Sponsorship Spending Projections Revised

Whenever you get new information, it's always important to consider it in a broader context, right? That's what a journalism professor once told me at least.

So let's see.. interest rates are at historical lows. Prices on everything from real estate and equities to consumer products and fuel are dropping like a rock. And economists are touting the prospect of a deflationary death spiral. Yet sponsorship spending is still growing. Huh? Not a lot, but somehow IEG is forecasting 2.2% year over year sponsorship growth.

Given the 50 some-odd news alerts I get of sponsorships not being renewed, the fact that sponsorship spending is up at all would seem to be a positive within the current environment. Despite this, some commentary seems to suggest that this is a surprisingly low or unexpected figure. Sure, you may not get the annual escalator, but it should probably be tied to some objective metrics in the first place - like inflation, the client's ROI, rise in hard costs, etc. If so, then you're probably not planning for it anyway (this year at least). Not trying to minimalize the pain that a lot of people are going through right now, but I am suggesting saying we should take the information we get in context and try to come up with more accurate expectations to support the current reality. This may in fact lead us to some more creative, fair and stable ways of brokering multi-year partnerships that can withstand variable macro-economic conditions.

In the long run, this is a good thing.