On Wednesday 5^th July, Muckle Media sponsored the ‘Muckle Media’s Miracle Miles’ race at Perth Racecourse. Our teams from Inverness and Edinburgh both attended the races for Muckle’s away day, and all enjoyed a flutter. But what makes sponsorships so important for brands and businesses?

Sponsorships are a great way to increase brand awareness. Businesses can sponsor anything from teams and individuals to events and TV shows to get their name across.

Under Armour, the American sportswear brand, is a great example of a company that gradually built their reputation as a leading brand, helped in large part from sponsorships. After producing sporting outfits for films such as The Replacements and Any Given Sunday, the company went on to secure deals with the National Football League, the National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball teams. While the brand enjoyed significant prominence in the US, it was less well known in the UK. This changed, however, when Under Armour teamed up with Andy Murray, Tottenham Hotspur, and the Welsh Rugby Union through sponsorship deals. These associations helped take the business to the point where it is now the UK’s 12th biggest sportswear brand, and is soon set to open a flagship UK store.

TV shows are another of the most highly sought-after sponsorship opportunities for brands. Research has found that viewers often have more positive impressions of brands who sponsor their favourite shows, which makes those short appearances on either side of the ad-break a desirable spot. However, there are always risks involved with these kinds of associations if circumstances change around the show in question. Carphone Warehouse famously withdrew their sponsorship of Celebrity Big Brother at the height of its popularity in 2007, after the programme became talked about for all the wrong reasons – an important reminder that brands should always keep their values and public message at the forefront of their minds when securing sponsorships.

As for Muckle Media, we were delighted to sponsor Muckle Media’s Miracle Miles Novices’ Handicap Chase at Wednesday’s races. It was a close race but Welcome Ben emerged on top, with the team going on to present the trophy to the winner. Hundreds attended on the day, and Muckle Media had a prominent presence across the racecourse. Our trip to the races had two key objectives. Firstly, to reward our team with a fun day out for all their hard work over the year, which was achieved. Secondly, our aim was to drive up awareness of the agency to secure sales, which we are currently monitoring and will continue to measure against to evaluate success.

Here are our top 5 tips for getting the most out of sponsorships:

1. Remember your objectives – what are you hoping to achieve through the sponsorship? Clear objectives will help you to identify the right approach for your brand
2. Ensure what you sponsor is aligned to your brand and has a clear purpose
3. Maximise the sponsorship by creating compelling content to shout about your partnership
4. Negotiate marketing reach within the sponsorship deal – how many name checks will you get and what is the reach
5. Always evaluate sponsorship and measure the impact of what you will get back from it

What do you think about the value of sponsorships? Let us know @mucklemedia