More than Child’s Play
November 2nd, 2007 at 07:26pm Rebecca Borden
I am at the NAMP pre-conference and have been hearing a lot about the sponsorship-partnership continuum between arts & cultural non-profits and corporations. The afternoon kicked into full gear over lunch with an address by Brenda Andolina, Director, Public Relations and Brand Marketing at Fisher-Price. She emphasized that we approach corporations as partners and not sponsors, noting that when the mission and the values of the two parties overlap well, we establish (and reinforce) mutually beneficial outcomes. When considering these partnerships, Brenda noted key indicators to assess whether a partnership will work for a corporation like Fisher-Price.
Is the venue able to:
- Offer an “uncluttered marketing environment” for the corporation?
- Create a permanent presence over a multi-year period?
- Animate the brand?
Corporations want to come to where the magic happens in the lives of their consumers. In the case of Fisher-Price’s partnerships with zoos around the country, the zoos were were able to increase attendance at their special Fisher-Price partnership weekends by 20% - 30%.
All of this is much more than child’s play.
1 Comment
1. Nerissa Street | November 4th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Brenda Andolina spoke eloquently about the necessary synergy between corporations and non-profits that I believe a lot of community organizations have been missing: it’s about how we meet the corporation’s needs in serving our constituents. The days of guilting businesses into support are long gone. (Thank God!) Now we have true partners, who have the same goals we do.
We can now approach corporations on the same level, and the intrinsic value we bring has real economic impact!
This is the way to develop true, long-term corporate responsibility, and thus, sustainability for our causes.
Kudos on Americans for the Arts for bringing her to our table.