The Indiana Pacers have been looking for a way to up proven value and ROI for their corporate partnerships.
Partnering logos are starting to pay close attention to fan data. They care more about social reach and how the property’s business strategy grows audience, engages fans and reports the data.
The Tech Decision
Sponsorship sales is a hard concept to grasp.
The benefits tend to be ambiguous and intangible, and too often become something not easily communicated. Sure, having a team on the rise helps with conversations, and sometimes makes it easier to get a prospective partner on the phone. But it doesn’t lock in a sale.
Corporate Partnership Sales Director Michael Lake redesigned the Pacers’ sponsorship strategy to focus on hyper-customized plans that don’t hinge on the team’s performance, but rather measure the sponsor’s impact.
“The real struggle these days in selling corporate partnerships is finding the right mic of elements and benefits to drive the impact each individual partner is looking for,” says Lake. “With an individualized approach, the success rate is higher and we’re able to offer our partner a tailored path to own.”
The Solution
To capitalize on the targeted audience, Lake implemented 175 users from the Pacers property onto Sigstr in April of 2015. He also enlisted the help of the Sigstr customer success team.
Sigstr unlocks employee email as an owned channel by providing simple, central control over email signatures.
By including a campaign design services package to create new designs each month, he’s driving new engagement.
As a value add-on for its corporate partnership, Lake had the Sigstr design team include the 2016 Opening Night game sponsor, Kroger, in their clickable call-to-action banner for the October tip-off.
The Impact
The Pacers Sports and Entertainment Group saw fast results with the sleek design.
In six days, the campaign was seen on every implemented employee’s 1:1 human email. Because of the exposure, they raked in 53,000 views and 228 clicks from an audience hand-selected by the NBA team.
By offering up concrete metrics, Sigstr allowed the Pacers to take measurable returns back to the sponsor. Sigstr helped identify the link between the investment and corporate KPIs for Kroger. And that correlation prompted the partner to sign an agreement, on the spot, to retain sponsorship of Opening Night for the 2017-2018 season next year.
The Pacers Sports and Entertainment Group continues to use the Sigstr design services to create tailored content and align promotions for each property within the organization. From the Indiana Pacers, to the Fever and Mad Ants to Bankers Life Fieldhouse as an event venue, the group has offered a value-add for corporate partnerships with tangible returns using Sigstr for each property.
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