[Dixielandjazz] For all Festival Promoters & Jazz Societies

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

The following press release should be of great value to any and all of you 
who are savvy enough to go check it out.    I suggest you send the brightest 
youngest person in your organization to the conference to learn the ins and outs 
of obtaining sponsorships, and give them the training to go find and get them. 
  It could be the single most important function of your organization's 
future survival.

This press release to my old trained eyes indicates that the industry is 
actually looking for events like OKOM festivals again, rather than throwing all 
those millions of dollars at naming some stupid stadium after themselves.  It 
appears that they may be going back to the roots of sponsorship and what I have 
been preaching to you folks for a couple of years now, It is a numbers game, 
interestingly enough, HOME DEPOT is spending big sponsorship bucks.  Now how 
many of you spend your money at Home Depot every weekend?  Some of you may even 
wear Nike shoes, rent video's at Blockbuster, shop at ACE hardware, buy a new 
car every four or five years.

Teach one of your kids how to go get the money, by selling these folks on all 
the wonderful aspects of your event, and do not forget to mention the number 
of people who attend the event, and how their sponsorship can and will provide 
much needed media coverage to EZPAND the consumer audience and give them 
greater name recognition in the marketplace.  Get them to donate some gift 
certificates that you can auction off for fundraising, etc., products, whatever they 
are willing to donate or contribute to your cause.

Home Depot could easily donate the materials to build and store your stages, 
festival signs, These kind of sponsorships greatly reduce your annual 
operating budget and can and will help you stay in business a lot longer and present 
better events as well.

Electro Voice could easily donate several PA systems, if they say no go to 
PEAVEY, and so on and so on, somebody wants your business and will see a good 
opportunity to sponsor you if you present it properly.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins


Marketers To Forget Sponsorship In 2004

Although Industry Analyst IEG Projects 8.7 Percent Rise in Spending, 
Sponsorship Faces Watershed Year

For Immediate Release:
December 29, 2003

For More Information Contact:
Jim Andrews, IEG, Inc., Tel: 312/944-1727
Click here to download full press release. 

Chicago, Ill. North American companies will spend more on sponsorship in 2004 
than ever before, but the types of properties they will spend that money on 
and how they will use them will change fundamentally.

"The new year marks a threshold for sponsorship," said IEG founder and 
president Lesa Ukman. "The industry will grow at a healthy pace, but the source of 
that growth will be much different than in the past."

For many years, blockbuster new deals with high-priced properties, be they 
venue naming rights or major pro sports deals, have fueled sponsorship's growth. 
That is no longer the case. The industry will not continue to see the 
constant creation of big-ticket opportunities.

Instead, expansion will come as the result of partnerships with a wider array 
of nontraditional partners, including deals with traditional broadcast 
properties that include a sponsorship element. In the age of TiVo, advertisers and 
TV programmers are developing alternatives to the 30-second spot that are less 
about buying media and more about interaction and experiential marketing.

In addition to a change in the types of partnerships, the nature of 
sponsorships and their relation to consumers, business-to-business audiences and other 
constituencies is shifting as well. 

"People have changed and the way we use sponsorship to reach them must change 
also," Ukman said. "The chasm that separates the values and expectations of 
the changed consumer from the signs, ad spots and short-term-volume goals of 
traditional sponsorship creates a huge opportunity for forward-thinking sponsors 
and properties to make a real impact by creating real value for themselves 
and their stakeholders."

IEG is so convinced that sponsorship has reached a crossroads, that it has 
themed its annual conference—the world's largest gathering of sponsorship 
practitioners—Forget Sponsorship...As You Know It. Supporting that theme, the March 
event will feature keynote addresses from innovators such as Oakland A's 
general manager Billy Beane and Jane's Addiction lead singer and Lollapalooza 
founder Perry Farrell.

Innovative chief marketing officers who are leading next-generation 
sponsorship programs also are keynoting the conference. They include: Micky Pant of 
Reebok, Larry Light of McDonald's, Warren Kornblum of Toys "R" Us, and John 
Costello of Home Depot.

For details from IEG Sponsorship Report's 20th annual industry forecast—as 
well as additional information about the speaker line-up and agenda for Forget 
Sponsorship...As You Know It, the 21st annual IEG Sponsorship Conference—click 
here. 

About IEG, Inc.
IEG is the world's leading provider of independent research, training and 
analysis on sponsorship. Founded in 1981, IEG provides corporations with the 
strategy and tools to harness the sales and marketing power of sports, arts, 
events, entertainment and cause marketing. 

IEG offers services that include consulting, sponsorship intelligence and 
valuation. IEG also publishes IEG Sponsorship Report, the international biweekly 
newsletter on sponsorship; the IEG Sponsorship Sourcebook, the definitive 
guide to sponsors, properties and agencies; and other industry publications and 
sources.

IEG also is the leader in sponsorship training. Its internationally renowned 
Annual Sponsorship Conference, now in its 21st year, attracts a capacity crowd 
of delegates each year. Through its conferences and seminars, IEG has trained 
more than 25,000 sponsorship executives worldwide.

For More Information Contact:
Jim Andrews, IEG, Inc., Tel: 312/944-1727; Fax: 312/944-1897; 
E-mail: jandrews at sponsorship.com or visit IEG's Web site: www.sponsorship.com