Looking to work in sponsorship?
A career in the sponsorship industry is rewarding, exciting and dynamic. Sponsorship is an inspiring branch of marketing that allows brands to more effectively engage with audiences.
Sponsorship allows organisations to give value to the consumers and fans in the form of content and opportunity. In sponsorship you can connect with your passion whether it’s sport, arts and culture or entertainment. This is what makes sponsorship so powerful as a marketing discipline. Its capacity to inspire encourages more engaging marketing.
How do you get into sponsorship?
Careers in sponsorship can be glamorous. We see branding on F1 cars, concert tickets and tour merchandise. Nowadays we refer to events and locations by their sponsor alignment (The O2 in London, the Power8 Stadium in Spain and the Aviva Stadium in Dublin). There is no denying that a career in sport, entertainment or the arts is an attractive proposition, but working in sponsorship also demands high levels of attention to detail.
What does it entail?
It (sometimes) requires long hours, and it necessitates the need for careful planning and management of what can be a large number of stakeholders, all of whom have a vested interest in getting their point across via their affiliation with a sponsored property. It is a challenging career that rewards the time and energy you put into it with some amazing opportunities.
Watch our Careers webinar, held in October 2020:
So how can you look to get involved in this great industry? Well, there are a number of touch points to consider when you are looking for that “big break”:
Get qualified
Like any career in any industry, the right skills and knowledge enable you to make a difference. While you may be able to secure a position within an agency, sponsor or a rights holder straight from school or via a work placement, there is a much greater chance of getting across the threshold if you are a graduate with a marketing or PR degree, or come from a sports, arts or entertainment background.
Once you find yourself in the workplace hubbub, there is always the option of furthering your sponsorship education by taking the eight-month online ESA Diploma, the first-ever qualification designed specifically for the needs of the sponsorship industry. More than 650 graduates are currently putting their Dip ESA to great use in senior positions.
Network
Knowing the right people is always important. There are lots of in-person sponsorship and marketing gatherings that take place throughout the year – try to attend as many as you can and introduce yourself. You never know what may come out of a conversation over coffee.
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