What to Expect in 2017

What to Expect in 2017

Late last year, I presented the opening keynote at the Western Sponsorship Congress® (WSC) – Alberta Forum and looked at what to expect in 2017. I thought I would share those predictions with you now. As the session ran long, and I don’t want this to be a long article that you don’t read, I will be brief and go into further detail on some of these trends in future TMCs. There were six predictions.

  1. Change is inevitable, but 2017 will have way more of it than usual. Perhaps the biggest change will be a trend versus a wholesale change in one year. We are predicting that the Trinity of Sponsorship will truly grow and that those that practice this Trinity of Sponsorship will be the real winners and most successful organizations in sponsorship. This triad approach tosses aside the historical concept that the parties involved in sponsorship are the rights holders/properties and the sponsors. That is wrong!

Successful sponsorships look at a triad versus a dyad. The Trinity of Sponsorship includes the property/rights holder; the brand/sponsor and the audience/fan/donor/user/customer. The third part of the trinity is critical in today’s sponsorship world.

2. Disruption will continue at an even faster pace as new technology, including VR, invades our programs and plans.

3. Video will continue to play a growing role and those organizations (properties, sponsors, or audiences) that fail to embrace and utilize video will be left behind. It will further enhance and develop the sponsorship storytelling model, as well as interaction and engagement.

4. Tied in with disruption and video will be a stronger “on-demand” audience. The third part of the Trinity of Sponsorship has already become vocal and demanding, sometimes of its own accord, and at other times, because technology has taken us there.  But our audiences, be they donors, sports fans, concert goers, festival attendees, or retail customers, want what they want—now! We must be able to respond with offers that meet their needs, information they want at a moment’s notice, background and interaction at experiences, and more. You must be able to deliver or expect to be left on the sidelines!

5. Opportunity will continue to knock at the door. In 2016, there were cries of not being able to secure sponsorship dollars. The “wells” were drying up. True, the recession continued in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland, but in all those markets and elsewhere in Canada, those that did sponsorship right (from small organizations such as the Leduc Ringette Association to large wins like the NHL) could grow their dollars. Overall rights fees and activation expenditures will grow again in 2017. With Canada 150 and hundreds of millions of extra dollars in the marketplace, those who fail to secure dollars are most likely not doing sponsorship right. Seeing a decline in your sponsorship revenue in 2017 (or even staying the same) should have senior management questioning your sponsorship program! The opportunities will be there… seize them!

6. Beyond the dollar growth noted in prediction #5, we will see growth in HR in the industry. Watch the schools and watch their sponsorship, event marketing, and sports marketing/management programs grow. We will continue to see growth in numbers in these schools, at conferences, and training and education in 2017 as more and more youth look to the industry as a professional career choice. Also, our existing human capacity will continue to seek higher levels of professional development and forecasting. My call out is to the SMCC, and as addressed at the WSC in Edmonton, there is a need for a national accreditation program for our industry professionals. SMCC should be leading this charge versus sitting on the sidelines while others may take up the opportunity.

2017 will be a fantastic year. I look forward to all the above coming true, working in this amazing industry to serve all three important parts of the Trinity of Sponsorship, and watching success happen!

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