Who wants to party? Or at least pay for it.

June 9, 2006 8:05 AM

Has anyone been successful in securing corporate sponsorship for their team or event?

More specifically, i'm trying to get a major alcohol brand to sponsor my crew of DJ's, we throw parties and are also headliners at many other events. I was wondering how exactly you went about this? Is it wiser to go way high up to the parent company or to a local distributor? Also, did it include heavy contracts and long term commitments?

posted by lannanh to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

Isn't it more common for the alcohol brand to sponsor the event, rather than the djs?
posted by necessitas at 8:37 AM on June 9, 2006

Big companies will usually have someone with a specific marketing budget, that's the person you need to identify and target. I do this a bit in a totally different area from you, checking websites for contact details for their PR people or just phoning their general switchboard and asking for 'whoever does suchathing' can help you do this.
Having said that, some previous contact or networked through a 3rd party can be more effective at actually landing the cash.
posted by biffa at 9:01 AM on June 9, 2006

I don't know about alcohol companies, but when I worked at a major action sports company that sponsored lots of parties and events, often our local sales reps were more likely to set these things up than our marketing department directly.

The marketing department may be able to put you in contact with the local rep though.
posted by k8t at 9:09 AM on June 9, 2006

get a set of demographics in place (how many people you'll be in front of monthly, age range, income etc,) then figure out where these people would purchase this liquor (bars, local liquor stores) then approach those liquor stores and tell them about your idea and ask them who their contacts are with the liquor company - who knows you might get some co-sponsorship with a chain retailer as well as some gigs at the bars.
posted by any major dude at 9:30 AM on June 9, 2006

Yeah, don't bother talking to anyone until you have numbers. The more detailed the numbers, the better, but at the very least you want an age breakdown, gender, and total bodies per event, averages, etc. If possible, esitmated income is helpful too.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:25 AM on June 9, 2006

I would say that the marketing department (brand management) would probably be more interested in larger opportunities. Most companies with a sales force give each rep or district manager discretionary funds to do local projects that will help them sell in their territory. Rather than going through marketing I would try and go in through the sales people, and I think starting locally (with a specific rep) would be more effective. Sometimes "head office" can get pissy about small projects while they may seem perfectly reasonable to a rep on the ground who has to move X amount of product per month/quarter.
posted by mikel at 1:01 PM on June 9, 2006

You're going local-- most promos (such as radio 'live' events) are done through the distributors from what I know- if you are pals with any bar owners/managers (as a DJ looking for this sort of work, you should probably know a few) ask to get their rep's contact info-- it's not anything secret.

You can probably get the info with a little bit of digging on the corporate sites.. for instance, a few minutes in the FAQ and here is the link to A-B's distributors.
posted by tj at 2:51 PM on June 9, 2006

You also might try not-so-major companies. I work for a major national corporation, and it is nearly impossible to support small local projects/organizations. Perhaps a large regional brewery (Iron City, Magic Hat, Abita, etc.) would be a better bet, as there are people in your area who can make decisions and write checks, instead of having to go through corporate HQ in Phoenix (or wherever).
posted by Rock Steady at 4:51 PM on June 9, 2006