Welcome to the Happiest Place on Earth!
It's a common thought in sports circles that the Sports Industry owns the "cornerstone" on sponsorships and perhaps they do. But I dun'no … I think I may have met the Industry's match this past weekend when I took a trip through the Magic Kingdom ... Disneyland!
Wow – all I can say is that the happiest people within the "Happiest Place on Earth" – must be the sponsorship accounting people tucked away upstairs in the Haunted Hotel!
Let me give you some idea of who's sponsoring what over there ...
And folks … that's JUST on Disneyland's MAIN STREET! (...which for those of you that haven't been there ... is pretty much the main "avenue" that takes you into the heart of the park.)
From there – it's wide open acreage of rides ... attractions ... food ... and all kinds of sponsors!
Take a walk through the Kingdom and you'll see their long-time mainstay partners ... like Coca-Cola, Kodak and Carnation, but along with the "old timers", I also noted several "relative rookies" that I'd not noticed before. You'll find companies such as La Victoria Products sponsoring a Mexican Restaurant (nice match..), and Brawny Towels hosting the Big Thunder Ranch (a restaurant in this "Old West" themed part of Disneyland). One of the attractions, "Innovation" has SEVEN (7) sponsors – and I kid you not, there was a giant "Great Northern Bathroom Tissue" sign welcoming me to one of the Men's Rooms!
I have to hand it to our friends at Disney – they've apparently left no stone (or sponsor-able component) left unturned. And it's all very subtle, very smooth ... and very smart!
Disney continuously does so many things right ... and sponsorship is one of 'em!
Ron Seaver, president of Seaver Marketing Group and The National Sports Forum, and author of "Brought to you By... - The Ultimate Sponsorship Sales System" has over twenty-five years of experience in the field of marketing and sponsorship. View all of Ron's posts here. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the publisher, SponsorPitch, LLC.
