearly stated and weighted Objectives and KPIs with actual results to calculate insightful performance scores. Along the way, the SponsorLab process induces the key strategic conversations that are often overlooked.
Partnership Management
For Rights-holders wishing to strengthen sponsor relationships and maintain those critical partnerships, SponsorLab provides a collaborative interface to help you transparently manage that process. With the goals of each partner shared and understood, you can better focus on delivering the value that will keep them onboard.
Strategy Consultation
As an agency or independent consultant guiding your client through the sponsorship process, SponsorLab provides the ultimate shareable platform that facilitates the thinking and debate required to drive success. Strategic clarity is critical for success and SponsorLab will help get you there and keep you there.
Value Return
Getting the most out of a sponsorship investment starts with a clear purpose and measurable targets. SponsorLab goes a step further by enabling you to assign a unit value to your KPIs and providing automated calculation of value return for each KPI as well as the total sponsorship campaign. Better than market value, this is the value to you, the sponsor.
Research Planning
Rather than commissioning all the research you think you might need, use of the SponsorLab system provides you a clear view of each and every data point you will need to measure your sponsorship success. If the data isn’t tied to your KPIs, it isn’t relevant to your success… and you shouldn’t be paying for it.
Opportunity Analysis
For any brand (or supporting agency) considering multiple opportunities for possible sponsorship investment, SponsorLab is the perfect tool to help you consider asset potential and quickly calculate a total package value. Run any proposal through SponsorLab and compare the proposed price to your potential value. Any difference is instantly clear.
Agency Briefing
Any creative campaign – especially in sponsorship – is only as good as the brief that instructs it. By working through the SponsorLab process prior to briefing, both sponsor and agency will have a crystal-clear view of the desired direction of travel and precisely what success looks like. Campaign surprises and misunderstandings are all but eliminated.
Portfolio Assessment
For brands with multiple sponsorships, SponsorLab enables Portfolio performance scoring to show an overall indicator of success across the entire sponsorship programme. The performance of each sponsorship contributes to the overall score by selected weighting based on investment level or other strategic priorities of your choice.
Fear of Measurement
No Fear
Measuring the ACTUAL performance of a sponsorship can often invoke fear in either the Sponsorship Manager/Team or the activation agency. This stems from the fact that the measurement (or 'scorecard') is wrongly seen as a way to deliver a binary verdict on the competence of those running the sponsorship.
Unfortunately this often leads to reporting of an artificially rosy view of the sponsorship impact. The human instinct for self-preservation creates an aversion to bad results.
Truth
SponsorLab removes that fear by driving collaborative conversations that lead to full stakeholder buy-in and shared responsibility. This then motivates all parties to seek the TRUTH... which is the only analysis that truly improves performance.
Taking sponsorship measurement out of the courtroom and into the Lab.
SponsorLab... It's the Process
