Venues and their corporate partners have a symbiotic relationship that can be cemented through good sponsor signage programs. Brands are looking for ways to reach their customers and venues require revenue streams to continue producing top-notch entertainment and sporting events. Venue and building signs are the mutually-beneficial element that creates a win-win for both parties.
Signage is a wonderful way for advertisers to get noticed and build their brand. It allows building owners and promoters to look at their space in new ways as well – not just square footage or optimal viewing angles, but opportunities to show off sponsors and other financial supporters. Once you get creative and start looking for ways to accommodate advertisers, there’s no end to the places where sponsor branding can be displayed using signs and banners of all types.
For instance, at baseball stadiums, it’s easy to understand signage along the baselines and on the outfield walls. But there is plenty of other prime real estate that generates positive attention, including concession stands, scoreboards, and entrances/exits.
Sponsors of indoor events can place building signs on wall space, ceiling space, shelving/furnishings, “air space,” and even floor space to great effect. Brands can place wall murals or adhesive wraps in elevators; logos on info counters; or on the walls of stairways, or the stair faces themselves, with stair riser decals.
Whether you’re a sponsor looking for a new way to reach potential customers, or a venue looking to attract new clients, here are some advantages to finding ways for both to connect:
• More places to sell sponsorship. Some longtime, more prominent sponsors may have ‘their’ spots, especially if their business or organization has a long history of sponsorship at a venue. But unconventional sponsor signage locations can allow the opportunity for new businesses to come in and find their own special position.
• Temporary signage allows existing sponsors to change their messaging as frequently as necessary and also encourages short-term advertisers to participate.
• More revenue. Coming up with new and creative opportunities for sponsors to place signs and banners can also mean more opportunities to generate revenue. Many times, venues place premiums prices on prime spaces. Identifying unconventional sponsorship opportunities can lead to additional revenue opportunities.
• All budget levels welcome. Because sponsor signage is such a creative and collaborative process, a sponsor, a promoter and even the designer of a graphic product should be willing to sit down and figure out the right mix of size, shape, placement and length of display.
Sporting arenas, stadiums, and other event venues are ideal places for companies to display brand messages which will be seen by many people during events. For televised events, keep in mind that some placements may also be visible in the background of certain camera shots, resulting in additional exposure for the sponsor and, potentially, additional revenue for the venue.
Here are some additional ideas for sponsored building signs from different types of venues:
• Hockey: There are a range of sponsor signage opportunities available in hockey arenas, including dasher board graphics, ice resurfacer wraps, scoreboard signage, wall murals, and stair riser decals.
• Baseball: In the same spirit, sponsor messages and logos can be placed in a variety of locations – basically anywhere the crowd can see – including dugouts, ticket windows, or foul poles. A party/VIP area could include larger, more noticeable messages that can appear for an entire season, or change based on who’s in the area each game.
• Nautical Sports: Competitive events like rowing regattas draw huge crowds and can be good places to communicate that certain sponsors helped make everything happen. The Head of the Charles Regatta, a premiere annual rowing event in Boston, has VIP areas, loading zones for rowers, and viewing tents along the river that are used for sponsor visibility.
• Running: Start and finish line signage, mile markers and runner information signage are great opportunities to feature sponsor messages.
• Motorsports: Sponsor signage can be displayed on billboards, victory lane backdrops, windscreens, VIP areas and bar areas. In addition, a pace car or official race vehicle can be wrapped to feature one or many logos.
Visit our stadium and facility page for more suggestions to create memorable sponsor building signs.
