In my 30 year career I can’t think of too many times when a brand has been given a round of applause by the fans or participants of the property it is sponsoring.

But that is what we are starting to hear around Specsavers and its partnership with parkrun, which I have been working on with the team at Strive Sponsorship.

Specsavers has been piloting something at a few parkrun venues in recent weeks, and we’ve had reports of the brand actually being given a round of applause for what it is doing. Not once, but twice.

A lot of thought has gone into this partnership, both in terms of the brand/audience/property alignment and how it could be used as a platform to make a real difference to the parkrun community, while also supporting Specsavers’ brand objectives.

It’s all about properly understanding the property you are partnering with and taking the time to work out how the brand can authentically show up and add some real value to the experience.

I’ve been doing sponsorship for a long time, but some of the output we are starting to see from this partnership is a bit special and could make a genuine difference to people’s lives.