[garfield]

Imagine you run a local drum corps show. A good show, with a great lineup late in the season. You expect record crowds this year.

You want to find a "Naming Sponsor", one who can write a big check in return for plastering his company's name on everything the promoters do to sell the show.

By the luck of chance, and good connections, you find yourself with the opportunity to make a pitch to a car dealer. A Lexus dealer in the show town. One who is THE Lexus dealer in 100 sq miles, and who already blankets the airwaves and media with advertising. You typically have 3000 fans attend your show.

This person knows nothing about drum corps. (The PGA? He knows about them (and they him)).

You have to introduce him, educate him, compel him, and get him to say "Yes, I'll write you that 5-figure check".

There are no limits. What's your pitch?

[Jeffe77]

Hire Don Draper



Just changed out the subject matter to Drum Corps and Lexus would be writing a 6 figure check

[Plan9]

garfield, on 30 May 2012 - 04:10 PM, said:

Imagine you run a local drum corps show. A good show, with a great lineup late in the season. You expect record crowds this year.

You want to find a "Naming Sponsor", one who can write a big check in return for plastering his company's name on everything the promoters do to sell the show.

By the luck of chance, and good connections, you find yourself with the opportunity to make a pitch to a car dealer. A Lexus dealer in the show town. One who is THE Lexus dealer in 100 sq miles, and who already blankets the airwaves and media with advertising. You typically have 3000 fans attend your show.

This person knows nothing about drum corps. (The PGA? He knows about them (and they him)).

You have to introduce him, educate him, compel him, and get him to say "Yes, I'll write you that 5-figure check".

There are no limits. What's your pitch?

A video projects on the screen behind you...Americans backing out of their driveways, heading for the local high school football game (in Lexus autos of course); they arrive and we see flashes of football teams, cheerleaders and legendary Drum Corps shows....and crowds cheering, and great finals moments.
Your pitch: "Drum Corps...it's as American as the Lexus! (I iknow it's Japanese...but work with me here)
Like Jazz...it's a completely American invention.....and the very best of American Marching Music.
....And Marching Music is as fundamental to every friday night across America, as the automobiles we use to drive us to the football games we love, and that hold our communities together.... and for one night a week, during the fall...Marching Music is the "commons" of our life and .......we are one."
Brass and Percussion blasts through the big speakers as frantic snippets of great DC moments fade on the video.
"Drum Corps...... it's the Lexus of Marching Music!"

Madman, I am not!

[whitedawn]

I don't know who is downvoting you, but they are absurd.

If I were doing the pitch, I'd probably hit on two things:

*According to MENC research, 83% of the people who make more than $150,000 per year participated in music education as a student. (Link) Since your audience is presumably made up of music students and their parents, the audience is similar to a PGA event, but *younger!* Your audience = their market in 10, 15, 20 years.

*Deep connections with the community. Your audience is comprised of members of society who are in to cultural things like live music. I'd bet that this population serves as "tastemakers" regarding the area at large. These people care about this activity, and for a name sponsor that is a luxury brand to show some love to you would go a LONG way with these folks.

garfield, on 30 May 2012 - 04:10 PM, said:

Imagine you run a local drum corps show. A good show, with a great lineup late in the season. You expect record crowds this year.

You want to find a "Naming Sponsor", one who can write a big check in return for plastering his company's name on everything the promoters do to sell the show.

By the luck of chance, and good connections, you find yourself with the opportunity to make a pitch to a car dealer. A Lexus dealer in the show town. One who is THE Lexus dealer in 100 sq miles, and who already blankets the airwaves and media with advertising. You typically have 3000 fans attend your show.

This person knows nothing about drum corps. (The PGA? He knows about them (and they him)).

You have to introduce him, educate him, compel him, and get him to say "Yes, I'll write you that 5-figure check".

There are no limits. What's your pitch?

[garfield]

Plan, did you give me a red neggy?



You're a mad man, alright, but only when BD's around.

[corpsband]

garfield, on 30 May 2012 - 05:28 PM, said:

Plan, did you give me a red neggy?



You're a mad man, alright, but only when BD's around.

Green Plusses for everyone !! (and this is kind of a cool idea for DCP although I don't think anyone's beat Don Draper yet).

[Ghost]

Without researching every D&BC contest for the last 20 years, if worthwhile for the dealership, this would have already been done. Five figures seems awful high to me.

[corpsband]

garfield, on 30 May 2012 - 04:10 PM, said:

Imagine you run a local drum corps show. A good show, with a great lineup late in the season. You expect record crowds this year.

You want to find a "Naming Sponsor", one who can write a big check in return for plastering his company's name on everything the promoters do to sell the show.

By the luck of chance, and good connections, you find yourself with the opportunity to make a pitch to a car dealer. A Lexus dealer in the show town. One who is THE Lexus dealer in 100 sq miles, and who already blankets the airwaves and media with advertising. You typically have 3000 fans attend your show.

This person knows nothing about drum corps. (The PGA? He knows about them (and they him)).

You have to introduce him, educate him, compel him, and get him to say "Yes, I'll write you that 5-figure check".

There are no limits. What's your pitch?

The angle has got to be between the show sponsors and the dealer. There's probably not much of a connection between drum corps and Lexus but I'll bet there's big connections between the show sponsor (a high school music program?) and the dealer. Being seen as promoter of the arts will probably play well with the dealer's potential customer base. If he thinks his potential customers are sitting in the audience then having a captive audience is probably worth a lot to him.

[flammaster]

I had to do a 5 minute presentation in my career connections class at business school in my brand new 500 dollar suit. Yep you guessed it I did a shpeal to a fictional woman's group for funding of a drum corps show and i used video of BD 95 in the background as I spoke. Then I turned and extended my hand right as the tenors started doing that amazing spock ride thingy and the snares were on the cymbal tree. I said how could you not support such a wonderful activity?

I was the talk of the whole school after that! They freakin loved it...and I even had 3 people ask me how they could go see it live.

[GeneralTsoChicken]

The dealership cares about the bottom line.

Emphasize the points that WhiteDawn made.

Also, find a way to allow the dealership to have:

1. A static vehicle display directly infront of or just inside the primary entrance.

2. Allow the dealership to put up signage and use their display assets at various points around the facilities.

3. Allow the dealership to use premium based lead generation to gather prospective buyers and/or supply people with more information about the vehicles.

Experiential marketing as a part of a media or sponsorship buy is A LOT OF ADDED value. That value, many times, sets the sponsorship pitch over the top.