A SURGE in high-profile sporting events in Singapore and the region offers companies top-notch sponsorship opportunities to boost their profiles.

But those keen to kick off their sponsorship activities will need to have a comprehensive game plan and be prepared to shell out money to get ahead of the competition.

This was the advice of marketing strategy expert, Professor Dominique Turpin of the leading IMD Business School in Switzerland, who was in Singapore for a seminar last week.

He said sports still presented the most attractive option when it came to sponsorship.

'Around the world, close to 70 per cent of sponsorship activities are in sports, 20 per cent in the arts, and the remainder in other areas.

'In the past 10 years, the amount of sponsorship has gone up easily by 10 times, although this includes the impact of major events such as the Olympics and European football championships.'

He believes that sports are attractive because they allow sponsors to address a specific and targeted group of consumers.

'Sports also allows stories and images containing a lot of emotion and passion to be conveyed, and these are especially useful in transmitting messages about a company's values,' said Prof Turpin.

When it comes to setting out a sponsorship strategy, he said some basic tenets applied.

'Of course, you need to ensure that the values that you want to emphasise are represented by the sport or athletes you are sponsoring. So if you are looking to highlight teamwork, then sports like football or rugby would work best.'

But more crucially, firms need to be prepared to spend sufficient funds on what he terms 'activation' strategies in which communication activities are built up around sponsorship to maximise impact.

'For every dollar spent on sponsorship, I believe that two or even three dollars should be spent on activation, which can comprise advertising, commercials and activities centred on the sponsored event.

'This will ensure that maximum awareness is created for the sponsor and prevents the deal from becoming pure charity or philanthropy.'

Top examples of this include Carlsberg's sponsorship of the European football championships and Shell's partnership with the Ferrari Formula One (F1) racing team, Prof Turpin said.

'With Singapore firms soon able to be part of major events such as the very first F1 night race and the Youth Olympic Games in 2010, they should start putting together sponsorship strategies that will enable them to get the most out of their sponsorship dollars.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on May 20, 2008

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