Activated sponsorships outperform under-activated sponsorships. The difference is not marginal. It is often the difference between a sponsorship that meaningfully influences consumer behaviour and one that struggles to justify its investment. This is not a discussion about whether activation matters.
Before the objectives have been defined, before the audiences have been prioritized, before the role of sponsorship has been clarified, a property opportunity enters the discussion. A league. A team. An event. An athlete. A festival. A platform. The opportunity may be
Sponsorship has become a more accountable investment category. Leadership teams are asking tougher questions. Investment decisions are receiving greater scrutiny. Renewal recommendations increasingly require evidence, not just conviction. Sponsorship is competing for resources alongside other marketing and business investments that
Brand‑side sponsorship teams are rarely short on intent. Most sponsorship teams can articulate what they are trying to accomplish. Increase awareness. Strengthen brand affinity. Build customer relationships. Support community objectives. Engage employees. The challenge isn’t the absence of intent. It’s the translation of that intent into something specific
Sponsorship portfolios that fail don’t always fail quietly. Underperformance often hides behind reports, explained away by reach or impressions that look fine on paper. But in some cases, the impact is visible. Not as a headline. Not in a single moment. But
When sponsorship isn’t working, it is usually because it has a decision problem. Most brand owners are not struggling because nothing is happening. Activity exists. Investments are in place. Programs are being delivered. The challenge sits elsewhere. Sponsorship decisions are difficult to
Most sponsorship portfolios don’t have a performance problem. They have a decision problem. Especially at renewal. In research authored by Lumency and co-published with the World Federation of Advertisers, only 5% of brand owners said they’re very confident their sponsorship investments include the right assets, reach the right
Most sponsorship portfolio optimization work fails before it starts. Not because teams don’t know what to do. Not because there’s a lack of effort. And not because the properties themselves are inherently flawed. It fails because teams start in the
Portfolios rarely get designed this way. They accumulate: opportunistic deals, local decisions, and legacy renewals layered on top of each other. As scrutiny increases, finance pushes for ROI clarity and procurement pushes for discipline, and you’re left trying to answer a basic question: Is
We’ve watched brand owners pour money into sponsorships that deliver nothing measurable. The pattern is predictable. A brand owner signs a deal with a major property because it feels like the right move. Their brand becomes one of forty logos
The pattern shows up consistently in sponsorship. A brand owner reports 50,000 event attendees for a sponsored music festival and calls it a success. Leadership nods. The report gets filed. But when someone asks what those attendees did afterward, the room goes quiet.
Most marketing reaches audiences. Sponsorship reaches communities. The power of sponsorship is that it gives brands access to these communities. Around every sports team, festival, cultural institution, marathon, or cause sits a social cluster of people connected by shared interest
Venue naming rights are among the most visible assets in sponsorship. When they work, they can be powerful. A brand’s name becomes part of how people reference a building, a district, or even a city landmark. Over time, that association
Global sponsorship remains overwhelmingly sport-led. Roughly three quarters of total global sponsorship spend sits in sport, reflecting its proven ability to deliver for brands when grounded in a clear strategy. The latest Lumency–World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) Global Sponsorship Report, based on brand owner organizations representing approximately 7%
At renewal, sponsorship conversations often narrow too quickly. The discussion gravitates toward price, exposure, or recent activity. The evaluation becomes compressed into whatever metric is easiest to quantify. Meanwhile, broader strategic questions remain unasked. Strong sponsorship governance requires a more structured approach. At the
In many brand-owner organizations, sponsorship and media planning run in parallel instead of as one system. That separation shows up directly in how efficiently budgets get deployed. When sponsorship-delivered exposure isn’t built into media modeling, brands risk paying twice, buying exposure they are
In 2026, sponsorship is treated as a core part of the marketing plan. It takes a meaningful share of the budget and shows up in the same conversations as media, CRM, and retail when leaders make tradeoffs. Participation is assumed; the question
Sponsorship has never worked simply because a brand reached a particular age group, income band, or gender mix. The partnerships that endure do so for a different reason: they place brands in view of communities built around shared beliefs, values,
Sponsorship is entering an era of optimization. After years of expansion, experimentation, and portfolio growth, the conversation is shifting. The question is no longer whether sponsorship matters, but how well it is governed, activated, measured, and explained inside increasingly scrutinized
Smart brand owners work hard to get full value from their sponsorships: integrating the property into omnichannel plans, tightening activation, and sharpening measurement. What gets far less attention is how those same rights can go even further when activated in
Omnichannel sponsorship activation is something Lumency talks about frequently, in our content and, more importantly, in day-to-day work with brand owners. It comes up when discussing activation ratio ranges, the obligation to add to the fan experience in order to
When brand-side sponsorship teams ask, “What does a good activation ratio look like?” they’re rarely asking a theoretical question. They’re looking for a number they can sanity-check against: Am I under-investing? Am I in the right range? Will this hold up with leadership or procurement? The
In highly competitive sponsorship categories, or for the most in-demand properties, this has long been the operating reality. When two or more category players are vying for the same property, the buyer effectively becomes the seller. Rights holders are choosing the partner who will
Fans are the third party in every sponsorship agreement. They never appear on the contract, but their relationship with the property is what gives the deal its value. Fans as emotional shareholders In every sponsorship, two parties sign. The property
Aside from IP rights, data is the most valuable asset a property can provide a brand owner. Many brand owners underleverage it. Across brand owner organizations, marketers are grappling with a familiar set of pressures. Performance marketing efficiency has flattened. CRM health is weakening
Many brand-owners still manage sponsorship as if it were a transactional media buy. Rights and assets are negotiated, fees are paid, and activation flows from what was purchased. What is often missing is the level of business context and expectation setting
A few years ago, one of our clients, a brand with one of the largest sponsorship portfolios in their home country market, would call us in a panic three or four times a year. Their exclusive renewal window with a
A global marketing leader told us recently that his brand was investing millions in a new sponsorship. When we asked how he planned to measure it, he paused and said, “I haven’t really thought about it.” That moment captures a
Sponsorship has the ability to address multiple objectives in the marketing and business funnel simultaneously. It can build awareness and consideration, influence preference and purchase intent, and even deliver internal benefits like employee engagement, trade motivation, or regulatory goodwill. Few
Every property has a partner stack, the structured hierarchy of sponsors that support it. At the top sit the brands paying the largest rights fees, and holding the broadest set of assets. Near the bottom are smaller cash partners and,
Too many brand owners still confuse outputs with outcomes when it comes to sponsorship measurement. The distinction isn’t subtle. It’s fundamental. And it’s one of the biggest reasons sponsorship programs struggle to demonstrate real business impact. Outputs Are Not Outcomes
Sponsorship renewal discussions can move at two very different speeds. When a renewal is well-governed and initiated early, negotiations are more likely to be efficient, constructive, and predictable. When they’re not, both the sponsor and property can find themselves in a slow, reactive process that burns time and erodes
Most forms of marketing communication start with the brands. Its features, benefits, values, or purpose. Sponsorship behaves differently. It starts with the audience. That difference is easy to overlook. Many marketers try to apply the same playbook they use for
Too often, after a portfolio review or just based on managing the rights, brand owners discover that parts of their sponsorship portfolio aren’t delivering what they should. The inefficiency is rarely about the property itself. It’s about the spend to
Unlike most marketing spend, sponsorship is inelastic. There’s often only one asset, one renewal window, and potentially multiple category competitors vying for the same rights. That scarcity drives behaviour. When markets heat up, fees escalate beyond inflationary pressure or incremental
For many brand owners, sponsorship without a funding formula creates friction. Decisions take longer, teams spend energy on internal budget negotiations, and the sponsorship delivers less impact than it should. The role of the sponsorship leads shouldn’t be to broker
Most brand owners don’t actually know. Sponsorship portfolios are often built over time: legacy renewals, opportunistic buys, and deals shaped more by momentum than strategy. The real risk isn’t overspending. The bigger risk is not knowing whether the portfolio is
Different brand owner organizations use different labels for sponsorships. The real distinction isn’t in the terminology, it’s in how unevenly they’re managed and evaluated. For clarity in this article, “sponsorship” refers broadly to four relationship types: commercial, community investment, athlete/entertainer,
Strong partnerships start with clear expectations. The best property partners aren’t just rights holders. They’re collaborators in driving your business outcomes. But even great partners can underperform if expectations aren’t set early and clearly. Compressed timelines and internal scrutiny aren’t
Sponsorship agreements shouldn’t just protect the brand owner. They should set the partnership up to perform. Done well, a sponsorship agreement becomes the operational framework for a successful relationship. Done poorly, it introduces friction. Especially when expectations are unclear, rights
In today’s landscape, sponsorship isn’t just a channel. It’s a statement. Every partnership a brand chooses, and how it shows up in that partnership, signals something about what the organization values. Externally, it shapes perception. Internally, it drives alignment or
In marketing planning, it’s easy to default to scale, reach, impressions, coverage. And those metrics matter. They drive awareness, support media efficiency, and provide easy comparable. But as pressure mounts on marketers to do more with less, sponsorship portfolios are
Tension between global and local teams is a recurring theme in sponsorship portfolio planning. Global teams, often including marketing, procurement, and connections stakeholders, are tasked with delivering consistency and scale across markets. Meanwhile, country market teams are navigating local context,
Whether you’re inside a global enterprise or a high-growth challenger, the tension between speed and structure shows up eventually. Rivian is a fraction the size of Toyota. Gymshark didn’t exist until long after Nike was already a global icon. But
Most brand owners don’t consciously consider category endemicity when making sponsorship decisions. It’s rarely named, but it’s always at play. When the alignment is obvious—like Gatorade in sport or LEGO in play—it’s easy to lean on fit. When the alignment
Most brand owners under-activate their sponsorships. Most know it. But few have the structure in place to assess how well a sponsorship is being activated across the full marketing mix. Sponsorships are among the most complex tools in a marketer’s
According to a global study by the World Federation of Advertisers and Lumency only 31% of brand owners say they have a standardized or structured approach to sponsorship evaluation. That means nearly 7 in 10 brands are investing in sponsorship
Sponsorship activation refers to the omni-channel marketing activities a brand undertakes to promote and leverage a sponsorship. Activation costs are separate from rights fees; the amount paid to secure sponsorship assets (although sometimes activation is included as part of the
In sponsorship, timing isn’t just important, it’s often the difference between opportunity and loss. Yet, too often, deal timing is treated as a passive element instead of a strategic lever. Over the past few months, we’ve seen first-hand how brand-side
Sponsorship is often misunderstood inside the walls of a brand organization. While marketers closest to the work, and leaders who “get it,” see its potential clearly, getting full internal alignment, including leadership buy-in, can be more complicated. That misalignment can
A sponsorship’s performance isn’t just shaped by how it activates—it’s often determined by how the deal itself is structured. When brand-side teams treat sponsorship deal architecture with the same level of discipline they bring to media, shopper, or agency relationships,
For many brands, sponsorship is the second-largest marketing investment after media. On average, 16% of brand marketing budgets go toward sponsorship rights and activation spend—yet this spend is often unmanaged and unmeasured. Sponsorship is both emotional and messy. Messy, because
In today’s dynamic sponsorship landscape, brands often find themselves at a crossroads—struggling to align sponsorship investments with business objectives, measuring ROI effectively, or ensuring activations resonate with target audiences. Without a clear strategy, sponsorship decisions become fragmented, limiting the impact
Women’s sports are seeing unprecedented growth—with rising viewership, increased investment, and new professional leagues taking shape. Our latest industry report looks at what’s driving this momentum and what it means for the future of the sports landscape. Read and download
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆: 𝗔 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 The world’s most popular sport continues to evolve—driven by international investments, digital platforms, emerging markets, and the explosive rise of women’s football. Our latest industry report dives into the key trends shaping
Fans and consumers may be the same individuals, but their roles, behaviors, and expectations are fundamentally different. When engaging with a property or rights holder, a consumer transforms into a fan, dramatically shifting their context and expectations. Recognizing these distinctions
Global Sponsorship Trends Webinar 2025 Audio Global Sponsorship Trends Webinar 2025 Video Global Sponsorship Trends Written Report 2025 Global Sponsorship Trends 2025 Report Executive Summary The sponsorship landscape is evolving rapidly, driven by shifts in consumer behavior, technological advancements, and
We live in a time where consumer behavior is evolving rapidly. Economic pressures are forcing businesses to rethink how they stand out in an increasingly undifferentiated marketplace. And yet, amidst these challenges, there’s one truth we can’t ignore: the power
In an era marked by rapid technological transformation and shifting consumer expectations, marketers are facing unprecedented challenges. The impact of economic uncertainty has heightened scrutiny on marketing spend, compelling teams to justify every investment with tangible results. Amidst this landscape,
The marketing landscape is evolving rapidly, and the future will be dominated by smaller, more agile marketing teams within large brand owner organizations. As the traditional 500-person marketing organization becomes less common, marketers who adapt to rapid change will secure
Sponsorship is often more complex than other forms of marketing, with a wide range of moving parts. From securing rights to valuation, scoping assets, negotiation, and finalizing agreements, sponsorship is a heavy lift. But it’s only once a sponsorship is
Let’s face it—sponsorship is messy. Few initiatives within your organization involve as many stakeholder groups: brand, sales, operations, trade teams, procurement, legal, corporate communications, the executive team, and others. Each of these groups can extract value from your sponsorship investments,
If you’re a brand owner operating on a calendar fiscal year, you’ve just passed the midpoint of your year. As part of your annual marketing or procurement plan set in Q3 or Q4 of last year, you likely set objectives
A sponsorship agreement is a long-form contract that serves as the foundation for the relationship between a sponsor and a rights holder or property. The sponsorship agreement provides legal protection, sets expectations for how the relationship will function, and defines
Imagine having to wake your CEO in the middle of the night because a tragic incident at a music festival, where your brand is a major sponsor, has resulted in fatalities due to an active shooter at the event site.
In today’s competitive market, brand owners look for more than just visibility; they want meaningful sponsorships that drive tangible results. The relationship between brand owners and their property partners has evolved, with a stronger focus on strategic collaboration and mutual
Sponsorship activation is the omni-channel marketing activity conducted by a sponsor to promote a particular sponsorship. Activation costs are in addition to the cost of acquisition of a sponsorship by a sponsor (the rights fees). Activation is critical for a
Sponsorship as a form of marketing pressure, once largely emotionally driven and lacking strategic depth, has undergone a revolutionary transformation in recent years. The Lumency report, The Evolution of Sponsorship, published in partnership with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA),
Sponsorship makes up 12% of a brand’s marketing budget on average. In 2022, global brands invested a whopping USD $97.4B in sponsorship, with projections soaring to USD $189.5B by 2030. Dive into the dynamic world of sponsorship with Lumency’s Annual
The 2023 NFL season couldn’t have had a better opener, as the Detroit Lions cemented their credentials as legit title contenders with a gritty, hard-fought win over the Kansas City Chiefs. The defending champs began their defense in defeat and
Category endemicity is an important consideration when thinking about the properties you have, or may add to, your sponsorship portfolio. It is especially important when you are thinking about activation planning across your portfolio. Layers of Endemicity There are two
Women’s professional sports has momentum, and it’s about time. View the playback for our panel discussion on The Business of Women’s Sport, a dynamic conversation with some of the leading experts in women’s professional sport about fan engagement, business models
Variable compensation is trending, but it’s not yet the norm. The annual escalator on base rights fee is where a ballooning of cost can hide. Term can add leverage, help manage spend efficiency, and block sponsor industry competitors. Base Rights
During the most challenging parts of the pandemic, a number of brands approached us looking for support around portfolio optimization, property evaluation and sponsorship governance. In each case, they had realized that the way they were managing their sponsorship investments
This is the second of two articles in a series where we share the ten Global Sponsorship Trends we’re tracking. Here we share trends six through ten. You can read about trends one through five in part one of this
The volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity of the world around us is significant. Social change, geopolitical issues, supply chain challenges, economic headwinds, a lingering pandemic—, the way we do business has changed. And with it, so has sponsorship. At the
Our President and CEO, Ian Malcolm recently published a guest blog post with the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) looking at what sponsors are, or should be, considering as they move deeper into 2022. See the original post here. There
Our President and CEO, Ian Malcolm recently published a guest blog for the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) to discuss the key sponsorship trends brands should be focusing on heading into 2022. The global COVID-19 pandemic will have a lasting
As part of our semi-annual Lumency team off-site this past week, we had the pleasure of hosting an engaging panel discussion featuring four sponsorship industry experts, representing some of Canada’s most iconic properties: Dana Gladstone, Vice President, Partnership Strategy & Licensing at Hockey Canada; Mark Ditmars, Vice President, Corporate Partnerships at Toronto Blue Jays; Patrick O’Brien, Manager,
We are together once again, at festivals, at sporting events, at community events. As marketers in these spaces, we recognize the continued priority that must be placed on health and safety. In fact, since March 2020 we have continuously invested
Athlete partnerships bring degrees of risk for brands. The risk for the brand comes in two forms: reputational risk, and performance risk. Reputational risk can have real downside impact on your brand when an athlete you’re partnered with has a
Our President and CEO, Ian Malcolm recently published a guest blog post for the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) to discuss key trends in sponsorship that have become more prominent due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the blog post below (originally posted on the
Consumer and employee expectations for how brands behave, not just what brands say, continue to rise. People want to have relationships with brands and organizations that share their values. The killing of George Floyd in 2020 started a long overdue
Our President and CEO, Ian Malcolm recently led a webinar for the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) to discuss sponsorship post-Pandemic. In the webinar he provided guidance on what marketing and marketing procurement professionals should be focusing on and aware of as we move
As Olympic organizers, athletes, sponsors, and fans prepare for an unprecedented Games’ cycle, Lumency has taken a closer examination of the pandemic’s impact on each of these groups, and how COVID may affect both this and future Games…..
Sponsorship can be an important way for brands to create emotional connections with consumers and to demonstrate a brand’s values. Sound strategy lies at the heart of a brand’s ability to achieve this successfully. Implementing that strategy though effectively and efficiently requires the ability to measure and understand the value a particular sponsorship (assets, entitlements, associative benefits) can deliver to a sponsoring brand.
In North America, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, consumers were already beginning to show signs of change in how they engage with live events across sports, music, arts, culture and community. The pandemic, with cancelled events, shortened or reconstituted seasons has had a significant impact on the assets that a rights holder has been able to deliver to its sponsors.
Athlete endorsements have historically been leveraged by brands as a way to communicate directly with an endorsee’s engaged and loyal audience. The competitive pressures surrounding the more sought-after athletes has left brands with little negotiating power over fees and the entitlement packages that endorsees offer to their brand partners. With athlete endorsements traditionally delivering a portion of their entitlement commitments in association with live events, new deal structures and means of activating rights in 2021 and beyond should be expected.
Physical asset production is often a large percentage of experiential marketing budgets but the spend is not always optimized. The right asset can help to create a memorable consumer engagement and drive program success. However, when done wrong can lead to inefficient spend and hinder the ability to deliver on marketing and business objectives.
The restart of play across major league sports will bring with it many new opportunities, leading to changes in the way consumers watch games and marketers build activation plans with not just the NHL, but major pro leagues across North America.
If you are a brand side marketer or marketing procurement professional, maybe your organization’s management of its sponsorship investments hasn’t pressure-tested very well during the coronavirus pandemic…
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned sponsorship upside down and it may be a very long time before it looks anything like it used to, if ever. With so much uncertainty around the mid to long term impact of the pandemic, sponsors and rightsholders are having to revise their plans almost on a weekly basis…
