01 February 2012
Consumers are more than used to seeing brand names and logos on and around their favorite events, but companies today are looking for more than just recognition, they want the opportunity to give people a one-of-a-kind experience in hopes of making them loyal customers.
“Sponsorships have been identified as the content provider for a lot of things, some of the events or things we sponsor provide the ability to deliver certain things,” said Geraldine Cooper, vice president of sponsorships and experiential marketing for MasterCard in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, “tickets aren’t enough, people get tickets all the time.
“They’re bombarded with information and they’re being pitched by a lot of different people for a lot of different things,” she added.
Cooper discussed the ins and outs of experiential marketing and the challenges and opportunities in reaching out to customers and potential customers in unique ways at WorldCity's Marketing Connections on Jan. 20.
When MasterCard sponsored the 2011 Copa América in Argentina, they tried to give people more than just good seats.
“They’re going to a football match, but they’re also getting to experience Buenos Aires… and they got to meet iconic football players,” Cooper said. MasterCard also arranged a tournament trophy tour, taking it far outside major cities like Buenos Aires to people who may have never thought they’d see the trophy in person.
“Hopefully they’ll remember MasterCard got them that experience and they’ll use their card,” she added.
At the end of the day all of those efforts mean little if MasterCard isn’t able to achieve their goals. The company doesn’t issue cards directly to customers, it partners with 22,000 financial institutions around the world to get them into consumers hands.
Many companies face similar challenges in getting to their baseline customers. “In many countries we’re not allowed to advertise to the end customer,” said Urs Brunner, senior director of strategic market access for Medtronic Latin America.
Besides ensuring experiential event sponsorships meet strategic goals and show a return on investment, marketing executives also need to get their far flung teams on board with their campaigns, and explain to them why they’re important to pursue.
“It’s a lot of meetings, but nothing’s formal,” Brunner of Medtronic said. “Sometimes we use outside resources to tell us what we already know internally.”
“If you’re in the U.S. [people ask] ‘what the heck is the World Cup?’’ Cooper said, “but if you’re a global brand you need to make them understand that this is something the rest of the world is going to.”