This is probably one of the most exiting days of the year. It’s New Year’s Eve—an opportunity to reminisce about the year gone by and clean the slate for the New Year to come. That’s what I am going to do—take a look at the past year in the sponsorship world with some highlights, and of course, my predictions for 2025! (Wow—a quarter of the way through this century!)
The Year That Was
- Women’s sports finally got the attention they deserve and even the sponsors got on board.
- It was a crazy Olympic year as we look to see what the top tier Olympic program will look like in the future as some brands start to question their investments with this iconic event.
- We saw huge growth this past year in municipalities’ investment in sponsorship as more and more are securing naming rights to facilities and programming.
- Brands are demanding more data for their ROI measurement and data is becoming king when it relates to projections and measurement metrics—but all is not sales data—there are other metrics in place.
- We are seeing metric-based outcomes as a critical element in this industry; metric-based big data and data segregation for prospecting and activation engagement as well as more sophisticated valuations of assets beyond eyeballs and “propensity to buy” smoke and mirrors.
- There was an Increase in activation dollars investment.
- There was an Increase in investment in professional development such as training and conference attendance.
It has been a banner growth year for our sector and we except that growth to continue in all seven of these identified areas to surge for at least the next two to three years before growth levels become less dramatic.
The Year that is Close to Having Begun
Here are my five top predictions for this quarter centennial year.
- Change – This is now inevitable in our sector. All the following predictions are an offshoot of this underlying reality. Just like the world at large, our sponsorship world must get used to change because it will happen more often, more shockingly, and in more unplanned and unexpected ways.
- Growth of Properties and Brands – We will see a continued meteoric rise of properties and sponsors like never before. This past year, we witnessed enormous growth, not only in viewers and audiences, but also sponsorship dollars associated with women in sport, and specifically, professional women’s sport. We also need to look at the growth of new assets across sectors and the explosion of Formula One due to streaming content. This opens the door for new brands to shift their marketing dollars to sponsorship and experiential marketing. The departure of Toyota from the Olympics raises questions around what sponsors are seeking with huge properties like the Olympics, FIFA, etc.
- As was witnessed this past year, we will see the continued growth of and demand for ROI measurement. Brands want more measurement so they can justify their investments. Properties need to provide that measurement and other data to close their deals. Data will continue to grow as a critical element of our industry.
- Prior to the pandemic, we saw the rise of social purpose by brands and authenticity in alignment with properties. Everything both sponsors and properties do will soon have a social purpose element. Those without it will be left behind.
- Finally, but not least important, we will see change in how relationships are built and maintained. As has always been true in this sector, relationships are synonymous with success. But who holds the relationship and how it is helped will shift. This will come to us though outside factors beyond our control. The landscape will change (wars, elections, scandal, politics), and as a result, there will be a shift in relationship management. Be ready for this.
2025 will be an exciting year. Let’s buckle up, get ready for the ride, and have an awesome New Year’s Eve!
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