Event marketing and sponsorships can impact brands significantly, but marketers are often challenged with how to measure event sponsorship Return On Investment (ROI). Based on your overall marketing goals, there are a number of different ways to evaluate the impact of event sponsorships. Here are three different ways to measure event sponsorship ROI.

Brand Impressions

If you are looking to drive broad-based awareness for your brand, tracking overall impressions can be used to measure event sponsorship ROI. Impression-based sponsorships generally encompass items such as corporate logo placement on event materials such as programs or signage, or verbal mentions of a company name during the event. In addition to generating brand impressions, these types of sponsorships can also have a halo effect for brands, who can generate brand clout by being associated with a particular event or garner additional goodwill with consumers by supporting a particular organization. However, impression-based sponsorships often lack the opportunity for brands to directly engage with potential customers.

Customer Engagement

Brands that want more in-depth interaction with consumers can measure the value of event sponsorship by looking at customer engagement that resulted from said sponsorship. Customer engagement can take many forms, from website visits and social media interactions to direct one-to-one interaction with customers. Sponsorships that generate one-to-one interaction with consumers often include items such as booth exhibits, or the opportunity to directly communicate with consumers via email or direct mail. While direct customer engagement opportunities may be more limited in terms of “numbers” when compared to impression-based activities, they can generate high ROI as consumers often develop brand affinity as a result of the direct interaction.

Customer Feedback

Garnering customer feedback is one of the most valuable, yet often overlooked, ways to measure event sponsorship ROI. As a result of event sponsorships, brands often have an opportunity to engage with customers and get real-time feedback on their product or service offering. Hearing directly from the “voice of the consumer” can provide invaluable feedback—including both areas of strength and those that need improvement—for brands. This feedback may come in person with one-to-one interactions, or may be shared online via social media and other web properties. While measuring ROI in terms of customer feedback may seem intangible, brands can generate tangible benefits from listening and responding to current and potential customers.

Rose Cooper serves as the Lead Planner on Martino Flynn’s Integrated Marketing Strategy Team. To learn more about Martino Flynn’s consumer research and media planning capabilities, contact us at 585.421.0100.

Super Bowl 52 was yet another incredibly exciting game that had viewers biting their nails until the very last second, but did the commercials deliver the same level of entertainment? Here are the thoughts of four people from the MF team on the spots:

Kevin Flynn, Partner

I really liked Amazon’s Alexa ads for their particularly good use of celebrities. Rebel Wilson was very funny, delivering some hilarious lines. I also enjoyed the Olympics promo with Lindsey Vonn. It was a great use of Alicia Keys’ “This Girl is on Fire.” The song built as the spot offered a 60-second view into the life of an extremely interesting woman. Plus, the timeline was great and she is just a total badass!

A few of the car companies that advertised this year missed the mark for me. I thought that Dodge’s use of Martin Luther King quotes was horrible. It totally trivialized the greatness of MLK and turned his quotes into a cheesy ad for pickup trucks. Also, the environmentalist in me hated the Jeep spot in which an SUV drives through a beautiful stream/river. That is likely illegal and you just shouldn’t be driving vehicles into moving water. All in all, not good. That said, the Jeep footage was dramatic and the commercial’s location was scenic.

Craig Henderberg, Post-Production Supervisor

Aside from a few standouts, I think most of the ads this year were just okay. Eli Manning and OBJ’s “Dirty Dancing” got the biggest laughs from me, while Danny DeVito as an M&M was watched several times by my kids as they ate breakfast Monday morning. For overall concept and execution, Tide won hands down, in my opinion. Its series of spots was clever, played on familiar Super Bowl ad tropes, and playfully called back to many popular spots from years past. I also liked the Doritos vs. Mountain Dew rap battle. Popular actors, classic songs, and great production.

I think a few advertisers put concept front and center, without creating a cohesive execution. Rocket Mortgage stood out to me as the worst offender for this. I also think that Bud Light had a good thing going with “Dilly Dilly” as a phrase, but aside from its first appearance in the “Wizard” spot, it has become overused, forced, and not nearly as funny.

Finally, I noticed a growing trend: streaming services promoting their shows and movies with big trailers. Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime all got in on the action this year as they continue to compete against traditional movie studios and broadcast networks.

Brad Garratt, Creative Supervisor

The big question of the night: would anyone dethrone Bud Light’s “Dilly Dilly” as Super Bowl LII’s winning catchphrase? Not an easy task given that Budweiser and agency Wieden + Kennedy had been priming the pump since last summer. There were a few contenders: “Do you want to eat me?” (M&Ms); “Get off my horse!” (Tide); “NOBODY ASKED YOU KEVIN!” (Pringles); and “Bleep don’t stink” (Febreze); plus a couple of Rebel Wilson’s lines from the Amazon Alexa spot that I’m not comfortable putting in a public blog post given today’s workplace climate. However, in the end, “Dilly Dilly” managed to reign supreme.

For commercial(s) of the night, I’m going with Tide. The detergent company didn’t just get value out of the commercials it paid for, it gained significant bonus interest during other spots from people continually wondering, “Is this a Tide commercial?” And I’ll admit that Tide fooled even me—a wily ad veteran—when I heard “Hello ladies …” delivered in Isaiah Mustafa’s uniquely dulcet tones.

The performance of the night was, hands down, Odell Beckham Jr. Watching him portray a 17-year-old Jewish girl in the 1963 Catskills and embody the role so entirely was a revelation.

Mary Cappellino, Group Account Director-Healthcare Practice

This year, we saw an increase in anthem ads—advertisers delivering emotional stories in an effort to elevate their brands. Hyundai’s “Hope Detector” ad for childhood cancer research caught me off guard by delivering a very aspirational and emotional product. Would I buy a Hyundai because of it? Probably not, but they took a step forward in my book.

Toyota’s story of Paralympian Lauren Woolstencroft was a 60-second emotional journey through this strong and courageous young woman’s life. The odds “ticker” beginning at 1 in almost 1 billion put her accomplishments in perspective in a big way. I will certainly be looking out for Lauren during the Paralympic Winter Games this year, which, ordinarily, I wouldn’t watch. I give a nod to Anheuser-Busch for its disaster relief ad–it was very well done and a solid strategy following a year with so many natural disasters close to home. Matt Damon’s charity appeal with Stella Artois was odd by comparison.

I found the creative juxtaposition between two ads that focused on the same diversity theme very interesting. In Coca-Cola’s “The Wonder of Us” spot, colorful imagery and stunning cinematography work with a poignant script to illustrate how we are all different. In contrast, T-Mobile’s ad utilized a fixed camera angle and slow pan hovering over babies of varied nationalities, all in white and nestled in gray fabric. While execution was very different, the goal accomplished was the same.

Technology (both in the marketing and consumer worlds), online platforms, and marketing techniques are constantly evolving and changing. In 2017, we saw even more emphasis on content marketing and video, a booming influencer marketing space, and an unsurprising emphasis on data. So what should your business incorporate into its marketing tactics in 2018 in order to keep up with the latest trends and new techniques? Here are 3 areas for your brand to invest its marketing efforts in this year.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is slated to dominate in 2018, just as it did in 2017. In fact, 75% of marketers are increasing investment in content marketing in 2018. We’ve all heard the phrase “content is king”, and that may be true; however, as attention spans become increasingly shorter and people consume content using multiple platforms (think a phone, an iPad, and a laptop—maybe even all at once), shorter, more engaging content in the appropriate context should be the focus of marketing efforts. Robust, long-form content certainly lends itself to the appropriate audience if used in the proper part of the sales funnel, but in these changing times, where the average attention span is only about 8 seconds, it may be beneficial to use more concise content that packs a big punch in terms of engagement, sharing, and conversion.

Creating content for the sake of the audience, not to sell the audience on a product, will likely be a popular trend in 2018. This marketing strategy typically works best when companies develop an emotional tie with their audience, creating trust and brand recognition. Engagement will be sure to follow.

Big Data

The phrase “big data” has been buzzing around the marketing space for years now, but as more companies incorporate big data into their marketing plans, the implications of these data-backed techniques become more and more apparent.

One of the biggest areas in which we think big data will have the most significant impact—not only this year, but for years to come—is garnering consumer insights to inform relationship-driven strategy. Using data to find out what makes customers tick, how they’re engaging with your campaigns, and their user experience throughout, allows you to better understand how to grab your customers’ attention. Zeroing in on the specific attributes of the audience you should be trying to reach and how best to communicate with them will ultimately drive your brand’s goals forward.

Extensive consumer insights also lend themselves to aiding in strategies such as programmatic media buys and the increasingly popular idea of personalization that is becoming increasingly popular year over year.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning is an area considered to be the latest and greatest in the world of marketing, with ever-evolving and new technologies popping up seemingly daily. It is a space in which tons of excitement and anticipation are growing, but how can your company utilize it to achieve actionable goals? AI is really an offshoot of, and should be used in conjunction with, big data. AI-powered algorithms can help your company curate targeted content for specific consumers. For instance, by analyzing hundreds of data points that can be found in relation to a particular user (location, demographics, etc.), AI formulas can deliver a personalized website experience by serving up best-fitting content. This type of personalization serves up things such as best offers and relevant content based on location, demographics, and browsing history that will make users more likely to engage with your brand.

To learn more about Martino Flynn’s capabilities in these trending marketing spaces, visit martinoflynn.com or contact Kevin Flynn at 585.421.0100.