I have an opportunity to be a major sponsor for a local concert to raise money for the MDA. The high school in town is host a concert with a band called Catchpenny. The class is Sports & Entertainment Marking (I wish I had electives like this, no wonder my property taxes are so high) and they are responsible for the entire event. I was approached by one of my employees who is in the class and she is the event leader. She said that for a donation of $500.00 I can get, my logo on all event posters, tickets, flyers, stage banner, newspaper annoucments, event programs, promotional announcements made during school and at the concert, and they will also distribute coupons, brochures or other promotional materials for me during the concert.
She also came up with the idea of using two of my car top signs on the stage. They would put them on the sides of the stage or on top of the stack of speakers.
They will also sell my pizza by the slice. No matter how much I give for the event itself, I will donate the pizza so that all the proceeds will go to the cause.
Would you do it?
I think it sounds great. Only hesitation is that it is $500 and it is being managed my high school students.
The ONLY hesitation I would have if approached for this is the $500 price tag. We are intensely committed to communnity activities like this. $500 is a chunk for us to spend on an unproven commodity, though. If the event prospectus sounds good, and they have a good marketing plan, then it could be small money for the return. Heck, all the high school kids and/or families will get the materials and go to the concert.
I’d try to get a lower priced deal, but would probably go for it if the school is large enough and the band has any sort of regional following.
Not only would I do it but I would donate my shirts for all the high school kids putting on the event. (Or order some cheap white ones with your logo for a couple of bucks)
500 is cheap in my opinion. I would take the employee under my wing and help her put the event on. I would go introduce myself to the teacher in charge and tell her how excited you are to sponsor something like this and what a great learning experience it is for the kids. I would tell her if they work on it after school or whenever not to forget that our company sells pizzas to the schools for $xxx. I would talk about selling my pizza by the slice and donating a quarter for their school.
The point of this will not be to get slammed that night it will be to expose your name to each and every person there. The place is going to be buzzin and if I was given that opportunity I would run with it.
If for some reason you can’t afford the 500 tell her you would like to handle putting the program together and sell a few ads to other local businesses and one to yourself. Just a thought.