Industry Definitions

The Partnership Group is pleased to present the following list of industry terms and definitions for your convenience. These are the key terms so many clients and people ask us about and how we define them.

INDUSTRY DEFINITIONS

Sponsorship
Property
Prospect
Sponsor (Sponsorship Buyer)
Benefits / Assets
Inventory
Bundling
Discovery or Exploratory Session
Proposal
Value
Return on Investment (ROI)
Activation
Fulfillment

Sponsorship: A cash and/or in-kind fee paid to a property (typically in sports, arts, entertainment or causes) in return for the exploitable commercial potential associated with that property.

Property: A physical or non-physical asset or organization that owns specified related rights and sells them to a sponsor for the purposes of earning income for the organization. These properties are typically sports, member based associations, municipalities or government agencies, arts, charities, events, entertainment, non profit or for profit organizations.)

Prospect: A company or organization who you have qualified to be a sponsor based on research and if the marriage will work.

Sponsor (Sponsorship Buyer): The payer of a fee to the owner of a property for the purpose of gaining commercial rights related to the property.

Benefits / Assets: Those elements that are owned by a property and are of worth to a sponsor that they can buy from a property to them to achieve their goals and objectives – these are what make up the inventory.

Inventory: The complete catalogue all physical and non physical assets or benefits that may be made available to sponsorship buyers. The inventory (if fully delivered) should indicate all benefits and assets, their real market value individually, their fulfillment cost to deliver and the overall value of the inventory.

Bundling: This is the combining of several assets or benefits together from the inventory to make a package or proposal for a sponsor. This is the most effective way to generate maximum dollars for a property and deliver best return on investment (ROI) for a sponsor as opposed to selling a la carte or individual benefits in a “one off” fashion.

Discovery or Exploratory Session: This is an initial meeting or meetings with a prospect to determine their needs, goals and objectives so the property can build a customized proposal to deliver on these needs and ultimately show a positive return on investment for the sponsor. This is the initial stage in the sponsorship development process once a prospect has been determined.

Proposal: The presentation that outlines the property, the objectives of the sponsor and deliverers the list of benefits the sponsor will receive to achieve these goals in exchange for a specified investment in cash or in-kind.

Value: The real market worth of a sponsorship property asset or package. These values are calculated by industry accepted standards and represent the individual value of each benefit or the bundled value of the proposal. It is not the same thing as price. The price or investment is usually 10-15% lower than the actual value of the proposal.

Return on Investment (ROI): This is how the sponsor determines if their investment was good or not with a specific property. It traditionally measures against such metrics as brand loyalty, brand awareness, traffic, sales leads, actual sales, employee morale, community awareness or other elements. It is based against the original objectives of the sponsor's reason for investing.

Activation: This is the additional, above and beyond a rights fee or direct investment made by a sponsor to a property that will further promote the sponsorship, drive additional business and leverage the investment to its fullest possible ROI.

Fulfillment: The delivery of all promised benefits (and beyond) from the property to the sponsor.