I’m really pleased that my firm was just awarded a 5-year contract to manage the City of Ottawa’s Sponsorship and Advertising Program. It’s not just getting the work that has me excited; it’s the approach that the City is taking towards sponsorship development that is really going to set the standard in North America for how municipalities approach sponsorship and advertising revenue development. We were fortunate to have been involved in the identification and valuation of the City’s assets as well as the development of the overall strategy. There were some really important things the City did to ultimately get Council buy-in for the program that can be applied to any municipality, public sector or large organization that requires a high level of coordination and buy-in for their sponsorship program. Some of these include:

  • Setting clear financial  and non-financial objectives and getting initial Council buy-in for the overall concept;
  • Developing a Steering Committee of senior-level managers to lead the charge in their individual departments;
  • Developing a Working Group of mid-level managers from each department who helped facilitate the gathering of information from individual programs and facilities;
  • Having a Sponsorship Policy in place that establishes parameters for working with the private sector, but is not restrictive in nature;
  • Conducting consultations with the various program and departmental personnel to educate them on the various aspects of sponsorship so that everyone understands the bigger picture and how they can fit in;
  • Identifying issues upfront and addressing them (i.e. how will this affect our budget);
  • Conducting initial “market testing” with potential sponsors to assess interest and add credibility to the report / strategy; and,
  • Keeping Council focused on the strategic elements of the initiative and not the “nitpicky” details.

I’ll be discussing these and other important considerations at the upcoming Municipal Forum on Sponsorship, October 17th in Toronto.

Click on the following link for the City of Ottawa Council Report that set this innovative plan into action. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you as we move forward on this exciting municipal initiative.

Later,                                                                                                                                                     BC