“What are we *really* trying to do?”

The most important question in the formulation of any brand’s sponsorship strategy.

This comes well before thinking about audience insight, brand alignment, potential properties, activation and measurement.

Even before thinking about specific objectives, we need to be clear on the primary business challenge that we want sponsorship to help solve.

This big strategic challenge can be any number of things:

– Creating brand awareness to support a new product or market launch
– Repositioning or shifting brand perception to appeal to a new audience
– Driving higher consideration among a specific audience
– Building trust in a new brand or unfamiliar category
– Deliver lead generation or direct sales

A good sponsorship, activated well, can support several different objectives but in my experience it’s extremely important to be clear on which is the primary focus.

“If we could only achieve one of these things, which would it be?”

Once that core focus is established, it becomes much easier to build the right sponsorship strategy, identify the right property and create an effective activation plan.