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Sylvain Gauthier B.Eng. MBA, PMP

Protrain Canada

About the Author

Sylvain Gauthier is a bilingual professional specializing in project management in the field
of new product and business development. He holds a MBA from the Universite de
Montreal and attained his PMP® qualification in 1998.
Sylvain has a solid background and extensive experience in business planning, cost
management and the implementation of project management office for large corporations.
For the past 15 years he has worked with project teams with telecom service providers,
equipment manufacturer, IT, TV broadcasting and e-business in Canada, US, Europe and
Asia.
Sylvain’s professional experience is centered on the practical application of Project
Management (PM) and Value Analysis (VA) Value Engineering (VE) principles and
concepts for improving product and processes costs.

Improve your sponsorship management results with project management!

When a company decides that part of its marketing mix, sponsorship of an event, a television
program or an athlete is the right communication tool for their next campaign, they are really
defining the needs of a project or a program. Sponsorship management is really perceived as
marketing type of function where someone is managing the planning and execution of certain
activities where usually an exchange of visibility for money or other valuable assets happens. In
fact, we could say that it is a formal agreement between two parties to deliver a set of
deliverables by a certain time, at a certain level of performance or quality at a certain cost. That fit
very well with the definition of a project as per the Project Management Institute definition (PMI).
The question becomes, if sponsorship management involved managing projects, could the
sponsorship management world benefit from adopting the Project Management Body Of
Knowledge (PMBOK) as guiding principles to manage project?

About Sponsorship management

Sponsorship management is growing at a fast pace.
On one side of the spectrum, when a property owner decide to create visibility tools integrated in
its event, television program or personal performance with all kind of mechanism for a potential
investor to be associate with them, they also defining the needs for a project or program.
On one side, the sponsor seek a project or program to invest in return of visibility that will improve
its brand awareness, brand recognition, brand recall or brand association with a specific target
market containing well identify customer attributes. On the other side, the sponsee seek
investment in visibility related type of projects derived from the main event which could also be a
big project by itself . For example the Olympic games are by itself a project which trigger many
visibility related projects such as the sponsorship of the TV broadcasting, the sponsoring of a
venue and many more.

Initial Situation Desired situation

The ideal situation for both parties is when they could merge together their project proposal into
one joint project. In order to achieve that optimum scenario it requires that both parties have
some common ground into managing sponsorship type of projects. The question at this stage
become; Does the common ground facilitating this complete integration could be based on the 5
key processes and nine body of knowledge framework from the PMBOK guide from PMI?

To answer that question we need to understand the following:

- How does a corporation identify the needs for a sponsorship project through its
marketing mix strategy?
- How does a sponsee build the elements require to propose a sponsorship project?
- The typical anatomy of that type of project
- What are the role and responsibilities of property owner and sponsorship managers?
To understand how the need for a sponsorship project comes to life we will look at the framework
for decision making used by many marketers such as Mr. Peter Choi from Motion Asia
Management in Hong Kong. An outline for a sponsorship management framework is presented
and explained using actual case study.

Sponsorship project management context outline, initiation from a sponsor perspective

The framework is made of a series of activities that needs to be performed to finally get to the
output that will be used to initiate the project. That output is called a sponsorship project contract

Sponsor Setting Marketing

Needs Sponsorship Integration
Assessment Objectives Strategic fit

Statement of Leverage
Measurement
Objectives Tie-in
SOO document Cross Impact

Sponsee Alignment Sponsorship

Value Proposition SOO and VP Project
Proposal evaluation & Selection contract

Activity 1
At this stage we try to answer fundamental marketing questions to understand the needs of the
business such as
- What is our current context?
- What are our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats?
- What is the desired situation?
It is important to set aside the sponsorship opportunity if one is know or one is push in order to
really capture the business needs based on the current situation versus the current proposal or
target events. We are more concerned during that step with mid-long term needs (3 to 5 years to
come) versus next year objectives.
The desired situation answer is the key to ensure that people understand the where we should be
instead the how we will be there? In a lot of cases, management will try to present a sponsorship
opportunity as the answer to the desired situation and in facts it is a potential solution but not
necessary the desired situation at this stage.
The desired situation should refer to geographic presence, product positioning, market share,
target market customers, brand perception, awareness, recall etc.. Usually, it is closely related to
marketing mid-long term objectives for a product or in a market.

Activity 2
Now that we understand what is the desired situation over the next 3 to 5 years we can identified
objectives that could be link to sponsorship program. Also if we meet these objectives what kind
of benefits and advantages can we receive from it. To get an understanding of that we will answer
the following questions;
- What mid-long term objectives should we expect if we meet are at the desired
situation?
- Which objectives could be met by enabling sponsorship programs?
- What are the benefits and advantages of the desired situation?
- How we will evaluate the best course of action versus these benefits?

Activity 3
Independently of this study the organization is usually proceeding with a cycle of strategic
planning looking at its priorities, strategies and tactics for the upcoming years. It is important to
validate how our desired situation and target objectives are tie to the strategic plan including the
marketing plan. Questions to answer are
- How the desired situation and objectives are fitting with the strategic & marketing
plans?
- Are there any projects in place in line with the desired situation and the target
objectives?

Activity 4
Rarely just the sponsorship of an event or other types of property whiteout the support of other
communication mix tools such as advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, product launch
or other form of communication, will allow the sponsor to meet its objectives. The tie-in and
leverage comes into play when a message send through one of the communication variable tools
is reinforce and amplified by being linked with another variable. During this activity, we will try to
understand how we could link the potential solution in line with the desired situation with other
marketing communication variables.
- Is there any potential link with:
o Advertising?
o Sales promotion?
o Personal selling?
o Direct marketing?
o Promotional licensing?
o Corporate & marketing PR?
- What objectives could be leverage by the sponsorship program?

Activity 5
To get the benefits and advantages identified when we have the target situation establish, we will
need measurement metrics. These metrics will also help monitor the effectiveness of our
sponsorship program, will also be good project performance indicators in the context of project
management.
- Do we have any metrics related to:
o Brand recognition, recall and awareness?
o Image and attitude?
o Brand/service/product effects?
o Media audits?
o Behavioral measures?
 - What are the value improvement for:
o Shareholders?
o Customers or Society?
o Employees?

Activity 6
This activity requires the regrouping of all the previous activities into a document that summarize
the Statement of Objectives or SOO. This document provides all the guidance to the
management for evaluating sponsorship proposal that will come to them. Because the sponsor
will not be creating events or television programs or athlete performance visibility, they will have
to evaluate what it is available in the market. With the SOO, the sponsors are well equipped to
look at proposal, identified which one seems to fill the needs and engage in further discussions. A
typical Statement of Objectives outline will be as follow.

Statement of Objectives (SOO) outline

Sponsorship Target Cross Impact, Tie in Measurement,

Objectives Audiences Leverage effectiveness

Brand Advertising Brand recognition, recall

A,B,C,D,etc..
Service/Product Sales Promotion Brand awareness
Sales Personal Selling Image and attitude
Media Direct Marketing service/product effect
Personal Promotional Licensing Media audits
Corporate Corporate PR Behavioral measures

Activity 7
This is the step where for the first time the sponsor meet the sponsee usually through a
sponsorship proposal submit by the sponsee to them. The content that should be part of such a
proposal, in this case we will call It Value proposition sponsorship proposal will be cover in
further details later on. Using its Statement of Objectives (SOO) , the sponsor is in good position
to perform a complete assessment of the value propositions in front of them , perform a gap
analysis and identify what needs to be add or adapt to be perfectly in line with their objectives.
Obviously the bigger is the gap between the SOO and the value proposition the more it gets
difficult to get to a project contract.

Activity 8
This alignment of the SOO and the VP is done between the sponsor and the sponsee through
discussions and negotiations. Usually visibility tools provided by the sponsee gets evaluate and
realigned towards the communications mix tactics, tie-in and leverage strategy identified in the
SOO of the sponsor. Difficulties appear when the sponsee is working with many different
sponsors for its event which may have different SOO. Then it becomes a trade off discussion to
find the right balance between all parties .

Activity 9
Once the sponsor and the sponsee agree on a common statement of work, both parties move
towards sealing the deal with a contract which become launch the initiation phase of the
Sponsorship project. Following the initiation phase, the next project processes are planning,
executing, controlling and closing as per the PMBOK from PMI.
CASE STUDY : CHINA NETCOM COMMUNICATION (CNC) SPONSORSHIP OF FORMULA
ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TELEVISION BROADCAST IN 2001

Project : TV sponsorship of the television broadcast in China of the

Formula One World Championship

Owner/ Client : China Netcom Communication (CNC), Beijing , China

Executive Management team : James ……. CNC

Peter Choi Motion Asia Management

Project background :The CNC company a growing telecommunication company in

China deploying fiber optics capabilities across the country
was looking for a communication tools that would allow them
to be associate with Speed, High tech and innovation. Formula
One was the right communication vehicle and sponsoring the
broadcasting live of race and qualification allow them to
associate their brands with the best in class in technology.
Framework overview :
Activity 1 - Growing Telecom Company
- Market demand exceed supply,
- Needs for bandwidth, speed and quality of service
- Desired situation; being recognize as an international caliber
companies with cutting edge technology and innovation

Activity 2 - Brand association with international attributes of Lifestyle,

Technology and innovation
- Market share with early adapters for internet and wireless

Activity 3 - Fit perfectly with the business strategy to growth and

expand across the country with technology

Activity 4 - Leverage and tie-in possibilities with TV advertising, on site

promotion display

Activity 5 - Key indicators

 Coverage 700 millions Chinese
 reach 40%
 Brand awareness and recall with 21-35 yrs old

Activity 6 - SOO done based on activity 1 to 5

Activity 7 - Review proposals from property owners selected TV

Broadcasting of F1 due to attribute of innovation, international,
lifestyle and technology driven.

Activity 8 - Alignment of the TV program visibility billboards with the TV

advertising commercial. Special content were creates to build
on the message of technology. The final SOW covered 17
weekend (race and qualification) with visibility during pre show
and magazine.

Activity 9 - The project plan included deliverables in terms of content such

as 2 TV commercials, set of bumpers, the production of F1
features integrating CNC technology and visibility and the
broadcasting of more then 3 minutes of material per show.
As you have probably notice, the sponsorship process meets the sponsee one at activity 7.
Activities 7, 8 and 9 are done jointly between the two parties and becomes the initiation phase of
the upcoming project.
To understand better how the sponsee got to this stage, we need to look at the steps that they
need to do to get their.

Sponsorship project management context outline, initiation from a sponsee perspective

To be in position to bring a proposal to a potential sponsor, a sponsee (property owner) must

creates area of cooperation within its activities that will provide some benefits in return of funding
or other exchangeable goods ( airline tickets, free seats , VIP box etc..). Usually the sponsee will
exchange visibility tools for the sponsor in re turn of money or direct cost elements of his activity
or event. The visibility tools translate into media value for the sponsors and sometimes offer a
more effective way than traditional advertising for reaching its target customers by being more
focus and associate to an event or activity that the customer enjoy.
The typical steps to go through to get to the point they can generate a value proposition to
potential sponsors are the following:

Property
Description

Target
Demo-
graphics
Visibility
tools
platform
Value/
Benefits
description

Media value
Calculation

Value
Proposition

Letter
Of
Introduction

Sponsorship
Proposal

Step 1
The first step is to describe what is the property, where is it happening, who is involved, in order
to familiarize the sponsor about what you have to offer. Any historic or background info is
important to be put in perspective.
Step 2
The target market demographics also called hard data cover by the events or activities is key to
understand and present. Important data such as age, race, familial status, income, lifestyle etc...
should be known and in the case of a new events, targeted. Also when possible the sponsee
should spend some times defining the psychographics also called the soft data of its target
market such as for example; risk takers, value for money oriented, early adopters, tech lovers etc..

Step 3
The sponsee must create some visibility tools as part of its events or activities which will translate
into media value. In a case of an event at a venue, space at strategic location could be offer to
the sponsor for display of its products, its brand or others, visibility for the sponsor on press
release, naming of the event, communication material to promote the event, stage for
presentation and there is much more. The idea is to develop what it is called a visibility platform
allowing the sponsor to use the different tools to leverage its results. There is a multitude of ways
to provide visibilities depending if its an event, a TV program, a fund raising activity, a sports or
others.

Step 4
The next step consists of describing the tangible and intangible benefits of being associated with
this event or the property. Things like its potential return in terms of visibility, of perception by the
customers, sometimes sales increase, brand awareness, brand recall, brand association and
many more potential benefits needs to be carefully explained at this stage.

Step 5
A lot of the value provided by sponsoring a property is difficult to evaluate in terms of value
because it cannot be bought separately. For example; for a sponsor that decides to be associate
with an Indy race car team and pay a certain amount to be visible on the car during all races also
benefits of VIP passes and special treatment (meet the drivers, visit the garage, lunch with the
team etc..) for its customers. This tool could easily contribute for the sponsor to the signature of a
big contract with its customer and it was not possible to buy that (VIP treatment) without
sponsoring the team.
Even though its is not easy to do, the sponsee must convert its visibility into a media value. The
idea here is to provide a comparison benchmark to the sponsor that if they would go outthere and
try to purchase the equivalent offering in advertising (television, radio, print media, billboard etc..)
how much it would cost using rate card produce by different media in the market concerned. For
example; if a company sponsor a television program and will have a opening billboard of 20 sec
with its name shown and said , how much does that worth in equivalent TV advertising using a 15
sec TV rate card.

Step 6
This step corresponds to the integration of all the element of the proposal. It is at this step where
the sponsee spend the time to understand how to customize its proposal to align to the target
sponsor needs. The value proposition should not be the same to all sponsors that we target. It is
important to start talking the same language of the specific sponsor we target using its own
products, advertising message, to place them in the context of being associate with the property.
The best description for it would tailor made value proposition!

Step 7
At this stage, the sales process gets engage by the sponsee to find a sponsor. Before sending
detail presentation packages, it is important for the sponsee to identify carefully potential
sponsors based on their fits and seek a first level of interest. To do that the sponsee prepare a
short summary 2 to 5 pages max describing the value proposition. If the sponsor is interest, It will
ask for more details so they can evaluate your offer versus their own SOO.
Step 8
Once the sponsor has express some level of interest , they will ask for more details and in some
cases a presentation. At that time the property owner is really offering the sponsorship proposal
which is reviewed by the sponsor using its SOO. This step is linking directly with the activity # 7 of
the sponsor. If proposal has the best fit there will be a period of alignment leading to the
sponsorship project contract (including the Statement of Work SOW).

CASE STUDY : DEVELOPMENT OF A VALUE PROPSOTION FOR THE SPONSORSHIP OF

THE TELEVISION BROADCASTING OF THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
IN CHINA

Project : TV sponsorship of the television broadcast in China of the

National Hockey league

Property representative : Motion Asia Management

Executive Management team : Sylvain Gauthier Protrain China

Marie Laure Liao Logic International

Project background
Value proposition overview
Step 1
:Motion Asia Management has approached the National Hockey
League head office based in New York to developed a value
proposition for its property for the television broadcasting in
China. Assuming a successful connection with a sponsor to
initiate a project, the TV rights would be sold to Motion Asia
Management to be exploit. Motion Asia Management developed
the value proposition, here is a summary of the content.
:
- Half hour magazine per week(highlights, best play, news etc..)
- 1 game per week during season,
- NHL all star game
- Playoff & Stanley cup series

Step 2 - Gender 35-54 male 68% female 32%

- Bachelor degree 20.1% higher degree 11.8%
- Income $100K+ 15.9% , $70k + 33.1% $50k+ 49.5%

Step 3 - Show Name, Opening Closing billboard, transition bumper,

studio design with logo, presentation board (best goal, assit
etc..) and other insertion

Step 4 - Ownership of the product, association with an international

Sport, more than 25000 visibility spots a year, reach more
than 150 million people a year (cumulative viewers).

Step 5 - Media value superior of $US10 million a year

Step 6 - Value proposition was completely package with audio and

video ready for potential sponsor presentation

The value proposition of the property owner becomes is document to link with and answer the
sponsor Statement of Objectives (SOO).
The alignment of the value proposition with the statement of objectives becomes the initiation
phase of a new sponsorship project that require the same PM discipline as any other type of
projects
 Sponsorship project management context outline, the body of knowledge

Assuming the sponsee found a sponsor and they successfully came to an agreement to work
together for the upcoming events or series of events. The application of the standard 5 core
processes Initiation, planning, execution, control , closing and the 9 Body of Knowledge covered
in the PMBOK 2000 is very relevant to any sponsorship type of project. At the core, a
sponsorship project is made of a series of deliverables that needs to be delivered on time, at cost
at a certain performance level (quality). It requires involving and staffing the projects qith key
competencies, communicate constantly with stakeholders, in certain cases the procurement
aspect is very important and of course, ensure success of the event by removing or planning for
any risk that could derail a deliverable.
The following graphic shows how the sponsee and sponsor initial process comes together to
create the initiation phase that will lead hopefully to the upcoming phase of implementing the
project.

PM FRAMEWORK

Sponsor Setting Marketing

Needs Sponsorship Integration
Assessment Objectives Strategic fit

Statement of Leverage
Measurement
Objectives Tie-in
SOO document Cross Impact

Value
Proposition

Letter
Of
Introduction
Executing
Initiation
Sponsorship
Proposal

Planning Closing
Sponsee Alignment Sponsorship
Value Proposition SOO and VP Project
Proposal evaluation & Selection contract

Controlling

Without going into the detail of the PMBOK, the message to retain from that point on is that, the
sponsorship project is manageable the same way as any other projects from other discipline. A
Project Manager Professional (PMP) is an excellent candidate to manage such a project because
of its PM knowledge and its rigorous approach towards all nine body of knowledge increasing a
lot the chance of project success.
It is important to note that although the PM Knowledge is key, two other dimensions are also as
important to lead to project success. As per the Project Manager Competency Development
Framework publish by PMI, the dimension of project performance and personal competencies are
also very important. Project performance deal with the capability of the project manager to
implement or execute in real life action meaning in a real project its PM knowledge. The personal
competencies deal with the soft skills such as influence, negotiation, conflict resolution,
presentation etc.. which could be a bit different on this type of project versus an Information
Technology for example. One require to deal with techies with personalities quite different than in
the media management field, sports or art & culture for example that you may encounter in a
sponsorship type of project.
Author: Sylvain Gauthier B.Eng. MBA, PMP
Email : sylgauthier@gmail.com
Written: June, 2004
For : Project Management Magazine in Beijing

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