Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Sponsorship For A 'question Of The Day' Feature

Posted by Anonymous on 10/15/2008 at 11:20 PM ET 125 Points
Watching Sportscenter a few minutes ago I noticed that their Question of the Day poll feature was sponsored by Papa John's pizza.

Being new to the marketing side of the coin, and in the process of developing a multimedia site employing similar types of spot features, I wonder how a business typically goes about acquiring this kind of sponsorship. Cold calling? Have them come to you? How best to do this? How is it typically accomplished? What system is used to determine pricing for the use of their ad spot to support your feature or spot?

Thanks in advance.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by saul.dobney on 10/16/2008 at 4:30 AM Accepted
    They'll base it on a standard advertising rate plus an extra for being in a key view point compared to other advertising. What that extra will be will depend on what they can get away with.

    I would guess that it's been part of their advertising sales (outbound) process. But sometimes a media buyer/the client themselves has the idea and then it is just about negotiating the price.
  • Posted by steven.alker on 10/18/2008 at 6:51 AM Accepted
    Randall’s second point is a variant of (I believe his) “Park a lot of tanks on their lawn!” which can be kind of difficult when you are starting out, but his advice to be advised is sage.

    When you are developing your editorial programme for spot features, you can draw up a list of companies which could benefit by having publicity on the same page – or you can get an agency to do it for you in about 10/th of the time.

    Then you let them know about the upcoming feature, inform them of your readership and profile and see what the response is like. If you are new to the media and don’t have a profile or a sizeable membership then you need to attract customers who, in return for a good deal, are prepared to take a risk that their publicity will grow as you grow and that their early risk in sponsoring your will be repaid by the fact that they will have secured large future viewing figures for a sum which will, by then, look to be a real bargain.

    That is a proposition which needs selling, because you are selling your confidence in your future success.

    Best of luck

    Steve Alker
    Xspirt
  • Posted on 10/18/2008 at 8:52 AM Author
    Thanks everyone for the pointers, I learned something new in each successive response and then the detail provided by that last one tied it all together and underscored it very well. Now I'm busy finding out what the standard ad rates for this sort of thing actually are and the tip about making a list of which companies could benefit was ideal and eye-opening.

    By the way, now I'm noticing all these sites--eg Entertainment Weekly's--that have those 'Sponsored Links' text boxes with "Buy a link here" in the lower right hand corner etc...my eyes have been opened and my brain is churning!

    Thanks again for the 'mini-course' in this type of marketing.
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