HOW TO STRIKE A MUSIC SPONSORSHIP

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

http://www.eventmarketer.com/viewmedia.asp?prmMID=421

INTRODUCTION
Music is like a steam engine: The longer it runs, the more powerful it gets.
Sports teams change every season, but music changes day by day. Background or
foreground, it cannot be ignored. It’s the here-and-now medium, tone-setter,
attitude-former, and the ultimate catalyst for marketing relevance. Music is a
medium active consumers are more aggressively weaving into their lives, a signal,
a signpost, and an entry point into fashion, technology, and fun. “[The brand
manager] can’t afford to miss making this connection anymore,” says Geoff
Cottrill, director of worldwide entertainment marketing with the Coca-Cola Co.,
Atlanta.

BACKGROUND
Fragmentation in the music business—figuring out who does what among the
management, labels, artists, brokers, agencies, and promoters can be next to
impossible—has always made music sponsorships more difficult to produce and
leverage than those in the land of sports. Sports deals come with built-in
implementation. With music … well, you take your chances (you’ve heard stories of
talent managers taking corporate sponsors to the cleaners).
But if music labels are in sorry shape these days—and they are, as CD sales
continue to fall—then tune teams are looking to deal. Record companies are getting
smarter about branding their own “properties,” and that means they’re making it
easier for brands to move closer to the limelight. Witness the multi-year
agreement Pepsi has inked with Sony Music, New York City, which will rotate Sony
acts in and out of the beverage company’s ubiquitous marketing activities.

Meanwhile, artists are getting hip to the benefits of sponsorship, and more and
more are ready to talk turkey. (Canton, MA-based Reebok is rapping with Jay-Z
while Dallas-based Chili’s proffers ribs with N*Sync.) “The artists used to just
ask for their checks,” says Cory Isaacson, a vp with Chicago-based Entertainment
Marketing, Inc. “But they’re starting to realize there’s some real value on the
other side of the fence.”

Brand managers thinking about getting in on a music tour should heed these eight
teeny, tiny checkpoints.

Rule 1: Don’t believe the label. It’s the talent and the band manager who make the
final decisions. Find out on Day One who’ll will sign off on the deal, but get the
artist’s (not the broker’s) name on the dotted line. The last thing you want is a
watered-down version of the extravaganza you thought you’d purchased.

Rule 2: Know what you want. Don’t let the artist mess with the activation. Each
singer or group is a brand unto itself, and they’re tenacious about their images
and careers. But many times the marketer has more equity than the talent, so
exploit the real-time strength of your position.

Rule 3: Be patient with the process. This may only involve one singer, but it’s a
delicate course of action. Have a Plan B, C, D, as well as the stomach to go
through the process.
Rule 4: There is a lot of ego involved at every level of show-biz. Be the one who
checks it at the door, and make the deal work for everyone. Celebrities can be
divas, but that can work to your advantage later on. Remember the main objectives
and leave your emotions back at the corporate campus.

Rule 5: Hop a flight and meet the artist. In the end, it doesn’t matter if you
really like each other, but it makes things easier when everybody gets along.
Given the distractions and short attention spans of most entertainers, it’s better
for the event marketer to explain the sponsor’s objectives than to have a 32-page
fax go unread.

Rule 6: Make sure the artist’s audience is a match. Too many companies have
sponsored the wrong acts and wound up disconnecting with customers. Get music-
industry sales data and break CD revenue down by demographic group. Demand the
talent’s manager give you consumer surveys to back up the popularity they swear
they’re offering. Then overlay the data with your own.

Rule 7: You will wait until the last minute. The contracts may be drafted in
February, but the summer tour won’t be confirmed until late May—which means you’ll
wait … and wait. It’s the mechanics of the music business, a Bermuda Triangle of
labels, talent, and venues. You’ll need a decent lead time to get from development
to execution, so get a list of the confirmed markets ahead of time as well as
tentative dates. Then work in a weekly update from the artists’ team.

Rule 8: There’s no rate card in live show-biz. Marketers tend to get furious over
the lack of quantitative valuation when a label volunteers a number. But it’s up
to you to get to the right figure. Check fair market and see what others have
paid. Then break down what you’re getting and award each component a value, much
like you’d do with a sports sponsorship valuation. Awareness, attendance, face-to-
face activations, artist appearances, retail execution, P-O-P, media—give them all
a number according to their value to the brand. Then negotiate what you’ll give
for what you’ll get.
“It’s like buying a house,” says Isaacson. “You may get a lot of walk-in closets,
but the master bath might not have a double sink.”