Looking to work in sponsorship?
Our ESA Diploma qualification is your essential starting block if you’re serious about a career in sponsorship.
Watch our Careers webinar, held 27 October 2020:
The introduction below sets the scene as you commence your journey within this vibrant industry.
Why sponsorship?
A career in the sponsorship industry is rewarding, it’s exciting and it’s dynamic. Sponsorship is an inspiring branch of marketing that allows brands to more effectively engage with an audience whilst, at the same time, offering something back to the people that make successful brands, well, successful.
Sponsorship allows organisations to give value to the consumers and fans in the form of content and opportunity. With sponsorship you’re potentially able to meet your favourite sporting star, or band, be connected to an event via social media, attend a key music event and get close to what matters to you. This is what makes sponsorship so incredibly powerful as a marketing discipline. It inspires and that, in turn, encourages more engaging marketing.
At ESA we’re working hard on raising the standards across our industry, and by attracting the right people into the sponsorship world we’re sure that we can all work together to ensure a bright future.
How do you get into sponsorship?
From the outside, a career in sponsorship seems like a glamorous option. And it is. We’re used to seeing branding on F1 cars. We’re used to seeing logos on concert tickets and tour merchandise. And we’re used to referring to events and locations by their sponsor alignment (The O2 in London, the Power8 Stadium in Spain and the Aviva Stadium in Dublin). There’s no denying that working in sport, entertainment or the arts is definitely 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’s a challenging career that rewards the time and energy you put into it with some amazing opportunities.
So how can you look to get involved in this great industry? Well, there are a number of touch points to consider when you’re looking for that “big break”:
Get qualified
Like any career in any industry it’s important to have the right skills and the right level of knowledge in order to be able to make a difference. Although 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 one foot across the threshold if you’re a graduate with a marketing or PR degree, or come from a sports, arts or entertainment background. And, once you find yourself in the workplace hubbub, there is always the option of furthering your sponsorship education by taking the 7-month web-based ESA Diploma, the first-ever qualification designed specifically for the needs of the sponsorship industry. So that’s definitely worth considering!
Network
Knowing the right people is always important. There are lots of sponsorship and marketing gatherings that take place throughout the year so, if you’re able, get along to as many as you can and speak to anyone and everyone. You never know what may come out of a chance meeting over a cup of coffee.