CONNECTING WITH YOUTH
JAMIE MACKEN ON WINNING OVER 18-24S THROUGH SPONSORSHIP

The world would be a better place if all sponsorships achieved their potential. Sadly, many don’t score highly. Perhaps the word ‘sponsorship’ is part of the problem. Sponsoring implies a financial obligation, which is just one of many ingredients needed for a strong relationship. The best relationships are really partnerships.

A mutually beneficial partnership is not only better for fans, but addresses business goals and is rooted in common values. If a business goal is to recruit or connect with youth audiences, how can you ensure that your partnership will deliver?

The secret lies in understanding the audience. Not just the audience’s choice of brand or its buying behavior, but getting a read on their views, attitudes and media habits. If a brand wants to connect with its demographic, it needs to build its marketing plan in line with young people’s habits – not the habits of the marketing team or CEO.

Whether it is improving brand reputation, customer engagement or simply to affect the bottom line, the partnership should extract maximum value for a business. In a truly collaborative partnership, you can also help your partner address their business needs and achieve their vision. Combining this need with a solid understanding of the target audience will help assess which partnership assets to use and where.

Sweating the assets can be defined for both brands and rights holders as follows: Brands making the most of the assets and opportunities available; Rights holders using assets to maximize the value of your property. While the list is lengthy, below are four important ways to sweat available assets.

1. Access

A recent Thinkhouse study of 18-24 year olds highlighted how this cohort follows brands on social media for “awesome competitions and free stuff”. Over half of the same audience expects brands to entertain. Access to your partner’s assets actually provides brands with an opportunity to do both.

Three’s partnership with the FAI is an example. By offering a behind-the-scenes Twitter feed – #3BENCHGUY – complete with money can’t buy prizes and merchandise, Three delivered a double whammy to its audience. In doing so, it gave football supporters the chances to get closer to the team through entertaining content.

The result is a football campaign that brings the fans closer to the team at every touch point. With over 450,000 Twitter accounts reached over six months and relevant consumer sentiment up by over 300 per cent on Three’s Facebook page, the brand is delivering entertaining content exclusive to its partnership.

2. Be there in real time

Life isn’t 9 to 5 and partnerships aren’t either. To be effective nowadays, a marketing team has to be committed to real time activity. A memorable TV moment last year was when Domhnall