Bands, Brands and Beyond
The Marriage Of Artists And Corporate America

Moderator: Lisa Tenner, Tenner & Associates
Michael Kassan, Michael Kassan Company
Kevin Lyman, 4-Fini
Jarrod Moses, Alliance Entertainment
Lori Sale, Miramax
Dan Sherrett, EVENT TV International
Danny Socolof, Mega Marketing Inc.
Jonathan Todd, Sabre Entertainment

A panel of advertising professionals is a scary thing. Besides the nonchalant commodification of the live entertainment experience, it has more buzz words than a beekeepers convention.

But beyond the numbers and proactive synergy speak, Lisa Tenner and her assembled cadre of “branded entertainment” experts were able to provide insight into how event presenters can more efficiently secure money for their productions.

According to the pros, the era of banner sponsorships is over.

“It’s not about just selling a banner on a bus, selling a banner on a stage,” Tenner said. “It’s really integrating an artist to a program. ... It is my belief that a lot of the money is going to the promoter or the agent and by the time it gets down to the artist, the artist has no idea who’s sitting behind him onstage. And the sponsor really wants to be able to have a marriage with their artist.”

Kevin Lyman, founder of the Vans Warped Tour, among other things, is an expert at marrying bands and events with corporate sponsors. What’s his secret? Here’s an example from last year’s Warped Tour.

“Last year, I saw Easy Mac Macaroni & Cheese at a store and I said, ‘All the guys on the buses eat that, kids eat that. Let’s go find the person.’”

So he tracked down the decision makers in the market-ing depart-ment and explained to them why they needed to be in the music biz, specifically at his event, which targets the same audience as Kraft’s convenient food.

“We started developing a whole program exclusively for them and we did 450,000 music samplers on the outside of boxes,” he said.

But that wasn’t the end of the promotion, as sponsors expect three-quarter or full-year relationships now, not just single-event banner deals.

“It’s about how you’re going to work with them to give them more for their dollars,” Lyman said. “We ended up doing on-pack packaging as a first-quarter promotion. On-site, I designed an Easy Mac Kraft Snack Shack and they gave out samples all summer. Then the post-program was ‘win the Warped Tour in your backyard.’

“We don’t design decks any more; we give research information up front and then we try to have a face-to-face with someone. And then we come back with a creative program. And we ask them their goals. It’s not what your goals are; it’s what their goals are and if you can blend their goals with what you’re doing out there. That’s where you’re going to win.”

Now that obtaining corporate dollars for events has become more complex, how does one appeal to a sponsor like Pepsi, which Danny Socolof represents.

“With Pepsi, it’s a constant cycle of strategic planning and creative thinking about how to keep in step with the times and how to keep in step with the movement of consumers’ tastes and how to ensure that all we do vertically integrates properties across all of our marketing and communication channels,” Socolof said. Got that?

“So when an artist or an agent or a network comes to us and presents opportunities, for us, it’s about trying to figure out how those opportunities fit into what is already a very strategic, thought-through calendar and platform of events and programs that we know are going to unfold.”

Michael Kassan believes that people looking for corporate deals have to retire their old methods.

“What I have found is that many people are still presenting in the old fashioned way, bringing in a deck and talking about sponsorship,” Kassan said. “And the smarter advertisers, Pepsi certainly being a leading horse in that game, are looking at the longer term but they’re looking at creating, not being handed something, and being integrated.

“It’s the difference between product placement and product integration.”

Kassan explained that most companies have three “buckets” of money to spend – a cause-related bucket, a media or primetime bucket and an event or promotion bucket.

“What I have been finding in the last 12 to 18 months is a firestorm of movement from that media bucket where all the money really is [going] to the event and promotion side. And that’s very much because of what’s happening in the television world because ... of men 18 to 34 who have disappeared from primetime television.”

With ad money moving from TV to events, now would seem to be the ideal time for event producers and artists to capitalize on the trend. But corporations are now looking for something larger and more comprehensive
for their money than in years past.

“It’s a relationship business,” Miramax’s Lori Sale said. “That’s a frustrating thing to hear when you need to get dollars for something that’s happening soon, so my recommendation is to throw your net out as wide as you can. If you’re selling in a specific market, you can have other people in the market sell with you.

“Every radio station in your market has 50 sales people who can be out selling for you. That’s something we do quite a bit with our television and film properties. My partner is the media company. And we create something together and sell it. Everybody’s trying to get it sold as fast as we can so it will extend your reach and that is something that has been very valuable for us in generating sponsorship for our films.”

According to Dan Sherrett, sponsorship is dead.

“Corporations don’t want to sponsor anything, so don’t bother calling them; don’t waste your time. They don’t want to buy it,” he said. “All sponsorship has been is a whole lot of money for nothing in return. They don’t need any more corporate image, so a banner doesn’t mean anything to them. There’s no value in it.

“The good news is that partnerships – true, honest business partnerships – are thriving.”

According to Sherrett, corporations are looking for what can best help them sell more product, and event producers and artists better have a clear plan of a how a relationship will spark notable, measurable bumps in sales. Potential partners should research the corporation first to ascertain what they’re looking for, then present a proposal as to how a given event fits into that plan.

Jarrod Moses, who represents corporations in that equation, concurred.

“The more educated you are about the business of the brand you’re about to speak to, the better. Really prepare
an offering to a client of mine or a brand that you might go after yourself that really shows them what they’re getting immediately,” he said, adding that a Plan B in case the artist flakes is necessary.

“The more you can hedge the bet and the more you can make the brand feel comfortable about their investment, the better you’ll be in that room and really ahead of the game for them to make a decision fast.”

As complicated as the new face of “branded entertainment” is, Socolof shared some words of encouragement to close out the discussion. “I think live music and the vitality and credibility and the passion and the power of community at live events will be more important this year, next year and moving forward than perhaps it’s ever been,” he said. “Live music, live forums, ways of bringing people together in public places, I think, are going to become more important than they’ve ever been before.”

- Back to Conference Schedule -