Assume the identity of a sponsorship sales manager at your chosen sports property (e.g., a professional sports team, a college athletic department or team, or an amateur sports team). Your chosen sports property must have a sizable fan base to which you can market your product or service. Avoid a non-profit sports organization (Boys & Girls Clubs of America) that uses sports to achieve other goals (social goals) / causes. Do not select a sports facility/venue (e.g., TD Garden) or sports media (e.g., ESPN Boston) either.

After selecting a sports team, choose a prospective corporate sponsor to which you will submit your sponsorship proposal. The prospective corporate sponsor must be a for-profit organization, which manufactures and sells products or services to consumers (e.g., Nike, Bose) and/or to other businesses (e.g., IBM, SAP). Don't choose a media company (e.g., ESPN, Fox Sports), wholesalers, retailers, or distribution outlets such as Dick's Sporting Goods and Best Buy.

Develop a proposal, customized to cater to the needs of your prospect. Please try to learn as much as possible about the company - its products, markets, consumers, competitions, goals, strategies, and current or future marketing challenges. Then try to customize your proposal in ways that your proposal explains clearly what benefits/values the sponsorship delivers to the prospect.

the team is the Los Angeles Dodgers, and my non profit organization to go with it is INN N OUT.

Detailed Instructions

Cover page

Avoid a vague title (e.g., A Sponsorship Proposal). Be concrete and specific (e.g., The New England Free Jacks Uniform Sponsorship Proposal presented to Samsung Electronics). Insert both the property's and prospect's logos back to back on the cover Slide.

1. Executive Summary

Summarize your sponsorship offer. Discuss why the prospect must consider the current opportunity seriously. Try to demonstrate your knowledge of the prospect. Discuss the unique benefits this sponsorship will present in light of the prospect's needs, opportunities, or marketing challenges. Summarize how the property's sponsorship assets and rights can transform into the most important and relevant benefits to the company. One good way to start a proposal is to discuss how the sponsorship can solve a company's current problem or challenge (a problem-solving approach). You can also discuss how this sponsorship could offer long-term competitive advantages to the company in relation to technology, globalization, and innovation. Your proposal must be unique, (potentially) buzz-generating, and timely. Think about what the most important sponsorship objective will be for the given sponsor. Your proposal will help achieve the objective. Then you must explain it. Write persuasively so that the sponsorship decision-maker believes she or he should not miss out on this rare and unique sponsorship opportunity.

1. Profile of the Property

Introduce your property. Discuss the property's assets. Provide essential information about the property such as missions, goals, history, players, coach, stadium, past and current (expected) attendance figures (game average/year total), fan loyalty, game schedule, audience profile, TV ratings, current sponsors, sponsorship structure (one tier or multi-tier), etc. Any information that has a direct bearing on the prospect can be emphasized (e.g., customer profile, target markets, etc.).

To learn more about the property, you can refer to the property's website, social media sites, fan blogs, etc.; visit the team's facilities and events; and even contact the property's employees for more information. You are also advised to refer to various online sources such as Street & Smith's SportBusiness Journal, SportDiscus online database, Sports Business Research Network online database, and online sports marketing & sponsorship publications such as IEG Sponsorship Report (www.sponsorship.comLinks to an external site.), Team Marketing Report (www.teammarketing.comLinks to an external site.), and SportDiscus Online database. I strongly suggest you also refer to Sports Business Research Network (SBRN, now it has changed its name to Sports Market Analytics). Most of the above resources are available on Lasell's Sport Management dedicated website: http://lasell.libguides.com/smgtLinks to an external site.; this is your treasure box. 3. Sponsorship Fit

Discuss the following four (4) fits between the property and the prospectmission/value fit, functional fit, image fit, and target audience fit. Mission/value fit concerns whether these two organizations have similar missions or values. Functional fit refers to whether the company's product/service can be directly or indirectly used for the property's event. Concerning image fit, make sure to create and demonstrate "a Sponsor-Property Image Match Radar Chart," an Excel radar chart (this will be discussed in class). Please discuss the implications/applications of the Chart created.

You can discuss target audience fit by comparing the property's fans with the company's customers on geo-demographics (age, income, education, etc.), psychographics (lifestyle, interest, value, etc.), and/or behavior-usage related (heavy users, medium light users) segmentation criteria. You may refer to a free online service called "Zip Code Look Up," in which you can learn about people living in a particular area of your interest. For example, many Red Sox fans and season ticket holders live in Brookline, MA. You can learn about Brookline residents (their demographics and psychographics) by visiting the following website: https://claritas360.claritas.com/mybestsegments/Links to an external site.. You can enter the zip code (e.g., Brookline - 02446), then you can check the Brookline residents' demographic and psychographic information. If the above link does not work, please conduct a Google search using the following keywords - Nielsen Zip Code Lookup. You may check whether the profiles of Brookline residents match those of the chosen company's target markets.

4. Sponsorship Rights

List and describe all sponsorship rights components, each with concrete details (for example, if it were about advertising billboards: you should specify the number of advertising boards, their sizes, and the exact locations where advertising billboards will be installed). Use pictures, graphs, or diagrams where appropriate to enhance readability, add excitement, and increase the persuasiveness of your proposal. You are advised to group similar rights items and list them all under one title such as Official Designation, Advertising Rights, Sales Opportunities, Tickets & Hospitality, Category Exclusivity, Naming Sponsorship, and Research. It is paramount you offer very specific, concrete, and detailed descriptions for each sponsorship rights item (for example, if you were to offer "a banner ad on a team's website," you must specify where in the team's webpage the banner ad will be posted, and the size of the banner ad, its shape, and whether the banner ad, once clicked, will direct visitors to the company's website).

1. Partnership Highlight

Throughout the semester, we talked about the strategic exchange relations between properties and sponsors, which go above and beyond the default sponsorship benefits (e.g., five benefits of the sponsorship). For example, the partnership between IBM and Masters was based on the two companies' desires to lead the industry in data analytics. Spotify partnered with FC Barcelona to increase its global consumer base. Please identify the most important partnership gain for both the sponsor and the property.

1. Media and PR Support

Present details on the property's guaranteed media exposure and potential additional exposure- e.g., live/delayed broadcast of the event (Network TV, Cable TV, Radio, Web-Cast, social media, etc.). Further, discuss a unique PR/Publicity opportunity/support that the property, its media partners, or its other stakeholders (e.g., fans) may be able to offer to help promote the prospect's sponsorship.

1. Sponsorship activation

Present your activation idea. You might wonder why a property's sponsorship manager necessarily has to propose an activation idea (usually, it is a sponsoring company that develops an activation idea). This is because you want to attract prospective sponsors by giving them a good idea as to how the sponsorship can be successfully activated. A good activation program will meet the following criteria.

First, it helps achieve the most important sponsorship goal. Second, major sponsorship rights are fully utilized (integrated if necessary) and transformed into key benefits. Third, activation will help the sponsor stand out from other competitors (even other sponsors). Fourth, it must be deeply engaging and emotional to the prospect's target audiences and stakeholders. Finally, it must serve to strengthen the prospect's existing marketing strategies.

1. Sponsorship Benefits

Discuss the benefits the sponsor will receive. These benefits may include the followings. Don't just list these benefits. Discuss the benefits in relation to the company's needs and opportunities. Explain how these benefits will be materialized by implementing the sponsorship rights.

• Sponsorship awareness
• Image Enhancement
• Hospitality
• Demonstration
• Trial/sales
• Employee Morale / Pride / Productivity
• Customer Loyalty
• Civic Cooperation (community support)
• Capital investment
• Channel member support
• Competitive Advantage

1. Sponsorship Investment

Come up with a particular investment amount (US dollar). Also, discuss VIK if relevant. Discuss briefly the terms and conditions (e.g., a multi-year contract?).

1. Research/Impact Measurement

Provide detail on the type of research projects you will conduct to assist the prospect in monitoring and evaluating its sponsorship. These research projects may include "media equivalency measure" "tracking sponsorship awareness" "changes in consumer perception of and attitudes toward the company," and so on. Try to give detail on the research purpose, methods, samples, and data analysis methods.

*For the first proposal due late march, you don't need to complete this Research Section as we will not have finished the topic by then. Your revised proposal due in April should include details on your research/impact measurement.

1. Why of the sponsorship

Re-emphasize the relevance and importance of the current sponsorship to the prospect. Provide at least three compelling reasons why the prospective sponsor must consider the current proposal very seriously now.

Addendum

Provide collateral materials that may include a game schedule, event schedule, fan demographics, past event programs or brochures (if available), a list of co-sponsors, a television schedule, etc.