Kirsty Matthews
Director of
Brand Partnerships
Can you tell us a bit about Orchard Connects?
We’re an experienced, boutique sponsorship agency who are part of Orchard Media Group, an independent full-service media agency based out of Cardiff. We operate across the UK and around the world.
What is your approach to sponsorship and partnerships?
We work with both brands and rights holders. The brands we work with might be looking for a new sponsorship to support marketing objectives or they want to review an existing sponsorship and re-plan to make it work harder.
We also work with rights holders to support them in building their commercial strategy and conduct sales on their behalf.
What differentiates Orchard Connects and makes your sponsorship strategy unique?
We are truly insight-driven, utilising insight from our partners, coupled with the strong and varied experience of our team and good dose of honesty, we feel we offer our clients a unique agency partnership. We’re trusted because we don’t give the easy answer (unless it’s the right one!)
How has your approach to sponsorship changed during Covid-19? Have you created any new initiatives or altered your operations to reach sponsors and audiences in new ways?
I’m not sure the approach has specifically changed. The experience and personalised service we provide to clients stood us in good stead through COVID – we’re seeing more clients put greater value in that.
If I had to highlight one theme, I would say that we’ve seen purpose and sustainability take on bigger, more central roles.
Even though we’re seemingly through the worst of the pandemic, the business impacts are still being felt and real-world economics such as the cost-of-living crisis and the Ukraine invasion do impact on our clients’ businesses, and on all consumers.
We try to take a wide view when we’re building strategy for our clients, because our industry doesn’t exist in a bubble.
What are the current trends within sponsorship, and how are they affecting how you work and how you deliver on strategy?
We increasingly believe that there is a role for our type of agency in supporting both larger brands and rights holders. Perhaps previously these organisations would have erred towards bigger, named agencies, but actually we’re seeing more enquiries from larger organisations who require dedicated day to day support from a more senior, experienced team.
How has sponsorship changed for Orchard Connects over the past few years, and what predictions can you make about how it’s going to change in the next five years?
As a marketing tool, sponsorship is in a unique position. We believe we’ll see a more prominent role for sponsorship in helping to authentically communicate a brand’s messaging around D&I, sustainability and purpose. Authenticity being the key point … consumers are and will be increasingly aware of brands who shamelessly associate themselves with sponsorship purely for greenwashing or cheap headlines.
After years of working in the industry, I still genuinely feel sponsorship has an important role to play – the caveat to that is when it is done well – and that hasn’t changed.
- Visit Orchard Connects for more information
