Now we’re finally getting somewhere…two different Colts sales reps asked me (and Web dept) for help developing new promotional ideas for BIG clients. So nice to get away from macro site building and get my hands dirty with a real promotion.
Both sponsors want what we’re calling “custom groups”, which will end up looking something like what you see here or here.
The basic idea is to build a page that captures the essence of the sponsorship. I sometimes call these “co-branding” pages because the main objective for these pages is to connect the sponsors’ offers to the team in some meaningful way.
When I think about it, true sponsorship rarely happens anymore. When Queen Isabella SPONSORED Columbus on his journey to the new land, she (and Spain) got the credit (along with the spoils). She undewrote the voyage and benefited directly from its success…even today.
We have lots of companies that do business with the team, but in my opinion, not all of them are taking full advantage of what SPONSORSHIP has to offer. These companies might run ads in our various media properties, or even place banners on the Web site, but many never take the time to show demonstrate (overtly) how the sponsor has added value to the fans’ experiences’ and why and how the Colts fans can connect with the sponsor.
Custom group pages give us lots of room to connect the sponsor to the team. Graphically, we have lots of room to be creative. Plus, we’ve designed our “Group” module with lots of cool stuff. Fans can join a custom group, they can become “friends” with the sponsor, they can upload photos to the sponsor’s group, they can take sponsor surveys, they can leave comments on the page, etc…and we can aware “Colts Cred” points for any of these activities.
On top of all this, custom groups will be able to accept XML feeds from the sponsor sites - so sponsors can push content onto their Colts promotional pages.
We are encouraging reps to direct appropriate clients toward custom groups because it gives the sponsor a place to drive all their Colts related traffic. That is, when a sponsor runs radio ads, print ads, TV ad, etc to promote something - the custom group gives the sponsor a place to send the consumers where the sponsor brand and the Colts brand are seen in direct connection.
Too often we see companies run great promotions only to send interested fans to the main home page on the corporate Web pages? What does the consumer do from there?? How is that communicating the value a sponsor has added to the fan experience? What residual value will linger in the consumers’ minds? How can the consumer buy from that sponsor without having to do A LOT of extra work?
Anyway, back to my sales guys…both the promotions we worked on yesterday could include Colts players blogging inside MyColts. THAT would be awesome! We’ve got to work out some permission on our end before we do it, but that’s exactly the kind of thing fans will love.
Custom groups are a bit difficult to explain since each one is different. We have several in development right now, and I hope to show them soon on this blog.
