Broadcast sponsorship ‘has limit’

Advertisers should look beyond simple sponsorship of television programmes, Laser commercial director Paul Chard will tell advertisers and agencies at a presentation in London today (Wednesday).

Programme sponsorship currently accounts for about 1.5 per cent of ITV’s total advertising revenue, which last year amounted to 21m in national deals alone. “Sponsorship will mature at about four or five per cent of total revenue,” Chard predicts.

However, while there remains significant potential for further growth in broadcast sponsorship, growth will be restricted by ITV’s internal policy of “responsible broadcasting”, the desire to sustain sponsorship’s value by limiting its volume and linking it only with the best programmes.

Advertisers should consider the benefits of brand association through other activities, he says. Development funding – where clients sponsor pilot programmes and programmes used as sales development tools – is one avenue for exploration, says Chard. Licensing, merchandising and barter are other options.

“The Krypton Factor might not be a sponsorship opportunity,” he explains. “But I see no reason why the famous K could not be licensed to, say, Kellogg’s, as an on-pack promotion with in-pack games based on the programme to stimulate purchase.”

Laser/Granada recently licensed Coronation Street to News International which is using the soap as a scratchcard promotion.

New research, charting audience attitudes to TV sponsorship, will be unveiled today. The study, conducted by the Sponsorship Research Group, sets out to assess loyalty to different channels and acceptability of different types of deals.

Recommended

Confex 96 lines up global names

Marketing Week

Confex ’96, the annual conference and exhibitions show, opens its doors at Earl’s Court 2, London, from February 27 to 29. More than 1,000 companies from 70 countries worldwide are exhibiting. Minister for Tourism Lord Inglewood will be opening the event, which is now in its 14th year. This year’s show will have colour-coded areas […]

Top prizes on offer in salary game

Marketing Week

There is a new game in town for media directors. Known as the “Optimedia all-comers salary challenge”, its popularity has really taken off. The rules of the game are fairly simple, you have to be a high profile media director with lots of mentions in the trade press and hopefully the odd big account win. […]

LOCAL HEROES

Marketing Week

It’s all hands to the pump for regional breweries as national brands wield burgeoning marketing budgets and encroach on their territory. Growing concentration of interests may be the best way of fending off the big players.