Activating a Strategic Asset Mix

You are in the increasingly familiar position of doing more with less. But what do you do when you step into a new role, have a whole bunch of unrelatable assets, and are unsure what to do with them?

Your first step is to take inventory

Do this by understanding exactly what is contracted to you across your various properties.

In our experience, this can be more difficult than it sounds and is not always clear in contractual language. Look for frequencies (4 appearances per year), durations (up to 2 hours) and locations (in-market, out-of-market, at-event). Generally, the assets available should shift when the market shifts. Keep an eye out for these shifts so you can go back to the table with the team to potentially renegotiate more suitable assets.

Document a matrix of all those variables for each asset you have been sold across your various relationships and see where you have overlaps - this becomes a convenient place to start creating ideas.

Another challenge to consider is that it is quite unlikely that you will be the only sponsor of a given team or driver. Their time and schedule are pre-defined, but multiple sponsors are vying for the same appearance slot. How do you ensure you get what you need when you need it? That’s when you want expertise representing your interests properly.

Prioritize scarcity

Some assets are far more rare to use and thus require special planning to activate. When you look at your documented inventory, highlight the scarcest assets as specifically as possible. Usually, these are the big-ticket items like production days and VIP events. With these assets and the right planning, you should derive a solid few different activations throughout the year around the content generated in one morning. You now have some anchor events to rely on when looking at the year. As a bonus move, overlap this calendar with your company’s other calendars like product launches, key conferences and meetings to see where new opportunities open up.

Other asset activation opportunities happen almost every weekend throughout the year, and you will need a different strategy to maximize ROI with that particular set. You can often plan the scarce assets to coincide with the more common ones and create an entirely different "asset" for you to activate.

Not all assets are meant to target the same audience

This diagram demonstrates the various levels of key stakeholders you have access to. Print this out for your next strategy meeting to assign your plans to the various audiences at play.

At this point, you will have mapped out what you have access to and who you want to target. Now, it’s all about getting creative with bringing your sponsorship to life.