Sponsoring & PR

Topics
• Budget plans

• Cash vs. in-kind

• Partnership structure

• Acquiring partners

• Workshop: pitch your project

• PR plan

• How to approach media

• Workshop: your target audience


Budget plans

1. Project plan

2. Determine needs
 Technical: Engine, solar panels,
materials, facilities, etc..

 Financial: Fees, travelling, unforeseen

costs, non-sponsoring, etc..

 Logistics: Transport, support vehicles,

accommodation, etc..


Budget plans

3. Assign priorities
 Solar panels or good tools?
 Better batteries or help in aerodynamics?
 Financial or technical?

4. Create timeline
 When do you need what resources?
 Begin: financial
 Middle: technical
 End:logistics & financial


Budget plans

5. Time and resource allocation

 Focus from cash to technical/logistics
 Who is responsible
 Where are the risks

External influences/delays make

planning very difficult, but even
more important!


Cash vs. In-kind

Why make a difference?

1. Usage
 Cash: spend on anything
 In-kind: as available by partner

2. Effort to obtain
 Cash: very difficult
 In-kind: easy to medium

3. Partnership story


Partnership structure

1. Different levels
 1x Main Cash + publicity
 2x Diamond Facilities + materials
 4x Gold Cash + logistics
 10x Silver Materials + services
 50x Bronze Tools + help

2. Level is based on deal size

3. Return for partners based on level


Partnership structure

Resources from partners

# level per level total

 1x main 30% 30%
 2x diamond 12.5% 25%
 4x gold 5% 20%
 10x silver 2% 20%
 50x bronze 0.1% 5%


Partnership structure

 What are valuable returns for a company?

• Intangible
• Sustainable image
• Publicity / marketing
• Networking / university
• Student recruitment
• Internal activation

• Tangible
• Logo placement
• Events / presentations
• Photos & movies
• Gadgets


Partnership structure

 Returns for partners: continue next year

• Main partner
 Team name
 Largest logo on car and shirts
 Many events/presentations
 All gadgets, photos and videos
 Full participation in the project

• Diamond
 Large logo on car and shirt
 3x event/presentation
 All gadgets, photos and videos
 Partial participation in the project


Partnership structure

• Gold
 Medium logo
 1x event/presentation
 All gadgets, photos & videos
• Silver
 Small logo
 All gadgets, some photos & videos
• Bronze
 Some gadgets


Acquiring partners

1. First contact
 Company initiative
 Current network
 Ambassador
 Roaming events
 Coincidence
 Cold calls

 Research the company profile if possible!


Acquiring partners

2. Business plan
 Link company & project
 Help company reach goals
 Return for company
 Needs for project
 How to enable the collaboration
 Timeline

 How can you help them reach their goals?


Acquiring partners

3. Negotiations
 Write down wishes (in value)
 Prioritize
 Write down returns: logo, gadgets, publicity, etc
 Match value & return
 partnership level
 Investigate probability of success
 Finalize solid backstory

Be direct and honest to create a solid plan


Acquiring partners

4. Approval
 Enthuse lots of people
 Set deadlines
 Keep pressure on
 Goal: get an unofficial ‘go-ahead’

 Don’t promise things that cannot be

done!


Acquiring partners

5. Contracts
 Write down negotiations in legal document
 How
 Introduction of parties (company & team)
 Assumptions (why collaborate)
 Obligations company (values)
 Obligations team (returns)
 General points (NDA, failures, etc)

 Get professional help to prevent problems


Timeline sponsoring

First contact to contract

• Small sponsor ~2 weeks
 In-kind tools
 Software
 Events
 etc..

• Big sponsor ~5 months

 Financial support
 Facilities
 Valuable data/information


Maintain relationships

• Remember the importance of maintaining

good relationships with partners.

• Treat them like partners, not sponsors.

• A partner that stays for multiple years is

worth a lot in terms of team-continuity.

• Use Customer Relationship Management

software! Example: Nimble


Workshop

How to build your business

plan


Public Relations

 The proffesion of creating and

maintaining goodwill of
an organization's various publics
through (free) publicity and other
nonpaid forms of communication.

 These efforts may also include support of

arts, charitable causes, education,
sporting events, and other
civic engagements.
PR plan

 Your PR plan must contain the following:

 -Goal
 -Storyline
 -Core message & Slogan
 -Strategy
 -Types of media set apart
 -PR Calender

 Make sure you send this document to your

partners so they are up to date of what you are
doing!
Workshop

 Make your own PR Plan

 -What is your team’s goal? (10 min)

 -Draw up your team’s audiences (10
min)
 -What kind of content would your
audiences like and does this fit with
your message? (10 minutes)
Target Audience

 -How old are they?

 -Where do they live?
 -What are their professions?
 -What are their hobbies?
 -How is their family situation? (are they married?)
- How would they like to be entertained?
- On what kind of (social) media are they?

Use pictures in your descripitions to get a feel with

your audience!
Together we power the future

 What are your goals?

-Raise sympathy for your five biggest sponsors

 -Innovate and inspire others to do so too

 -Set an example for sustainability

 -Educate people in technology and sustainability

 -Win!

 Set aside budget for PR so you can reach your goals!

Print Media

 5 types of print media:

 -International Media
 -National Media (3 x per year)
 -Regional Media (8 x per year)
 -Special Interest Media (1 x per year)
 -Content focused Media (1 x per year)

 Use tracking software! Example: Clipit

Social Media

 5 different kinds of social media:

 -Facebook (1-2 x per day)

 -Twitter (3-4 x per day)
 -Linkedin (1 x per day)
 -Instagram (1-2 x per day)
 -Your website! (1-3 x per week)

 Make sure you also generate content during

the weekend!
Content

 Usually in consultation with your partners

 -Teampresentation
 -Stunt
 -Car Presentation
 -The race
 -The race results

 Make sure your goals are always

represented in your content!