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KEEP SPONSORS
ACTIVE
THROUGH ACTIVATION
by Tammy Gilpin-Ripp
I
f you serve in a business development, sponsorship
or marketing role for your facility, chances are you've
had a sponsor ask, "How can we better connect and
engage with your customers or audience?"
At Uihlein Soccer Park, the Milwaukee Kickers Soccer
Club and its community outreach program, Milwaukee
SCORES, partner with their sponsors on a variety of
initiatives to provide greater value and more inter-
action with the 600,000 people they host each year.
Some examples of onsite sponsor activation include …
Samples – Food sponsors at events handing
out free samples of best-selling menu items,
or introducing new ones, are always popular, and
sponsors rarely stay for the duration because they
run out of inventory faster than anticipated. Because
our major events occur over weekends, which are
the busiest days for many of our restaurant and food
sponsors, this is viewed as a positive. Sponsors given
the opportunity to leave early and empty-handed is
appreciated, and everyone leaves happy – including
our guests.
Giveaways – Giveaway items like stickers,
pencils, pens, magnets, bottles of bubbles,
sunglasses and water bottles do well, but those who
give away larger items like t-shirts and cinch sacks
do even better. One of our most recent giveaways
was from our dental services sponsor, who handed
out branded cinch sacks filled with toothpaste,
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