2022 ESA Diploma Graduates had this to say about the course:
ESA Diploma alumni in focus
Want to know how taking part in the ESA Diploma can take your career to the next level? Check out our interview series with previous graduates to find out how their careers have flourished:
Natasha Cabral – Senior Sales Manager – Global Partnerships, AEG
Michael Higham – Head of Sponsorship, Sevilla FC
Daniel McEwan – Head of Partnerships, McLaren Racing
Izabela Taseski – Brand and Partnerships, Lululemon
Luke Wilson – Head of Partnerships, Pitch Marketing Group
Every year our students submit feedback via an anonymous survey. Here is a selection of their comments:
2021 ESA Diploma Graduate feedback:
2020 ESA Diploma Graduate feedback:
Matteo Ciampani – Partnerships Account Executive, Everton FC (Top of Class, 2020)
The ESA Diploma course provides people in sponsorship with the opportunity to widen their knowledge and keep up to date in a dynamic industry that is always developing and changing. This platform gives you the opportunity to analyse the wider sports, entertainment and arts sectors from different points of view regardless of whether you work for a right holder, agency or sponsor and to understand and identify the main players, factors and trends that influence the sponsorship industry. This is essential to becoming a better professional, and being able to progress in your career.
Natalia Stanowska – Sponsorship Coordinator, Toyota GB
The ESA Diploma has been a really great experience for me, not only professionally (learning the ins and outs of the sponsorship industry) but also in terms of personal development. Juggling work and study is something I am very familiar with from my university studies, but I never expected to be working and studying, during a worldwide lockdown, from my makeshift dining room table office space!
Natasha Maher – Marketing Manager, Mitsubishi Motors Ireland
I would highly recommend anyone involved in sponsorship activities (regardless of your role) to look into completing the ESA Diploma – the experience and industry experts you are exposed to are reason alone to take part.
Ashley Keating – Assistant Campaigns Manager, Aer Lingus
I am delighted to have successfully graduated the ESA Diploma in Sponsorship Marketing. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and would 100% recommend it to anyone considering taking it on. The content provided including some great guest lectures along the way.
Stuart Searle – Commercial Partnerships Manager, British Triathlon
Being a part of the ESA Diploma in 2020 has been a genuinely excellent experience.
Personally, it’s been a great distraction from the trials and tribulations of a difficult year for everyone. It also gave me the opportunity to work hard, develop and push myself academically in a way that I haven’t been able to for a few years, as well as make a few good friends along the way. In light of not being able to meet up as much as we would have liked, the course organised for us to divide into networking sub-groups, a great improvisation in light of challenging circumstances and in lieu of the normal seminars.
Professionally, I would estimate that the amount I learned about sponsorship on this course equates to what you would learn organically over 5-10 years on the job. Case studies and professional perspectives from rights holders, brands and agencies allowed me to hugely expand my understanding of the industry and sponsorship as a discipline.
I am tremendously grateful to my classmates, to the team at ESA and particularly to Peter Raymond for being an amazing mentor throughout the 9 months of this course. Whether you’re starting out a fledgling career in sponsorship, you’re looking to diversify from other areas of marketing or you’re a seasoned partnerships veteran, I highly recommend this course.
Katie Hanley – Sponsorship Manager, Packed.House
Covering a wide range of topics and including brilliant guest speakers from across the industry, the ESA Diploma gave great insight from every aspect including the rights holder, the agency and the sponsor. I would highly recommend this diploma to anyone looking to further their knowledge within the sponsorship and sports marketing landscape.
James Wilson – Commercial Partnerships Coordinator, Bristol Sport
It was a pleasure to take part in the ESA Diploma this year alongside some experts in the sponsorship industry. The course has been a great learning experience both professionally and personally.
A big thank you to Peter Raymond for all his support and guidance throughout the course and the team at ESA for all their hard work in putting together such a fantastic curriculum, which saw a host of great guest speakers who provided plenty of live examples and a deeper understanding of sponsorship and marketing overall.
Megan Cotter – Account Executive, 160Over90
I would highly recommend the ESA Diploma to anyone in the sponsorship industry or wanting to enter the industry (all professional levels!). The course has allowed me to build a comprehensive understanding and knowledge within the wider sponsorship landscape, beyond my discipline, and introduced me to a large network of fantastic individuals in the industry. The teaching and guidance from Course Director Peter Raymond is fantastic and he was available throughout the whole course for any advice and questions you needed. Each course session included presentations from various individuals in the sponsorship industry (Octagon, Evian and many more) and I thought this was brilliant as we were able to interact with different rights holders, sponsors and agencies and explore the 360-degree approach to sponsorship.
Conall Devlin – Solicitor, A&L Goodbody
The ESA Diploma provides an unique opportunity to creatively learn about the prevailing commercial world of Sponsorship negotiation, regulation, activation and evaluation from a sponsor, agent and right holder’s perspective. The life cycle of a Sponsorship and how Sports Marketing manifests itself today is taught through contemporary and insightful course material, access to cutting edge sponsorship intelligence websites and seminars from some of the most renowned and passionate practitioners in the sporting Sponsorship space. These teachings are applied to challenging and enjoyable modular assignments and culminating in a Set Brief – as an example, in 2020 this was to present partnership recommendations for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. As someone coming from a legal background, I would highly recommend the Diploma to anyone, across various related industries, interested in developing their understanding of where sponsorship fits in to the business of sport generally and improving their marketing and people competencies.
Robert Taylor – Account Manager, Boundless by CSMA
It has been an extremely enjoyable experience undertaking the ESA Diploma over the last 10 months, as well as highly beneficial in helping me to broaden my knowledge of marketing and sponsorship.
A big thanks goes out to Course Director Peter Raymond, whose guidance, work and support was invaluable and made the content of the diploma come to life.