Sponsorship, done smarter.
With 30 years of experience, I help brands to navigate the sports sponsorship landscape –
from strategy and selection through to activation.
Sport can be an incredibly powerful marketing platform.
It connects with people like virtually nothing else. Brands can harness this to build awareness, increase trust, shift perception, engage customers, and more.
But without the right strategy, it’s easy to make expensive mistakes.
I work with brands to develop the right sports sponsorship strategy.
Whether you are new to sponsorship, need some help making sense of the partnerships you already have, or struggling to make your sponsorship connect with fans, I can help.
“Eddie helped us to understand how our audience engages with sport, and built a strategy for how Levi’s could authentically connect with them in the future.”
Rhod Evans. Brand Experience & Content Director – Europe, Levi Strauss & Co.
How we can work together
I work with consumer and B2B brands across a range of sectors and geographies.
The work I do is always bespoke, but tends to fall into one of these three areas:
Sponsorship Framework
For brands new to it, sports sponsorship can be a confusing arena, with a danger of making expensive mistakes.
I’ll help you to build a complete strategic framework based on your objectives, audience and brand.
Portfolio Audit
It’s common for brands to end up with a collection of sponsorships in place, but no cohesive strategy behind them.
I’ll evaluate your current partnerships, assess how well those assets are being used, and align everything under a forward-looking strategy.
Activation Strategy
For brands with the right sponsorships in place, but underperforming activation that isn’t connecting with the audience.
I’ll develop an activation strategy to authentically engage fans, land your message and move the needle on your objectives.
Deep audience insight.
The days of companies making sponsorship decisions based on gut feel or by reacting to a sales pitch are over, or at least they should be.
Using the powerful Global Web Index and GWI Sport data platform, I can build up a detailed picture of the interests, values, attitudes and behaviours of your audience, and understand how they engage with sport.
This insight underpins the creation of your sponsorship strategy, helping us to identifying the properties that are the right for your brand and audience, not just the ones that happen to be available.
“Eddie did a great job of reviewing our existing sponsorship portfolio, analysing the fit with our brand and audiences, and reviewing how effectively we were making use of the rights and assets within each property.”
David Snyder. Director, Global Commercial Communications – Sports Medicine at Smith+Nephew.
Why work with me?
I’m Eddie May and I’ve spent 30 years working in sports marketing and sponsorship.
I’ve been a brand-side marketer, managing high-profile sponsorships and activation campaigns. I’ve also founded and run agencies, working with a wide variety of brands.
Since 2018 I’ve been working independently, using my experience to make sponsorship work more effectively for brands.
I only work on behalf of brands. I don’t represent any rights-holders (teams, leagues, federations or events) which means I can provide completely objective advice to you, with zero conflict of interest.
And when you hire me, you get me. You don’t get handed over to a junior team with no real experience.
