Value-in-Kind Sponsorship to the Masses

You don't have to convince us that long tail sponsorship can pay big dividends to creative marketers - or that video can bring a sponsorship opportunity to life in a way that gold, silver and bronze levels simply can't (shameless plug alert: we are the ONLY property/sponsor network that hosts pitch videos!). Thanks to creative shop, TBWA, fans of BC-based beer Okanagan Spring can submit a video showcasing their backyard sponsorship opportunity at sponsormespring.ca for a chance to win a value-in-kind sponsorship from the Canadian brewer. It's another example of crowdsourcing sponsorship, like Monster Energy's Crue Fest activation, which we talked about yesterday. The one stipulation for Okanagan's contest is that events entering cannot be professionally produced. How's that for a change? A sponsor requesting properties to be a little more unprofessional. So far visitors to the site have chosen Jeff's Bachelor Party, Garrett's Fishing Escape and Mike's Ping Pong Tournament among other events. Pictures and videos from these events have then been used in the company's print, radio, tv and web advertising campaigns. As a result of this campaign, Okanagan reports that sales increased 30% in the first month.

As social media is teaching us, exceptional creativity can come from anywhere. It's great to see some of it being applied to the traditional model of sponsorship.

If you do one thing today, watch this winning entry for Jeff's Bachelor Party: