The sponsorship industry continues to grow. Whether you look specifically here in Canada or in North America or around the world, the sponsorship industry is growing. New properties are developing, new brand sectors getting involved. I know there are property sectors that have seen a decline in revenues such as and unfortunately the Pride events sector and the Jazz festivals across Canada with SaskTel recently dropping their Saskatchewan Jazz Festival sponsorship of almost 30 years have been tragically hit. But all the numbers showed increased dollars and activity and activation dollars in the Canadian, North American and World sector. For more details and specifics on the Canadian Sponsorship industry be sure to attend Dr. Norm O’Reilley’s sessions on the Canadian Sponsorship Landscape Study and specific break out topic sessions at the Western Sponsorship Congress® – Alberta Forum later this month.
So I wanted to dedicate this TMC on what we are seeing is fueling that growth.
- There are more properties and exciting opportunities. With the advent of the PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League) and their growth after just a couple of seasons, combined with the NSL (Northern Super League- first Canadian only professional women’s soccer league) there is a ton of dollars going into Canadian women’s sport. This can be capped off with the addition of a WNBA team in Toronto and Summer MacIntosh and her ongoing swimming success for Canada finally getting into the sponsorship game. Beyond women’s sport the NBA, NHL and MLB have all had record years in sponsorship sales in the past year. And to top all of that off… since Covid and a little Netflix show… Formula One has catapulted into the sponsorship revenue game in an unprecedented way. From a declining fan sport to a large female following… Formula One is the Cinderella story for this decade (so far). So, with all of this hype and new properties, we see new sponsors entering the market of sponsorship marketing as well as incremental investments by exciting leaders.
- If we look beyond sport, (which has been as it always is, the dominant reason for growth in the sector) there is music and concerts. Everything from the PNE music amphitheatre naming by Freedom Mobile (new brand to the sponsorship marketing game) as well as concerts themselves growing in sponsorship. Sponsorship always had a place in concerts and music tours, but it has escalated post Covid. Concerts are a lifestyle and what brand does not want to be aligned with the people that have that same alignment. So, if it is a country star tour or a blues festival or a rock and roll revival… each has a sociographic, psychographic and demographic profile. And brands are matching those profiles to their audience and investing in those concerts and festivals. Ranging from venue naming to tour titles or presenting to in-stadium activations and offers. This is truly a growing sector.
- Yes, the cities we live in… whether small towns or large metropolitan centres… they have been the sleeper cell in the sponsorship sector. And they are accessing money that used to go to other sectors. Whether it is facility naming rights or the association to events that cities hold like Canada Day or music in the park or programming – everything and anything from mom and tot swims to senior’s activities, pickleball to hockey, cricket to soccer. They own the audiences, the venues and experiences. They continue to lie under the radar and generating $250,000 to $500,000 a year in sponsorship for communities of less than 15,000 people up to our major metropolitan centres generating between $10M to $30M a year in sponsorship and partnership revenues.
These three areas alone, sport, music / concerts and municipalities in my opinion are leading the ongoing growth in the sponsorship market in Canada and in some cases the world. And with these growth sectors come new sponsors and partners. As our sector becomes more professional and as we look beyond simple “eyeball” metrics to engagement and activations and experiences in the valuation and ROI measurement fields and engage AI and data segmentation research we can show businesses how sponsorship can and will deliver them the ROI they are looking for versus traditional mediums such as digital, social, TV, radio and OOH.
If you want to learn more about the future of our sector from some of Canada’s industry leaders, register for Canada’s #1 sponsorship marketing conference, the Western Sponsorship Congress® – Alberta Forum. Register today for awesome savings!
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