by Jackie Fast, ESA Board Director
In fourteen seasons of The Apprentice, never once has a candidate come from a sponsorship background – until now.
With over 8.5m viewers tuning into the popular show each week, sponsorship is slowly infiltrating the homes of Britain, and, as an ESA Board Director, I couldn’t be more pleased. Not only are people questioning what the crazy girl with the weird accent is doing on each task, they are also questioning what my background in sponsorship means, as it’s unlike most candidates who have appeared previously. I truly hope that has an impact on the industry.
Unless you are hugely invested into sports, most people don’t know jobs like ours exist.
At present, the sponsorship industry is relatively unknown as a career path within universities and virtually non-existent as an opportunity for people starting out in work because it’s largely inaccessible. Unless you are hugely invested into sports, most people don’t know jobs like ours exist. This is incredibly frustrating for issues around talent, but, more than that, it’s a wasted opportunity for the industry itself and could be a cause for concern regarding its growth.
It’s a wasted opportunity for the industry itself and could be a cause for concern regarding its growth.
Making matters worse, are organisations who feel that experience within the sport itself is the only experience needed to work in that sport (more information on my thoughts around diversity can be found here) – which I think couldn’t be further from the truth. As witnessed in The Apprentice, my background in sponsorship has provided me skills far outreaching sports related tasks and has seen me narrowly escape the Boardroom far more times than I’d like to count. For me, sponsorship is the beautiful mix between commercial and creative. Unfortunately, people who can fuse those skills well are hard to find.
For me, sponsorship is the beautiful mix between commercial and creative.
By casting our net much broader and wider, our industry has a better chance of gaining the growing market share against advertising. But we all need to be actively invested.
By actively engaging more with local communities and schools, we can future-proof our industry.
The European Sponsorship Association is currently working on a Diversity paper to discuss these key issues, but it will be down to individuals and the individual organisations to encourage more awareness. By actively engaging more with local communities and schools, we can future-proof our industry.
I believe in the power of sponsorship, but we need to start looking outside the locker room for the next generation to take it forward. Only then will we be able to truly capitalise on the industry’s potential.
Help me get the word out by engaging with me on The Apprentice through Twitter @JackieFast #TeamWackie