IEG and sponsorship

IEG is the leading provider of consulting, valuation, measurement, research and training to the global sponsorship industry. They help sponsors, properties, and agencies who are involved in the sponsorship industry. Because of their unique role in the middle of sponsorship transactions, they see both the buy-side and the sell-side, IEG is able to have a complete look at the industry.

IEG hosts the website sponsorship.com, an online resource that connects one to blogs, news, jobs, forums, and reports. Most interesting are the articles in their news category, where they keep everyone up to date on new information regarding market trends and companies new ventures in sponsorship.

So why do companies become sponsors? Companies spend more money in sponsorship as a platform to raise its profile and connect with consumers. The whole idea is to raise awareness, giving consumers a chance to realize a clear brand identity.

The role that sponsorship plays in the US is quite substantial. With little funding from the government or grants, most of the capital for an event is raised through the ticket sales, donations, and sponsors. The arts is typically the category that grows the least as far as what is spent through sponsorship during the year. The arts sector took a heavy hit following the recession of 2008, a time when two of the arts largest sponsor categories, automotive and financial services, started to fall. With many of these companies slowly regaining momentum, the arts are expected to see slight improvement as spending increases.

The losses that many arts organizations faced caused them to position themselves as marketing partners, instead of just an organization that would otherwise be the beneficiary of donated dollars. This cultural shift to creating partnership is changing the industry, where the objectives are  now both business to business and business to consumer.