Avnet Inc. (NYSE: AVT) is the lead sponsor at the LPGA Classic tournament in Mobile, Alabama, this weekend. This is the first time we've been the name sponsor of a pro sporting event. I know one thing for sure -- the lady golfers will give 110 percent.
We are excited to see some great golf while enhancing our brand with our customers, suppliers, employees, potential employees, and the community we serve. Sure, we will use this opportunity for hospitality, and will garner the image glow of the TV coverage, but we are very pleased to be donating so much of our TV buy to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the Wounded Warrior Project.
Our charitable efforts have really expanded since we started this vital journey. Normally, we stick to education and children's programs, but the LPGA is a great venue to venture out a bit with two great programs that deserve our support.
I'm looking forward to the response from our Americas marketing teams on the return on investment. I think it's cool. But do you? When companies sponsor events, do you become more aware of them? Do you respect the fact they are making that investment? Or, do you prefer that we do good things in the community? (See: The Geek Generation Rocks on Avnet's Tech Games.)
Eddie Smith, Avnet's Americas president, please don't drop the trophy Sunday when giving it to the winner -- make us proud. Check out the promo for the LPGA event here.
When you want to play in the big leagues, you have to think big. I used to do a lot of work with Canon U.S.A. Inc. a sponsor of several well known events and programs including what used to be called the Greater Hartford Open (or Canon GHO), part of the PGA tour. Another famous optics company, Olympus pitched its big tent at another PGA event on Long Island some years later. These companies, and others like them, gain an incredible amount of good PR and visibility that can't be underestimated. And if you get into a conversation with some of the VIPs who were at these events, they don't forget who's name was on the reception ticket. And when you're a member of one of the divisions of any of these companies, that's the impact you just can't get by leaving a brochure with a free cup cozy at reception.
This is a win-win from many standpoints. The financial crisis has impacted many, and with traditional goverment support eroding, the causes supported are facing especially challenging times. The people at Avnet deserve their share of credit for their contributions.
Sponsorship of events is the best marketing tool because it can be a means of accessing a wide range of auidences like decision makers in business, government entities, and of course customers. Whether it is a sport event sposorship or community service sponsorship it doesn't make difference, as long as sponsorships are strategic and well-conceived, they can boost both short-term and long-term sales.
It raises awareness when companies sponsor events. I think it's a good way of giving back for a good cause. It's beneficial for the company as well as the causes being sponsored.
I can't deny the respect among golfers that beer companies get when they advertise on the PGA tours. Some other companies, in times past, however, may have been more interested in obtaining opportunities for pairing important clients with sports stars on golf events--which is a pretty good way to get business, I'll bet. Back in 1985, there was some controversy in the U.S. Senate about passing a bill that would prohibit defense contractors from deducting advertising costs, where the taxpayer wound up in effect paying the bill for sporting events sponsorships, which may have just been a way to get some general a little golf time with a big name golf pro.
Do you remember ever seeing commercials for defense contractors for golf events? I haven't watched any lately, I admit. They may be justified as ways to keep the stock price higher by keeping the company in the minds of investors, I suppose.
So, you have to worry about being in the news for the wrong reason, when you sponsor an event. You also have to worry that the players aren't misbehaving, which can reflect on your company.
Actually doing good and being in news for sponsoring an event are both required. So by sponsoring an event if you are able to project the ' doing good to community ' part .... I think raises the image of a sponsor in public eyes. And if a brand has already done some percentage of ' good stuff ' then it is all for good!
And if somebody at any level in right means is benefiting from the doing good part .... that is also too good :-)
Rich, i think that you have a valid point. Why executives should benefit from something which is company's money. I have a suggestion to those executives. Rather than choosing themselves they can make a lucky draw out of all the employees to get a chance to rub their shoulders with the players. They can put a better face forward of the company.
I went to school with a fellow who is an executive at a company that sponsors sporting events. From what I can tell, the sponsorship helps the executives' egos a lot. They even get to play golf with some big names while they are dishing out the moolah. (Not their own, of course.) They rationalize it right and left as a necessary (and smart!) marketing expense. Without the sponsorships, the executives would no longer feel that they could show their faces at social "power" events.
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Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
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Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
While no one really can accurately predict the future, we can take guidance from another Drucker saying which is the best way to predict the future is to create it.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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