Week 10 - Sponsorship and Event Management

As the title suggests, this week's readings detail the finer points of sponsorship and event management in the PR industry.

The first section of the Chapter discusses the intricacies of philanthropic, marketing and corporate sponsorship, and the benefits this can have for both parties. Extra emphasis is placed on the practitioner's ability to write an effective sponsorship proposal, as this usually means the difference between gaining sponsorship, and failing to do so. Key points in doing so involves 'understanding the motives and goals of the target audience,' (Johnston and Zawawi 2004) identifying the measurable and achievable outcomes, outlining the objectives, and a specific strategic plan.

This reading builds upon previous learning about PR, as while I’ve always known of the existence of sponsorship, I was previously unaware of the potential and intricacies of sponsorship in PR.

I was also introduced to concepts such as ‘Ambush Marketing,’ and found this point particularly interesting and enlightening. It’s also handy that Johnston and Zawawi included some tactics that detail how to avoid being ambushed, and I’ll certainly try to remember these.

The focus of the second half of the chapter is event management and its effective execution in real-world PR which is particularly useful. As I gather it, media coverage is key in an effectively run event, as they are usually staged to attract attention and publicity. Another thing I found particularly useful in this section was the commonly made errors in unsuccessfully staged events, especially the necessity for a contingency plan in case something goes wrong, for instance the weather, of power problems. These types of incidents are also shown in real-world examples later on in the chapter, through the various case studies related to event management. This is one thing I find useful about this textbook: that it relates concepts to actual professional practice, and always provides case studies, and industry examples to help prepare us for the workplace.

In summary, the key points I learnt from this week’s reading are the importance of a good proposal for sponsorship, and the need to have contingency plans in order to react effectively to problems and crises in event management.