Today I just saw probably my “dozenth, plus” example of an erstwhile effort to put information about sponsorship opportunities online in the last decade. IEG, Sponsorwise, SponsorPitch, Sponsorium, SponsorDirect, Sponsorhaus, Magnetic Alliance, SponsorAnything, SponsorPark, Plumm, Groupable, Sponsorscape, Crosspartner, Sponsorfolio, and probably a few I can’t remember, have been joined by Sportdriven.
If one were to follow simple economic theory, the fact so many of these enterprises have sprung up, and the fact a few of them have even made a couple bucks, suggests there is a market for these types of Internet services.
Could there be more market validation than the above list?
Sure, each of those names above took or are taking their own unique approaches, but the bottom l...
You can't say that Michael doesn't speak what is on his mind - and this is one subject he should know about. The good news is there are only a finite number of url's with a 4 letter suffix to sponsor! Will we all continue to ignore the very existence, progress and good intentions of our collective efforts? Yes, we believe that our platform is substantially different than each of the sites Mike mentioned above. With that said, we're all for partnering with services that can add true value to the sponsorship networking process. Today, you can see this in action with some of the current and planned features on our site. With only a few exceptions in the above list, SponsorPitch is open to exploring partnerships with any company that adds value and shares our vision for using new media to engage, empower and educate the sponsorship community. In fact, just this week we've had two very productive meetings with vc-backed companies, not even on this list, that are planning related efforts in the non-traditional media space. Most of the "exceptions" in the above list are no longer in business or are basic listing services. For all others: kris@sponsorpitch.com
Love the topic! Collaboration is king. Free has been the dominant online model for usage and growth, but does not provide for meaningful monetization opportunities. In fact, our LinkedIn group (Sponsorship Insights) has had so many sellers trying to find buyers that we had to form a dedicated discussion thread to match sellers with buyers to unclutter the discussion board. We don't want to even be in that business of matching buyers and sellers!
The challenge for many of us (agencies, portals, groups, associations, brokers etcetera), is that we are all trying to fill a specific niche and provide a certain value proposition. Each has a different model and some are competitive with one another. To serve each other and our industry best, we should identify other businesses that offer synergistic services, band together through mutually beneficial alliances.
Firstly, good article and some interesting points made.
Like every other service mentioned above we have our own unique take on sponsorship marketing and linking sponsors to sponsorship seekers. As we are solely focused on sports sponsorship and advertising we have a more targeted service than most other sites listed, which once established we feel could become an essential tool for many organisations. We have many new features planned and with an expansion into Australia and New Zealand just a couple of weeks away, the next few months are going to be very exiting.
We'd love to hear from any company that has similar ideas and goals, and if we can partner in some way to bring new opportunities to the table then we would like to take advantage of this.
For any information on Sport Driven or if you would like to partner with us in any way please don't hesitate to get in touch, a.read@sportdriven.co.uk.