When an event presents itself as an ideal marketing and brand building opportunity but the cost of sponsorship is way, way beyond your marketing budget, what can you do?
We are constantly on the look out for ways to get involved with events that offer the opportunity to build awareness and help promote our cloud based accounting software to startups, accountants and bookkeepers. With that in mind and the fact that we have a CEO that is an active Ironman competitor it was fitting that we look to sponsor a competing team in the Ironman Dublin 70.3 which was held last Sunday, August 9th.
Thanks to the team at T3 tri club for agreeing to wear the Big Red Cloud sponsored tri suits. They looked amazing and the simple statistics speak for themselves. 27 members of the club competed and that represented just over 1% of the total of 2,500 competitors.
As soon as the athletes left the swim and prepared for their bike transition the Big Red Cloud logo was clearly evident and it was doubly so for the duration of the 13.1 mile run in the Phoenix Park.
Some of the T3 members remarked how spectators were shouting ‘go Big Red Cloud, go’ and they found this particularly amusing. In fact, it’s a common trait for spectators at such events to latch onto the athlete’s sponsored brand name to shout encouragement to the wearer. With no name other than the sponsored brand, it’s the obvious choice for words of encouragement.
The Ironman franchise is a global brand that is growing in popularity. It has close associations with other brands that aim to increase their exposure among a fit and focused group of individuals. Big Red Cloud was able to work with the T3 club and provide, at reasonable investment, a professional tri outfit made by Italian company Pissei, to it’s participating members. On the day, our brand was elevated to more than a cloud based accounting software company, Big Red Cloud was a team that elicited encouragement and support from hundreds of spectators.
So, what are the key takeaways for a small business owner reading this blog post:
- If you have a passion, see how you can use that to leverage sponsorship opportunities for your business. As stated above, our CEO is an Ironman competitor so his passion was the connection to the Dublin T3 team.
- The big brands will still get their tuppence worth but so can you. For Big Red Cloud, we were more than happy with the brand exposure for our cloud based accounting software.
- Don’t forget to capture those special moments for your brand. A big shout out to Alan Rowlette, a professional photographer, who was present on the day to capture great shots of the T3 team as they made their way through the course.
- It’s an opportunity to talk about your brand in an open and conversational manner – as per this blog and other posts we’ll produce on the Dublin 70.3 Ironman.
More often than not it is difficult to measure the impact of the sponsorship. But one thing is for sure, Big Red Cloud as represented by the T3 team looked great. It reflected very well on the brand and that’s a powerful endorsement. That’s one great way to sponsor an event.
